Page 89 of Tripped By Love
“Do you think Jonas would ever forgive himself for not protecting his friend?” she asked. “Don’t you see? He saw you torturing yourself over the exact same thing, knew what choice you would make if you had to do it all over again, and did what you would have done.”
It stabbed at my heart and all the wounds deep inside me. I did wish I could do it all over again. Every single day of my life. And she was right. Jonas had seen me lost in those emotions. He’d lived it with me. But goddamn, I didn’t want him risking himself for a girl who had chosen to put herself in harm’s way. That wasn’t what had happened to Petty Officer Warren.
“He could have called the cops. He could have called me. He had options.”
“I’m assuming he doesn’t really have a solid belief in the cops if his mom is in jail. And he wouldn’t want you to get hurt because of him any more than you want him to be hurt because of you.”
Everything she said made sense, but it didn’t change the way I felt. It didn’t change the guilt I had over leaving him in Austin when I’d known exactly what would happen. He’d needed me, and I’d left. Closed my eyes and driven away. As much as I’d thought I’d changed, I hadn’t. I was the same selfish bastard I’d been when I’d watched the members of my unit walk out the door of the barracks.
We were silent for the rest of the journey. Me because I couldn’t speak, and Cassidy because she was thinking. I could see her mind twirling even as she sat there.
When we reached Austin, I went straight to the police station, pulling into the parking lot and jumping out almost before the engine was off. Cassidy was at my side, trying to pull my fingers into hers, but I stormed off.I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together if I lost myself in her tenderness or the admiration she still had glowing in her.
Inside, I explained to the clerk who I was there for, and a police officer came from the back. He asked us to step inside a room off to the side in order to talk.
“Did he tell you what happened?” the officer questioned me.
I shook my head. “Just that there was a fight, and he’d been arrested.”
“They would have killed each other if my partner and I hadn’t pulled them apart. Jonas had his hands around Arthur’s neck. Arthur had a knife he’d lost somewhere along the way, but he was pounding into Jonas’s side with his knuckles.”
Anger flew through me as I realized Jonas was probably injured, and they hadn’t taken him to the hospital.
“Why isn’t he at the ER?” I demanded, glaring at him.
“EMTs were called, and they were both cleared.” The officer took me in, eyes flicking to Cassidy and then back to me. I stepped in front of Cassidy as if to shield her from his gaze, which was ridiculous.
“What has he been charged with, and how do I bail him out?” I demanded.
The officer sighed, rubbed his hand on his temple, and said, “No charges have been filed yet because no one is talking. Neither of the boys. None of the gang members who’d been standing around watching. Not even the girl we think they were fighting over.”
My stomach fell so hard I thought I’d throw up. He’d been in the middle of a gang circle. On his own. Fighting for his damn friend. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes. Cassidy put her arms around me from behind as if she could sense it, and I closed my eyes, fighting against the waves of emotion and nausea.
When I opened them again, the officer was staring at me with pity or sympathy. Something I didn’t want. He sighed and said, “Look, he can’t leave town anytime soon. Not until you hear from me that he’s in the clear. But I don’t think the district attorney is going to want to go to court over a brawl between teenagers over a girl.”
I swallowed hard, and the officer went to the door. “I’ll go get him.”
Cassidy and I followed him out of the room, waiting in the hallway for my brother to appear. I paced back and forth, trying to calm down. Finally, the doors to the back opened, and Jonas appeared. I inhaled sharply. His right eye was swollen shut with a decent gash over it, the entire side of his face was bruised, his nose had clearly been broken, and there was blood crusted on his lip. In addition, he was clutching an arm to his stomach and limping as he approached. His clothes were torn and covered in smears of black as if he’d been dragged down an asphalt road.
Cassidy gasped.
My fury grew because he should have been at the goddamn hospital and not a police station. My body was trembling, and I was afraid to move in case I started breaking things. Even though he was nearly full grown, all I could see was the eight-year-old boy I’d first met on the steps of Maliyah’s house.
Jonas’s good eye blinked, tears filling them that he barely held back.
I took a step forward, then two, before I had my arms around him, hugging gently but firmly. “It’s going to be okay, Jo-Jo.”
We stood there in the middle of the hall, holding each other up the best we could, while regrets and failures drifted through both of us. And then Cassidy was there, wrapping both of us in her arms, and it felt like we were pulled back from the cliff and into the light. An angel rescuing the humans tortured by demons.
The automatic door slid open, and the air that had already turned humid and hot came in along with pounding feet. Jonas shoved at me, and I let him go, only to turn and see Mel storming up to my brother. Her face was dark with anger.
“Look at you! I hope it was worth it, Jonas!” she yelled at him.
Suddenly, I was pissed all over again because he’d defended her, and she had the gall to stand there screaming at him.
“Mel,” he said, choking on emotions.
“I told you not to get involved! I told you I had it handled,” she snapped. It was then that I noticed her eye. It was almost healed but still tinged with green and a hint of black. Enough color to know she’d been hit—and hit hard. “Go back to New York, Jonas. Go find someone else whowantsyou to treat them like some damsel in distress. That isn’t me. Won’t ever be me.”
