One Tough Love Read online

  “So, parked in front a hydrant.” Laramie nodded at the red hydrant and then checked a box on his pad. Jo remained quiet.

  “Blocking traffic.” He checked another box off.

  Wes watched as Jo cringed, thoroughly baffled as to why she was not even trying to defend herself. The cop was deliberately baiting her and she wasn’t even trying to explain herself.

  “Officer.” He said hoping to help. “I think you have misinterpreted what has happened here.”

  “I think you need to mind your own business.” Officer Laramie replied testily, perusing the scene, obviously looking for more violations.

  “Excuse me?” Wes said politely, slightly taken back. He had dealt with all kinds of people, so one little Napoleon complex cop was not going to get a rise out of him.

  "You heard me." The officer said, not even look up as he continued to make notations in his book.

  “Officer, Ms. Ross.” Wes said, using the name the Officer had used and nodding at Jo. “Is the victim of a robbery.”

  “Is that so?” The officer said not in the least concerned.

  “Wes, it’s okay. I’m just going to take my tickets and go.”

  “Jo you were robbed.”

  Jo placed her hand on Wes’ forearm sending him a silent plea to let it go.

  Wes looked at Officer Laramie with disgust as the man resumed filling out his ticket book. Jo’s hand on his forearm had stopped him from continuing. He searched her face for a sign, or any indication, that she needed his help, but he saw nothing. Her face was void of any expression, and for some reason Wes didn’t like it. He didn't like it at all.

  “It’s okay Wes, really.” The defeated attitude she was presenting shook him. He wanted to defend her to the cop, but something in her eyes made him stay quiet.

  Officer Laramie ripped off the tickets from his book, and gruffly told her to move her car before he Booted it. He then returned to his car, but he did not pull out. Instead he remained behind Jo’s car watching them. Wes knew he was hoping she would pull away and not use her blinker or find another infraction that he could site her for.

  “Wes, thank you again.” Jo said as she slid tiredly down into her seat and pulled in her legs to shut the door.

  Wes watched as she started her car. He was trying to figure out an appropriate way to ask her to go for coffee, a drink, anything so he could see the beautiful woman again, but for some reason he knew she would turn him down, the timing was totally wrong. Instead he leaned into the open window.

  “Jo put your belt on and use your blinker.” He said using a low ‘obey me’ voice that made Jo’s insides melt. He looked over to Officer Laramie and then back to her.

  “You don’t have your license now do you?” Wes knew if the cop knew that, he could arrest her.

  She shook her head no and she heard Wes mumble ‘shit’ under his breath. Officer Laramie honked his horn to get Jo moving. Jo quickly buckled up, put on her blinker, and mumbled a polite but quiet thank you to Wes. Her Good Samaritan had probably saved her from receiving two more tickets.

  Wes walked to the sidewalk and watched Jo pull away. He noted how the officer stayed behind her and he hoped she would make it home without the dick- head cop pulling her over. B. J. Ross, where the hell had he heard that name before? Wes walked up the street thinking about the woman he’d just met.

  She was pretty, but not in a delicate, fragile sense. She was curvy and had great legs, his hands could attest to that. Her hair was a mixture of colors all within the honey blond to golden wheat range. Her eyes were captivating, and he knew he'd see them again in his dreams. They were pale blue and rimmed with dark long lashes. She had a cute nose and pink full lips. When she had chewed on her bottom lip he had thoughts that made even him feel guilty. He chuckled to himself as he remembered how the feisty little thing had grabbed on to the car when she thought he was stealing it. He liked women with a little spunk.

  B.J. Ross, B.J. Ross, he needed to Google her name. He knew he’d heard it before. Wes turned into the doorway of a three-story nondescript, brick building and inserted a card key into the slot next to the door. A buzz sounded and Wes pulled open the door. Once inside he felt the cool air from the central air conditioning waft over him. He then diligently buttoned his collar and pulled up his tie needing to look presentable in case there were any clients inside.

  Wes walked to the elevator in the foyer and pressed the up button and when the door immediately opened he stepped in and pressed 3. He leaned back against the wall and folded his muscled arms over his chest. He couldn’t stop thinking about Jo, B.J., who ever she was. Her shirt had been almost transparent from her sweat, molding to her like a friggin' wet tee shirt, and he had done a damn good job of not looking at her breasts, even when they were at his eyes level when he had stooped down to care for her skinned knees. She had a beautiful smile and she was so unassuming. Wes knew she had no idea how gorgeous she was. She had to be athletic; he had felt her small, well-defined calf muscles when he had held her legs while cleaning her cuts. Wes shut his eyes and all he saw was Jo’s sad blue eyes silently begging him to stay quiet. Wes rubbed his large hand over his face trying to wipe that haunting image from his mind.

  The elevator doors opened and Wes stepped into the large reception room. No one was sitting on the couch so Wes pulled his tie’s knot down then turned his neck to the side as he unbuttoned his collar. Betty chuckled seeing him make himself comfortable.

  She smiled cheerily at him. “Hey boss. Hot one today.”

  “Hi Betty, yup, brutal. Anything I need to know?” He asked his receptionist.

  “Nope, it’s been quiet.”

  Wes nodded and walked through the smoky glass door that separated the reception area from the offices. The door that he stopped at was opened and Wes turned to stand in the doorway. Inside he saw that Jace, one of his partners and good friend, was standing by an open window smoking.

  “Jace, come on man, we talked about this. This is a no smoking area.”

  “Wes it’s too fucking hot to stand outside.”

  “Quit man.” Wes replied with no sympathy.

  Jace snuffed out his cigarette onto an ashtray that was on the sill of his window and then shut the window leaving the ashtray outside.

  “So what’s new?” Jace asked seeing that his friend had an odd look on his face.

  Wes thought of Jo.

  “Ever hear of a B. J. Ross?”

  “B.J. not a good name to be saddled with.” Jace smirked.

  “Yeah, ever hear of her?”

  The door next to Jace’s office opened and behemoth of a man appeared.

  “B.J. Ross?” The giant repeated.

  “Yeah, ever hear of her?” Wes said turning slightly towards his other partner and friend.

  “She’s the journalist that shook up the station house last year, remember?”

  Wes slapped his forehead. “Oh man, of course, I’m an idiot. Well that certainly explains a lot.”

  “Explains what?’ The big man asked.

  Wes proceeded to tell his two best friends about meeting Jo.

  When he finished the story Jace said, “No shit.”

  “Yes shit.” Wes said. “You should have seen how the cop treated her.”

  “Not like you to let anyone bully a woman.” The large man interjected.

  “Andy, if you could have seen her face. She looked so… I don’t know… beaten … sad. I think it was better that I didn’t get involved.”

  “Yeah, well good choice bro, because we need to work with the cops and you don’t’ shit where you eat, you hear me?”

  “Yeah.” Agreed Jace

  “I know.” Wes said quietly. “It's just… if you could have seen how she looked.”

  “Oh man. I know that look Wes.” Jace said laughing. “Just screw her now and get her out of your system.”

  “Shut it Jace.” Wes growled.

  Jace placed his hands in an ‘I surrender’ palms out gesture and continued t
o laugh. Andy chuckled along with Jace and Wes turned away from the two men he’d known for years, walked into his office at the end of the hall and shut the door behind him. The laughter continued even after he shut the door. Wes shook his head; fuck me, he thought to himself. Then he thought of Jo and smiled. Wes headed straight for his computer. Time to learn more about pretty little Jo Ross.

  Chapter 3

  Jo

  Jo checked her rearview for the ump-teenth time and sure enough Officer Laramie remained right behind her. Jo made certain she used her blinkers, came to complete stops and did not go over the speed limit. She finally merged onto 287 and when Officer Laramie did not take the ramp Jo heaved a sigh of relief, shook out her tight shoulder muscles and drove down the highway enjoying the breeze that finally cooled the inside of her sweltering car.

  Five minutes later she took the off ramp towards her home and within minutes Jo pulled into her space in front of her townhouse. She had bought the townhouse three years ago. Her parents had helped with the down payment but she had since paid them back. She loved her little home.

  Her unit consisted of six townhouses, set up in two’s, so that they shared a wall and a front porch. Each townhouse had a balcony on the second floor in the front and a stone patio in the back that was surrounded with a high enough fence to ensure privacy. There were parking spots in front of each townhouse along with a few visitors’ spaces.

  It was newly built and sat on a small, quiet street close enough to shops and restaurants that she could easily walk to them. She shared a wall and the walkway with Nick Pratt, a man a few years older than herself. He was good looking, athletic, and a tough corporate lawyer. When she’d first moved in he had hit on her relentlessly, but Jo wanted to keep things between them platonic. She had been all about her job, and although she was not a recluse, she did not want any distractions.

  They had settled into a safe and easy-going friendship helping each other in little ways, for instance, she had helped him decorate his living room, and in return he had painted hers. Over time she had seen him with plenty of women and she couldn’t help teasing him, good-naturedly of course, if she saw him in the morning doing the walk of shame. He would always remind her he wouldn’t have to bring home women or do the walk of shame if she would just go out with him. Jo always laughed and brushed aside his comment, but she knew that if she allowed it, he would pursue a relationship with her, instead of settling for their usual meet up for drinks on Fridays after work.

  Nick was pretty dynamic and she had thoughts, especially when they were a little tipsy after their Friday evening out, that maybe she should let ‘them’ happen. He was great looking and his body was honed to perfection. She’d seen his torso often enough. Like her, his daily work out consisted of running. When he finished he would pull off his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face. Jo always gawked. The man was seriously ripped. The first time it happened Nick threw his shirt at her saying, “Like what you see?”

  Jo had thrown the shirt back at him laughing and pretending the shirt was disgusting. Fact was she did like what she saw.

  Jo turned her cars engine off and out of habit reached for her purse before remembering that it wasn’t there. After carrying the three boxes and the leftovers inside, she put the leftovers in the fridge and went to change out of her work clothes.

  Dressed in her running shorts and tank top Jo applied some ointment to her knees, found her old iPod, wishing she had updated the playlist, but happy to at least be able to run with music, and walked down her front steps. After completing a few stretches Jo took off jogging. There was a large lake about a half-mile from her home that she loved to run around. It was peaceful and the trail around the lake was two miles long, so when she ran that route her run was a total of three miles. If she ever wanted to do more she just looped around the lake again.

  Running had always cleared Jo’s mind, she was a former college athlete and had received a partial athletic ride for field hockey. She had also garnered an Academic grant, so most of Jo’s education to Rutgers University had been paid for. What hadn’t been paid for she had covered with a Student Loan. Her parents had been more than willing to help, but Jo and her twin sister, Lou had decided they were going to put themselves through college, so they did.

  Lou and Jo were identical twins. Lou was gifted academically and she had so many academic grants awarded to her that she hadn’t had to take out a student loan. Not only were they twin sisters, but they were best friends too. They had lived together right after college, until Lou married a sweetheart of a guy, Pete, that she had met in college. Now they lived in Pennsylvania.

  Jo’s sneakers pounded the soft dirt trail around the lake and she physically began to relax from her rotten day. She recounted the events; bad thing number one; car air conditioner broke. Bad thing number two; purse got stolen. Good thing number one; she met a handsome man that helped her. Bad thing number three; she got tickets from lame brain Officer Laramie.

  Jo figured her bad things were out of the way, that was three in all, and things came in three’s; now bring on the good stuff. Seeing that handsome Wes guy again would definitely fall under the good category. Next, Jo made a mental list of everything she needed to replace what she had lost in her purse. That was going to be a pain. Luckily, at her dad’s insistence, she had photocopied all of her cards and her license. She was going to have to get a new phone, and she’d have to tell her sister that the present she had just given to her for their birthday last week had been jacked. Lou would not be happy.

  The cuts on Jo’s knees started to bother her so after completing the lake loop Jo headed home. When she got to her house Nick was standing on his front balcony. He was in a dress shirt and had obviously just come in from work.

  “Hey Jo, you already ran?” Nick asked, as he looked her sweaty body up and down.

  “Yup, just finished.” Jo flopped to the grass and stretched her legs out.

  “Damn I wanted to go with you.”

  “Oh sorry, I didn’t know.” Jo said apologetically as she bent her head towards her knees.

  “What happened to your knees?” Nick asked looking at her skinned knees.

  “Uh, it’s kind of a long story.”

  “Are you okay?” His concern was evident.

  “They’re just scraped. I’m fine, but thank you.”

  “Today was your last day right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay then we need happy hour!”

  Nick’s enthusiasm made Jo giggle.

  “That would be great! I’ll take a quick shower…”

  Nick eyed Jo and shot her his adorable dimpled smile.

  “Alone Nick! Sheesh!”

  “Hey, I’m always going to try. You know that!” He laughed cheerfully.

  “Yeah, I know. You are so good for my ego Nick.”

  “Yeah and you are so bad for mine.”

  They both laughed and Jo told Nick she’d meet him on the steps in a half hour.

  Chapter 4

  Wes

  Wes sat down at his desk and sifted through the messages Betty had forwarded to him. He answered a few of the more pressing emails, but he couldn’t concentrate, his mind kept wandering to the pretty little blond he’d just met. Finally he gave up and double clicked Google on his favorites bar. First he typed in the name Joe Ross. He didn’t see anything that might pertain to her so he tried B.J. Ross and was rewarded with a few matches.

  The first link he clicked on was a write up regarding the award she received for her expose of the Morgis Police Department. There was a picture of her in a cocktail dress standing next to Governor Christie. She was smiling and even though it had been just six months ago she looked younger. Reading further he discovered her full name was Bobby Jo Ross, and when the article was written she'd been twenty- seven years old. He saw that she had been working for the paper since graduating with honors from Rutgers University.

  The next link took Wes to her published article. Wes read through
it and was impressed with her investigative skills, and how she had backed up every charge she wrote about with hard evidence. He noted that someone in the precinct had verbally verified her suspicions, but she had never given up that person’s name. Fortunately, what she had been able to uncover was serious enough to warrant the Chief of Police and the Mayor to order an investigation of their own. They used a detective team from another precinct so the entire investigation was above reproach.

  The third link he clicked on was a local police blotter from two months ago. It reported that a brick had been thrown through a window at 106B Rose Lane in the nearby town of Summit. The resident, a Ms. B.J. Ross, had been asleep at the time of the incident. There were no reported injuries, and no one had been apprehended. An uncomfortable feeling niggled in the pit of his stomach, and he realized that it was because he didn’t like that her address and her name had been printed for anyone to see.

  Next, Wes Googled Jo Ross, adjusting how he spelled Jo, and he got two hits. The first link took him to a video site. When he clicked on the arrow to start the video he saw two Jo’s. They were younger versions of the beautiful woman Wes had just met. One girl was playing the piano and the other was strumming a guitar. Wes read the caption under the video as he listened to the two girls belt out a lively Carol King song. The caption read Bobby Jo and Betty Lou Ross win Sussex Fair Talent Show. Wes returned his attention to the two pretty girls. They had beautiful voices and when the song ended the video’s angle changed to show the crowd giving them a standing ovation. The video clip was from ten years ago. Wes figured they had still been in high school. When the clip ended Wes played it again trying to figure out which one was Jo. He finally gave up and returned to the search engine site.

  The next link he clicked on was from a local paper in Sussex, New Jersey taken seven years ago. There was a picture of the same two girls from the video, now dressed in cap and gown, looking a little older, standing side by side, and proudly holding their diplomas. The picture was taken at their college graduation from Rutgers. He was able to ascertain from the small article, that Jo had a twin sister, an identical twin sister. Wes needed the tag under the picture to know which girl was his Jo and which one was her sister. He then realized he had just thought of her as, ‘his Jo.’ Wes slammed the computer top down and stood up. He needed a drink!