Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69424 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
My stomach knotted. “Beaten to a pulp?”
Calli growled when the man nearest her jerked, causing the handcuffs around her wrists to tighten.
“Jesus Christ, you big oaf. Watch what you’re doing.”
The police officer looked bashful for all of two seconds before he realized what he was doing and scowled.
He didn’t like that Calli had corrected his behavior.
“Someone better tell me what the hell is going on,” I snapped. “And if you continue to hurt her, I’ll have every single badge in this station revoked faster than you can blink.”
“Sir…” the closest officer said.
The door behind us banged open a second time and another officer leading Cedrick entered, with Cedrick’s child following behind with a female officer.
“Ahh, the man of the hour,” Lynn said. “Why is he not in cuffs?”
“It’s standard protocol to…”
“Ahh, standard protocol.” Lynn snorted. “Yes, that’s exactly what’s going on here. The man was about to lash out against his child, and that woman right there saved her. Yet, you arrest her for some bogus charge because you don’t like that she had to save your asses. And he’s not even in handcuffs despite the fact that he is accused of beating his girlfriend so badly that she had to go to the emergency room. A girlfriend who had to be brought in by Calli. It’s understandable that she wouldn’t be in the best state of mind to watch y’all be inept at your jobs.”
There was a lot of shuffling from foot to foot as Lynn’s words hit home.
“Let me see your hands,” the officer closest to Cedrick ordered. “He’s right. You should be in cuffs since you’ve been arrested.”
Cedrick’s eyes came to me and he sneered. “Ahh, the golden boy has arrived to make this all disappear for perfect little Harlow.”
I ignored him and instead said, “Why is she being detained if she helped de-escalate a situation?”
The cops looked at each other.
“I think it’s best that you let her go,” I suggested. “Otherwise I’ll go ahead and get my lawyer here, and we’ll do this the hard way.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No,” Lynn answered for me. “He’s frustrated, just like we all are. We should be at the hospital worrying about our friend. And instead, we’re here, dealing with y’all arresting a woman for doing nothing short of being a hero.”
The doors to the police station opened for a fourth time and a frazzled looking woman came barreling through the door.
“Mommy!” the little girl, Simone, cried out. “Oh my god. Mommy!”
The girl’s mom dropped down onto her knees beside her daughter and picked her up.
Only, when she did, she cried out in pain.
“What on…” The mother picked up the edges of her daughter’s t-shirt and my breath caught in my throat. “Oh my god.”
Oh my god was right.
The little girl’s torso—what little of it we could see—was covered in bruises.
“Oh, baby, no.”
She stood up and whirled on her ex-husband, her finger pointed in his face. “I told you if you ever hurt her, I would kill you.”
Cedrick snorted. “I didn’t hurt her that bad.”
“You didn’t hurt her that bad…” the angry mother hissed and stood up. “Is being covered in bruises not considered that bad? I’m sorry, but I think our definitions don’t match.”
I didn’t think mine did, either.
This little girl had no affiliation to me whatsoever, and I was about to throw down for her.
The only thing stopping me was doing this in front of a police officer.
I could do this somewhere private once he got out and settle it a hell of a lot better than I could in the middle of a police station.
“Now, someone here better tell me what the fuck happened, and why this piece of shit isn’t the one getting arrested instead of that woman.” The mom pointed at Calliope.
The man trying to get the watch free of Calliope’s wrist turned, cheeks blazing.
With her hands free, she ripped the watch off of her wrist and tossed it at me.
I caught it and slipped it onto my hand without thought, then crossed my arms over my chest and decided to wait this one out.
I’d like to see how this worked.
I’d be bailing Calli out if it came to it.
Hell, I’d probably fight the whole damn room of cops if it came down to it.
The fact that she put herself into danger to save my friend…
I was beginning to have a whole lot of inappropriate feelings.
I was also pretty fucking close to pointing out that they were shit at their job. I had plenty of years of policing under my belt, and I could smell a clusterfuck from a mile away.
Whatever the fuck the Paris Police Department had going on right now smelled worse than a clusterfuck. It smelled like an entire department cleanse.
“Ma’am.” A man came out of the side room. “Please, come to my office.”