Page 62 of North
Sierra.
“Melanie, I know exactly who accused Kane of rape.” I understood why Kane uttered the word the way he did. It was awful. It was a life-ruiner.
“Who?” She stopped in her stride to the entrance of the small county jail building.
“It was Sierra. Remember I told you I walked up on her while she was propositioning Kane?” My heart thundered in my chest and my head swam. There were too many emotions flooding my brain.
“Oh my god. You’re right. He wouldn’t fuck her and now she’s crying rape. I should’ve known something was wrong from the way she looked at him all night.” She picked her pace up and I followed behind her, anxious to see Kane. We barely had a chance to talk this morning because we both were in a rush and I’d overslept. Who knew our afternoon would turn out like this?
Melanie walked over to the check-in window and took out her ID, sliding it across the counter. “I’m here for Kane Fitzgerald. I’m his lawyer.”
“Sign these.” The blank-faced officer shoved a packet of papers at Melanie then looked at me. “And you are?”
“His…” My mouth started to form the word daughter but I swallowed it down and fished out my ID as well. “I’m his wife.” It wasn’t like he’d ask me for a marriage certificate and we had the same last name for fuck’s sake. He glanced at my license, grunted then slid it back to me. Go through the detectors. Deposit any sharp or metal objects in the collection tray.” He barely looked up from the computer screen when he gave me the instructions.
I sucked in a breath and met another officer at the detectors while Melanie finished up her paperwork. My hands shook while I pulled out all the metal things from my pockets and sat my purse in a plastic bin with a number on it.
“Your apron, ma’am.” The officer looked at me. “Empty the pockets on your apron.”
My throat thickened. “Will I get everything back?” I quizzed.
“Yes. Unless you have something illegal in there.” He lifted a suspicious eyebrow at me and I forced a smile.
“Just these.” I pulled the tests out of my pocket and flashed them. He looked less than pleased to see two pee sticks in his face. I pointed them away from me because I refused to find out if I was pregnant while I was inside a jail. I dropped them into the plastic bin with a small clatter then walked through. Melanie was right behind me.
We were led through a series of locked metal doors with thick glass windows before we stopped at a retaining cell. When I saw Kane sitting on a metal bench kneading his paint-smudged hands, my heart leaped into my mouth beating furiously against my teeth.
Like he sensed me standing there, he lifted his head and met my eyes. I rushed over to the bars, curling my fingers around them as if I could pluck the entire door off its hinges.
“Hey, Shortcake.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead through the bars of his cell and I thought I’d lose it.
“Excuse me, officer can you unlock his cell and provide us with a private meeting area?” Melanie handled the officer while I stared at Kane wondering how the fuck I let this happen. If I’d listened to him when he told me Sierra wasn’t my real friend, none of this would’ve happened.
I moved to the side when the cell door swung open and followed the officer to another room. It was bare-bones with no windows, only one door, and a scuffed metal table bolted to the floor. Around the table were two orange plastic chairs.
Kane let Melanie and me sit while he stood.
“I know Sierra did this shit,” he blurted.
“Did you touch her, Kane? Like at all even just holding her hand or helping her up the steps?”
“Hell no he didn’t touch her,” I snapped without giving him a chance to answer.
“North, you have to keep your emotions in check. This is a serious allegation but we can get out of it if we play our cards right.”
“I shoved her away when she tried to touch me. That’s it,” he said.
“Okay good. I took pictures of North’s scratches before you called her so we can establish a timeline. I need time to figure out your bail and talk to the prosecuting lawyer but I’m almost certain you’ll walk away without so much as a slap on the wrist. The girl has no proof. I’m sure the only reason they arrested you was because she claimed it was aggravated and she had scratches and bruises.”
“I can’t believe this. I never would have thought in a million years Sierra was capable of doing something like this.” I was in shock. Sierra was a lot of things but I would’ve never pegged her to be a vindictive liar to this extent. Falsely accusing Kane of rape had the potential to ruin his life.
Stress gripped my stomach and refused to let go. I wanted Kane out of that goddamn cell and back in the gallery. He probably felt my frustration because he didn’t take his eyes off me the entire time Melanie talked to him about what would happen next.
My lips burned to tell him I might be pregnant but this was no time. I had to keep it all bottled up until we got Kane out of jail.
“Come on, North. We’ll be back with bail money.” Melanie gave Kane a smile but it wasn’t sympathetic it was sure. It said she would do whatever it took to make sure Kane stayed out of jail. I believed her smile. I couldn’t wait to put this nightmare behind us.
It took ten minutes for us to collect our belongings from the plastic bins. As I stuffed the pregnancy tests in my apron pocket, I made sure to turn them face down without looking. I refused to find out if I was pregnant until Kane was free.
