Page 75 of Love at First Ink

This was familiar to him, and it didn’t bring up good memories. After he was brought to the station and booked, charged with disturbing the peace and assault, the officers took him to a holding cell. The cell was poorly lit and smelled vaguely of urine, but at least he had it to himself—a small reprieve from the shitty night he’d had.

Yet, Cisco couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Even knowing the outcome, he would gladly punch Archie in the face again. That dick deserved it for all the hell he put Marisol through. He was also pissed at her mother for constantly enabling Archie and putting Marisol into situations she wasn’t comfortable in. His girl deserved better. The only thing he could bring himself to regret was the pain they’d caused Marisol.

She was the true victim in this. And he was locked behind these damn bars and couldn’t comfort her. The look on her face when the cops put him in the squad car, right before they drove away, would forever be etched in his mind. There werevery few times in his life that he felt like a failure, but this would make the top spot.

Part of him felt as if he deserved the damn cell. He didn’t know how long he had been here, but he was allowed to call someone. Part of him thought of calling Marisol, but he didn’t want to add any more stress to her night. So, he called his lawyer, who promised to get him out ASAP.

But clearly they had different definitions of “as soon as possible” because, according to the old analog clock on the wall, it wasn’t until close to seven the following morning before an officer came to his cell. This was a different one than the two who arrested and booked him last night. This man was older, with salt-and-pepper hair. He had a friendlier face than the other two, but Cisco was still on high alert. He saw his name stitched onto his uniform: Officer Jamison.

Officer Jamison unlocked his cell door, motioning toward Cisco. “Alright, man, you’re free to go.”

Cisco hesitated. Surely he heard the man wrong. He was free to go? Did his lawyer finally manage to get him out? Still, he wouldn’t waste an opportunity to get out of this hellhole.

Cisco stood, stretching his body. His back was killing him. He was too damn old to be in a hard jail bed and not on his memory foam mattress. Exhaustion weighed down his body, and he was ready to climb into bed and forget this whole ordeal.

But thoughts of Marisol filled his mind. He needed to reach out to her, and soon, but would she be upset with him?

Maybe she was the person coming to take him home. That thought got his ass in gear, and he walked out of the cell, ready to never see the inside of one again.

“Follow me, Mr. Ramos. All charges have been dropped,but I need you to sign a few things before we release you to your ride.”

“Dropped?” Cisco asked, cocking a brow.

Officer Jamison nodded but didn’t elaborate, much to his dismay. Cisco didn’t have a chance to ask him more about it before release papers were thrust into his face. Normally he was better at reading what he was signing, but he was beyond tired and more than ready to get the fuck out of here. He signed whatever was given to him.

Once done, Officer Jamison quickly scanned the paperwork before nodding and filing it away. “This way, Mr. Ramos,” he said, leading him toward a large, metal door with a keypad. Officer Jamison typed in a code. There was a beep before the sound of the door unlocking. He pushed it open and stepped aside for Cisco to walk free. “Enjoy your day, Mr. Ramos.”

Cisco bit back his retort that probably would have landed him back in the cell and walked out. He didn’t make it even two steps before someone came hurling at him, nearly knocking him over in their rush to get to him. “I hate you so much,” the voice, muffled from his clothes, said.

“Tiny?” Cisco was unable to hide his surprise. Out of everyone he thought may be there to pick him up, Tiny didn’t make the list. Hell, he hadn’t wanted her to know he was here.

“Marisol called me last night,” Tiny answered his unasked question. “She told me what happened but said we couldn’t get to you until the morning. I got a ride here, but they said I couldn’t bail you out because I’m not eighteen. Which is so fucked.”

Normally he would scold her in the cool cousin sort of way about her language, but he was hardly in a position to lectureher when he had just been arrested. But also, he agreed with her sentiments.

“Yeah, it’s all fucked. They said they dropped the charges though. Don’t know why, but I didn’t question it,” he said.

“I think it was because of him.” Tiny pointed to someone behind him.

Today was a day of surprises because, when he looked at who Tiny was pointing to, he didn’t expect to see Travis Roberts standing there looking out of place in his polo and pressed khakis. Cisco tensed, not sure if he wanted to see the man. He hadn’t done anything yesterday, but that was exactly the problem. He stood passively around and let Marisol deal with her ex-husband and her mother alone.

Speaking of Marisol, his girl wasn’t here. Unease stirred within him.

“Cisco,” he greeted, looking far older than he’d ever looked. There were dark bags under his eyes, and his face was gaunt. His hair was in a state of disarray, and if Cisco had to guess, he’d bet he didn’t get much sleep last night either.

“Travis,” he said, guarded. He didn’t care if he was being rude; he had no energy left for decorum. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sure you expected to see my daughter, but I asked her to stay home so I can fix this. She didn’t like that much, and probably wouldn’t have agreed if it weren’t for her sister, but I owe it to the both of you to make this right. Please, let’s talk outside. I don’t want to spend any more time here than what’s necessary,” he said.

Cisco shared a glance with Tiny, and she shrugged, holding his arm. She wasn’t the overly affectionate type, so this whole ordeal really shook her. Sighing, he wrapped an arm around Tiny before nodding to Travis. “Fine. Let’s talk.”

“Thank you,” he said, actually sounding grateful. Cisco motioned for him to lead the way, and Travis did, guiding them out of the station and down the stairs. The sun felt amazing on his skin, even with the slight chill in the air.

Travis walked them over to a red sports car, exactly the type of car Cisco would peg the man for owning. He leaned against the driver’s door, arms crossed over his chest. “You know, I promised myself after everything that happened with Lola and Luciana, I would never let it get that bad again. But it looks like I failed my girls once more.”

Cisco didn’t know what Travis was talking about. He knew very little of Lola and Luciana’s relationship, but if it was anything like her relationship with Marisol, he doubted it was good. And it probably hadn’t been good for a long time.

“I didn’t know how badly things were going with Archie,” Travis admitted. “Every time I asked Marisol about it, she wouldn’t say much and change the subject. Luciana said it would all work itself out, so I was inclined to believe her. I didn’t know…” he trailed off, choking on his words. “I didn’t know.”

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