RILEY:

I drive to Hal's place, an expensive condo- in my opinion- that puts my little apartment home to shame.  So far we've been back and forth with where we sleep, depending on how close we are when we call it a day. Today, the exit through the highway is closer to his place so by default, we will spend the night there.

I park the cruiser in my usual parking spot. Hal and I trudge up the stairs to his floor and lazily enter his place. I flick the light switch on, then in a few steps, falling forward onto the modern black couch.

Hal slaps my ass lightly, making me yelp in surprise. My partner says, "Come on. I want to go to bed."

"Let me fall asleep here. I don't want to move," I groan into the side of the couch. My hands grasp at the pillows when I feel to arms hook under my calfs. My body slowly inches off the couch each second. "Rileyyyy," Hal whines.

I turn over, staring at the ginger hunched over my form. He then pulls me up by the arm. I let out tired yawn while I follow him into his bedroom. I kick of my loafers and fall onto the bed, causing the neatly-made covers to fold under my weight.

My eyes fall shut as I enjoy the cover's cold temperature. Did I mention how freakishly hot today was? The past three months made me wonder if global warming is at its peak. It's the first week of August now and all I want to do is swim in the cool waters of the Pacific. Yes, I actually had a non-family related vacation for the first time.

I listen to the ruffling of clothes then the spot next to me dips. I open my eyes to discover Hal's face a few inches from mine. "Babe, get changed," he says softly. I face away from him and bury my head into the cool sheets. The ginger sighs and his weight leaves the bed.

Seconds later, Hal flips me onto my back. His fingers unbutton my shirt with ease and end up to my belt buckle. I lift an eyebrow, giving him an amused smile. The belt slides off from under me then he quickly pulls my pants off to my knees.

"I'm getting better at this," Hal mutters to himself with a silent laugh. I kick and wiggle my pants off. The chilly sheets cool off my warm skin; damn, this feels good. Hal wedges himself between my bare legs.

I gasp when he lifts my lower body and pushes me further up the bed. My head reaches the white pillows; the covers wrinkle more from our movement.

Hal lies on top of me, letting head rest onto my half-revealed chest. I adjust a pillow to cushion my head. I wrap my legs around his waist, playing with his navy briefs with my toes.

"I thought you were tired," mumbles Hal.

I chuckle, "I can't when a hot body is stuck on me."

"I'm hot, hm?"

"Yes. Now get off," I scowl, hitting his ass with my foot. I let go of his waist when he rolls over to my side. I lie on my stomach, letting my arms go under the pillow. I say almost inaudibly, "Night, babe."

"Night, my angel," he responds. Again, with the embarrassing nickname. I'm too exhausted to retort back, so I'll give him this one.

It hasn't been a few minutes until my damn smartphone rings. I groan into the pillow as the ringtone continues to play. I'll ignore it and call back tomorrow. Seconds later it ends and I relax once more in bed.

Ding ding ding diiing

I sigh irritably, dragging myself off the comfortable mattress and trudge to my discarded pants. The ringing ends but comes back to life again. I pull out my phone and take the call. It's Mabel Aquila's caller ID.

"Wha-"

"Riley," Mabel interrupts me in a whisper. My mouth forms a line as she continues in a hurried tone. "Men have broken in the bar while it's closed. Come here quickly. Please. Don't tell anyone and don't dress like you usually do." She drops the calls.

"Mabel?" I frown and begin to put my pants on. Hal sits up and I toss him his pants. He begins to dress himself, "What did she ask for?"

"We got to get to Uptown Bar. She's in trouble. I wonder why she wants us to wear something else?" I exchange my button-up and tie with a loose black t-shirt. Hal gets a tank top that hangs from the bathroom door. He shrugs, "If she's asking us not to show up as investigators, I'm wearing something that's less likely to stick on me."

Enough is said and the two of us hurry back to the police cruiser. The clock reads midnight when we leave. Because it's so late, there is less traffic so it takes us a few minutes to drive to the bar. I pull up to the curb on the other side of the street to make it look like it's not related to her bar.

Hal and I exit the car equipped with our hip holsters at our side. We both jog across the empty street to reach the unlit bar. I open the door with no problem, discovering the lock to be broken. I draw my gun and attach a silencer to it; same goes for my partner. If Mabel wants less attention to the bar, we need to make sure the place doesn't sound like a shooting range- well, that's if we have to resort to weapons.

As we head further into the bar, we are greeted by tipped over chairs and flipped over tables. Shards of glass litter the wooden flooring. I use my phone's flashlight to guide me to the light switch. I turn the bar's lights on, revealing the trashed place.

"Geez... what's the purpose for making a mess?" Hal says lowly. My shoes crunch over the broken glass.

A scream is heard in the kitchen. I begin to dash there but the doors of the kitchen slam open and a man in a grey hoodie begins to fire at us. The guy is also using a silencer; they're prepared to kill whoever's here.

Hal and I are split up, sending both of diving in opposite directions. I get behind a tipped over table. I peek once but duck once more when a bullet flies by. I glance at Hal to make sure he's fine. With an "ok" hand gesture as my reply, I silently signal him to follow my lead.

I get up from my cover, rolling when the man fires again.

"Riley!" I hear Mabel's call in the kitchen. Another high pitched scream mixes with her call for help but it sounds like it's going farther and farther.

I distract the hooded man, getting Hal to hit him with two shots. I slide over the bar counter, kicking the firearm out of the wounded man's hand. I then sprint into the kitchen.

My eyes scan the room and notice the back door open. I hurry out to the back to find Mabel wrestling with a man wearing a beanie. A few feet away from them is a lady with blonde long hair who's on the floor.

Mabel breaks free of the hold and slugs the guy with a right hook. He falls back then scrambles to regain his balance. I run to them, alerting my presence. The beanie man begins to sprint away from us.

"Stop!" I yell after him. I don't know why I even try telling words like that when they never work. It's a habit, I guess?

The man notices I'm gaining up on him. He turns right on the corner. An arm suddenly pops up and throws me off balance. I fall onto my back with a thud. I roll to the side to avoid a kick to the head. I get into a crouch, fall onto one knee and swing the other around his ankles, then forcing forward with my body.

Thud!

The man cries out in pain from the impact against the sidewalk. I mount him quickly, forcing him onto his stomach. My legs pin him down, locking major movements; I restrain his arms behind his back with one hand.

I reach down my side- I forgot my handcuffs....

I sigh, assessing my choices while the man struggles underneath me. I should've brought a taser or something. I shrug, wrapping my arms around the man in a "sleeper hold." He weakly grasps at my choke hold. I wait a couple of seconds and... lights out for him.

I can relax finally; I should be asleep by now. With one huff, I carry the unconscious man on my back and head to the bar.

I return to an exhausted-looking partner, Mabel leaning against the counter, and the blonde stranger sitting on a bar stool. Hal turns his attention to me, already coming to my aid to help carry the blacked out guy.

We both set him down next to the other guy we caught. I examine the one Hal shot. I frown, "What happened to him?"

The ginger sullenly replies, "The son of a bitch had a cyanide capsule in his mouth. Died a few minutes after he got shot." He then looks over at the one I captured and nods at the sign of his breathing.

With that done, I cross my arms and face Mabel who's staring off in space. She snaps out of whatever trance she's in and locks eyes with me. Her mouth forms a grin, "Mierda! Riley, did you see how I wrestled that pinche pendejo! I would have finished him off he didn't run like a little pussy."

"Cut the crap, Mabel. What's going on? Why do you have two men after you?"

"Three actually. The other man ran when he saw you guys turn the lights on. And no they aren't after me, they're after her," the Hispanic woman gestures to the stranger in the room. The blonde looks at all of us with wide eyes. She shifts her gaze to the wooden flooring and nods.

"Her name's Roxanne. She hasn't told me her last name yet," explains the bar owner.

I ask Mabel, "So what happened before we got here?"

"Well," she takes a seat next to Roxanne. "I was closing around midnight because nowadays people don't want to be out late in Upside no more." She spins on the stool from side to side. Her long wavy dark hair sways with her movements.

"Before I can lock the door, I have a cute woman running to me for aid," she continues. The description causes Roxanne to blush and shift uncomfortably in her seat. Mabel smiles, "You know I can't shoot down a request for help. Lucia would scowl me from morning to night if she caught wind of it." I had to agree with that because her sister is the most kindhearted investigator on our team.

Mabel sighs, "I took her in and she explains about men chasing after her. I locked the bar doors and we talked more in the kitchen. A few minutes later, I hear my door break- speaking of broken locks, Riley you still haven't payed me back-"

"Mabel," I interrupt. "The story," I press mostly because I didn't want to discuss about the broken locks again. I hope she counts us "saving the day" as payment.

"Roxanne and I hid in the kitchen storage closet," continues the Hispanic woman. "That's when I called you," she bobs her head at me. I nod, remembering what happened not too long ago.

"The three men were tearing up my precious bar. They found us later and grabbed Roxanne then you guys showed up," she grits her teeth. "I wanted to kick all their-" She lets out a frustrated sigh, pulling at her dark brown hair. I can't blame her; the state of her bar is going to need cleaning, and poor Miguel is going to have more work than usual.

"I'm sorry," whispers Roxanne, glancing at the bar owner.

Mabel frowns, "Cariña, no worries. I would feel worse if I didn't step in to help." She settles her hand on the Roxanne's that lies on the blonde's lap.

I nod then turn my gaze on Roxanne. Her blue eyes look back at me with a mixture of emotions I can't distinguish.

I can't put my finger to it but I know already...

She's obviously hiding something and whatever trouble she brings, I want to be ready.

......[(( _ _ ))..zzzZZ(( _ _ ))..zzzZZ]......
A/N: Vote & Comment ❤️
Lol I'm only partially done with the chapter prompts but I'll slowly write the chapters at the same time.