Clay chuckles. “Yeah, and Chiara managed to score a ride twice in one night.” I give him an elbow nudge. “What? Too soon?” he teases.
“Where do you live?” I ask, starting the car and glancing at Carolina in the rearview mirror.
“You can just drop us off somewhere in Harlem,” she says.
My brows furrow. “Nonsense. Give me your address.”
Chiara is the one who rattles it off, and I get why Carolina hesitated. It’s a notorious street lined with filthy old buildings. A place where we frequently respond to shootings.
The drive is quiet, with only the soft hum of music from the radio filling the car.
“Thank you for not freaking out and handling this so well,” I hear Chiara whisper.
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll get an earful when we get home,” Carolina whispers back.
I smile to myself and glance at Clay, who is already grinning.
Pulling up to the building, Chiara steps out of the car, murmuring a quick “Thank you.”
Carolina, however, lingers a moment, the unbuckled seat belt in her hand. “Thank you for getting her. My sister isn’t typically the type to get into trouble. I’ll make sure you won’t see her in a police car again.”
Clay chuckles. “Don’t worry, we all did stuff like that when we were teenagers. This won’t lead her into a life of crime.”
She nods and exits the car. Then we watch as they enter the shabbiest fucking building on the street.
While I start the car again, Clay huffs. “Sister. God, I was going nuts trying to do the math on how she could be her mother.”
I nod. “Did you see where they live? And we just made it harder for her by another four hundred, which looked like all the money she had.”
“I know, I hated it. But we couldn’t fine the other bitch of a mother and not her. Taking back the penalty after it’s already been issued isn’t so easy either,” he says.
SEVENTEEN
It’s Monday afternoon,and I’m working on a case with Sophia, but my mind is still stuck on what went down Saturday night. I can’t believe Chiara did that. I mean, yeah, it wasn’t a major screwup. They’re just dumb teenagers, and it’s normal for them to sneak out for parties. But getting busted by the police and ending up at the very station I work at, thanks to my boss’s brother and friend? That’s just insane.
And let’s not forget the embarrassment of scraping together every last penny I had. I can still see the pity in Josh’s eyes, and I don’t want to face him again, but I know it’s inevitable.
Now they’ve seen where I live too. I’m so fucking embarrassed by this whole situation that I actually thought about skipping my internship and dropping out of college.
Howie would definitely welcome me and save me a spot by his side. But then Chiara would suffer, which brings me right back to why I’m caught up in this goddamn mess called my life.
I swear, that girl is so damn lucky I love her.
I visited Howie yesterday before my shift at the bar to fill him in on getting my job back and tell him about our little escapade with the cops.
He just cracked up laughing and said, “Well, at least you’ll be free from that boy if Chiara’s smart enough to dump his sorry ass after ditching her.”
But honestly, she’s so damn love-struck that I bet she’s already running right back into his arms.
The door swings open, and in walk Josh and Clay. I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the sarcastic crap that’s about to pour out of Clay’s mouth as soon as he gets to me. I swear, I’ll never hear the end of this humiliation from him. Knowing him, he’s going to milk it forever.
“Ladies,” he says, coming over to my desk. “Oh, come on, Karen, you look so unapproachable.”
“And yet, here you are,” I mutter, making him chuckle.
“Oh, little Karen,” he singsongs. “And little Karen is funny because you’re short as fuck.” He reaches out to tap my nose, and I shoot him a glare. “You know, you could have let me in on the secret that your date last Friday was with my boyfriend.”
Josh, who is leaning against Sophia’s desk with his arms crossed, chokes on his own breath before blurting out, “What?”
