Page 86 of Dahlias, Sapphires, and Cool Autumn Dusk
Julian took a deep breath, his eyes huge. “We’ll handle it.”
“I love you.” I told Julian, sliding my hand down his cheek and loving the slight stubble of his face. “I really want you to know that.”
He winced. “I love you, too, but I cannot believe this happened to you.”
The police were everywhere, people shouting as they tried to escape their capture. Phoenix stumbled, and I bumped into him as I saw the bag begin to fall out of his jacket.Oh fuck.I remembered his parents saying they would send him away if hegot in trouble again, and that amount of drugs… No way would he get away with it.
I slipped the bag free of his pocket, intending to turn around and throw it away in a garbage can or something.
“Hey,” a shout said near my ear, and I turned around into the arms of the police officer. “What do you have there?”
I can’t honestly say I remember exactly what happened then. Everything got so blurry, glows blending and lights swirling in my vision while sound went a bit distorted. Something in my hand? Shouting, and Jeremy shouting. Julian, too.What is happening?I held my hands over my ears as if I could block away the barrage of noise. Phoenix’s face looked scared, his glow dim and vaguely red as he reached for me.Red is for danger,I thought. I would love for him to touch me again. I would give anything for his arms, and I reached out a hand toward him?—
But he wasn’t the one touching me. A very tall, red-headed police officer grabbed the bag from my clenched fist then put handcuffs on me. I gasped, startled at the cold weight of them on my arms, which suddenly looked awfully small. When he yanked my arms back, it hurt, so I cried out in response. His voice droned on at me, but it was like those adults in that one old cartoon—none of it made sense, just weird distorted noises. I managed to hear part of it...
“You have the right to remain silent…”
Jeremy shouted still, but he was too far away, the sound of his voice vanishing into the distance. “Don’t say anything. Kit will come for you. Do you understand? Kit or someone from his office will come. Don’t you sayanything.”
It wasn’t my first time in a police car, but usually they didn’t help me duck to get inside. The last time was when my mother died.This is different.I blurred out for a while, not really paying attention or focused on what happened to my body until the flashing light of the PI taking my photo made me want to gag,turning my stomach with the painful brightness. I wished I could give him the finger.
Am I…being arrested?
Hours passed slowly,and I dozed off and on sideways on a bench. They told me they called my aunt, my guardian, but I didn’t know if she would come. A lawyer came, and he told me she sent him. The only thing I remember about him was he was young. I could hardly think, though and everything hurt. They wanted a sample of my blood, but the young lawyer said he gave my guardian’s permission for it to be taken.
I held out my arm, allowing the draw, not even in control of the blood in my own body. Why would I be? As a minor, we didn’t have control over anything. I lay sideways again on the hard bench, and tears leaked out of my eyes when I closed them.Alone.The lawyer left, but I was still there. I rubbed my eyes, angry at the tears, but tempted to rupture into heartbroken sobs. Then again, my mouth was so dry, and nausea kept rolling through me. I pressed my head against my knees, pinching my eyes closed, but it didn’t help. I wanted one of my guys to hold me in their arms.Just be held.Where are the Lents?
It probably was ridiculous for me to wait for a knight in shining armor when life already proved happily ever afters weren’t real, but some part of me hoped anyway.
The door swung open suddenly, and a woman in a pants suit stared at me. Her hair hung short, angling inward toward her high cheekbones, and almost sharpening her serious expression. “Alatheia, come with me.”
I followed her, since they let me.Am I going home now? Where is home?No, she led me to a room with a buzzing light. Itbuzzed and buzzed, the noise grating on my nerves immediately. Before I even sat, I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus past that noise.
I rubbed at my eyes, as if I could press the pain out of them with my fingertips.
“So, we know what you’re on,” she began.
I swallowed, which wasn’t useful since my mouth still felt so dry. I didn’t remember exactly what they said she put in my drink, so it turned out suit lady had one up on me. “I don’t know, so would you tell me?”
She frowned. “Ecstasy.”
“I didn’t mean to take it,” I confessed, despite the brothers telling me to say nothing. I could tell them that much, right? I could be honest.
The lawyer sat down across from me, next to the woman. She opened a file folder.
“This is your attorney. He is here on behalf of your family to represent you. I have spoken to your aunt, who told me about your deeply troubled past and history of this kind of thing. I don’t know how this is the first time you got caught.” She frowned at me, her expression stern.
Tricia said what?It didn’t even make sense, so I shook my head. “I’m notdeeply troubled, and I certainly don’t have anyhistory.I’m not like that at all. I am a…well- behaved, normal person. Honestly, I don’t feel very well, and I just want to go home now.”
She shook her head, tapping the folder with one long fingertip. “I’m afraid I don’t believe you, Alatheia. We have multiple reports on file from your aunt. She had to resort to hiring a PI just to keep track of your location. I also know how you ran away from home, moved in with a known drug addict, and had his family threaten your aunt. Did I miss anything?”
I opened and closed my mouth, stunned beyond words as I tried to process what she was saying. She told them I was a runaway? When did she file police reports? Terror iced my veins, but I still just wanted to go home. I didn’t want to have the conversation with them. I didn’t want anything other than a bed and a pillow.
Where are the Lents?I needed to pull it together, to come up with some kind of response to their claims other thannuh-uh. The Lents weren’t there, and I was on my own—again.
I stared down my lawyer, supposedly representing me or there on my behalf. “Shouldn’t you be doing something to help me?”
“He has, or as much as can be done in your case,” she snapped then frowned. “You had a bag with an excess of 500 milligrams of ketamine on your person. Do you have any idea the consequences of your mistake, or know what the penalty would be if you were tried as an adult?”
