“When your boss sees the shitty work you did to put me in a jail cell because of a stupid grudge, he’s going to put you on administrative leave. You might even lose your badge.”
He smirks again. “You know absolutely nothing about how the law works.”
“Considering I’m sitting in a jail cell for doing nothing wrong, it’s pretty clear you don’t either.”
“Big words from someone who couldn’t even make it through a full year of college.”
That one lands, and I suck in a breath that I feel the exact wrong way in my bladder.
The tiny bit of control I’ve had over my breathing and my panic attack recedes, and my fingers and toes tingle in warning.
I’m going to wet myself and hyperventilate.
The fish I bought for the private party that Simon Luckwood booked my food truck for will go bad.
The last thing I saw before Logan slapped cuffs on me was a notification on my phone from my bank that the payment Simon Luckwood made for that party had been reported as fraud.
And every single day, someone else tells me that my ex is finally about to open the restaurant he more or less stole from me when we broke up.
“Camille. Shut the fuck up.” The door slams, and a very large, very intimidating man strolls through the door as Logan jerks backward, hopefully hitting his head on the wall behind him.
“Ms. Best,” Chief says.
I breathe through my fury and panic and overfull bladder and somehow manage to pretend I’m fine as I finger-wave at him. “Chief.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Being harassed by my ex-boyfriend’s brother.”
Chief Sosa’s cheek twitches.
He and I could be on a first-name basis, but he hires officers like Logan, and my brothers weren’t exactly saints while I was finishing raising them, even if they never ended up in jail.
I’m still not convinced Hudson won’t do something to legitimately land himself exactly where I am before he’s out of college and fully off my responsibility list, so I keep the chief at arm’s length.
Even if I’ve wanted to hug him a million times since the fire.
His kindness and support, especially in the early days, helped me get through.
“She’s—” Logan starts, but I interrupt him.
“My burger bus and I were booked to do a secret menu party at Simon Luckwood’s place, but when I showed up, his security freaked out, said I wasn’t supposed to be there, and they had me arrested. Look in my phone. I have email exchanges and records of a phone call to verify it was real, plus a receipt with Simon Luckwood’s name on the credit card that paid me. It’ssince been reported as fraud, and I have a really good guess as to what happened, but I didn’t break in. I had the code. I had every reason to believe I was supposed to be there.”
Believe me. Believe me and let me out to pee and breathe.
The chief looks between me and Logan. “Did you look at her phone?” he asks Logan.
Logan’s chair creaks as he straightens even more. “Chief, you know she’s a liar. Look at all the stuff she spewed about my brother when they broke up. CallingJakea thief? Come on. We all know Jake’s not a thief.”
“Butdid you check her phone?” the chief repeats.
“Chief, she can fake that stuff.”
“Do you know who else can fake that stuff?”
“Boys,” I answer for him.
As if I didn’t have enough reasons to dislike Simon Luckwood, the fact that I’m nearly positive his sons are why this all happened makes me dislike him even more.
