She’s quiet for a pause, takes a deep breath, snorts, and bursts out laughing. “Oh, good one, Matt, you almost had me there.”
Exhaling, I let her laugh it out until she slowly stops and then pauses again. “Wait… Matt, you’re not laughing. What the hell are you playing at? Are youreallyat the police station?”
“Yeah, Alex, I’m really here. I need your help. Can you get Nate and come down? I’ve gotta be bailed out.”
“Fuck! What thehelldid you do?” she asks, and there’s nothing but complete seriousness in her tone.
“I didn’t really do anything. It’s more aboutwrong place, wrong time, type of thing.”
“Cryptic much. Matt, how much trouble are we talking here? Should I bring Nate or Tillie, too?” she asks.
“Yeah… probably Tillie, too.”
“Shit! Matt, you’re scaring me. Are you hurt?”
I smile that she cares about my safety. “Not physically. Mentally, though, I’m a little worse for wear, but I’ll be okay. Can you just get down here?”
“Can you tell me what the hell you’re in for, please?”
I sigh. I didn’t want to have to say this shit out loud. It sounds so dirty when you say the actual words. “Soliciting a prostitute and bribing a policeman.”
The phone is quiet, and I bang my head against the side of the phone, knowing that Alex must be going through a range of emotions right now.
“Wow… okay, well, I’ll get the team together, and we’ll be right down. I, ahh… don’t really know what to say…”
“It’s not true, Alex. It’s all a misunderstanding.”
I hear her force out a breath like she’s relieved. “Okay, we’ll be there, really soon. We’ll get this fixed, Matt. What happened to Madeline?”
I let out a terse laugh. “She’s thefuckingprostitute.”
Alex chokes on thin air. “What?Jesus! Okay, didn’t see that coming. We’ll fix this, Matt. I’ll be there soon. Just hang in there, okay?”
It’ssogood to hear her voice. She’s like a bright spark in this shit hole of a day. “Alex?”
“Mmm…”
“How was the wedding?”
“It was beautiful. Lunar was stunning, and Danger cried like a little bitch.”
I genuinely laugh. That was just what I needed to get me through until my family comes and rescues me.
The guard taps his watch again, and I nod.
“I gotta go. I’ll see you soon?”
“I’m gonna go round everyone up, and we’ll be there as soon as possible. Just hold on. Wewillsort this mess out, Matt.”
“I know, I’ll be here.”
“See you soon, horn dog,” she teases, and I groan.
“Too soon, Alex. Too soon.”
She giggles. “I know this hurts now, Matt, but you’ll laugh one day…” She hesitates. “Probably. Okay, I’m going. Bye,” she says and ends the call before I can say anything else.
The guard looks at me and tilts his head back toward the way we came.
