Page 40 of Sweet Wicked Vows
With one hand steering, Jaxon slipped his other hand down and rested it on my knee, which was digging deep into his side. His fingers squeezed lightly. I thought he wanted me to ease up, to stop my knee trying to break his lower ribs, but when I tried to move back, his grip tightened.
He was keeping me in place.
A smile blossomed under my helmet—he was making sure I was safe.
When we arrived at the police station, I wasn’t sure if I was going to vomit or dance with exhilarated joy.
“Do you want me to wait out here?” Jaxon removed his helmet. Dark eyes flickered between me and the police station. “Or you can always ring me when you’re finished?”
The reality came crashing back in around me.
Flynn was in custody. He’d been arrested yet again.
I was here to pick up the pieces,yet again.
Lifting the helmet from my head, I chewed the corner of my lip.“Can you come inside with me?”I don’t want to do this alone again.“They have a waiting area with a pretty decent coffee machine.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’ve done this before,non?”
“More times than I am willing to count,” I sighed. “Let’s get this over and done with.”
We entered the police station and started the formalities that I was used to. Name, address, paperwork, relationship to the arrested, and, for the hell of it, more paperwork. Some of the police officers recognized me, going out of their way to say hello.
Jaxon stood by my side the whole time, hand on my lower back, and his stormy eyes roamed the place.
He was like a panther ready to pounce.
“I’m going to try and ring our lawyers,” I said after filling out the last piece of paperwork. “Doubtful they will answer at this time of the morning, but I’ll leave them a message. Hopefully, someone on the team can come down as soon as possible.”
Jaxon nodded. “I’ll grab us some coffee.”
Our lawyers were used to handling things like this. They’d got the charges dropped on Flynn multiple times before, ensuring his record stayed clean and he wasn’t kicked out of university. IfNYUgot even a whiff of half the shit he got up to, they’d expel him in a flash.
I left the voicemail and came back to Jaxon sitting on a plastic seat in a waiting area. The small flimsy seat barely contained his large stature. The man was over six feet tall, his shoulders wider than a tree, and his strong thick legs took the moisture away from my mouth.
“Here.” He handed me a paper cup. “I wasn’t sure how you took it, so I lifted creamer and sugar.”
“Three sugars and lots of creamer,” I said, laughing as his eyebrows shot up. “Truth is, I actually hate the taste of coffee, but I crave the caffeine. Not sure how anyone drinks the stuff.It’s bitter and disgusting.”
Jaxon watched in horror as I stirred in the three packets of sugar and an obscene amount of creamer. “How do you drink that? It’s making my teeth hurt just looking at it.”
Slurping a big mouthful, I smacked my lips and hummed in delight. “Delicious! Let me guess, you drink your coffee black?”
We both looked into his cup.Ha!I knew it. Black and soulless.
“Thank you, by the way.” I cleared my throat. “I’m sure you’d rather be anywhere else right now, probably back in Ontario living your life without any of this headache. But I appreciate you bringing me here and staying with me. So… thank you.”
Several beats of silence. “What happens to Flynn now?”
“He’ll be kept here for twenty-four hours. Hopefully, a lawyer can come down before then and sit in on any police interviews. Then, he either will be let go without charges or released on bail.” I took the seat next to him. “The lawyers we have on the books are good. They are usually able to get any charges squashed.”
“You don’t sound happy about that.” His knee touched mine.
Guilt bubbled in my throat. “He’s my baby brother and I love him. But sometimes, I think he thinks this is all one big joke. That no matter what happens, he’ll never have to face the consequences of his actions because so far he hasn’t had to.” Sweetened coffee turned bitter on my tongue. “He’s young, and I get that you only get to be young once… maybe I am being selfish.”
“You feel like you’re the one who has to pick up the pieces,” Jaxon said. “Now more than ever, with your father being ill, all the responsibility falls on your shoulders.”
My teeth scraped my bottom lip.