“You’re here for Mr. Beckett?” She pushes her glasses up her nose. She’s at least sixty, and from her no-nonsense demeanor, I know she runs a tight ship.
“I am.”
“His bail is two thousand dollars cash or card.”
“Twothousand?”
She looks up from her keyboard and arches a gray eyebrow at me. “He assaulted a police officer,” she says, distain heavy in her tone.
My eyes fall shut.Shit.
“He was also booked on charges of public indecency, public intoxication, possession of a controlled?—”
Drugs?That motherfucker...
The lady clears her throat. “Ma’am, you need to sign this paper and pay the fee before he can be released.”
“Of course.” I pull out my wallet without a second thought.
A few minutes later, a door opens behind her. My eyes catch on a familiar sight, drowning out everything else. Travis is being ushered from the back, looking like he’s been run over by a Mack truck. His hair is more disheveled than I’ve ever seen it. His left eye is black and blue. My chest aches in an unfamiliar way, and the sudden urge to cry hits me. I should be mad—I am mad—but he looks…sad, and lost, and for some reason I want to make it all better.
His chin lifts, his bloodshot, pale eyes landing on mine. I swallow a lump and refocus on the lady in front of me as she hands me his possessions and some paperwork. Travis doesn’t spare me a glance as he heads straight for the exit.
The Uber is long gone, but I knew he wasn’t going to wait. I have about a dozen messages in the band group chat that are still unanswered because I didn’t have any answers to give them. Calvin has called every ten minutes, and I’ve ignored it every single time. Penn has texted me separately, that’s the only thing I’ve responded to.
“Travis, wait!” I whisper-yell, though I don’t know why, the parking lot is dead at this hour.
He ignores me and doesn’t stop until he’s reached the end of the lot, dropping down on the curb. “I need a cigarette.”
“You don’t smoke.”
“Yeah...I need a joint.”
“Travis,” I start, but he lets out an annoyed groan.
“Fuck, can we not right now? I need a minute.”
I understand it’s been a rough night for him, but everyone else has had to deal with the shitstorm he left behind. Doesn’t he realize that?
“I need to update everyone. They’re worried.”
He shakes his head, running a hand through his hair. “I’m sick of everyone worrying. I’m fine!”
“Yes, clearly. Getting arrested for”—I hold my fingers up, counting the charges the lady informed me of—“indecent exposure, public intoxication, anddrugpossession. What the hell, Travis? Does that screamfineto you?”
He growls. “It wasn’t…those are bullshit charges.”
I laugh dryly. “There are photos plastered everywhere online that say otherwise. Want me to show you?”
His eyes narrow. “That’s why you’re being a bitch? Because of some stupid pictures online?”
“A bitch?” I shriek.
“It wasn’t like that. If you’d give me a second to explain.”
“No need. You’re just going to lie, like last time.”
“Last time?”
