Strangers with Benefits (Siren Publishing Classic) Read Online Free Page B

his shift, all he wanted to do was hit the sack, but he did manage to rub one off before he fell asleep.
    He was off rotation for the next few days, so he ended up having a simple breakfast Sunday morning and made a trip to the grocery store.
    He didn’t think about Sidonie too much, if he didn’t count every time he passed a thickly hipped black woman, but he did think about her on Monday, when he passed Queens Laundry on the way to the beach. He planned a day in his kayak at one of the local spots, a barren place with a few homes, but mainly mile after mile of untainted beach for him enjoy alone.
    Most of his friends were at work, as he had the odd schedule, so he was used to doing his favorite pursuits alone. By Tuesday, he was preparing to go back to work, and he charged his flashlight, cleaned his weapon, and scrubbed his shoes as they still had a bit of muck in the seams of the rubber.
    He picked his uniforms up from the cleaners and washed his personal clothes.
    Wednesday, he went back to work for another day in the field.
    But when he checked his office mailbox, he found a blue envelope that was sealed with no name on the flap but his own.
    It was stuffed full and quite stiff actually, and he wondered what was inside and who sent it to him. The card had to be a hand delivery, as there was no stamp or return address on the outside.
    When he carefully pried open the flap, there was a card inside with a silly dog on the front.
    He opened it, and the print inside was a flowing, feminine script with lots of loops.

    Officer McTavish,
    I just wanted to say thank you for all of your wonderful assistance. I never imagined meeting an officer of the law that was as kind and supportive as you were on Saturday night. You went above and beyond the call of duty to assist a stranger with an issue that you took ownership of, even though it was my fault to begin with, but you never made me feel foolish, even if I deserved to.
    I couldn’t stop thinking about how the world would be a better place if everyone was as considerate as you were. I just needed to make sure that you didn’t go without because of your generosity, so here is a prepaid card with your twenty dollars on it.
    And a little extra, so you can have your next lunch on me.
    If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.
    With much thanks,
    Sidonie Clark
    P.S. I did replace my phone, BTW.

    It was from her .
    As promised, there were two cards enclosed. One was a silver Visa card and the other was for a popular chicken spot that boasted a delicious sandwich with pickles that he indulged in some days, as he was fairly strict with his diet four days out of the week so he could remain as healthy as possible.
    It shocked him to say the least.
    He had received thank you letters from people he’d helped before. But this was the first time anyone had ever given him something inside of the card. He couldn’t help the smile that rode his lips for the rest of the morning, even though the others laughed at him during the briefing and roll call for their shift.
    “Why are you so happy, McTavish?”
    “You finally get some poor woman to give you some, McTavish?”
    He didn’t say anything. It was part and parcel of the territory of being an officer. Cops liked to ride each other. It was the same way brothers treated one another, and, if nothing else, being an officer was a fraternity of sorts, and all of its members were his brothers.
    And it worked exactly the same as being in a family would. They gave each other a hard time and cracked jokes at one another’s expense. He wasn’t irritated, but he wasn’t going to give them any details, either.
    He went about the rest of his day up until lunch time, when he sat at the chicken restaurant and ate his sandwich, courtesy of Mrs. Clark. She was more considerate than he imagined, as he never expected that the card would be from her.
    He did a lot of leg work for her, but he tried to treat every call to service the same way