Page 8 of Degradation
‘Didn’t your momma tell you?’ the first one who’s holding me asks, and they both guffaw.
It echoes through the stairwell.
My dress is barely covering my ass now, but they don’t let me pull it down as I’m held by my elbow firmly with my hands locked behind my back. They urge me down the stairs fast even though I’m limping, cursing when I stumble and almost lurch out of the officer’s grip.
‘How much did you have to drink tonight, princess?’ one of them quips, not seeming to notice my injury at all.
They lead me outside into their black and white ‘cop’ car which has the words ‘Richmond University Police’ emblazoned down the side.
They open the back door, and I wrench myself out of the officer’s grip, intending to run, but he grabs me with a chuckle and pushes me into the hard back seat.
I don’t raise my leg fast enough as I go down and my bad foot gets caught on the edge of the door, drawing a pained scream from deep inside my chest.
My stomach twists with it and, for a second, I’m afraid I’m going to spew all over their car.
He pushes me the rest of the way in and he’s not gentle about it. ‘Nice try, sweetheart, but we have better things to do than chase you around campus tonight,’ he chuckles.
The door slams hard, the loud bang startling me.
They both get in and the second one eyes me in the rearview mirror, rubbing his ear. ‘And no more screaming!’
The trip to wherever they’re taking me is a short one. I’m half glad because I’m bouncing around the hard plastic back seat like a pinball and getting a ton more bruises, but, on the other hand, I need more time if I’m going to have a chance of coming up with a plan to get away.
The officers don’t seem to care that I’m moving around in the back. In fact, I think they swerve once or twice to see how far I’ll slide with my arms still locked behind me and nothing to hold onto.
‘We should stop,’ one murmurs to the other. ‘She’ll throw up in the back. I don’t feel like cleaning that up tonight.’
‘Hear that, sweetheart?’ the second one who’s driving asks, looking at me in the rearview mirror. ‘You throw up and we’re leaving you in the car till Richmond PD come for you.’
They haven’t mentioned John or The Heath, I realize.
Why Richmond PD?
I haven’t done anything.
‘That’s right. Drunk and disorderly is a crime. Daddy isn’t getting you out of this one.’
‘She’s a Novelle, remember?’ the first one mutters, looking out the window with a yawn.
The driver shrugs. ‘Call Township anyway. They can drop by and grab her when they get a chance. ’Til then, maybe she gets lost in the system, spends a cold night in the cells.’
They both snigger and I clasp my hands together hard, gritting my teeth. Despite the pain I’m in and the fear twisting through me, I’m not going to give in to tears because of them.
We arrive at one of the university buildings not far from the lab. The irony isn’t lost on me that these fake cops have practically brought me back to the frat house I escaped from tonight, but I hope they do as they threaten and lose me in the system for a few hours. Maybe then I’ll be able to get away before The Heath can retrieve me.
I’m grabbed by the elbow and dragged from the car. Another squeal of pain when I land on my injured foot is ignored as I’m brought inside and pushed into a chair in front of a desk.
‘Are you ready to talk to us yet,little girl?’ the first one sneers, getting in my face.
Little girl?
I shrink back in the chair, and he smirks, liking that I seem scared of him. I want to tell him it’s because he’s in dire need of a breath mint.
A piece of paper is thrust in front of me on the desk and my hands are released.
I rub my wrists.
‘Write your name. If you’re sober enough.’
