Free Aevar: Trekkers (A SciFi Alien Human Military Romance) by Terra Wolf, Juno Wells Page B

bedside table. I opened up my eyes, rubbing some of the sleep away, trying to feel alert. It would be nice if I could get just one good night of sleep this week. But I knew what the ringing meant.
    Another body had been found.
    I fucking hated this case. The victims were all young men and women, and their bodies had been littered all over the city for the past couple months. The worst of it? We had no idea what was going on. We hadn’t a single lead in the entire case.
    Someone knew something, but no one was talking.
    The district attorney had even offered a reward for any credible information, but no one had even come forward. And any time money was playing in the game, we usually had a couple crazies come out of the woodwork. This time, it had just been silent. Like whoever was behind all of this was paying the crazies to keep their mouths shut. That was new.
    “Hello?” I tried to sound more awake than I was.
    “Harrison, it’s Grady. We’ve got another body. They want you down here as soon as possible.”
    I didn’t respond.
    “You weren’t sleeping, were you?” he said with a laugh. Smug kid, always busting my ass. Just because I was older than him didn't mean I was any closer to death than he was.
    “You know us old folks, we need more sleep. It keeps us looking young. Tell the captain I’m on my way.”
    I hung up the call and immediately got dressed. I attached my gun to my belt and my badge to my shirt. Another body, just another Tuesday night.

Chapter 2
Penelope
    I was working late shift again, and I hated the late shift. Truckers were always nice and gave good tips, but everybody else sucked. Teenagers came in and forgot to clean up after themselves, like I was their mother or something. The older crowd had obviously been drinking, but didn't care. They were just rude. Sometimes I felt like I’d rather take the teenagers over the guys who slapped my ass as I walked away. But I had a mouth to feed, and that was still new to me.
    Camden was only two months old, but he was already my entire world. Unfortunately, late shifts meant I couldn’t rock him to sleep, but I needed some extra money, and that's what I had to do. I was still getting used to taking care of someone else besides myself. Sometimes I still felt like a child. It was hard to be a mother when you were acting like a child, so instead, I focused on my attention on Camden. I made sure that he was well taken care of.
    His dad wasn't some deadbeat, and he hadn’t walked out on me. He didn’t react in some ridiculous way when I told him. Because the truth was, I hadn't told him.
    Camden's father had no idea that he existed, and for the most part, I liked it that way. He wasn’t my type of guy. He had come into the diner late one night looking for a cup of Joe, and what he ended up getting was a lot more.
    He just had this look about him, so strong with huge muscles. He just made me melt. He had these ridiculously gorgeous gray eyes that I saw every time I looked at Camden. And he was a good man, which meant I didn’t deserve him. I wasn’t that type of girl.
    But I couldn’t deny that if James Harrison had walked back in the diner right now I would let him take me in his arms again. I couldn’t think like that. He was a well-known detective, always on the news cracking hard cases. He certainly wasn't ready to be a father. It wasn't fair to ask him to be. It was one night stand. No relationship. I'd be shocked if he even remembered my name.
    I, on the other hand, was single, with a dead-end job and a life going nowhere. I was okay with all those things; as long as Camden and I were safe and well taken care of, we would be fine.
    “You’ve got a live one, Penny,” Sophie said to me between chews. She had more sticks of gum in her mouth than I could count. I thought she had a whole pack in there. I hated the way she smacked her lips while we were at work. But she meant well, always giving me extra tables when she didn't need the money. I