New England Law & Hotness: Chapter 2
Our Law School Gorgeous Redhead, Bree, Gets Jacked in Boston 😉
Author’s Note: A fun little setup for the next chapter.
I can’t believe I got carjacked. In Boston!
I was a wreck.
I was sitting at a red light, texting with my mom. The next thing I know, there’s a dude outside my window holding a gun, telling me to get out of my car.
I did of course.
I was 5’6” and all of 115 pounds and I can’t tell you how terrified I was to see a gun in my face.
I hated guns, and the man-boy that was holding it looked like he was strung out, so the idea that I would do something other than do what I was told was laughable.
Out of the car and shaking, the carjacker had looked me up and down and said something to the effect of, “Now ain’t you pretty. Maybe I should bring you with me? The guys would love to have a piece of you, pretty lady.”
I froze on hearing the threat, but thankfully, the squelch of a siren sounded a few blocks away. Hearing the sound, the punk gave me one final leer, jumped into my Honda Civic, and then raced away.
I don’t know how long I stood in the intersection, staring blankly at where my car had been. Eventually, a pair of kind ladies approached and walked me out of the traffic. They had seen everything in the car behind me and had called the police.
An hour later, I had spoken with Boston’s finest, and my dad had arrived to take me home.
What a disaster.
According to the police, carjackings had been taking place all over the city, and the thieves tended to target people who looked like they wouldn’t resist. While the female officer looked me up and down, she pronounced that I most certainly matched the profile of those who were getting jacked. “They like them young and pretty or old and slow.”
Two days later, I was back at work. The firm had been wonderful. Even the senior partner had stopped by to see if I was doing okay. He had a daughter my age and, on hearing about my news, had made a personal call to the Mayor’s office. I guess he knew people politically because he got a call back from the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and had torn a strip off of her.
An hour after that conversation, I was finally able to concentrate on my work when Giselle, one of the firm’s paralegals, popped into my work area and said, “Bree, there’s a couple of police officers out in the front for you, honey.”
My head rose over my cubicle wall to look at the woman. “The police? They’re here for me?”
Giselle, an older gal with a kind soul, recognized my hesitation, walked over to me, and said, “Listen, honey, I can see what they want, or I can tell them to come back when you’re feeling up to it. My ex is a cop, so I know how to handle the BPD. Just say the word.”
“No, it’s okay, Giselle. But it’s sweet of you to offer.”
“Alright, but if you need anything, just have Liz call for me, and I’ll come right out,” said the older woman.
“I will, thank you,” I said.
Getting up from my desk, I smoothed over my outfit and made to walk the short distance to the firm’s lobby.
As I opened the door to the waiting area, I could see the side profile of the two officers. They must have been detectives because they were in plain clothes.
The one closest to me was black, a touch overweight, and his hair was speckled with grey. Other than being white and the same height as his partner, I couldn’t make out much of the other one because of the first detective’s position.
“Ah, there she is,” Liz said from behind the counter.
As the two Boston PD officers turned in my direction.
It was at that moment that it dawned on me that I’d completely forgotten about my date with Brody. It was supposed to be last night!
The cop with the waistline said, “Ms. Bennette, I’m Detective Geller, and this is my partner, Detective Blaine. We’ve got some good news for you. Not only did we find your car, but we also caught the thug who carjacked you. Or at least, we think we did. If you can, we’d like to bring you down to the precinct so you can identify him.”
As the older cop spoke, I took in the officer beside him. He was wearing jeans, a plain navy-blue golf shirt that hugged his muscles perfectly, and was wearing a holstered gun on his hip.
I blurted out, “I’m so sorry. I totally forgot!”
The face of the detective who’d asked if I could come with them became confused and said, “I’m sorry, Ms. Bennette, I don’t understand. Is everything okay? If you’re not up to it, we can arrange another time.”
“No. Sorry. Shit!” I said, the words careening out of my mouth carelessly.
One of the officers’ eyebrows arched into the air, but before he could speak, I pointed in the other cop’s direction, and now completely flustered, I blurted out, “It’s him. I mean Brody. No, Detective Blaine — is that your last name? I was supposed to go out on a date with him last night, and I totally forgot about it.”
The older detective thumbed to his partner and said, “You stood up this guy?”
Sputtering, I said, “Well, stood up isn’t the right word. Can you stand someone up if you completely forgot about the commitment? I mean, to stand somebody up, don’t you actively have to decide to blow someone off?”
“It’s a good question, Ms. Bennette,” the older officer said, while his face took on a thoughtful look.
Turning in the direction of the other cop, he said, “Why don’t we let Detective Blaine pronounce whether or not he was dumped before the first date? If I remember correctly, this wouldn’t be the first time, eh, kid?”
Before Brody could reply, I looked behind the reception desk and saw Liz taking in the debacle that was my private life in real-time. While she seemed delighted to have a front-row seat, I was devastated.
Brody finally spoke, “It’s all good, Ms. Bennette. I’m not gonna lie. Last night, everyone at the bar said it’d been a long time since they’d seen me look so sad, but then I told myself there’s no way I could get stood up twice in the same month, so I went to work last night, and sure enough, I found one Bree Bennette had been carjacked on Pearl and Medford. The rest as they say, is history.”
An annoyed look invaded the face of the older detective. “Wait, you got me to come into work early this morning so you could track down the car of the woman who stood you up?”
Louder than I should have, I said, “I didn’t stand him up.”
“Earl,” Blaine said, “You heard the good lady, she didn’t stand me up. She had other things on her mind was all.”
“Jesus Christ, Blaine, you had me work at 5 am! And never mind how pissed Ramirez and the rest of the carjacking squad is gonna be when they find out why you took a piece of their action.”
“They’re amateurs, Earl, and you know it. What, it took us all of three hours to track this guy down? If we’d left it to those clowns, the car would be gone, and that degenerate we got down at the precinct would still be out there doing his thing. My bet is the Lieutenant is back at the precinct waiting for us to return so he can award us with medals.”
Geller threw up his hands, “Medals!? If the Lieutenant gets wind of this, Blaine, the only thing we’ll be tracking down for the next six months is missing shopping carts.”
As the two detectives’ conversation grew more animated, other staff members arrived at the reception. Giselle and two of the firm’s more senior lawyers had purposely walked into the space to see what the hubbub was about.
Without warning, Detective Geller rounded on me and with a serious look on his face, he said loudly, “Well, Ms. Bennette, now that we’ve established that you did not, in fact, stand up my partner, I guess I should ask if you’d be prepared to commit to another date with him?”
“Wait, what?” I said.
“Another date, Ms. Bennette. When you’re feeling up for it, of course.”
For several seconds, my eyes moved back and forth between the two cops. Finally, I said, “Did you guys actually find my car?”
As a smile cracked on Brody’s face, he said, “We did. And we really do need you to come down to the precinct.”
From behind the reception, Liz stood up and, with her thick Boston accent, said, “Oh Bree honey, I’m sure Mr. Strand wouldn’t mind you taking off work early so you could help these fine officers.”
Horrified, my wide-open eyes looked at the middle-aged woman. Giselle was standing beside her, and together, they were looking appreciatively at the back of Detective Brody Blaine. As though it was planned, the two women simultaneously nodded their heads in the direction of the law firm’s entrance as though to say, get out of here.
Behind them, the female lawyer wore a knowing smile on her face. She seemed to be enjoying the show, while the male solicitor beside her seemed clueless.
Well, I thought, that was one less person I wouldn’t be able to look in the eyes for the next three months.
Turning back to the detectives, I said, “Give me a minute to grab my things. It would seem the growing consensus here at Strand & Pane is that I should come with you.”
Now smiling, Detective Gellar said, “And the date, Ms. Bennette?”
Returning the older man’s smile, I said, “Detective Blaine and I will discuss it over a drink tonight at The Yankee’s Anchor. Assuming, of course, that’s good with the Detective?”
With a smile that was at least as wide as his partner’s, Brody said, “Good with me, Ms. Bennette. The Yankee’s Anchor it is.”
Did you like this story? If you want to read the next chapter, click here. If you enjoyed this story, then try my full novella, The Girlboss Chronicles, in ebook or audiobook. Also, sign up for my newsletter to get updates on my writing and hot micro-stories.
