She wrapped her arms around his neck and rubbed herself suggestively against him. “You want coffee or, something?”
He tugged her arms free. “I want nothing, Claudia. I don’t know what you think is going on here but I’m not interested.”
She stared at his ring finger. “Why not? You’re not spoken for, and I’m offering my fantastic body.”
Mentally, Sam completed the sentence—and a psychotic mind. He needed a way to get rid of her for good before she did more than accost him in public. Meg wouldn’t appreciate coming home to find her naked in his bed awaiting his arrival. The thought made him sigh. The way things stood between them, Meg might not care either way. How had he screwed things up so badly? She said sex would ruin their friendship and it had. Although, now he thought about it, he realized he didn’t want to be Meg’s friend. He wanted to be much more, if only she would let him.
A vibration in his pocket brought his attention back to the moment. Still holding Claudia at bay with one hand, he rescued his phone.
“Hello.”
“Sam, it’s me, Meg. I need to ask you a favor.”
His heart leapt at the sound of her voice and the opportunity she’d dropped in his lap.
“Anything, whatever you need, I’ve got it.”
“You might change your mind when you hear what I want you to do.”
He couldn’t imagine anything she might ask for he wouldn’t instantly agree to. Whatever she wanted, he would do it to get back in her good books. “Try me.”
She met his comment with silence and then she sobbed. “I’m in jail; I need someone to bail me out.”
The sounds of her heartbroken whimpers made his chest ache. He had no idea what she could have done to get herself arrested. Maybe she had been so distraught at the way he treated her last night she went shoplifting, although Laura hadn’t made his need to sort things out sound that desperate. No matter what, she could explain everything once she was free. “Meg, shush, baby. Tell me where you are and how much money you need, and I’m on my way.”
“I’m being held at the Central precinct and my bail’s a hundred dollars.”
“One hundred dollars, I think I have that much on me. I’ll grab a cab.” He took off at full stride toward the gym entrance without a word of explanation to Claudia.
Meg whispered, “Sam?”
Her tone brought him to a halt. She was about to tell him something he really wouldn’t like. Her tone was the one she used when she told him she’d accidentally shrunk his best shirt in the wash and the time she apologized for tossing out his favorite porn movie.
“Is there something else I need to know?”
“I need three hundred dollars to bail out three of us.”
“Three?” No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t even begin to imagine what she could have done with two other people that got them all arrested. He had a feeling whatever it was, he would probably be better off not knowing.
“I’ll explain when you get here, and thank you.” She sniffled again and his heart over ruled his head. She could have been naked on Main Street for all he cared. He needed to rescue his girl.
*
Meg handed the phone back to Officer Delaney. Laura’s phone had gone straight through to voicemail. As much as she hadn’t wanted to ask Sam for help, she was grateful he agreed without demanding a full explanation, although things might change when he saw who else he was bailing out.
“Is someone coming to rescue you?”
“He’s on his way.”
“And the other two?”
“He’ll pay for them as well. Do you think I can explain what we were arrested for?”
Delaney took her elbow and led her back to the holding cell. “As long as you promise to take grabbing grandma with you, I don’t see why not.”
Time seemed to stand still. Meg paced the floor, wondering how best to explain the situation to Sam. Her mind swung between telling him the truth and letting him deal with it, and trying to down play the whole situation in the hopes he wouldn’t get pissed off, again.
She chided herself. He hadn’t even arrived and she was planning how best to win him back. Her libido had taken over again. Not that being pinned beneath a well endowed, very erect, naked Michael Monaghan had helped much. The boy had been extremely happy to see her until Officer Clarke intervened. Aunt Maud had no idea how wrong she was about his faulty ding dong.
By the time the door swung open, Meg had worked herself into a state of near hysteria. She should have called her mother. She should have called anyone. She was so not ready to speak to Sam.
Delaney stuck her head around the door. “Come on, let’s go. There’s a real cutie out here asking for you.”
Meg sat on the edge of the cot, her head spinning. “I can’t. I need a moment.”
Crossing the room, Delaney sat next to her. “You okay? You look kinda pale.”
“I just feel a bit weak and sick to my stomach. He’s going to hate me forever. I can’t tell him.” Meg stared at Delaney. “Would you tell him for me?”
“You want me to explain why you were arrested?”
Meg nodded. “And about Michael Monaghan and Aunt Maud. I don’t want to be there when he decides he has better things to do with his money than save my sorry arse.”
Delaney put an arm around Meg’s shoulders. “I think you might be selling the man short. He’s beside himself out there. If we don’t produce you soon, I think we may have to arrest him for kicking the door in and coming to get you himself.”
“He’ll change his mind when he finds out. Please.”
With a sigh, Delaney got to her feet. “Sure. I can tell him.”
Meg watched her leave then leaned back against the wall and fought back tears.
Chapter Thirty
Sam tried to look nonchalant but his nerves jangled. The desk sergeant caught his eye and he unclenched his fists and attempted a smile. The sergeant grinned and shook his head. Apparently his smile wasn’t working today. He stared at the door some more in the hope it would open and Meg would come running out. A glance at his watch revealed the police officer had been gone for nearly fifteen minutes. Sam rubbed the back of his neck and let out a loud sigh. He needed this to be over, to tell Meg he had been a thoughtless bastard.
“Give her a minute.”
He glanced at the Sergeant. “Sorry?”
“Your friend will be out soon. Delaney’s a good cop. She knows what she’s doing.”
Sam nodded. “Thanks. I guess I’m a little tense.”
“I’ll say.”
The conversation came to an abrupt halt when the door swung open. Sam craned his neck to peer around the rotund police officer, the corridor appeared empty.
He took a step toward the door but Delaney held up her hand. “Just a minute, Sir, she’s not quite ready to go yet.” She glanced at the desk sergeant. “Is interview room three empty?”
“Yes. Why, do we have a problem?”
“No, nothing I can’t handle.” She turned her attention back to Sam. “Follow me, Sir.”
A slow stir of panic churned deep in his stomach. Had Meg implicated him as being involved in her crime? He hadn’t done anything illegal that he could think of, but then neither had she.
“Am I under arrest? Do I need a lawyer?”
Delaney grinned at him. “No. Not unless you want to confess to something we’re not aware of. Maggie wants me to explain the situation. Shall we?”
Sam stepped through the door and followed her into a side room.
“Take a seat. You want a coffee?”
He didn’t want to sit and he didn’t need a drink, he needed to know what the fuck had Meg so worried she preferred hiding in a police cell to telling him what was going on.
Delaney stared at him and reluctantly he slid onto the hard timber chair, declining the offer of coffee.
Hands clenched together, he rested them on the grey Formica table top and willed his heart to slow down before it self-co
mbusted. Delaney took the seat across from him and smiled.
“Relax.”
“I’ll relax when I have Meg out of the cell and home where she belongs. Please, can we just get on with it?”
“Sure. Following further investigations, your friend Meg was arrested after an incident at the Plaza Hotel.”
Meg hated going to places like that. She said they made her feel uncomfortable. She must have been dragged there against her will. Was that what the other two people she wanted him to bail out had done to her, forced her inside and a fight had ensued and she’d badly injured someone. That made no sense. People who were abducted didn’t get placed under arrest. Something was very wrong with this picture. “What exactly did she do?”
“We were called to the hotel to respond to reports of screaming coming from one of the rooms. Two officers found your friend Meg in the room, along with an elderly lady and a young man.”
Sam sighed, wishing she would just get to the point. “And?”
“The male was naked and handcuffed to the bed, and the elderly lady insisted the young man was a prostitute who refused to perform a sexual act with her, despite having been paid for his services.”
“What does this have to do with Meg?”
“The elderly lady accused Meg of hiring him out.”
“So she’s been arrested for being a pimp?”
“Exactly.”
“On the say-so of some batty old woman?”
“Further investigation revealed Meg was carrying a number of leaflets in her purse offering the services of ‘lifestyle advisors’.”
“So? It’s her new business.”
“Regardless of what the employees are called, the pictures and the services described left us in no doubt your friend has indeed been managing a prostitute and she hasn’t tried to deny it.”
Meg, a pimp? No way, no way in hell. Laura was behind this for sure. The woman was a liability. She had come to the gym to berate him about playing fast and lose with Meg’s psyche because of her sexual hang-ups, while she had been busy dragging Meg into the sex industry. That woman was the absolute limit. Wait until he got his hands on her. Surely Meg had to be aware he wouldn’t blame her or care about what she’d been charged with.
Sam took a deep breath and stared Delaney in the eyes. “Okay, so you say she’s a pimp. Now can I take her home?”
“Not so fast, cowboy.”
He leaned forward and frowned at her. “I thought she said one hundred bucks would get her out, so what’s the hold up?”
“Before you pay her bail she wanted you to know who else we arrested.”
“Who?” He shrugged, like he could care less who the other two fools where that Laura dragged into her dirty little world.
“The lady charged with solicitation is her Aunt Maud, and the prostitute is a Michael Monaghan.”
Sam clenched his teeth and his fists. Michael Monaghan, again! Why the hell did she keep getting involved with him? Was their association just a business deal, an employment relationship? Why did he keep finding Michael Monaghan everywhere he turned?
Delaney stared at him. “Are you okay?”
Was he? His jealousy over Michael had sent her running to Laura’s before he had a chance to make amends. As much as it pained him to admit it, he needed to hear her side of the story and, above all, stay calm. Meg had a right to tell him what had really happened.
He unclenched his fists and gave a nod. “I’m fine. Can I see Meg now?”
Delaney smiled at him. “Sure, if you pay the bond I’ll go and collect her.”
Sam followed Delaney back to the desk and pulled out his wallet, tossing three hundred dollars on the counter. As much as it pained him, he had promised Meg he would bail all three of them out, but Michael Monaghan owed him, and he would be sure to collect. “How much extra to have you keep Aunt Maud and Michael in a cell together for the night?”
The sergeant chuckled. “Don’t think we didn’t consider it. A good fright might put Mr. Monaghan back on the straight and narrow. We could even hire her to help us sort out a few more delinquents.”
Sam tugged some more cash out of his wallet. “Okay, well if you can’t keep them banged up together can you do something else for me?”
Chapter Thirty-One
Meg started from one again. She’d lost count of her steps back and forth across the room. As a child she used to count anything and everything to pass the time and deal with anxiety. She stopped counting years ago, but then life hadn’t been this stressful for a while.
What if he refused to pay? Perhaps she should have waited until after he posted bail then told him about Michael. She hoped to God he didn’t leave her rotting in jail. She needed to pee, and the stainless steel toilet with no seat or lid in the corner of the room held no appeal. She should pretend she was Chuck Norris playing a kick arse bad guy in a movie, he wouldn’t be afraid to piss in public. He would stand up to pee. She tried that once on a trip to Paris when the only public toilet she could find was one of those squat ones. The experience hadn’t ended well. She had to tie her jacket around her waist and seek refuge in Bon Marche until she became the owner of a pair of expensive designer jeans. Women couldn’t pee that way; they didn’t have the balance or coordination, never mind the equipment, to pull it off successfully.
The sound of metal on metal alerted her to the return of Officer Delaney. Meg sat on the bed, pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her eyes; she didn’t want to see the look on Delaney’s face if she had brought bad news. She didn’t want to see that sad pathetic expression people get when they try to pretend they’re upset, even when they don’t give a shit.
“Maggie?”
She didn’t sound like she was about to give her bad news. Perhaps she should risk a peek. Opening one eye, Meg scoped out Delaney. A big grin spread across the officer’s face.
“If you don’t open your eyes and follow me you’ll be here all night. Your man has paid the bail and is waiting for you.”
Sam hadn’t turned tail and run. “How did he take the news?”
Delaney shrugged. “I suggest you ask him. Now let’s go. I’ve got a couple of drunks with their names on this cell, unless you want to stay here and share with them?”
Meg shook her head. “No way. What about Aunt Maud and Michael? Are they getting out as well?”
Delaney nodded. “Sure, he paid their bail and even left some cash for them to get cabs home. He doesn’t want to meet Maud or Michael so we agreed to hold them until you were both gone.”
She felt sick. He wouldn’t want to see Aunt Maud because she couldn’t keep her hands off his arse. She had some sympathy with her; Sam had an amazingly toned rear end. Michael, she guessed he didn’t want to meet in case he felt compelled to throttle him. Would he want to throttle her as well?
Delaney had graciously let her use the staff toilets before going to meet Sam. She splashed some water on her face and tidied up her hair as best as she could. The reflection in the mirror pulled no punches. She was a mess. What had she been thinking when she pulled on the purple track suit? It wasn’t her color, and the chocolate stain on the front added nothing to the style.
If there was ever a time in her life when she wanted to look good this would be the moment. Well, this moment and her wedding day, not that she thought she would have one of those anytime soon. Apart from the fact she’d fight her mother all the way not to turn it into a huge event, no one would want to marry a pimp besides other criminals. All the criminals she’d seen on the Crime and Investigation Channel appeared to be a few sandwiches short of a picnic and in need of some personal hygiene advice.
Regardless of her future marital status, she didn’t want Sam to think he’d rescued some hobo. She wanted him to feel like she was worthy of saving because she deserved some sympathy. Wanting to improve her appearance had nothing to do with how he might feel about her and their relationship—they didn’t have one. And it was definitely nothing to do with wanting to look desirab
le enough to be welcomed back in his bed, because they weren’t sleeping together anymore. No way. No how. No matter what.
Her life had been an out of control freight train heading for the edge of a cliff for days and now she finally had the brakes on. Maybe she wasn’t ready for life as a nun, but she knew she couldn’t be someone’s fuck buddy either. Her mother always told her girls only wanted to be intimate to make babies. She had been so wrong, sex with Sam had been the most fun she ever had, but she’d been right when she said outside of a committed relationship sex was the fast track to hell. Sam was only in it for the sex, she had to be strong for both of them if they were to ever move beyond this and salvage their friendship.
The further down the corridor they went, the faster her heart beat. Delaney held the door open and she stepped into the front office. Sam stood with his back to her, hands in his jacket pockets, eyes focused on something outside the window. She wouldn’t be able to read his expression and judge how he felt about the situation until he turned to face her.
When the door clicked shut, he spun around and made eye contact with her. She didn’t know what she’d expected to see, but the fierce look took her breath away. It was a mixture of rage and raw passion. Without a word he stepped to the front door and held it open for her. She walked outside, following him to his motorbike. Still silent, he handed her the spare helmet and she pulled it on before climbing on behind him.
He hadn’t said anything and she had lost her tongue. The discussion they needed to have was probably best saved for the privacy of their home. When he pulled the bike out of the lot she had no choice but to wrap her arms around him or risk falling off. He rode like a man possessed. Thankfully they didn’t have far to go or she feared they would never make it, wiped out under a truck, or wrapped around a light pole.
Sam parked the bike. She clambered off and handed him her helmet. His silence freaked her out. She felt sick to her stomach; he obviously hated her now. Perhaps the purple tracksuit and yellow shoes had pushed him over the edge, or maybe it was her selling Michael Monaghan’s body to old age pensioners, naw, it would definitely be the outfit. If that were only the case, then she could fix it by slipping into something a little less revolting. Too late now, apparently their friendship was over.
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