Page 4 of Echoes in the Storm
“Turn around and face the vehicle, please, and then set your hands on the roof.”
“What?” I back up a step, which iscompletelythe wrong thing to do.
Gym Bro rests one hand on his tazer, directing me with the other. “Hands on the roof, with your back to me.”
Fuck you, Cody. Fuck you.
I do as I’m told, standing in the open doorway as I face the car and slap my hands on the warm roof. The cop closes in behind, squatting as he starts his pat down at my ankles.
I’m totally not okay with this. Not in the slightest.
His hands travel up my legs, and all my unjustified nightmares about being hit on by a guy flash before my eyes.Totally not homophobic.Okay, maybe just a little bit.Let it go, Duke.He’s a cop doing his job. That’s all.
A white BMW coupe slows ahead as I breathe deeply in through my nose, and out through my mouth. The setting sun reflects off the windscreen, shielding the driver from my view. I focus on keeping my hands flat on the roof while the cop pats my torso down, watching the vehicle as it turns in a driveway a short stretch up the road, and then stops. The door opens, and what I can only describe as a fucking breath of fresh air steps out to check her mailbox.
Her head turns, the lengths of her dyed silver-grey hair sliding off her shoulder as she looks across the road to where I’m currently being frisked by Officer Handsy. I peer out over my outstretched arm like the creeper I am to check out the young woman’s long, leather-clad legs, and slight frame only just hidden from view by a knee-length cardigan that seems to hang from her perfectly. She lifts a hand to shield her eyes from the sun, revealing inked wrists as she checks out what’s going down.
“If you could stay where you are while I search the rest of the vehicle,” the cop says, moving away.
I draw a deep breath, my feet itching to step the hell away from this car and him. My personal bubble has been violated, and I haven’t even got a cigarette to smoke afterward.
“What happens if you find anything, considering the car isn’t mine?” I ask.
He sighs, opening the boot to find my story about the busted drive shaft is legit. “You said you just picked up the car?”
I nod, taking the opportunity to look across the road at the hottie again while the cop ducks his head behind the open boot lid. She rubs her arm, as though unsure of what to do, before returning to her car.
“Appreciate if you could keep your eyes off my cousin,” the cop warns.
I turn back to find him mere inches from my face.Jesus …“You’re a quiet fucker when you want to sneak up on someone, huh?”
“Or maybe you were just distracted.” He narrows his steely gaze on me. If this is how the guy reacts when I’m simply watching his cousin, then my guess is the poor bitch is doomed to the single life. Shame, considering she really was a pretty little thing—
“Do we have a problem here?”
“I don’t know.” I lean a little closer as I frown at the arsehole. “Do we?”
He steps back suddenly, his hand whipping to his belt as he jerks his chin at my arms. “Hands behind your back.”
“What the fuck? This how you treat every guy who looks the wrong way at your cousin?”
“Last chance, or I’ll do it for you.”
Jesus.This guy ain’t playing. I assume the position, laughing at the absurdity of the situation as he wrestles my wrists into cuffs. “Some kind of welcome you’ve got for your town there, mate.”
The air rushes out of my lungs as he crushes my chest to the car, his mouth next to my ear as he grinds out through gritted teeth, “Let’s get two things straight: one, you aren’t my ‘mate’, and two, you’ll never be welcome here.”
Well fuck me.
Cammie
Cars that look likethatstand out like a sore thumb around here. I check my rear-view again as I pull up to the house, just in case Creeper McCreeperson decides he needs an evencloserlook.
Although with my cousin, Shane, on the case, I can’t imagine the guy is going to get far any time soon.
Safe.For now.I’ve got all of an hour or so before I need to turn around and head back out again.
The Friday matinee at the theatre was a hit, all thanks to the Burbank Retirement home renting a couple of mini-vans to bring the residents down for an excursion. It’s nice that our drama group has made the weekday matinee a regular for our show season; it gives the older folk a chance to come along when it’s quiet, and there aren’t as many restless kids they have to contend with.