Page 21 of The Blackmail of Denise Randall

Another long pause before he replies, “Denise, where exactly are you handcuffed and to what?”

“My wrists are handcuffed to my steering wheel. I’m in the country club parking lot, but I don’t want to worry Mom and Dad.”

I hear him release a huff of breath. “So you’re fully clothed?”

“Yes!”

“Oh thank God. Okay, so all that’s happened is you’re handcuffed to the steering wheel…fully clothed? Who handcuffed you?”

“Yes. It was…” Gosh, I don’t want to tell Trent it’s Keaton. He’ll find this hilarious. “It was a wannabe police officer. Look, I just need you to please come get these handcuffs off me.”

“Why’d he do that?”

“We can discuss that when you get here and remove the handcuffs.”

He agrees and ends the call. I sit and wait, praying nobody sees me. A little part of me wonders if Keaton is planning to return and I wonder what would happen if he returns while Trent’s here. Maybe Trent wouldn’t laugh. Maybe he wouldn’t care that he’s one of their friends. I smile to myself. Trent could easily handle him. It would serve the ass right.

Thinking of him must have somehow summoned the devil. I see him walking out of the clubhouse and approaching my car. I can tell he’s feeling pretty good about himself as he struts around to my window, holding a… slushie.

He opens my door and rests his arms over his head against the top of my car. “Ready to cooperate?” He sticks his tongue out and slides the straw into his mouth.

Behind Keaton’s big shoulders, I can see Trent’s SUV slowly approaching us. I throw Keaton a smug smile. “That’s my big brother. You might want to hurry and uncuff me.”

He turns his head, and I’m shocked when a big grin spreads across his face. Trent parks behind me and hops out of his vehicle with arms spread wide.

He beams at wannabe Officer Douchebag. “What’s going on, man?”

I stare dumbfounded as those two do some kind of guy hug. I scramble to try and stick my head out. “Help!”

Trent rushes over to my open door. I stumble out and then right myself next to Trent as the handcuffs cut into my wrist. I look back and forth between them. I sidle up closer to Trent and hiss. “Trent?” I strive for patience, but it’s barely there. “You’re here to help me, remember?”

Trent looks down at me like he just remembered the reasons he’s here. He looks at the handcuffs and laughs. He laughs! “Keaton, man, what’s going on?”

Keaton shrugs and smiles. “As a volunteer firefighter, I try to do my part for the community. She flew in here, going way past the speed limit, and was distracted. When I approached the vehicle and she threw a tantrum, I handcuffed her. Needless to say, she wasn’t too happy about it, so I thought she might need a little timeout. I’m a laidback guy, but you still have to respect the law.”

My mouth falls open. “Respect the—? A volunteer firefighter? Since when? I thought you were a wannabe cop.”

He points over to a beat-up truck with a firefighter shield on the back. Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.

Trent rolls his eyes. “I’m sorry, man. Denise can be a little bit of a hothead. She probably got mad because you slandered her driving. She has a perfect driving record.”

“I’m innocent! Tell him why you really handcuffed me. I dare you. I effing dare you to tell him the truth.”

Keaton sighs. “She was swerving a little. Clearly she isn’t drunk, but you can’t be too careful. She might’ve been on her phone while driving.” He gives me a mock pointed look. “That’s dangerous, little miss.”

Little miss?

Trent frowns at me. “That’s a more likely story than he handcuffed you for no reason.”

“He has no business handcuffing me! That’s the point here. He isn’t a cop or a firefighter. Even if he is, I didn’t do anything wrong.” Tilting my head, I narrow my eyes at Trent. “I’m sorry, but I’m sensing a bromance here.”

Keaton has the nerve to smirk at me. Trent grins like he’s actually proud to be associated with this creep. “We’ve been hanging out since Noah’s been back,” he says this like it’s obvious, but then he frowns. “How well do you know Keat? He was in Alice and Noah’s class. He’s older than you.”

Of course I know him. He was the star of my fantasies for a brief while, but I don’t recall him looking like that. I discreetly wipe a little drool from the corner of my mouth. Then to my horror, Trent speaks what is never to be spoken of. “Oh yeah! Remember when you were in junior high, and Keaton was nice enough to dance with you on New Year’s Eve? This guy was like a knight in shining armor to you.”

Why Trent? Why would you say that? Why even bring that up?

Keaton grins. “Rescuing lovely maidens is my real full-time profession.”

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