Read Linda Kay Silva - Delta Stevens 3 - Weathering the Storm for Free Online Page A

why she called Connie whenever she needed information that was not readily available on the streets. She couldn’t picture herself stepping aside to let some rookie fumble his way through a procedure she could do with her eyes closed. And worst of all, she could not see herself opening up and being honest with someone who was just a temporary partner. It would be like having a stranger in the car every night. The way Delta saw it, temporary partners were like scab laborers; they had no real investment or loyalties and they would be the first to bail out when the heat was on. And she didn’t need that.
    Thinking back to her last counseling session, Delta shook her head. It seemed as if everyone in her life was asking her to slow down. They all wanted her to have a life outside of the beat. She thought she did, but clearly, she was the only one who thought so. Didn’t anyone understand that being a cop wasn’t just a job? To Delta, it was a lifestyle. It was a way of being, an attitude, a mindset. What happened on the streets in a night didn’t end when the shift ended. The images, the feelings, the sights, smells, and sounds stayed with her long after a crime scene was cleaned up.
    And still, everyone wanted her to stand back and watch the action instead of participate in it. The captain wanted her to teach, Connie wanted her to smell the roses, and Megan wanted her to put their relationship first. None of them understood that Delta didn’t know how to do any of those things. All she ever wanted to do was be a cop. And once she put that badge on, once she made her first collar, she was hooked. Nothing felt like making a major bust. Nothing matched helping someone find their lost or kidnapped child. Nothing compared to a high-speed chase or busting open a crack house. She loved it more now than she did when she was a rookie, and she was damned good at it.
    But at what expense?
    After the Zuckerman case, Megan laid down the law: either go to couples’ counseling or give up the relationship. After only four sessions, Delta realized that her attitude about her work was the one thing that everyone agreed needed to change. Unless she put her badge away and became Megan’s lover at the end of a shift, Megan would leave. Who wouldn’t?
    Life with a cop wasn’t easy. Every night, Delta put her life on the line, and every night, Megan would wonder if Delta was coming home. Cops hung out together, spoke in languages and codes that no one else understood, and shared grotesque and macabre images civilians only saw in the movies. They carried off duty weapons, didn’t hesitate to get involved off duty if someone was breaking the law, and carried their badges next to their credit cards. The hours were impossible, the days off erratic, and the overtime increasing. It came as no surprise to Delta that cops had the second highest divorce rate; second only to the entertainment industry. A cop’s spouse too often has to settle for emotional, if not physical, crumbs.
    And Megan had made it clear that she wasn’t about to settle for that. Heaving an exhausted sigh, Delta opened her billfold and winced. She had forgotten to get cash and was left with only her credit cards.
    “Way to go, Storm,” she grumbled to herself, hesitating before pulling her gold card from her wallet. One of the first assignments the shrink had given her was to try to feel comfortable leaving the badge in the truck.
    “Take your wallet, Delta, but leave the badge. Be just Delta, not Officer Stevens. If a fight breaks out, or a crime is being committed, let the officers on duty take care of it. Be a person first. Can you do that?”
    Ugh. Delta hated that question. She remembered fumbling for the right words, for any words, that could possibly convey how naked she felt without the shield. It was who she was. Leaving it behind was like leaving the best part of herself in the truck.
    Plucking the credit card from the wallet, Delta closed the billfold and set it