Razor The Wild Ones - Jessie Cooke

1

“Bobby?” Kayleigh wiped the sleep from her eyes and sat up in bed. Glancing over at the LED clock on the dresser, she saw that it said 1:15 a.m. “What are you doing?”

Her boyfriend Bobby, the man she met in high school and knew right then that he would be the love of her life, stood a few feet from the bed. When she’d woken up, he looked like he was headed for the door, but now he turned back toward her. He was dressed, in a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved t-shirt, and boots. He had his jacket in his hand. “Go back to sleep, babe. I’ll be back soon.”

Kayleigh sat up further and reached over and switched on the light. “Back from where? What’s going on?”

Bobby sighed, but almost imperceptibly. Suddenly, there was a smile on his face, that gorgeous smile she’d fallen in love with six years earlier. She’d given up a lot to be with Bobby. Her father hated him and none of her friends liked him, but Kayleigh spent years telling herself they just didn’t understand him. Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but who was? Lately however, she’d had cause to worry that maybe some of the things they’d all said about him were true. On more than one occasion he’d come home hours after he was supposed to. On two occasions while he was out, strangers…scary looking people…had knocked on the door looking for him. Bobby always had some kind of “logical” excuse for everything, but Kayleigh was starting to wonder if her dad had been right all along, and she was just too naïve for her own good.

Bobby sat down on the bed and reached for her. Kayleigh stiffened, but didn’t pull away. “Kevin called,” he said, running his hand over her hair and down her back. Even when she was upset with him, his touch brought her body alive. “He and Daisy had a fight and she left him at the bar. He needs a ride home.”

“Seriously?” Kevin was Bobby’s best friend, had been for even longer than she and Bobby had been together. Kayleigh wasn’t crazy about the guy. It seemed like he was always getting himself into trouble and pulling Bobby down with him. “Why can’t he take an Uber?” They lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The party scene was not as wild as their neighbor, New Orleans, just about an hour and fifteen minutes southeast of them, but it could get wild. The capital city drew thousands of tourists a month, and the “Red Stick,” as the locals fondly called their city, not only offered some of the best hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs in the state…but they also offered ample amounts of public transportation.

“She didn’t leave his phone so he can’t call one. He used the phone at the bar to call me, and he’s waiting, Kay, so I have to go.” He kissed her on the forehead and stood up. “Now just go back to sleep, baby, and I’ll be here when you wake up for work in the morning.”

Kayleigh didn’t say anything else as he went out the door, but as soon as he was gone, she jumped out of bed and pulled on a pair of yoga pants and a long-sleeved t-shirt. She pulled her long, dark hair up into a messy bun on the back of her head and then slipped on her running shoes. On her way through the dining room she grabbed her phone, purse, and keys. The sound of Bobby’s car leaving the street they lived on was fading by the time she reached the garage. That was okay though, she wouldn’t need to tail him in order to find out where he was going. Kayleigh’s father was the assistant chief of police in West Baton Rouge Parish. He’d been a police officer her entire life, and although the idea of invading Bobby’s privacy, or following him around in the middle of the night, had never occurred to her until the past few weeks, when it did, her law enforcement connections came in handy.

Kayleigh grew up with one of her father’s favorite young officers. They’d been best friends all the way up until Kayleigh started dating Bobby in high school. Unfortunately, Jason and Bobby couldn’t stand each other, so she and her best friend had drifted apart. She felt guilty the day she’d called and asked him to meet her for coffee. He hadn’t seemed surprised when he found out she’d only reached