Barely managing to get my feet under me, I stood and walked to the door. Chase and Beth had me by the arms, and helped me down the stairs. The sheriff was at the bottom and he was holding out handcuffs.
“No!” I gasped, backing up. “Please, no, sir. No. I will come with you without trouble. Please don’t put those on me.”
He must have seen how I was trembling, and nodded, hooking them back on his belt.
Chase grabbed the warrant. “Do you need this back?”
“’Fraid so,” he said.
“Can you wait just two minutes while I make a copy for his lawyer?”
I sobbed, “Chase, I don’t—”
He leaned up and kissed me. “You totally have a lawyer. Don’t say anything to anyone, babe. Not one word. Got it?”
Nodding, I watched him sprint into the office at the back of the house, and came back less than a minute later with his copy and the original.
The sheriff took my elbow and led me down the stairs.
I was reliving my worst fucking nightmare, and I didn’t know how to wake up.
CHASE
THE PATROL CARHADN’TEVEN TURNED around with Marcus in the back before I had the phone to my ear. I knew exactly who to call.
“Vincent Bartrand.”
“Vin, it’s Chase. I need to put you on professional retainer, right now, and for you to meet my boyfriend at central booking when they get there.”
“Excuse me? Your boyfriend? Aren’t you in Illinois?”
“Yes, I am. At my parents’ place. The sheriff just carted away Marcus on an arrest warrant for New York.” I knew I was talking fast even for New York, but Vincent was a lawyer and if he couldn’t keep up, he needed to quit. “I have a copy of the arrest warrant here. Do you want me to send it to you? I already told him not to talk to anyone. I’m going to pack my shit in a few minutes and get on the road home, but I need—”
“Stop,” Vincent’s voice snapped down the line. “Take a goddamn breath.”
I did, and I was shocked that I was panting from my tirade. My hands were shaking, and my mother grabbed the copies of the warrant out of my hand so I didn’t crush or destroy them in any other way.
“Okay. Your boyfriend is being extradited to Kings County for what?”
“Rape charges.”
There was silence. It was too long of a silence, and I finally called through the phone. “Still there, Vincent?”
“I am…you know I don’t handle…”
“Fuck,” I snapped at him. “He didn’t rape anyone! He didn’t hurt anyone! He ripped open the wall of my living room to rescue kittens! He’s not a rapist.”
“Okay, all right, calm down. I’ll call someone to help me. He’s not cheap…”
“I don’t care about money. Get my boyfriend out of jail and these charges dropped. Vincent, please, for me.”
“Yes, of course,” he said. “Email the copies you have and I’ll get on it. How long until you’re back?”
“It’s a thirteen hour drive, so if I get going now, I’ll have to crash overnight. Even if I could walk out the door right now I won’t be there before noon tomorrow.”
“Crash somewhere, man,” Vincent said. “Do not go thirteen hours yourself. We’ve got it on this end. Isn’t his mother here?”
“Yes,” I said.
