Page 84 of The Midseason Fakeout

“Yes, sir.” Fear crashes down on me. They would yank her out of Warner so quick if they found out. Hell, they never even wanted her here in the first place. “Please, I’ll take the charges. If you could leave her out of it.”

He tilts his head, as if my answer has caught him off guard. “I take it this isn’t some random hook up, then?”

“No, sir. Not at all. Her parents are strict, and if they found out…” I swallow. I’d rather deal with Coach’s wrath, and even that would be terrible. Possibly devastating.

What a fucking shitshow I’ve put myself in. Stupid. Fucking stupid. And here I was hours earlier telling West that I was different with Bailey.

Am I really?

The cop is silent for what seems like forever. Time enough to make my palms go sweaty and for the chill of the air to send a shiver through me.

Finally, he kicks away from my car. “I don’t want to get you in trouble, Aidan. I don’t want to get your girlfriend in trouble either. But think of it from my point of view. If people could have sex wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted, that wouldn’t be a good thing. What if a family had decided to take their kids to the river to go for an evening swim, and there you two were? Think about how this town looks up to you.”

My stomach knots as if someone has fisted my insides and gave them a sharp tug. “I understand. It was stupid. It won’t happen again.”

“I’ve worked on the force for a lot of years, and do you know how many times I hear that and catch people doing the same thing again and again?”

Shit. This isn’t going well.“It won’t be me, sir. I’ve learned my lesson. My girlfriend is mortified. I’ll be lucky if she even agrees to have sex with me again at this point.”

I press my lips together, wishing I could take the words back. Sometimes my humor comes out at inappropriate times. The cop smiles at me, though. “That sounds like punishment enough.”

My heart leaps, but I’m too scared to ask what that means.

He walks forward, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Listen, you’re a good kid. You’ve got a great career in front of you. I don’t want to be the one to put a wrench in those plans. I’m not going to charge you with anything, and I won’t say anything to Coach either, unless I find you back here doing the same thing.”

“You won’t. I—”

He gives me a hard stare, silencing me.

“Let me give you a little advice: Just because things sound like a good idea doesn’t mean they are. If you ever think about doing this again, remember how you feel right now.”

“Yes, sir.”

He squeezes my shoulder. “Tell your girlfriend that everything is okay and to have a good night.”

Relief floods through me, and I nearly collapse.

“You’re a good guy for worrying about her.”

I don’t feel like a good guy right now. I feel like a dumbass. “Thank you, Sir.”

He nods at me, then walks to his car and gets in. He doesn’t look at me again as he backs up, stops, and continues down the road.

“God, that was stupid,” I chastise myself.

Behind me, a twig snaps, and I turn to find Bailey coming out of the mouth of the trail. She peers up and down the road. “He left? Are we in trouble?”

I shake my head, and the relief on her face makes me feel a little better. “He warned me not to do it again.” I wait a beat before saying, “He said he was friends with Coach.”

Her eyes widen in horror again as she walks up to me. “Is he going to say anything?”

“He says no, but…”

“Shit.”

I nod, taking everything in. If he’d charged us for any of those acts he listed, Bailey’s parents would’ve found out. That would have been the exact opposite of everything she wanted to accomplish here at Warner. My parents wouldn’t have been happy either, but Coach… Shit. Bad PR for the team. He would be forced to take a stance on it, and that stance would’ve been worse than me showing up late to practice, I’m sure.

My mind goes on a downward spiral while I walk Bailey to the car and get in. We drive in silence back to her place.

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