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Peering through the darkness, I forced my eyes to focus, but that did nothing. All there was, was darkness, and the outlines of two men arguing. The attempt wore me out, and a sharp pain sliced through my head again, knocking me out.

Chapter 4

Eric

"So, let me get this straight, you're ALL her boyfriends?" The cop on the other end asked. The smirk in his voice was loud and mocking.

If I could have lunged through the screen, I would have torn his head off. This wasn't a laughing matter. Damn it, why did we all have to admit to being her boyfriends? I knew I was her boyfriend; they hadn't gotten that far yet.

Shit, I was being an ass here. I knew they loved her, but Matt and Ethan had left her alone. I had left her in their protection, and they had left her alone. I was still not over that, but more than anything, I hated that I was so far away.

"Let me tell you what I think..." The cop started, and I squeezed my phone tighter. I don't give a damn what you think! My woman's out there right now. Get up off your flat ass and go find her.

"I think you think I'm stupid. See, let me tell you what I'm picturing here."

Matt and Ethan groaned. Ryan, on video call with us from the airport, swore. I was tempted to hang this phone up and go looking for her myself, but this was the damn police; they were supposed to help us with this shit. This was their job. Yet, this cop was sitting here telling us what he thought.

"I see four men, one woman, a possible hostage situation and she ran away," the cop continued.

"What the fuck?!" Matt jumped up from his seat. My heart went crazy.

We were all feeling the same way, but I didn't want any of them to get arrested. There wasn't much any of us could do behind bars. And a cop as shallow as this one was sure to have an ego. A cop with a bruised ego could find silly reasons to lock someone up, just to prove their authority. We didn't have time for that. We also wouldn't like the focus to be shifted away from Lily. I was thankful when Matt walked out the door.

My stomach turned in on itself and my chest tightened. Dark images flashed into the forefront of my mind that I fought off, because if I didn't, I'd be sick. I had to remain hopeful that she was safe. Fuck, damn it. If she was safe, there would be no need for concern. We needed to remain in the police's good graces. We needed their help.

"Officer, this is ridiculous. Please. Just send someone out there..." Ethan started, choked up.

"Oh no, no. I wasn't finished. The way I see it is, the girl's probably safer away from you," the cop finished.

Okay, now it was my turn to lose my shit. What was he gonna do? Send someone all the way to Florida to arrest me?

"And that's it? That's all you're going to do?! You..." Lazy, ignorant, judgmental, inadequate thumb of a man. "You're just going to wrap up this case based on what you THINK? You're not going to do an investigation? There has to be another cop we can talk to. Someone with sense. Ethan, please, find another cop with common sense, please. We're wasting precious time here. We don't know what could be happening to Lily with every second he wastes THINKING when he could be out there DOING something!" I hissed.

"Watch your tone, young man," the cop came into view, his wrinkly face all folded up in a frown.

"Or what? Do your..." I yelled.

"Eric, stop." Ethan pulled the phone away from the cop and excused himself. "The cop already wants to arrest us for running red lights to get to Lily. We have to be smart about this, no matter how much I'd take pleasure wringing his wiry neck."

He was right. I had thought the same thing myself just moments ago.

"So what are you gonna do?" Ryan grunted, his forehead pulled together in worry lines, his eyes frantic and the veins near his temple throbbing. "What else can we do? Do we have to rely on that waste of space?"

"We have to try our damndest to be civil. Matt!" He yelled outside the officer's door. "Get over here!"

"I had to get out there man," Matt said, breathing heavily when he returned. "If I didn't, I might have jabbed him in the skull with the pens on his desk or something, but they'd probably break against his thick skull." He snarled.

"Do you think we could pay him to look deeper, and also use that to prevent him from arresting us for the whole speeding thing? Or do you think he's too pissed to take a bribe?" Ethan asked.

"Fuck it. Whatever. SOMETHING has to be done," Ryan groaned.

None of us had ever committed a crime before. At least, I hadn't and I didn't think they had either before now. But here we were. In one night, Ethan and Matt had violated traffic laws and we were considering paying off a cop. When it came to Lily, there was nothing we wouldn't do to keep her safe.

Stepping back into the office, Ethan put on his best apologetic tone, turning to stare Matt down, nudging him to do the same.

"We're all sorry about earlier," Ethan started.

"Yeah, I know our relationship with Lily might be too complex for your understanding..." Matt added.

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