Steele
Ithink I did fall asleep at some point, but the rest I got sure wasn’t deep or restful.
The chill of the blanket-less bed never let my body reach a comfortable temperature, and the hardness of the fold-out platform did little to make my back feel like I was my age. Sheriff Davis actually kept some quiet through the night, but his words from when he had first arrested me to when he’d approached me in the jail cell had done enough to keep my mind running.
Also, he’d never given me my fucking one phone call. But what the hell could I do about it, bitch and get laughed at?
But as it was, I never needed to make that phone call. Because at some point in the morning, after the point when the sun had illuminated the interior of the jail cell, Sheriff Davis came to the back and unlocked the cell.
“Feeling nice this morning? Did you get laid last night?”
“Watch your mouth, boy,” he said. “You got someone who likes you enough to come bail your ass out.”
Elizabeth…
“My suggestion to you would be to leave and get the hell out of here before I change my mind. You caused enough trouble for me last night as it was.”
Because I told you the truth?But I didn’t press my luck. I walked out without acknowledging the sheriff. Sure enough, when I made my way through the winding hallways to the lobby of the station, Elizabeth was seated there in a chair, holding a plastic bag with my phone, keys, and wallet.
Though we both smiled at the sight of each other, she looked like she hadn’t slept much either. The bags under her eyes were heavy, her body slumped forward, and she had no zest behind the smile, like what she had given me was the absolute most she was capable of then.
“Get outta here,” Sheriff Davis said. “Have your makeouts in private in the future.”
I went straight to the front door and held it open. Elizabeth walked through, thanking me. I walked to the passenger’s side of the car and got inside when she unlocked it. I already knew what I was going to say—and it wasn’t any different than what I had said last night.
“Steele—”
“Thanks for coming to get me,” I said. “But you’re going to be coming to this jail cell a lot more if you keep hanging out with me.”
Elizabeth glared at me.
“Why are you being this way?” she said. “I came to bail you out of jail.”
“And I’m grateful for that, I am, but you saw the sheriff. This town is a black hole where morals and goodness get sucked down the drain. If you stay here—”
“Ugh,” Elizabeth said.
In earlier times, I would have dismissed such a reaction as being too prudish to be worth responding to. I better understood now she was just exhausted and using it as a mask accordingly.
“I don’t want you involved here, Elizabeth,” I said. “Your father—”
“I walked out on my father and spent the night at Tara’s last night,” she said. “I haven’t even gone home. My father hasn’t fired me yet, but it’s probably a given that he will. Look, we’re too…we’re not developed enough for me to fight tooth and nail for us, but I’d like to think you can look past your beliefs about this town and me. If we don’t become anything because we just wouldn’t work, OK. But don’t tell me we wouldn’t work because this town sucks.”
Well, that’s fucking unexpected.Elizabeth Rogers, talking back to her father? Now I had seen it all.
But it was one thing to have Elizabeth endure professional grief. It was another knowing that if Brock hadn’t checked his phone the night Tara got attacked, we’d have two tragedies on our hands. Who was to say if Elizabeth stuck around, she wouldn’t be suffering the same potential fate as Rachel? As Tara nearly had?
If we were poking a hornet’s nest of sorts, as Sheriff Davis had warned me, there was no way I could put Elizabeth in the line of fire. I’d let myself become attracted to her because of how she treated me, but I had to put a stop to it.
“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” I said.
“You can’t fucking be serious,” she said. “You think I can’t handle myself? Maybe that was fair before last night, but after I walked out on my father? You think I’m not ready to take the leap to be my own woman?”
“It’s not about if you can’t handle yourself; it’s about if you’re safe in this town or not! Do you forget that the sheriff said he’d write you up last night? And that’s the best-case scenario, by the way, that you get a ticket and have to have it on your public record or something stupid.”
I shook my head, snorting like a frustrated bull.
“The worst case is something I don’t want to get into.”
