Page 92 of Betrayed

She shrugged. “God did not give us a spirit of fear. So this feeling isn’t of Him. I have to trust our safety into His hands.” She closed her eyes. “Jesus, keep us both safe this evening.”

“Amen.” Logan kissed her forehead. “You’ll be okay, and I’ll see you as soon as I can tonight.”

She nodded and kissed and hugged him again. But anxiety sat in her stomach like curdled ice cream. As they all drove off, she continued to pray, surrendering the anxiety to God constantly.

Midnight was coming fast, but not fast enough. Logan was anxious to get back to AJ. She’d seemed worried, which was totally expected. He’d texted with her as he was able to during his shift to check on her and let her know he was fine.

Driving through downtown and approaching a green light, Logan glanced to the right. He looked left in time to see a car careening toward him.

Logan slammed on his breaks, stopping before he was even in the intersection. The other car flew through.

The light was definitely red.

Logan flipped on his lights and pursued. As he reported it in to dispatch, he came up behind the car, which was going ten miles over the speed limit, but the driver didn’t slow or seem to see him at all.

Since it was late and there were homes nearby, Logan flipped on his siren for a quick burst of sound and then for another brief moment. That did the trick.

The car drove into a parking lot, and Logan stopped behind it and turned on the spotlight to illuminate the driver’s door.

He approached the driver with caution. Every traffic stop came with its risks. A cop never knew how the driver would react to getting pulled over. Throughout the years, Logan had experienced everything from sobbing teenage girls to grown men threatening him, and occasionally the other way around.

The window went down. “Evening, officer.”

Logan stepped into the driver’s line of vision. They both groaned. “Hi, Daryl.” Would this interaction prove to be why AJ felt so anxious?

“Officer Jackson. How’s the missus? I heard you two are finally back together.”

“It’s none of your business, but we are.” Logan stifled another groan. He was not in the mood to talk about life with this guy who was no longer his friend.

“No thanks to me, I know. Seriously, I’m sorry, man.”

The words hit Logan square in the chest, and he nearly took a step back in shock. But was Daryl just trying to get out of the ticket coming his way?

“It’s in the past.” He held out his hand. “License and insurance.”

Daryl sighed, leading Logan to believe his suspicions about Daryl’s friendliness were spot on.

Daryl gave him the necessary paperwork.

“Sit tight while I process this. You know why I pulled you over, right?”

“Because you want to give the man who serviced your wife a hard time.”

“I had no idea it was you. And like I said, it’s the past. I even forgive you.” A tension left Logan’s body with those words. He meant it. He actually forgave the man for his part of messing up their marriage.

Daryl’s eyebrows furrowed. “I suppose that light was red …”

“And you were speeding. I could also add a failure to stop for an officer, but I think I’ll leave that off.”

“Thanks?”

Logan went back to his squad car and processed the ticket, grateful the interaction had gone much better than he could have imagined. So far.

He returned to Daryl’s car, handed back his ID, and gave him the ticket. “Slow down and pay attention to the traffic signals.”

“Yeah. Guess I’m just tired.”

“Go home and go to bed then. Get off the road.”