by L. N. Pearl
“Damn it!” I wanted to scream. “Hold on tight! We have to go in!”
I heard her squealing as we zigzagged between cars. Horns blared at us, but I couldn’t pay attention.
I had to keep my eye out for the back of Drake’s head. He was getting further and further away, unencumbered by a rider.
“That way!”
Trinity pointed to where Drake was turning off the main road. Then she gripped me again as we made the same sharp turn. I thought we might slide out, but I pulled us out of it at the last second.
She squealed again. In the back of my mind, I wondered if she was terrified or having fun but I couldn’t decide.
I went as fast as I could, hoping to God people were smart enough to stay the fuck out of my way. We were getting closer…closer…
Then, sirens. “Oh, fuck me!” I yelled.
I had to make a split-second decision. Keep following Drake, or turn off the street to lose the police.
“What should we do?” Trinity cried out.
I couldn’t get her arrested. I growled and made a quick turn down a side street. I cut the speed until we were well within the legal limit.
The sirens continued…but they got further away. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. We might not have caught Drake—yet. But at least we were safe.
I pulled over into an empty lot so we could catch our breath and figure things out. Trinity hopped off the bike, bending over at the waist with her hands on her thighs.
“You okay?” I asked.
I thought she might have to throw up or something. But she waved me off.
“I’m fine,” she panted. “A little winded is all. That was pretty intense. I think I was holding my breath the whole time,” she said with an embarrassed laugh.
“It was. You did great.”
And she had. I realized she felt like a total partner in everything I did. I could trust her to be smart and not freak out on me.
I needed all my concentration when we were chasing Drake, and it was like she understood that without me having to tell her so.
I didn’t know there were women like her in the world. Maybe I had found the only one. If so, I was the luckiest man alive.
“We should go to the police station,” Trinity said.
She was still breathing fast, and her face was pink and flushed. She had never looked better. I wished I could take her right there.
A lot of it was adrenaline, I knew, and it sure looked good on her.
When I stopped thinking about how hot she was, I saw that she was right, too.
“We can wait to see if they arrested him,” she said. “And if they didn’t, we can wait him out at his grandma’s. I don’t have anywhere else to be.”
I grinned. She was something. “Good plan,” I said, getting back on the bike.
As soon as she was behind me, we took off for the station. She looked it up on her phone and yelled directions into my ear—luckily, we weren’t too far away.
I didn’t want to park too close, though. I didn’t know how cops felt about motorbikes in that town, but it was always best to be on the safe side.
Besides, the reports that had alerted the police undoubtedly mentioned two bikes, and if Drake had been caught, it wouldn’t be smart to pull up in front on one.
I left the bike two blocks away, and we walked.
“There’s no way I’m going in,” I told her. “I sorta have a thing about police stations.”
“Occupational hazard?” she said with a wink.
I smirked. “Something like that, Smarty.” I gave her a friendly pinch on the butt. “I don’t wanna run the risk that any of them saw me.”
“So…what are you thinking, do you want me to go in alone?” Her eyes got big, and I could see she was terrified.
“If you don’t wanna, I get it. We could go back to his grandma’s house and wait it out.”
She bit her lip, with no idea what she did to me whenever she did that.
“No. I’ll go in. He’ll be locked up, if he’s even there. I don’t have anything to be afraid of.”
I wondered if she was trying to convince herself or what. I didn’t say anything, though.
I only kissed her and watched her walk away.
She was probably the bravest person I ever knew.
Chapter 3 - Trinity
I was a total mess. This was it. I was about to confront the man who killed my sister.
Somehow, even though my knees were weak and my palms were sticky with sweat, I felt as though I were in my element.
It had to be all the time I’d spent in police stations as a kid, watching my dad work. It was inevitable sometimes. I would get out of school late, thanks to practice or a club meeting, and the police station was closer to school than home.
So I would walk over there and wait for my dad to finish work before driving us both home. I would sit and do my homework, maybe fifty feet from men and women handcuffed to their chairs after committing a crime.
It didn’t faze me at all.
What left me feeling so giddy that I thought I might faint, were the conflicting emotions racing through me.
I was scared to death, on one hand. What if I finally heard what happened to Angela, and the truth was too heartbreaking to bear? What if I ended up wishing I had left things as they were?
Maybe not knowing was better than knowing, all things considered.
At the same time, I wanted to kill Drake. I wanted to spit on him, kick him, and shake him until his brains rattled around in his head for what he had done.
Why else would he have run from us if he wasn’t guilty? Not to mention the fact that he was hiding in the first place.
Innocent people don’t hide. I wanted to make him feel every bit of pain he put my sister through. I was out for blood.
I ducked into a restroom to calm myself down. My hands were shaking so hard I could hardly turn the faucets in the sink.
I splashed my face, taking deep breaths and demanding of myself that I get it together.
This might not be such a great idea, I thought. I need Tyler. I can’t do it alone.
I shook my head, staring myself in the eye through the mirror. I had to do it. The least I could do was stand up for my sister and tell Drake he couldn’t get away with what he had done.
She deserved that.
With that in mind, I left the restroom and walked to the desk, where an overworked officer sat looking irritable. I asked to see Drake.
She raised her eyebrows, and I cleared my throat, stiffening my spine. “I’m here to bail him out, but I need to see him before I do that.”
I knew that if I didn’t act scared, I would be taken seriously. Still I knew I wasn’t getting through to the cop behind the desk. I tried a different tactic.
“His grandmother sent me. She wants me to bail him out, but she wants me to get his promise that he’ll never do anything like this again.”
She nodded, and I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from smiling in victory.
“Yeah, I feel sorry for that poor woman. I thought her troubles were over when he moved away.”
I nodded with her, making my best sad face. Luck was on my side—they all seemed to know Drake by reputation around here. If only they knew.
They directed me back to the holding cells which were all empty except for Drake’s. Good. I wanted us to be alone.
He sat on a bench, his back to the wall. When he saw me, he smirked.
“So he brought you with him, did he? What, can’t face me alone?”
I shook my head. Easy, girl, I thought. You’re the one in control.
He didn’t know how many cards I held against him.
“No, I told him I wanted to be there whenever he found you. You and I have some things to talk over.”
He shrugged insolently, then spit on the floor. I grimaced. He disgusted me almost as much as Marco did. Maybe more.
Since he didn’t speak right away, I pushed a little bit.
“Yo
u took a big risk, running away like that. I mean, I know we’re in a different city and all. It’ll take the cops a little time to find out who you are, but if you stay here to hide from Tyler it’s just a matter of time. I’m sure they’re not all stupid. They’ll be on to you soon enough.”
I paused, staring at him. “Or, I can make a phone call to my father, and it’ll all be settled a lot sooner. Your choice.”
He smirked. “Your father?”
I knew it…Tyler hadn’t told him.
“Sure. I think you’ve probably met him before. Lieutenant Maxwell?”
His eyes widened. It was delicious, watching him realize how much trouble he could be in.
“Oh, Tyler didn’t tell you who my dad is? I guess it slipped his mind. Dad knows who you are, doesn’t he? He has it out for you guys, big time. In Tyler’s case, I wouldn’t want Dad to make an arrest. But when it comes to you…I’d be more than happy to pull out my phone right now.”
“You’re bluffing,” he said. The way his hands shook told me he wasn’t so sure.
“Really?”
I took my phone from my bag, flipping through photos. “Here we are. Christmas morning, two years ago. Me, Dad…and oh, look. Angela. I think you knew her, didn’t you?”
He couldn’t do more than glance at the phone before looking away. The coward.
“So, we’ve established I’m telling the truth. You know he wants nothing more than to see you behind bars for a long, long time.”
I took the bars of the cell in my hands. All the rage, frustration and despair inside me bubbled to the surface as I gripped the iron with all my might.
“So, here’s the deal. You’re going to tell me what I want to know, or you’ll rot. It’s up to you.”
“You can bail me out?” he asked.
“I sure can. It’s not even that much. Small town, misdemeanor and all that,” I shrugged. “But you have to talk first. That’s the deal.”
He looked reluctant, to say the least, but eventually nodded. Adrenaline raced through my veins.
This was it. I was going to get the answers I needed. I thought about my sister, her face filling my mind. It was easier to see her than to see the poor excuse for a man sitting in front of me.
“I needed money,” he muttered, staring at the floor. “I was never the fucking superstar Tyler is, you know? Or Marco. I don’t pull down the kind of dough they do when I race. I was in a tough spot. I thought about asking Tyler, but he never has enough money, either. He has his sister and all that, too. Plus…I don’t know. It was my stupid fucking pride. I didn’t wanna tell him I needed help.”
I nodded, wishing he would get to the point. I didn’t need a tour through his pathetic life.
What about Angela, I thought.
Then, I got my answer. “So, I made a deal with Marco. He was gonna pay me five thousand dollars,” he said, then went silent.
A cold block of fear landed in my stomach. “For what?” I asked.
He looked at the wall, turning his head from me. “For a night with your sister.”
I bit the side of my fist to keep from screaming out loud. The pain of my teeth sinking into my hand did little to cover the pain in my head.
Once the urge passed, I spat, “You tried to pimp my sister?”
I thought I might throw up. I wished more than anything for five short minutes with him, in a room with him handcuffed to a radiator. That was all I would need.
“It’s not like I handed her the fuck over! Jesus Christ!”
“So what? You think that makes you a hero? You offered! What did he say?”
I was more horrified than I thought possible. Marco? That pig?
“He didn’t take me up on it right away, but he didn’t say no, either. Anyway, I had a fight with Angela one night after a race. Real stupid shit, and I don’t even remember what it was about. Tyler wasn’t around to give her a ride home.”
I thought about that, thinking how bizarre it was that Tyler might have given Angela a ride, if he’d been around.
“What did she do?”
He shook his head. He still wouldn’t look at me, the coward.
“She got a ride with Marco.”
My mind reeled. Marco. She was with Marco. It couldn’t get any worse than that. My poor Angela.
“Then what?” I whispered, still clutching the bars.
Now it wasn’t so fierce…it was a way to stay on my feet. I needed to hold on to something, to stay conscious and upright. I thought my knees might give out at any moment.
“Then, that was it. I never saw her again.”
“Give me a break,” I said. “That’s a little too convenient.”
“It’s the truth…believe me or don’t. It doesn’t matter anymore. That’s what happened.”
“She rode with him even though she knew about the deal?”
He shook his head. “She didn’t fucking know, of course. I never told her.”
Fresh waves of nausea washed over me. She didn’t know, and he let her walk right into it.
“You never saw her again. You didn’t think that was a little suspicious, Drake?”
He turned to me, snarling. “You know what I thought? I thought she was disgusted with me and never wanted to fucking see me again, that’s what I thought. All right? You happy?”
He sat back against the wall. “I could understand that. That’s why I let it go. I was too ashamed to see her, anyway. She didn’t deserve it.”
I still wasn’t sure that he was telling me the entire truth. But at least I knew why he was so reluctant to talk to Tyler, though.
He was ashamed of himself. Rightly so. He knew Tyler would hate him for what he did.
“I’m sorry,” he said. His head was in his hands.
“You’re sorry? Damn right, you’re sorry. You’re the sorriest thing I’ve ever seen! You let your girlfriend go off with that pig. You were too much of a coward to come out and admit what you did. You just ran away from it…and the whole time, my sister was dead. Did she die that night? Do you even know?”
He shrugged, shaking his head. “No. I don’t know. I didn’t even know she was…d-dead, until a little while ago.”
I couldn’t stand to look at him any longer, and I turned away to lean my back against the bars.
My poor Angela. She picked the wrong person, didn’t she?
What sort of horror had she faced in her final moments?
Chapter 4 - Tyler
With every minute that passed, I got more worried. What the hell was taking so long in there?
All kinds of things went through my mind. What if Drake wasn’t there, but the cops recognized Trinity?
Or, what if she got in to see Drake, but he said something that tore her apart?
What if he confessed and she needed me?
I hated myself for not being in there with her, but it just wasn’t possible. I couldn’t put myself in that kind of position, even if it meant leaving her alone. I had to consider Gigi over all else.
I hated myself and my past for putting myself in the position that caused me to let Trinity down like this.
The sun was setting by the time she came out. It had been over an hour, and I couldn’t believe how relieved I felt.
“What happened?”
She was alone. I thought she would be bringing Drake with her.
She looked at me, and her mouth moved like she wanted to speak. Nothing came out… Then she burst into tears.
“Oh, no…come here.”
As I reach out and pulled her into my arms and held her, my thoughts were racing. What did he say? Did he confess?
I waited until she calmed down a little before I asked. It took a long time before she was able to speak.
She shook her head. “He didn’t confess. Not to killing her, anyway.”
“To what, then?”
I took her face in my hands. She looked destroyed. I wanted to kill him for making her feel that way.
“He sold her. He sold her to
Marco.”
She cried again, leaning her head against me. I saw red. My head felt like a powder keg ready to explode.
“He sold her? What are you saying?”
“Five thousand dollars. He needed money and offered her to Marco for five thousand, to have a night with her.”
She looked at me with so much pain and hate. “You didn’t know, did you?”
“Are you kidding? Do you think I would let him get away with that? God, I feel sick.”
Drake? A fucking pimp? Just how bad had he gotten without me knowing about it?
“How do you think I feel?”
Of course she felt even worse than me.
She wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I thought I was going to throw up right there in the police station. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. I kept wanting it to be a lie, but I could tell it wasn’t. He was that desperate for money.”
“For what?”
She shrugged. “He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. I couldn’t be in there with him any longer.”
Was it drugs? I didn’t think he did them. I would have known that, at least. Or would I?
He never looked tweaked, but maybe he hid it well. Gambling? It could have been. He might have bet on a game.
Or…maybe on a race. Shit. That was probably it. He was betting on races, and losing. I wondered how much money he had on the race I lost to Marco.
I knew the dudes who handled the betting didn’t joke around when it came to their money. Shit. What was he thinking?
I turned my attention back to her. “Where is he? Did you bail him out?”
She shook her head. “Are you kidding? Tyler, come on. I couldn’t. I couldn’t bail him out after he told me about trying to pimp my sister out. How could I? He deserves to be in jail for what he’s done.”
She took a deep breath. “I’m sorry if that hurts you, but it’s how I feel.”
I shook my head, pulling her close to me.
“No, no. I mean, it hurts. I hurt for him. He was my friend. I hate to see him like this. I don’t know what happened, you know? He went down the wrong road somewhere. I missed it. I don’t feel like I know him anymore.”
Her arms squeezed me. “I’m sorry.”