James POV

I was running down the streets of Boston, chasing a guy who thought it was okay to snatch and grab an old lady's purse. And, of course, I just had to walk around the corner at the exact moment all this was going down. So, in other words, I had no choice but to run after this fucker's ass. It was my job.

See, this shit was why I joined the police force. This was why I became a detective, so I could chase after pathetic little cocksuckers who thought they could do whatever the hell they wanted on these streets.

I should have been investigating big cases-cases that involved the Bologna, the worst and most dangerous family ruling these streets for fuck knew how long. Not chasing dumbass criminals who had shit for brains.

Sweat pooled underneath my arms. "Goddammit. You made me sweat, so now I'm going to have to kick your ass."

He made a sharp turn and ran into a grocery store. Rookie mistake. Everyone knew you should never run into a shop unless you knew for sure there was a back exit. This little fuckface didn't, since I knew there was no back exit to this particular shop.

I stormed into the store behind him and launched myself forward, grabbing him by the back of his jacket collar, pulling him down and slamming his face into the floor before I pressed my knee into his spine.

I pulled his arms behind his back and cuffed him. "No one makes me sweat and gets away with it." Unless you were a six-foot-tall brunette with a decent-sized pair of tits and a mouth like a Hoover vacuum.

"Fuck you," the little asshole spat from the side of his mouth since his face was almost engraved into the cement floor.

"Jesus Christ. Rio? I should have known it was you." I pulled him up by his arms, turned him to face me, and shoved his back into the counter.

"You're a special kind of stupid, aren't you? How many times do I have to drag your ass down to the precinct before you realize you're too dumb for this shit?"

"Suck my cock, officer." He smiled, showing me a silver filling between his front teeth.

I raised a brow. "Oh, you got new jewellery. Whose corpse did you steal that from?"

"And suck my balls while you're down there too."

I noticed Mrs Bossi staring at us from behind the cash register. "Sorry about this one's dirty mouth, Mrs Bossi."

"It's okay, dear. I hear more cursing than prayer these days, anyway. What did this one do today?" She glowered at Rio.

"Disrespecting the elderly again, I'm afraid." I turned him around and started frisking him when I felt a little bump in his jacket pocket. "Rio, is that what I think it is?"

"No," he replied over his shoulder.

"How do you know what I think it is?"

"Uh...I don't."

I reached into his pocket. "Then how can you answer that question?"

"Because you're an asshole."

I snorted before pulling out a little plastic bag with white powder in it. Bingo. "Rio, is this cocaine?"

"No."

"God, you're a terrible liar." I jerked him back around and held the little bag in front of him. "Are you moving up in the world?"

He smiled that disgusting silver-filling smile of his. "I have no idea what that is."

"Really? Well, let me enlighten you, then." I brought the bag closer to his face. "This is what you call a real-fucking-stupid move." Gio continued to grin like an idiot.

"Where did you get it?"

He turned his head and looked to the right, but I jerked at his collar, forcing him to look back at me. "Who are you dealing for, Rio?"

"The Bologna." His answer was clipped, and I immediately felt that familiar tingle at the back of my neck. It happened whenever I heard the name "Bologna."

I frowned. "You answered that pretty quickly. You sure about your answer?"

"What the fuck, man? You asked me, and I answered."

I studied his ugly face for a few seconds, wondering why the hell he answered so damn fast. Around here, people didn't go tell everyone who they worked for on the streets-especially a cop. So, either Rio was incredibly stupid, or he was lying.

I pulled him away from the counter. "I'm sorry for the mess, Mrs Bossi. I'll come back around later and help you clean up, okay?"

Mrs Bossi smiled. "You are such a gentleman, James. I'll make sure I have some of my mushroom risotto packed for you."

"Ah, Mrs Bossi," I winked at her, "you know exactly the way to my heart." I pulled Rio away from the counter and smiled warmly at the old lady I'd come to know during the last two years. A good old soul.

"So, Rio, did I ever tell you about this girl I knew a few years ago?" I dragged him toward the door. "She also had the whole gap thing going with her front teeth, only she didn't patch it with a gold filling. But let me tell you, that girl sucked my cock like a champ."

"That's because your dick was small enough to fill her gap," Rio shot back. And then his face just happened to collide with the wall right next to the door. "Motherfucker!"

Again, his face hit the wall. "Rio, you need to go through the door, not the wall, my man." I smiled wickedly like I was trying to shove the fact that I had perfectly spaced teeth in his face.

"You're the one slamming me into the damn wall, you psycho."

"Me?" I feigned a look of innocence. "I would never do such a thing." And then Rio's face slammed against the wall for the third time, right before I finally led him through the door to the sidewalk.

The precinct was about a block away. Unfortunately, all this went down while I was on my way back from my lunch break, which meant we were going to have to walk. Where's a fucking squad car when you need one?

People stared at us while we made our way down the sidewalk. I didn't care. If I had to care about what other people thought, I'd be bat-shit crazy by now. The fact that I was half African made for some serious gossip, and some piss-poor jokes back at the station. Especially since I was the best damn detective, and those doughnut-eating, useless, lazy asses I was forced to work with daily were jealous as fuck. And not only was I the best detective Boston had seen in a long time, but I was also the prettiest. I got more pussy in one week than those fuckers got in a year combined.

I glanced at Rio walking with his head hanging down.

"Oh, come on, you and I both know getting arrested makes you even more bad-ass on these streets. And let's face it, snatch-and-grabbing an old lady's purse is real bad-ass."

"Go fuck yourself, Gunner."

I noticed a pole about six feet in front of us. "Mind the pole." Too late.

The sound of Rio's face hitting the pole vibrated next to me, and Rio cursed the longest f-bomb sentence I'd heard in a while.

"You should watch where you're going, Rio."

He opened his mouth, but then I glanced down the street at the ten-odd poles all lined up. Rio shut his mouth. Good boy. Now he knows not to fuck with me again.