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“That seemed unnecessary. Believe it or not, I have been out in public before. Sometimes on my own, I know!” I breathed, my eyes going wide in shock and horror when he threw me a glance. “Can you believe it? On my own! And I survived the experience! Wonders will never cease.”

“Rachel… how can I explain this nicely? You’re not annoying Dante. You’re pissing off a whole bunch of angry policemen who have the power to lock you both up. They won’t hesitate to do it, either. In fact, never mind don’t say anything loud or stupid, just don’t fucking say anything at all.”

I rolled my eyes at him, a small scoff escaping me, but I stayed quiet. It was probably for the best. Stepping forward, we approached the desk, and the officer eyed us up and down, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips.

“Can I help you?” he asked.

“Disciples,” James replied, his tone steady. “We need to bail them out.”

“Names?” The officer kept his gaze fixated on his paperwork. He knew full well who we were here for, he just wanted to play with his power.

“Don’t play games. I’m really not in the mood. You know the guys we need. Just bring them out.”

And he had the nerve to tell me not to say anything stupid!

“Nice try,” the officer chuckled, finally looking up at James. “But it doesn’t work like that. You need to provide names.”

“Look,” I said, stepping in before James could boil over. “We just want to bail out—”

“Still need names, sweetheart,” he interrupted, smirking like he was enjoying this. “If you can’t give me the names, I can’t release them.”

“I was trying to give you the names. Are you alright, or what? Are you like the forgotten middle child or something, and this is your way of getting attention?”

“Nice,” James hissed down my ear. “So much for shutting up.”

“Names, or I’ll have you removed.”

“Vienna, Hacksaw, Shark, and Dante,” I said with a bright smile, attempting to keep my tone level despite the biting resentment bubbling within me.

“Real names, sweetheart.”

“Bite me, asshole.”

“I can have you thrown in the jail cell with them, if you’d prefer?”

I rolled my eyes again. “Imagine if you ran as much as your ego is currently running on its power trip, you might actually be in good shape.”

“Right—”

“Oh, give it a rest!” A voice came from behind us. I twisted around to see another officer coming from the direction of theholding cells. “They’re being released now. They’re just filling in the paperwork. We don’t want you here any longer than needs be.”

I turned around to look at the new officer, my eyes raking him with suspicion, whilst he looked at me with amusement.

“Rachel, I take it?”

“Is that a statement, or a question?” I shot back.

“Well, according to your friend Vienna, Rachel is the old lady of the surly, brute, angry man. And apparently Rachel will kick all of our asses. Are you that Rachel?”

Despite myself, I felt a grin tugging at my lips. “I’m Rachel, but notthatRachel.”

He grinned back at me and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the whoops and hollers coming from the cells.

“Let. Me. Tell. You,” Vienna boomed, punctuating each word by slapping everyone on the back. “These guys know how to throw a party. Isn’t that right, Dante?”

My eyes shot to Dante, scanning him for any signs of injury. The look of relief on his face when he saw me was quickly replaced by the same angry look, he had exited the cells with.

“Rachel, you wouldn’t believe it. We’ve had it all: threats, more threats, angry looks, some slammed doors. This was almost as fun as the third time I was arrested, but definitely better than the fifth. I see you’ve had a lick of paint since last year,” he said, directing his words at the prison officer. “Nice touch. Did you do it all by yourself?”

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