The Law of Desire

“Birds of a feather, bro, birds of a feather.” Jason took a swig of his beer.

“I don’t think she’s a criminal. She looks sort of sweet and maybe a little spicy…But she doesn’t seem like a criminal.” Joel tilted his head in contemplation.

“She may seem sweet and innocent. But she’s a woman and that means she’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a barracuda.” Patrick frowned.

Lawrence watched as the McKnights and the woman, Minnie Samuels, left the bar. If he didn’t think his brothers would have given him a serious ribbing, he would have left, too, and followed them. But he knew his brothers. Most of all he knew what he would say to them if the situation were reversed and one of them had become suddenly obsessed with some sexy, sassy-mouthed little hood-girl.

He decided he couldn’t possibly be attracted to her. He just wanted to make sure she was okay. He’d keep an eye on her until he found out more about her and figured her out. Then he’d know if she needed saving…or jailing.

Chapter 2

Detective Lawrence Hightower was a pain in her behind. He irritated her no end and she was halfway tempted to go downtown to the Paterson Police Department and file a complaint. She would have, too, but the Los Angeles Police Department was looking for her for questioning about her brother’s murder. So how could she? That alone kept her from blowing the whistle on Lawrence Hightower.

It had been almost three weeks since her initial encounter with him, and she’d seen him in some capacity almost once a day for the past twenty-one days. It made no sense. He was watching her like a hawk. There had to be a rule, or a law or something…

She thought about it as she watched her clothes spin around and around at the Laundromat.

She’d been in Paterson for almost two months. The McKnight twins had a nice way of being protective and still allowing her to have her space. At first, one of them was constantly at her side. However, it became harder and harder for them to pull that off with their work schedules. The only jobs the twins could get with their records were temporary construction jobs and kitchen jobs washing dishes in restaurants. She could tell they were really trying to turn their lives around. And she felt sad that her brother hadn’t been able to do the same thing before he died.

As much as she adored the McKnight twins, she was glad for the time she had to herself away from their tiny apartment and their big-brothers-always-hovering routine. Even if she had to take the time at the Laundromat, at least she had it.

“Excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to have a cigarette I can borrow, would you?”

Minerva looked up to see a petite, fair-skinned woman with beautiful wavy black hair streaked with strands of gray pulled into a ponytail that hung down her back. A bright red scrunchie held the ponytail and her front tooth was chipped. She looked like she might have had a hard life at one time, but the gleam in her eyes hinted that nothing had stolen her joy. For some reason the woman made Minerva think of her own deceased mother.

“Sorry, ma’am, I don’t smoke.” Minerva smiled at the woman. She seems nice enough.

“Ma’am? Girl, please, I’m too fresh and too cool to be anybody’s ma’am. My name is Carla by the way.” She grinned and sat down next to Minerva. “It’s good you don’t smoke. It’s a nasty habit. I quit smoking myself. But every now and then, I need a cigarette.” She glanced over at a tall, handsome man with salt-and-pepper hair putting clothes in the machine. “This old man I got decided we aren’t smoking any more at all and won’t let me have an occasional cigarette. You believe that?” Carla rolled her eyes playfully and shrugged.

Minerva laughed. “My name is Minnie.” For some reason she couldn’t imagine anyone trying to tell this woman what to do.

“Girl, these men will try your patience for real.” Carla let out an exasperated sigh.

“You gonna just sit over there while I do all the work?” The tall, handsome man called over as he placed the coins in the machine.

“I like watching you work.” Carla winked at her man.

He shook his head as he smiled.

Minerva laughed at the antics between the older couple and again she felt a pang of sadness. She tried to call up the visual image of her own parents. It was getting harder and harder to remember.

“Hello, Carla. Minnie.” A deep voice pulled her away from her memories.

Her heart started beating double time in her chest at the sound of his masculine baritone. She looked up to find Detective Lawrence Hightower walking into the Laundromat. Since he was not carrying any clothes and looked like he was on duty, she had the feeling the good detective wasn’t there to wash a load.

“Hey! If it isn’t my second favorite Hightower cop.” Carla laughed. “Hey, Gerald, you better watch out. The po-po is here.”

“You know him?” Minerva spared a caustic glance at the detective before turning to Carla.

“He’s my son-in-law Jason’s brother. He’s cool people. A little too moody and he-man for my tastes, but he a’right.”

Lawrence frowned as he stared at them and rubbed his jaw in contemplation.

“Awww…don’t be mad, Hightower. You know I’m too much woman for ya anyway.” Carla laughed.

“Do you know this woman, Carla?” Lawrence eyed Minerva suspiciously as he asked the question.

“Who, Minnie? Yes, this is my new girl.” Carla glanced from Lawrence to Minerva. “Why you asking?”

“How well do you know her, Carla?” Lawrence leaned against the washer and folded his arms across his chest.

“Is there a problem over here?” Gerald walked over and stood in front of Lawrence. “How’re you doing, Lawrence?”

Minerva’s dryer stopped and she got up to get her clothes out. No way was she going to sit there and listen while the annoying Hightower cop talked about her as if she wasn’t right there in front of him.

Jerk!

She emptied out her dryer and rolled her laundry cart to the back table to start folding, while mentally calling Lawrence Hightower every kind of idiot she could think of. Was the man so determined to arrest her for something, anything? Was he willing to provoke her until she slapped him upside the head to get her on assaulting a police officer? That must have been his plan.

As she placed her folded laundry in the big red sack she’d purchased for transport, she wished the sheets and blankets would hurry up and finish drying. She didn’t bother going back up front because she could still hear Hightower’s voice. She looked up when she heard him saying goodbye to Carla and Gerald. Rather than head out the door, the detective was making his way to the back.

She leaned against the table and he came and stood right in front of her. He was close enough for her to get a nice whiff of his cologne. It was one of those fresh, clean, masculine scents. The kind that made a woman think of getting swept away on an ocean. It could knock a girl off her feet if she wasn’t careful, that was for sure.

Minerva inhaled and immediately regretted it.

She didn’t bother saying hello. She moved her eyes from his hard-edged handsome face to the rock-solid wall of muscle that made up his chest.

“Why’d you walk away, Minnie? Did my appearance throw a wrench in your plans to try and sell your wares to Carla?”

“Go to hell.”

“She says she knows you and you’re her girl. But she got awfully quiet when I mentioned your relationship with known drug dealers.”

She pursed her lips.

“How long are you planning to stay in Paterson, Minnie?”

“Why? You planning on throwing me a party, Officer?” She slanted her left eye and licked her lips, leaning over slightly so the little bit of cleavage she had made its presence known.

She could tell he was gritting his teeth by the pull in his jaw. His lip twitched and his eyes lost their typical suspicious stare. She licked her lips again before rolling her eyes.

“You need to stop harassing me, Detective Hightower. People might get the wrong idea and think you like me or something.”

There was a pause before his lips curled into a snarl. “Anyone in their right mind would know you are certainly not my type of woman. I like them taller, shapelier and, most important, crime-free.”

She felt a pain slice through her heart. No way should she have felt anything akin to hurt because the idiot cop had basically rejected her. She didn’t want him to want her. She wanted him to leave her the hell alone. She gave him a once-over and noticed the considerable bulge in his pants. She might not have a lot of experience with men, but she’d kissed and made out enough times to know when a guy was getting excited. Between his bulge and his gulping for air like a fish out of water when she licked her lips, she thought maybe, just maybe, the detective was protesting a little too much.

She licked her lips again and watched his Adam’s apple bounce. Looking up, she found his penetrating gaze zeroed in on her lips. And glancing down she found his bulge still prominent.

“Well, since I’m not your type, maybe you might want to send a memo to the rest of your body, because clearly parts of you haven’t been told the news.” With that she cut her eyes and walked back to the front of the Laundromat.

She eyed Carla for a moment to ascertain if the cop had poisoned the woman’s mind against her. The older woman smiled and winked at her. So she retook her seat next to Carla and they both watched as Lawrence gave Gerald a pound before leaving. She had a feeling she hadn’t seen the last of him for the day.

“You’re not really a drug dealer, are you?” Carla asked.

“No.”

Carla smiled. “I didn’t think so. An old recovering addict like me can spot a dealer a mile away. And you didn’t give off a dealer vibe.”

“My father was a heroin addict. He died of a drug overdose, but not before infecting my mother with HIV/AIDS.” Minerva had no idea why she shared that with the older woman. She didn’t go around telling the world. But she felt sort of close to Carla and like she needed to say it, even if it brought home just how truly alone she was in the world at the moment.

Carla pursed her lips in contemplation. “My goodness, I’m so sorry. Well, Lawrence is right even though he is being a jackass to you. You need to watch the company you keep. A lot of messed-up stuff can happen to a young girl on these streets if she’s not careful. You couldn’t have told me when I was your age that I would end up addicted to crack and letting some lowlife dealer and pimp use and abuse my body. I’m blessed to have made it out. But not everyone is able to say that. Don’t press your luck.”

Minerva nodded. She could have gone on and on about how she wasn’t going to get caught up. But something about the advice and the way it had been given told her all that wasn’t necessary. She didn’t have to prove herself to Carla. The woman was just being helpful.

“Whew! I’ve done my good deed for the week! That took a lot out of me. Ha! Hey, Gerald I think the clothes stopped. You need to put them in the dryer. I don’t want to be here all day.”

Gerald shook his head and went over to remove the clothes from the washer and transfer them to the dryer.

“You’re off the chain, Carla!”

Carla winked. “You got to keep these dudes in check. You’ll learn. So, you new to the neighborhood?”

“Yeah, I’m visiting a couple of childhood friends. I’m not sure how long I’ll be here.”

“That’s cool.”

The buzzer sounded and her sheets and blankets stopped spinning.

“It was nice meeting you.” Minerva smiled at Carla before getting up.

As she rolled the laundry cart back to the tenement on Governor Street where she was staying with the McKnight twins, she hoped she wouldn’t have the misfortune to run into Hightower again.

Lawrence watched Minnie Samuels struggle to pull the stuffed laundry cart up the stairs to the apartment building. It was all he could do to make himself watch and not rush over to help her with it.

Where were the idiots McKnight anyway? Why did it look like she’d been doing laundry for the entire household? And why did he care?

The hurt expression that flashed across her face when he’d said she wasn’t his type came to his mind and before he knew it he was walking across the street and taking the cart from her hands. He carried it up the front steps and to the door of the McKnights’ second-floor apartment.

Timmy McKnight opened the door. “Hey, girl, I was just about to go looking for you.” He eyed Lawrence before turning and giving Minerva a puzzled stare.

Minerva turned to Lawrence and for a minute she looked so sweet and innocent, he just wanted to wrap her up and take her away from there. What was wrong with him? There was something about this woman that sent his emotions spiraling in all different directions.

He hadn’t expected her to call him on his attraction to her. And he certainly hadn’t expected her to bounce back so quickly when he’d said what he said to throw her off. But she had come back with a smart-ass comment and given him a stare that made sure he knew that she knew he’d been lying.

For her sake and his, he hoped she wasn’t into anything shady. Because while it might hurt to arrest her, he would do it in a heartbeat if she proved to be a criminal.

“Thanks for your help, Detective. I appreciate it.” She brushed a strand of the auburn hair from her cheek.

He couldn’t believe he was finding himself attracted to a woman who had such an outrageous hairstyle.

No, he couldn’t be. He wouldn’t be.

No.

“You’re welcome, Minnie.” He nodded at Timothy. “Keep it clean, people. I’ll be watching.” He walked off just in time to hear Timothy start questioning Minerva.

“What’s he—”

The rest of Timothy’s words were lost to him as he left the building. But he could just imagine the conversation that was ensuing between the two of them. Maybe he should have just let her struggle with the heavy cart. But he wasn’t wired that way. No Hightower worth his salt would stand by and watch a petite little thing like Minnie Samuels struggle and not reach out to help her.

He jumped into his standard-issue, navy-blue Ford Taurus narc-mobile and continued to survey and police the neighborhood. Paterson’s Fourth Ward had a higher crime rate than other parts of the city. It had become so bad that the department even had little two-room trailer police stations on certain corners. He parked in front of the trailer on the corner of Straight Street and Governor and walked in.

His partner had been shot a few months ago and was still out on leave. Since Lawrence refused to work with anyone else, the top brass had essentially stopped trying to match him with a temporary new partner. That was more than fine with him. The last thing he wanted was responsibility for some young kid fresh out of the academy.

“What does it look like out there?” Johnson leaned back in his chair and rested his hands behind his head. The overweight officer took lounging to a new level.

“Same ol’, same ol’. It’s pretty quiet.” Lawrence cut his eyes at the empty doughnut boxes and spilled coffee on the desk Johnson was using.

Cops like Johnson gave the police a bad name. The pudgy, sloppy man was a walking, talking stereotype right down to his barely concealed racism.

“You still keeping an eye on the McKnights?” Johnson brushed his hand across his beard and doughnut crumbs came tumbling off.

“Yep. Them and every other known drug dealer.”

“You find out any more information about that little hottie who’s been staying with them? I sure would like to break off a piece of that.” The leer in Johnson’s voice caused the hair to stand up on the back of Lawrence’s neck.

The blood in his veins ran hot. He never really liked Johnson anyway, and he liked him a whole lot less at that moment. He could feel the area around his neck heating to a slow boil as he tried to talk himself out of giving Johnson a piece of his mind.

The fact of the matter was he had no business caring what anyone said about Minnie Samuels. The only thing he needed to be concerned with was if she was indeed involved in any illegal activities. Barring that, he shouldn’t have had any thoughts about her one way or the other. However, her voice suggesting someone needed to send a memo to the rest of his body came to his mind, and his heart thumped rapidly just thinking about her.

Pushing it to the back of his mind, he shrugged. “Something tells me you’re not her type, Johnson. And I don’t think it would bode well for you to try anything. Now, if you’ll excuse me, some of us have work to do.”

He walked to the back room of the trailer and sat down. Eventually, something would have to give as far as Minnie Samuels was concerned.

After putting away her clothes and making up the beds with the fresh linens, Minerva walked into the small, sparsely furnished living room where Timmy and Tommy were busy playing Grand Theft Auto IV. She reasoned they could have probably purchased a decent living room set with the money they had spent on electronic games, stereos and televisions. But clearly that wasn’t a priority for them. And she didn’t have the right to complain. They had opened up their small apartment to her when they hadn’t seen her in years.

“So what was up with you and Hightower? You have to be careful with him, baby girl. He’s like a pit bull. And he can sniff out crime like McGruff the damn crime dog, you hear me?” Timmy barely glanced at her as he maneuvered the control in his hands, trying to beat his brother at the video game.

“You don’t want to be spending too much time around him, especially if you’re trying to lay low.” Tommy turned and gave her a serious stare before getting right back into the game too late to keep Timmy from scoring.

“I know that. Believe me I know. He just keeps showing up. If I weren’t trying to hide out, I would file a complaint. I’m surprised you guys haven’t filed a complaint yet. He really seems to have it in for you.”

“He’s been on us since we moved here a few years back. He’s like a one-man crusade to clean up the streets of Paterson and get rid of all the dealers. Sucker needs a hobby.” Timmy shouted when he scored.

Tommy scowled at his twin before adding, “The man needs a hug.” He then laughed at his own joke.

“Maybe that’s why he’s sniffing behind you like that, baby girl. For real, if your brother were here, he’d bust a cap in that ass on general principle. Calvin didn’t like nobody tryin’ to holla at his baby sister.” Timmy shook his head at the memory.

“Word. I remember he stepped to David like whoa a couple of times for trying to push up on her.” Tommy let out a shout of glee when he scored.

Timmy gave Tommy a weird look and Tommy started stuttering and backtracking.

“I’m s-s-ay-ing…I mean…well everybody knows David had a thing for her…But Calvin didn’t want his sister—” Tommy cut himself off.

“Man, it wasn’t even all like that. You always running your mouth and not thinking.” Timmy rolled his eyes in disgust.

“I think Timmy is right on this one, Tommy. I don’t think David liked me like that. At least not as far as I could tell…He was always like a second older brother.”

“Yeah. And now you’ve got us. And we aren’t about to let anyone take advantage of you, especially not some sucker cop like Hightower. We have to handle this the way we know our boy Calvin would have wanted it,” Timmy said with a chuckle.

“Y’all are so crazy. I’m gonna go read a book. I’ll fix dinner later. Any requests for the chicken?”

“Baby girl, however you prepare it is fine with me. You can cook your behind off. If I didn’t view you as a little sister, I’d be trying to get you to marry a brother!” Tommy gave one of his smiles that made her think he was as sweet and innocent as he often seemed. It was easy to see he was the tenderhearted twin.

Timmy rolled his eyes at his brother. “Whatever you do is cool. We appreciate all you’ve been doing around here.”

“It’s the least I can do since you’ve let me hide out here. I know it’s an inconvenience. And I—”

“Don’t even say it. Like we said before. We’ve got your back,” Timmy admonished and assured her with a stern words and an earnest look.

Tommy nodded in agreement as he scored the winning point and then stood up to do his own version of a victory dance.

Minerva smiled and went to the back of the apartment where the small room she was sleeping in was located. She really did want to find a way to pay them back for all the help they’d given her. She hoped to be able to do so soon. She picked up the paperback copy of Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed that she’d gotten from the library and started reading. About halfway through she started to doze off with thoughts of the sexy detective in her head.

“I was totally wrong about you and I apologize.” His hand brushed her cheek and his normally suspicious eyes held her in a seductive gaze.

Minerva leaned forward and parted her lips slightly. Lawrence looked so handsome standing there in her immaculate dream bedroom with his shirt off. The ripples of muscles she could only imagine so far reminded her of everything hard and firm and masculine.

She licked her lips and smiled. “It’s okay. You didn’t know any better.”

“But I should have. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions about you. You’re an amazing, sweet and seductive woman and…”

She swallowed. “And…”

“And…” He covered her mouth with his, scorching her to her soul.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer before letting her fingers trail his skin. The taut and tempting muscles of his chest caused her heart to beat out of control. The teasing pull of his kiss made her nipples tighten and her sex weep. She moaned and tossed and turned trying to feel more of him.

“I should have known you would taste this sweet. You are the most amazing woman in the world and I want you.”

The next moan that escaped her lips was so loud it jolted her from her sleep.

Minerva sat up in the bed shaking her head. Detective Lawrence Hightower admitting he was wrong about her had to be a dream. Him kissing her breath away was truly a fantasy. But she couldn’t help the smile that stole across her face as she thought about becoming one of those people who believed dreams and fantasies could come true.

Chapter 3

“Nothing is going to happen. Nothing has happened. Nothing will happen. I’ll probably be able to go back to California soon.” Minerva mumbled the mantra to herself as she walked back from the corner bodega that was three blocks away from their tenement with some seasonings and spices she had picked up to use with dinner.

I love fall. I’ll miss it when I get back to California. Which will be soon, because nothing has happened and nothing will…

After another week in New Jersey, over two months in all, she was starting to feel like a native. The fall came in with a bang and soon all the leaves on the trees in the neighborhood started turning these vibrant colors. She’d never seen anything like it growing up in Los Angeles. She’d seen pictures of fall foliage, but nothing could take the place of the yellows, oranges, rusts, browns and smatterings of green that transformed the trees. And it wasn’t as if there were a whole lot of trees in the neighborhood where she was hiding out, but what few there were looked magnificent.

She was shocked out of her leaf gazing when a large white van screeched up, driving halfway onto the sidewalk. Two men in masks jumped out and ran toward her.

One grabbed her and, as if she were on automatic pilot, she kicked back with her stiletto-heeled boots getting him first in the shin and then a little further up his leg. She assumed she must have hit her mark by the way he threw her forward and cursed. You can take the girl out of the ’hood but not the ’hood out of the girl.

Dropping her bag, she screamed and turned to run in the other direction, cursing the stupid snug Apple Bottom dress she was wearing and the shoe booties. She got a good sprint on. But she knew in her heart there was no way she was going to be able to escape these men.