Page 147 of A Little Broken

“Miss, I think it would be in your best interest to come down to the station with me.”

Ignoring my racing heart, I ask, “For what?”

“For having a stolen credit card in your possession and for assaulting a civilian,” he clarifies.

Well, triple shit.

“What?” Rory interrupts. In a flash, she transforms from my quiet, timid mouse of a friend to a damn-near mama bear, twisting around and facing the officer with her head held high. “She didn’t assault anyone!”

“Did you or did you not hit that man?” The officer points to the exit, and I follow his line of sight, only to find the paparazzi’s camera pointed directly at me. He’s still in the building, documenting my little chat with Officer What’s His Name.

Yup. This will make for agreatstory. But hey, let’s look at the bright side, right? If Paxton’s goal is to stay front and center in the gossip column, I’m doing him a huge favor, and he owes me big time.

Glaring at the paparazzi, I raise my hand and give him my middle finger.

Document this, motherfucker.

Rory reaches for my arm and tugs it back to my side, scolding, “Tatum! Will you just…play nice for once in your life?”

She’s right, but still. This is bad. Very bad. I’ve never been arrested before, but this is a complete misunderstanding. Isn’t it? I mean, I did kind of knee a stranger in the balls, but he also deserved it, so…

Not the time, Tatum.

Ignoring Rory’swhat the fuck, keep it together expression, I ask the officer, “Are you arresting me?”

“Not at this time, no.” The bastard doesn’t even look apologetic. “But I think your friend will agree that it’s in your best interest to cooperate and let me take you to the station to see if we can figure out exactly what happened.”

“Of course it is.” I give him a smile, then add, “Hey, Rore?”

“Yeah?” she squeaks.

“Make sure you give Paxton his credit card back, okay?”

“I’ll meet you at the station,” she promises. “Don’t say anything.”

I give her a thumbs up. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” Tilting my head up at the officer, I add, “Lead the way, Officer.”

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PAXTON

“You know, when I said go wild, I didn’t think you’d take it as a challenge,” I tell Tatum. And I mean it, too. Getting a call from Rory, begging me to meet her at the police station so I could potentially bail out her best friend was a first for me. I bite back my amusement as I open the precinct door.

Thankfully, the guy who had his balls kneed-in cleared up his side of the story pretty quick after the store offered to drop their own suit against the asshole in exchange. And since I was able to show my ID at the precinct and corroborate Tatum’s story, confirming I gave her the credit card to use and she hadn’t stolen anything, we were good to go.

Tatum’s hair dances in the light breeze as we make our way down the short set of stairs toward my bike parked at the curb.

“Thanks for picking me up,” she says.

“Anytime, Harley Quinn.”

“Falling for a villain,” she muses, giving me the side-eye. “Sounds about right.”

My pulse quickens, and my steps falter as I hang onto her words. Did she just admit she’s falling for me? If she did, I doubt she meant to let it slip, but my chest warms nonetheless.

You’re something else, Birthday Girl.

“Seriously, though. Thank you,” she adds. “That was a little…intense.”

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