Page 54 of Alpha Bait

It had been a long time since I had stepped into a police precinct. My youthful days had been filled with friends who racked up DUIs like they were poker chips. Since then, I had matured past the days of hanging out with young reckless drunks and the police precincts of New York City were some of the places I was desperate to avoid the most.

Inside, I sat and waited for the family lawyers to show up. I knew they would likely arrive with my mother on their heels. What had happened in the park couldn't be kept from her for long.

Cops brought us tea and water as we waited. I wondered what they would have done if my cousin had been a different black man and not a Holloway heir or local fame. Perhaps our treatment wouldn't have been so generous.

This time, we were lucky and they only seemed interested in elucidating the truth of what had happened that night. I had to admit, I was painfully ignorant. Donnie and Jamal had been stationed at one of their usual hangouts. Why had Selena Carter come there? How had this all been exacerbated to the point where she lay dead and my cousin sat in prison with blood on his hands?

My mother arrived after about 20 minutes with the lawyers hot on her tail. She had caught a break in traffic and managed to arrive early with fury written all over her face. She didn't speak to me and instead went straight to the officers and demanded to see Donnie and my brother. She might've heard part of the truth, but she was unaware that my brother lay within an inch of his life at Mount Sinai Hospital.

When she found out, her expression remained cold.

"I warned them not to fight."

That was it. In my mother's world, her warnings and demands had always been law. We had always been made to reap the consequences of our actions and tonight was no different. She bore little sympathy for my brother or my cousin. Her rage was palpable and I knew that if they managed to both get out of this alive, there would be hell to pay within our household.

On the opposite side of the police station Ames Carmichael sat in hushed conversation with his lawyer. I knew they would pursue this. I knew they would send my cousin to jail. I knew that Richard and I probably had no chance after this.

We had tried to escape, but when it came down to it I was a Holloway and he was a Carmichael. Nothing could change that.

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