The cops moved swiftly toward me. “We’re here to place you under arrest for assault in the second degree.”
“Assault?” I spat, confused. I narrowed my eyes at them.
“We’re going to need you to step outside, and your parents are welcome to join.”
Julius intervened. “Assault on who?”
They ignored him. “Hands where we can see them. You’re under arrest for assault. Do you understand?”
“No, I didn’t?—”
“Kraven…” Isla chimed in with a tone that immediately shot through me, sparking my memory.
“Fuck,” I murmured, shaking my head.
Once they realized I wasn’t going to put up a fight, they cuffed me.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney… Ifyou cannot afford one, one will be provided… Do you understand these rights as they are given to you?”
I nodded as he shut the cuffs.
Julius’s stare met mine, mouthing, “I’ll find Joe.”
That was all that needed to be said.
“Now, Officer.” Roland stepped in, taking a stance beside me. “Can you please?—”
“Sir, unless you’re the parent, I advise you to step aside.”
“Where are you taking him?” Julius asked, making them look at him.
“He’s going to the courthouse for an arraignment before the judge.”
Isla and I locked stares that night at the party, which quickly played out in front of us.
She screamed, “Is this who you are? Is this what you do?”
Her voice was smooth like silk, but it still sliced me open like daggers on my skin. Her words hit me as hard as my fists had laid Justin out.
She fervently shook her head, scowling. “Do you even know who you are?”
“Yeah,” I firmly argued. “I’m the guy who just beat his ass for fucking talking to you that way.”
She stumbled back, winded.
All the fight in her was gone like it was that night when she first spoke to me. When she first spoke to anyone. It was her sympathetic expression that hurt me more than getting arrested.
We were reliving it all over again, there in a room full of the closest people to us. The fear was evident on her face, but in a much different way. This time, I knew it wasn’t from her possibly being scared of me. She was terrified of where this was going to lead me.
They finished handcuffing me and escorted me out with everyone’s prying eyes on me. I wish I could say this was the first time, but what could I say… I got in trouble a lot. They placed me in the back of their cop car. Too many times to count on how many occasions I’d sat in the back of one of these.
I hated it then as much as I do now.
After we arrived, I was fingerprinted, a mug shot was taken, andthen I was set in front of the judge. I took a deep breath, sitting on the bench with my head leaning back against the wall.
Waiting for him to arrive.
My entire life flashed before my eyes, a movie reel I couldn’t pause or stop.
