Anonymous Encounters(36)

"Who are those dudes?" I'd asked Chrissy.

"Oh them?" she asked, distracted as she mixed another drink. "I think  they're friends of my sister Valerie, I don't really know."

Callie shot me a warning look, but I ignored it.

"Oh is Valerie a freshman?" I'd asked casually. Those boys couldn't have been more than fifteen.

"Not exactly," said Chrissy. "Valerie's three years older actually, she  was at Canterdale a couple years back but dropped out because she needed  some time to find herself."

I almost snorted but kept myself in check. "Finding yourself" was a  euphemism at the precinct for a rich kid with serious issues, like  addiction or crime.

"So where is Valerie now?" I asked casually, ignoring Callie's jab to my ribs. "She around tonight?"

That got Chrissy's attention. "Yeah, I think so," she said, craning her  neck, looking around to survey the mass of bodies. "She bought the beer  tonight and I think she was going to make a second run to the store if  necessary," she shrugged. "I mean, you never know with Valerie. She's  got this new boyfriend, he's so disgusting," she said wrinkling her  nose. "Old, stringy brown hair in a ponytail, thinks he's some biker  gang member."         

     



 

That definitely caught my ear. An old dude hanging out with high school  kids? Definitely a recipe for disaster. I wanted to ask more but could  no longer ignore the sharp looks from Callie. Clearly, there was  something buried here and my girl didn't want to go any further down  this line of questioning.

"Come on Blake," she said, trying to distract me. "Let's head outside. The Gordons have an amazing pool house," she said.

I'd glimpsed the cabana in passing and it did look fancy, like a second  residence situated some distance away from the main house. And you know  what? I was feeling horny again, maybe there'd be some privacy for a  second fuck of the night.

"Sure," I drawled. "After you," I said just as my brother came out of  the bathroom. He silently shook his head no, indicating that there was  no drug residue, and I dragged him along for the ride.

"Let's get outta here, see what everyone else is up to," I drawled nonchalantly. "Bryan?"

"Yeah," he growled, his face impassive. "Let's go."





CHAPTER ELEVEN


Bryan




The investigation wasn't exactly going well. There hadn't been any  telltale residue on the sink or toilet at Chrissy's house. Instead, I'd  found a recently used condom still filled with warm, bubbling cum in the  trash.

So those teenage boys, those comic-book turds, were probably gay. They'd  probably fucked each other in the bathroom, groaning aloud, spanking  each other's asses, and then come out again acting like typical  adolescents, pushing, shoving, pretending to be alpha males.

It was juicy, but not exactly criminal. I mean, my brother and I should  know  –  we fuck each other, and that probably is criminal in the State of  California, crossing a couple lines like incest, not to mention illicit  and nasty twincest.

But Canterdale High? Not squeaky clean, but not exactly a hotbed of criminal activity either. So the investigation continued.

We were in the biology classroom on a Sunday afternoon, getting ready to  dissect a cat. Goddamn this cat. I was so sick of it already, I hated  biology, Blake and I hadn't become cops to re-do high school. But here  we were in this antiseptic environment, all the tools laid out, Callie  looking nauseated again as I prepared to sink a knife into the belly fur  of the glazed-eyed corpse.

Trying to hide my relish, I plunged the blade into the cat's abdomen,  expecting the knife to slice cleanly through, as if cutting chicken or a  juicy piece of steak. Instead, I encountered some resistance, the blade  bouncing back a bit. Oh fuck, it was probably just the formaldehyde  they pumped into these things to keep them preserved. I'd probably hit  some organ that was now stiff with frozen chemicals. Disgusting.

I chopped and sawed away with determination, and the skin fell away to  reveal the body cavity of the cat. And damn, but my eyebrows flew off my  forehead because we'd just gotten our best lead yet. Not only was the  cat filled with frozen organs, but there were also a couple of pouches  …   bulging with white powder.

Immediately, I swept the cat off the table, not wanting our little girl  to see. Fortunately, she had her back turned at the moment, half-bent  over trying not to retch.

But Blake raised his eyebrows at me in question. I hadn't fully opened  the cat so he probably hadn't caught a glimpse of the balloons but I  merely shook my head in silence.

"Callie baby, this isn't the right cat," I said.

"What?" she asked faintly, turning back to the lab table. "What do you  mean it isn't the right cat? Mr. Grimes said he ordered a new batch so  that we could make up the assignment without having to reuse corpses."

"There must have been a mistake," I said smoothly, "because this cat is pregnant."

I was making shit up but that did the trick.

"Oh!" said Callie, her forehead rippling with revulsion. "Oh my god, did  you see the dead kitten embryos in there? Oh my god, I'm going to be  sick again," she said, this time breaking out in a sweat, really looking  green.

And my brother frowned at me but took the cue, hustling our little girl  out of the classroom for some fresh air. In the meantime, I bundled the  corpse into a plastic tarp, securing it with some string before slipping  it into my backpack. The Sarge was going to be interested in this  exhibit, for sure.         

     



 

In the meantime, where the fuck had this cat come from? Was Mr. Grimes  the perpetrator? Was our kindly science teacher actually a drug dealer,  peddling illegal substances to his students? Or was it someone else? I  was sure the freezer was probably chock-full of animals filled with  heroin. The issue was busting this ring without giving everything away  in the first few minutes. Our strike had to be coordinated, a methodical  sting with no loose ends.

But in the meantime, there was still our little girl.

"Bryan, get out here," I heard my brother shout in warning.

Slinging my bag over my shoulder, I strode outside  …  and immediately ran  over to where my brother stood. Because Callie had fainted, her head  slumped over, her body limp and dangling in my twin's arms.

"Oh shit," I breathed. "Oh shit, oh shit."

"Oh shit is right," my brother agreed. "We've got to get her to the hospital."

And we rushed off to the ER because our little girl was sick  …  and in trouble.





CHAPTER TWELVE


Callie




I woke groggily, unsure of where I was. Blinking hazily, the lights were a blinding white, everything antiseptic and sterile.

Slowly, a face took shape before me, a handsome mien with penetrating blue eyes, dark hair and a concerned expression.

"Callie?" asked Blake. "You okay? You've been out for a while."

Suddenly it all came rushing back. The biology make-up session, the  aborted dissection, all gone horribly wrong. I hadn't even been able to  look really, the sight of the poor dead animal making me shake with  revulsion. So Bryan had done the honors.

But when he'd announced that we had the wrong cat, that the animal was  in fact pregnant and filled with kitten embryos, I'd lost it. I just  couldn't go on and had passed out outside, collapsing into the arms of  my lovers.

Because Blake, Bryan and I are lovers now. Sure, we're a little young,  eighteen, but Blake and Bryan are practically grown men. They live by  themselves in a trailer on the outskirts of St. Francis Wood, the ritzy  neighborhood where we go to school. Their uncle is allegedly their  guardian, but I've never seen this guy and he seems to care little about  his nephews, not giving a crap so long as they don't bother him.

So I'd moved in, and we'd begun a lovefest, doing each other morning,  noon, and night, enjoying each other's bodies, exploring, fucking,  fighting, loving.

And right now, they were showing me what the real meaning of family was.  Both men hovered about my hospital bed, Blake holding my hand as Bryan  traced a finger down my cheek softly.

"You okay girlie?" he murmured. "You had us scared there for a sec."

I sighed. No, I wasn't okay, the thought of dead kitten embryos still made my stomach turn, but I'd survive.

"I dunno," I sighed, stretching slightly, trying to make myself  comfortable. "It was just so wrong in every way, you know what I mean?  We shouldn't have to re-do the lab, twice is enough," I said  emphatically.

"Of course not," agreed Blake, squeezing my hand. "We'll do another  assignment or just take a zero, it doesn't matter," he shrugged.

I frowned. Taking a zero wasn't exactly ideal  –  after all, I hadn't  received a college acceptance letter yet. But Blake and Bryan had a  curiously relaxed attitude towards school. On the one hand, they seemed  to know everything already, had already covered all the books in our  literature class, and were frighteningly well-read when it came to  American history. On the other, grades themselves seemed to matter  little despite the boys' obvious intelligence and aptitude.