Page 86 of King

It takes a second for his words to settle, pushing myself off the floor.

Free?

I'm free to go?

I’m still in a daze as I follow the officer. I can hardly listen to his instructions as he leads me towards the exit.

If they alerted the Archibalds, I don’t know what they have in store for me. I’ve seen Eric’s wrath and worst-case scenario, they’ll send us back to The Grove.

Lea’s right. There’s no one to blame for getting myself into this scenario but myself. I meant to keep my head down, keep my job, get into a good university…but I don’t know what happens after this.

When I get into the lobby, my jaw clenches when I see who’s waiting for me.

“Jo.” Damien approaches me, a stocky man in a suit behind him. This isn’t his dad. This guy is rounder, face like a potato with a balding head.

When they reach me, Damien takes off his leather jacket, putting it around my shoulders.

“Miss Rowland?” The man behind him reaches out a bulky hand. “We’ve cleared everything, you have nothing to worry about.”

I furrow my brows and I’m a mix of emotions.

Damien clarifies, “I handled it all. I made everything go away.” He eyes me up and down before he smirks. “All a part of the business right?”

That’s when the anger flows to my arm and before I can think it through, my palm comes to his face.

He freezes, dark eyebrows lowering. The man who I assume is his lawyer stands in front of us. He's blocking us from the view of the officers. "Uh, you two should take this outside.”

Damien grabs my arm and leads me to the door. I try to pull back but he pulls harder and if I compete with him we’ll be making a scene.

When we get outside, the man in the suit heads towards a Benz parked to the curb. “Call me if you need anything, kid.” Damien nods as I pull my arm from his hold.

“I can’t do this!” I yell.

He raises an eyebrow, taking a joint from his pack. “Chill out, it’s not like you haven’t got arrested before. It’s no big deal.” He lights it as if we’ve had the most casual experience in the world.

“No big deal?” I’m boiling, but when I go to lift my hand again, he stops me. I let him have it anyway, my wrist in his hold. “For you, it's not! But for me? My life could have been over Damien. My sister would have been all alone. My future—”

“Well, it’s a good thing you know people in high places.” I pull my hand from his hold and he lets me. “So we good?” How can he be so calm about this? He takes my hand. “Speaking of high places. I have some of Isaac’s OG Kush back at mine. How about we get naked, smokey and forget this ever happened?”

He pulls me in but I pull away. He pulls harder, his lips coming close to me but I meet him with another slap instead. Damien growls, his eyes on my hand. When he finally lets go, I turn around, heading for the station. I'll call Henry to take me back to Willow.

He calls out, “Where the fuck are you going?”

“Home,” I say, my hand on the metal handle. "I’m done with you."

I’m happy Henry doesn’t ask questions on the way home, but when I get inside, Nancy and Eric are waiting for me at the door.

“This is unacceptable,” Nancy says. “We can’t have our child dealing drugs and getting arrested like you’re a part of some cartel. What will our friends think? What about our business?”

I'm not sure how they found out so soon, but I’m not surprised the Archibalds are more worried about their appearance than me. “Lucky for you,” I say, arms crossed. “I’m not your child.”

Eric grips the rail. “And you won’t be in this house for much longer if you keep these shenanigans!” He takes a step closer and Nancy gasps as he gets in my face. “We don’t house delinquents.”

“You knew about my record before you took us in,” I scoff.

“I’m starting to think this was a bad idea,” Nancy sighs, thumb and index on the bridge of her nose.

"We can't have this. This shit is prime material for press." Eric clenches his fist before his hand goes through the wall. Nancy's scream causes Eric to stiffen, his hands dropping. Turning around he calls behind his shoulder, “I have to think about this."

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