Snake Charmer (Rawkfist MC Book 2) by Bijou Hunter

Poppy.”
    When I laugh at his expression, he
mutters, “Well, now you’re just being mean, Journey Sheerer.”
    “I have your last name, your eyebrows,
and your common sense. Trust me to know what I’m doing with Donovan.”
    Jared gives me a smile, and I think he
truly buys my bravado. If he had any clue how out of my element I was with
Donovan, he’d never leave my side.

18 Snake Charmers
    Donovan
     
     
    A rnold Mooney loves the law, thinks
Rockwell is the best town in the world, and finds Clinton County picturesque.
He values his family, covering his office walls with their pictures. My photo
must be up there with the other grandkids’, though I can never find it. Not
that I’d spent much time looking. My mother’s pictures are front and center
when I enter his office. I glance at her smiling face before sitting across
from my grandfather.
    I assume he’s heard about Journey.
Considering he never calls me into his office, I figure this conversation will
be about his concerns. I’m both right and wrong. After all, Arnold Mooney isn’t
a man to discuss his feelings.
    “As you know, Mark’s just had a baby,”
he begins without any fanfare. “He’s requested to change his shifts, so he can
spend more time at home with his wife and kids.”
    “Okay,” I say, suspecting where he’s
going.
    “I’d like you to pick up his night
shifts.”
    “And keep my own?”
    “Yes.”
    “You already have me taking Garth’s
weekend shifts. That doesn’t leave me much time off.”
    “No, I suspect it doesn’t.”
    We eye one another, neither saying what
we’re thinking.
    “I need at least a few nights off a
week.”
    “I understand it’s a lot to ask, but
you’re the only single person on the force right now. Dina needs the weekends
to be home with her kids. Chad is taking care of a sick parent plus he has his
wife and kids to think of.”
    “That’s fine, but there are other
people to pick up the slack.”
    “They all have families.”
    “Well, I have a girlfriend as you’ve
probably heard. I can’t go weeks without seeing her.”
    Arnold didn’t expect me to bring up
Journey. I normally keep my life private from everyone. These people wouldn’t
even know my address if it wasn’t on my personnel file. Of course, as cops,
they’d likely figure it out.
    “Your grandmother heard something about
that. She’d like you to bring the girl to the house sometime to meet us.”
    Nodding, I let Arnold have his lies.
He’s well aware of who the “girl” is and his feelings about the situation have
likely been expressed many times with many people. For me, he won’t let onto
how he disapproves. If he learned anything from dealing with my mother, it was
to never show his cards. The more he told Jerilyn something was a bad idea, the
more likely she was to jump head first into it.
    I’m not my mother, but he’s still wary
of my responses. He doesn’t get me. Am I like him and the family? Am I like
Jerilyn? Am I like my thug father? When Arnold doesn’t know the answers, he
plays things close to the vest. I do the same thing but not today.
    “Sure. I’ll talk to Journey about
coming over to your place, but I’ll need a few days off to actually see her.”
    “I understand, but I can’t change the
situation you’re in with the schedule.”
    “You write up the schedule, so I
suspect you can change it.”
    Arnold leans back in his leather chair
and rubs his bald head. He doesn’t know what to do to make me accept the
situation and go away. My grandmother would try to feed me. That’s her only
move, but Arnold only knows how to use the job to keep me in line.
    “Dating is a world of difference from
marriage and children. I know you probably don’t see it that way, but I have to
make sure my people can be with their families.”
    “I’d like a family too one day. How
will that happen if I’m working all of the time?”
    “You’re free during the days.”
    I fight the urge to glare at