Page 75 of Love Me
The headshake he gives me is adamant. “I’m fine,” he says.
It’s a lie. How can he be fine? He’s sitting in an interrogation room with bruised knuckles, his mother crying, and charges of attempted murder hanging over his head. Nothing about this situation is fine.
“He did it because—”
“Shut up!” he yells so forcefully that everyone in the room stops to look at him. “I did whatever I did all on my own. I don’t like the son of a bitch. That’s all.”
With that, he retakes his seat and stares at the glass pane opposite him as if to say ‘I’m not saying anything else about this.’
He reminds me of a brick wall. I know there won’t be any getting into him. Not even his parents will be able to break that stone-cold demeanor that he’s wrapped himself up in.
But I know another way to fix this. There’s no way in hell I’m letting Diego pay for my mistakes.
I can’t.
With that, I shove past the officers and Diego’s parents, and run out of the police station.
* * *
“I want him arrested!”a woman shrills from the other end of the hallway.
Though I’ve never met her in person, I know by the sound it’s Slater’s mother.
“Do you know what that thug did to my son?” She sounds irate.
I would care but I know what type of person her son is. I push away the guilt. The knowledge that this entire mess is all my fault. Diego warned me to stay away from him. He told me Slater wasn’t a good guy, and deep down I knew it. But he was the type of guy I thought I deserved.
“I want him to spend the rest of his no-good life in jail,” a man’s voice declares. Slater’s father.
“Diego doesn’t deserve to spend one minute in jail!” I say to the lobby full of people.
They all turn to stare at me with wide, indignant eyes.
“Who are you?” his mother asks.
This is the first time we’re ever meeting in person. Even though Slater and I had been dating for months. I knew the real reason he never brought me home to meet his parents, though I denied it to myself.
God, how did I think so low of myself to be reduced to accepting that sort of behavior? My parents would be so ashamed of me if they knew the truth.
“I’m Monique,” I say with my head held high as I look around the patient waiting room. It’s not any hospital waiting room. We’re in the private wing of the largest hospital in this city. I knew this is exactly where he would be sent.
“Slater’s ex-girlfriend,” I declare.
A room full of gasps sound off. My gaze sweeps the room. Even though it’s nearly six in the morning, his mother is done up in a full-face of makeup. Her blonde hair is pulled back in a tight chignon, matching pearls adorning her ears and neck.
She looks like she’s on the way to host a brunch for the local Stepford wives.
His father glares down at me with dark, beady eyes, his slick dark hair pushed back, dressed in an Italian suit. There are three other men in suits in the room, one doctor and a nurse. I notice a badge on one of the men. He must be a detective.
“That’s impossible,” Slater’s mother scoffs. “How did she get in here?” she asks the others as if they would know.
“Diego isn’t going to jail because of your son,” I tell them, ignoring her. “He did nothing wrong.”
“That vagrant brutalized my son!” his father yells. “He is in surgery right now for a broken eye socket. That … that … boy will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
“Your son deserved exactly what he got.”
More gasps. But I’m not done.