Sugar

Chapter 2

Ring. Ring. Ring. Victor sat up and reached for the noisy phone. Instead, he grabbed a handful of something squishy, popped his eyes open, and looked to his side of the bed, jerking his hand away.

What the actual f**k?

He sat up and saw a head of brownish-red hair and caramel-colored skin. He was about to shake her awake when the phone rang again.

Ring. Ring. Rii...

The woman picked up the phone, and his suspicion became clear.

"Havana." She spoke into the phone.

Shit.

"Ma, calm down. I'm not dead. I'm fine, no I. I know I should have called and told you I was alive. But ma, I don't live with you. That key is only for emergencies. I gotta go. Bye. Bye. Bye." Sugar said, hanging up on a shrieking woman.

She stretched, showing her breasts and stomach as the cover went down her body.

"Mornin Vic." She smiled, turning toward him.

Victor was going to ask her what happened last night. He had the wording perfect, but what came out was, "What the f**k are you doing here?"

"I'm hurt, but you don't remember kissing me and driving me to your place to have the greatest s*x of our lives everywhere before getting into bed and going to sleep." Sugar said with a wicked smile on her face.

Sugar touched his forearm, sliding her fingernail over the muscle.

"No." Victor jerked out, and from her reach so far, he almost fell out of bed. "If you couldn't tell I was very drunk," Victor growled

She didn't show it on her face, but Sugar was hurt that he was sick from her touch.

"Not too drunk to f**k my brains out."

"You took advantage of..." Victor couldn't even finish his sentence without laughing. "No, I shouldn't have drank that much."

"Well, this was fun, but I have to get dressed and call a cab to get my car at the bar, then go home, shower, get dressed, and go to work." Sugar said

"Do that," Victor said

"Oookay. I'm going to go." She said, already putting on her shoes and walking to the bedroom door.

"Wait, that was rude. Let me at least drive you to the bar to get your car." Victor smiled softly.

"Oh, oh. Was that a smile?" Sugar asked

"I regret it already." Victor growled, "Let me get dressed."

"Don't mind me, I've seen it all." Smirking, she sat in bed. "Let me just say it was fantastic."

"Just go wait downstairs." He said, smirking to himself.

"Will do, partner."

***

After dropping Sugar off at the bar, she thanked him, hopped into her car, and drove home. When she opened the door to her place, she was bombarded by family.

"Oh my god, she's okay," Emmanuel said

"Dad?" I asked

"Your mother made it seem like something bad happened to you," Dante said

"Mom, I told you I was fine." Sugar said

"You didn't come home. You're in the same clothes from yesterday. They're wrinkled and dirty, and you smell like alcohol and cigarettes. What am I supposed to think." Nicole said

"I am a grown woman who went to a bar after work and went home with somebody." Sugar said no anger or guilt in her tone.

"What's his name?" Joey asked

"No."

"Address?" Nick asked

"Can't you see we are concerned?" Andy asked

"Concerned? I remember being concerned. That's when you tried to beat up my high school boyfriend for kissing me goodnight." Sugar smiled

"What about it?" Jacob asked

"I don't need that concern anymore. I can handle myself. I'm a detective, remember? Plus, I had six brothers who taught me how to defend myself. Mom worried you for nothing." Sugar said

"Are you going to tell me, at least?" Nicole asked

"No."

"Why?"

"Because you'll tell Dad, then Dad will tell his sons, and then I'm screwed. Because they beat a guy to death." Sugar explained

"Hmm." That was all Nicole could say because she knew it was true.

"Can all of you please leave? I have to shower and prepare for work, and I don't want to be late on my second month. I have a perfect streak. My boss will hate me, and Vic will think I'm lazy." Sugar said

"Who's Vic? Is he the guy you..."

"Shut up." She said

"Vic is her new partner. Remember the one with the bad attitude that I told everyone about," Kevin said

"Oh, no need to worry there. He's a mean old snake that doesn't do one-night stands. Or talks. I told him a million times he should get laid. Maybe he'd be nicer." Kevin smirked

"Can we focus on the fact that you guys are not married, and you're all over thirty?" Sugar said

"Well, she's right. I know some fantastic women..."

"Ma." All six boys complained.

"Out. Complain elsewhere. Daddy, I'll see you at game night in two days. Mom, I'm sure I'll see you later." Sugar said

After they all left, she showered and changed into jeans and a deep red shirt that did nothing to conceal how much she had in her bra. As she finished putting her shoes on, her phone rang.

"Havana." She answered

"We got a body for you," Manny said

"On my way." Sugar said

***

Being on the scene first, he was there to see the people start crowding around the body on the floor.

"Where's the tape, Donger? These people are contaminating my crime scene." Victor said

"I'm sorry, sir. I'll get right on it." Donger said, running to his patrol car for the yellow police tape.

"That was mean. It would help if you were more mellowed out after what happened last night. But you seem to be wound even tighter. What gives." Sugar said

"Nothing gives last night..." Victor stopped as Officer Donger came and put the tape around the cones he placed down. "Last night was a huge mistake. I was... intoxicated, and I wasn't thinking straight. We are partners, nothing else."

"Duh, we're partners. I know why you think I'm here." Sugar smiled

Victor growled

The coroner came and set some tools up. He checked the victim's wrists and neck.

"What do we have, Martin?" Sugar asked

"Well, Miss Havana, we have bruising around the wrist and two ligature marks on the back of the head, lots of blood. I can't tell what he was hit with, but I'll figure it out once we get into the lab." Martin Claymore said

"Thank you, Martin." Sugar said

"Are you on a first-name basis with everybody in the precinct?" Victor asked

"Yes."

"And they're all okay with that?" He asked with a furrowed brow.

"Yes." Martin said, "You're the only one who seems to have a problem with Sugar calling you Vic."

Victor growled. "My name is Victor Doctor Claymore."

"Sorry, Victor." Martin got up and walked to his car.

"That was mean, Victor. You have to apologize to Martin." Sugar said

Victor looked at Sugar in the eye for the first time since meeting her in the coffee shop.

She called me Victor. Is she mad at me? Why do you care? You just met her. And bits and pieces of last night keep flashing in my brain. Could you fix it?

"Are you okay, Sugar?" Victor asked

"Yeah. I think you should apologize to Doctor Martin. He was just being friendly." Sugar said

"I don't do friendly," Victor said

"I noticed. That doesn't mean you can't try. It won't kill you."

"It just might. I haven't been nice since high school."

"Something bad happened?" Sugar asked

"You could say that." Victor frowned, "Nothing bad ever happened to you. I can tell by your cheery disposition."

"Don't judge a woman on her happiness." Sugar sang in a high-pitched voice.

***

As Sugar was heading to her desk, she ran into Kevin, who stopped her.

"Parker is here and she's flirting," Kevin said

Sugar looked around the corner and saw her human ex-best friend, Paris Parker, flirting with Victor. What made it worse was he was letting her touch him.

"Fuck." Was all she said as she made her way to her shared desk.