Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69534 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 348(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“We want a lawyer,” Searcy said. “Immediately. She will not talk until she’s spoken with her lawyer.”
The cop rolled his eyes. “We’re here to question her, not you. And she hasn’t asked for a lawyer yet. She’s an adult.”
“I want a lawyer,” Calliope replied immediately.
Long sighs filled the night air around us from the cops. “Is she under arrest?”
“No,” the cop replied.
“Then we’ll meet you down at the station,” I countered.
“That’s…”
“She’s not under arrest,” a cop that I recognized said. Assman, if I remembered correctly. “We’ll meet you down at the station.”
I nodded, then said, “Calliope, you want to ride with us? Or do you want to find your own ride?”
Calliope took a look all around, then said, “Uh…I don’t have a ride. Nor any money for an Uber. But I’ll find a ride…”
“We can take you,” Officer Assman said as he walked away.
“I’ll take a ride,” Calliope blurted, stepping as far away from the cop as she could get.
Chuckles again filled the air, though this time from the club brothers around me.
“I’ll take her,” Gunner said.
Calliope looked from me to Gunner, and her eyes widened.
From what I understand, Gunner had always been a ‘hot guy’ according to all the females that came into the club. He was also the youngest among us early his thirties, which was still nearly fifteen years older than Calliope.
“I have an extra helmet anyway, because my niece was in town,” he said as he gestured toward his bike where a sparkly pink helmet sat.
“I’ll be fine,” Calliope said, but Gunner was already shaking his head.
“You’ll wear it or you won’t ride,” he said.
Calliope opened her mouth to reply when I said, “We lost a club brother two years ago because he wasn’t wearing a helmet. We don’t ride without helmets anymore.”
June, one of our club brothers, had been riding home from Kentucky visiting a friend when someone had pulled out in front of him. He’d slowed down, would’ve been fine really, but the bike hit a pothole and sent him skidding. June had hit his head on the concrete road and had died on impact.
That’d been the only thing injured on him. Everything else had been perfectly covered.
From then on, we’d made a pact in the club that we wouldn’t ride without our helmets.
And it’d stuck.
“Let’s get this over with.” Calliope sighed.
Twenty
I might not put the sparkle in your eyes, but I’ll definitely put the ‘what the fuck’ wrinkles in your forehead.
—Searcy to Posy
SEARCY
I’d gone through several sets of emotions since that phone call two hours ago, and I was exhausted.
“Walk me through the night again,” Malone urged.
“I was with my friends. At least, I thought they were friends. But we pulled over because Byron needed to use the restroom. Since I did, too, I left the car running and got out. I had the keys in my pocket, though. My car’s really old and I can take the keys out of the ignition. I walked inside, used the bathroom, and when I got back, the car and my friends were gone. Byron came out, and we started talking. and Byron said that they were just going down the road for some chicken. So, we waited, but then the store clerk told us we either had to buy something or leave, so we left. I was standing outside, like at the corner of the building, when Byron grabbed me.”
I tensed, not wanting to hear the rest.
A warm hand curled around my hip and pulled me to him, and I immediately leaned into Posy’s hard body.
Without even realizing it, I’d given him my whole trust.
He was in.
So deep inside my heart that I felt like he’d finally filled a piece that I hadn’t realized was missing.
“What happened then?” Malone asked.
“Then, he pulled me deep into the shadows on the side of the building and forced me down to my knees. He was so strong that I couldn’t fight him off. He had a hold of my hair, and he was unzipping his jeans, and I just…froze. I couldn’t fight. This wasn’t like the times before when boys got handsy because they were drunk. Or…” she looked at me, letting me know that it wasn’t like the last time where she was able to get away. “Before I knew it, he was shoving his penis in my mouth. And I just…bit down.”
Malone winced. “You tore it off?”
“Yeah,” she whispered. “I got it with my back teeth, and when he went to rip himself away, I held on.”
Posy’s hand squeezed my hip, likely to contain me because my body had gone rigid.
“It came off in my mouth and I just…ran,” she said. “I called my sister and walked to the Dairy Queen down the street. I didn’t know about my car, though. I thought those kids had it still. I was going to ask Searcy what I should do.”