Electrify Me (The Fireworks Series Book 1) by Bibi Rizer Page A

you?” There are tears on her face too. I kiss them away.
    “He didn’t touch me. I was pretty scared too, though. It’s okay now.”
    We encircle each other. Now that those fucking tights are back in place, she can wrap her legs around me. I lift her up, vaguely aware that my dick is still hanging out, but I don’t care. Light-headed from having her safe in my arms again, I might never let go. We stand there as I process how deep and complete this dark is. I’ve been straining my eyes since I got down here, and I still can’t see anything, not even her sweet face, her nose pressed against mine. I tilt my head and capture her lips in a kiss for the ages, a kiss that climbs to the top of my greatest hits of all time kisses. Number one with a bullet.
    My watch starts to beep.
    Gloria whispers onto my lips. “What’s that?”
    “Midnight,” I say. “Happy New Year.”
    I think she sobs, but I press my lips on hers again. I’ll keep kissing her until everything is good again. I’ll kiss it all better.
    Somewhere in the dark there’s a deafening crash. Then stomping feet. And shouting. “Police! Police!”
    Doors being kicked in and more shouting. And feet stomping downstairs.
    Gloria wriggles out of my arms, tugging me down. “Kneel down! With your hands on your head!”
    “Wha –?”
    “Just do it!”
    I make a half-assed effort to tuck my cock back into my boxers and do as she says, kneeling in the dark with my hands on my head. There’s a burst of light, blinding me. I just have time to turn my head to see that Gloria is kneeling next to me before two giant cops appear in the beam of light, guns pointing at me, shouting.
    “Get down! Get down! Hands behind your back!”
    Then I’m shoved down onto my face. “Gloria!” I try to say but end up with a mouthful of grit and whatever else is on the floor. Pot I think it is. I spit it out as someone cuffs and frisks me, spreading my legs with his feet like he’s planning to rape me. The wrench swishes out from my belt loop and clangs on the floor.
    “He didn’t do anything!”  Gloria yells. I try to look up to see where she’s going, where they’re taking her. All I can see is shadows moving in waving beams of light.
    “Stay the fuck down!” the cop says. His boot presses on my head, slamming my nose into the floor. I taste blood.
    Gloria’s voice is farther away now. “He’s not the one who kidnapped me! Let him go!”
    Then I’m being dragged through the dark, upstairs, through a narrow doorway that my head smacks into, down a hallway until I’m blinking and blinded in the bright lights of several police cars. Whoever was dragging me shoves me down to my knees in the gravel.
    My blood is pumping so heavily in my ears, I can’t hear anything, just the pounding of my heart. The voices around me sound dull and thick, as though I’m underwater. Someone is shouting at me. A giant shadow above me. All I can see are guns. I close my eyes and try to think of something to block my instinct to stand up and fight. You’re not in Afghanistan, I think. It’s just American cops. Stay down.
    Fuck. That was something pretty far back in my mind.
    “What’s your name? What’s your name?” the shadow screams at me, his flashlight raised over his head, blinding me.
    “PFC Charles Zhang, sir!” I say.
    “Private Zhang?”
    Blink. Think. I think I hit my head on that doorway pretty hard. “No. Sorry. Just Charles Zhang. Charlie. I was discharged.”
    “What branch?”
    “Army, sir.”
    “Why were you discharged?”
    It takes me a few seconds to dredge up this piece of information. I’d tucked it away from shame, I guess. But for some reason as I say it, I’m not ashamed anymore. It is what it is. There’s no such thing as a perfect hero. “Bee stings, sir. I’m allergic to them.”
    The cop says nothing for a few seconds. He tucks his flashlight under his arm, and I risk a look up at him. He’s actually smiling.
    “It’s not funny. I nearly