Falling in Love by Dusty Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

anymore. That was a real bad place for people sometimes,
when things got out of control and they lost perspective. No one
was immune to it, and yet she sensed some inner strength in
Mark.
    He was a strong man, just one with no
real purpose at the present time.
    “ Come on.” She patted him
on the left forearm as his expression hovered on mild disbelief. “I
went to college.”
    He grinned slightly at that and then
got all solemn again. Mark got up, went over, and reached in behind
the books on his bookshelf and came up with a rolled-up baggie. He
had some kind of papers. When he shook it out it looked like about
two grams.
    She downed half a beer. Holding it in
her hand, she watched him begin the process.
    He looked up at her unreadable
expression. She took another long drink, holding his gaze and then
casually looking around the room.
    “ It’s quite a dump you got
here. I like it.”
    “ Thank you.” Sheepishly,
he went to work.
    The place smelled like bacon and
tobacco smoke, three-week old laundry, boiled eggs, and there was
just a hint of bear-pit in there as well. It was neat enough, and
well laid-out with its minimal furnishings.
    “ I need to use the
bathroom.”
    As she rose, Mark spoke with some
confidence.
    “ You’re in luck—I just
cleaned it.”
     
    ***
     
    It didn’t take a fool to see what was
going on here, but Mark sure as hell wished he did.
    He tossed the doobie beside the ash
tray and drained his beer. He heard her water tinkling less than
nine feet away behind a thin, hollow-core birch veneer door. Mark
went out to his tiny kitchen and dug around in the back of the
fridge. Having just been to the biggest food bank in town, he was
faced with a momentary surplus of foodstuffs. It was mostly
perishables and the truth was he found it hard to eat all that
bread before it went bad. He heard the toilet flush in the
background, other small noises. She might be a minute
yet.
    He found the last couple
of beers. He checked but then recalled he didn’t have any glasses.
It was hard to believe that she might be genuinely interested
in him.
    It’s not that he didn’t like
her.
    If she wanted to bust him
for something, there would be no stopping her.
    He found himself blinking back tears
and had to hurriedly dry his eyes with the tea-towel.
    When he came around the corner his
eyes rose, his mouth was open to say something and then Mark froze
on the spot. She was sitting on the couch.
    Constable Laine Barrett picked up his
lighter, and the joint.
    She was clad only in black fishnet
stockings, leather hot-pants, a halter of the same colour, and
long, fingerless gloves sheer gloves. Her wavy blonde hair was
fully teased out.
    Laine wore a ribbon with a bow around
her neck. Long silver pendants hung from her ears and she had
spritzed on something pungent and enticing. He stared at her black
patent leather shoes.
    “ Laine…?”
    “ Okay, soldier. Let’s get
this party going.” The lighter snapped and she inhaled the sweet
and piney smoke into her lungs.
    She patted the couch beside her. He
stared at something so outrageous that it wasn’t even funny, a
couple of sets of handcuffs on his coffee table.
    A small coil of rope.
    All that fits in her
purse…?
    He closed his mouth firmly.
    Without a word, Mark set the beers
down and sat. He looked at her. She handed him the
joint.
    “ Mark. I only have three
little rules. Would you like to guess what they are?”
    Taking a quick slug of beer and never
taking his eyes off of hers, Mark shook his head.
    “ No, Ma’am.” He sputtered.
“No, wait—wait…”
    “ Go ahead. Take a
guess.”
    “ Ah. One. Ah…I will never
disrespect you.”
    “ Not bad—you’re close and
getting warmer. Keep going.”
    Her left hand dropped down beside the
couch and came up with a whip. She gave it a kiss, and then held it
in her lap.
    “ I will never embarrass
you in front of your friends or fellow officers.”
    “ Impressive. Very good.
Bang on, sir. That’s Rule