“Just cooperate with the man,” Liam says, tightly.
I glare at Liam. What is he doing? He’s standing there, back straight, feet glued to the sidewalk, like he’s cool with these guys. Like he has no clue what’s going on right now.
Movement in my periphery draws my attention. To my right, a guy in a Red Sox hat has his phone raised, pointed at us, and I realize—to my horror—is that what this is?He thinks something is going to happen here? I feel my palms go slick with sweat, perspiration accumulate under my arms. I just want to go home and sleep in my own bed.
I put one hand up and keep the other firmly around Zee. This is fine. We’ve done nothing wrong. There’s no reason to feel scared right now. I look somewhere around the cop’s chin, avoid direct eye contact, make my voice as calm and white as possible. “Sir, I’m reallysorry. We are not trying to cause any trouble. We’re just trying to get home.” I’m proud of the control I’d had over my voice despite the adrenaline.
“And where is that?”
I try to say it casually with the same control I’d had a moment ago. “Princeton.”
He stiffens. When he speaks his voice is louder this time, as if he is about to explode. “I’m going to ask you one more time.”
I keep my head lowered, eyes on his shoes as my heart flutters in my chest.Please, calm down. Please, just go away.“We’re going back to Princeton. We’re students—”
“Priiinnnce-ton,” he says mockingly. The cop reels back with a sarcastic laugh before shooting a look at his partner. When he’s done, he steps closer, and I go still. Sweat drips down my spine as I think of what he might do next. I imagine him shoving us against the car, forcing my hands behind my back, tightening handcuffs around my wrists—and what would he do to Zee?
My eyes drift to his gun, wondering if he might use it, and he catches me looking. His hand tightens around it. All of a sudden, static tears through the silence. His radio.
“We’ve got two armed suspects on foot heading south on Lafayette at Fourth.”
The officer responds into the radio and then looks up at me. “You’re lucky I don’t have time for this.” He nods at Liam. “Get them out of here. I don’t want to see you again.”
The officer nods at his partner as his radio goes off. They run to their car and I hear the engine roar and tires screech away. I put a hand over my chest; my heart is beating fast.
Once they’re gone, I turn to Zee. “You okay?”
She nods, but she’s clearly shaken.
“Come on, let’s get her home,” Liam says.
I turn to him, furious. “You could’ve done something, you know.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. Not stand there like an idiot.”
“You were asking for it,” he says, “talking back like that. They were just doing their jobs.”
Talking back?I’m so angry I can hardly see straight. I tense my jaw.“Do not speak to me right now.” My hands shake as I help Zee back toward the front steps of an old church.
The messed-up thing is the officer was right, wewerelucky. They could’ve beaten us, arrested us, and gotten away with it. I glare at Liam, who sits on the curb scrolling through his phone. I want to tell him these men’s jobs werecreatedto police us. That these patrol laws meant to keep us safe felt anything but.
—
That night, I’mtoo filled with adrenaline to sleep, and the next morning, I’m staring at the ceiling when there’s a knock on the door. Outside our door, a bouquet of peonies, my favorite flower. I pick them up carefully, wondering who sent them. Liam?
After setting them on my desk in my room, I search for a note, and my fingers close around the small card buried in the cellophane:Naomi, I’m sorry about last night. Let me make it up to you. —M.
My hands curl into fists, crushing the edges of the card. Matthew DuPont left us there. Stranded. With cops who could have done who the hell knows what? It would have been so easy for him. All he had to do was tell them to leave us alone.
I feel the anger rise up in me, and without thinking, I grab the flowers by the neck and hurl them at the trash, just barely missing, scattering petals and leaves all over the floor.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Maya
June 2023
