Page 4 of Maid of Dishonor
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VERONICA
The cold metal cuffs dig into my wrists behind my back as I’m getting shoved into the back of a cop car.
“Are you kidding me?” I yell, but the officer just stares at me, unfazed.
“Ma’am, you can’t go around punching people,” he says and shuts the door in my face.
Somehow this night has gone from bad to worse in a matter of minutes, and I'm not even sure how I got here—oh wait, yes, I do. I glance over at the tough guy from earlier, now sitting next to me in his own matching handcuffs and fat lip curtesy of my right hook.
“I didn’t think you’d hit me that hard,” he says.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re just lucky they pulled me off you when they did, or else a busted lip would have been the least of your concerns right now.”
“If it helps, I did what I did for a good cause,” he says, actually sounding like he believes what he’s saying to be true.
“Oh, please enlighten me. How was smacking my ass for a good cause other than for something you can save in your spank bank for later?”
He chuckles, and the urge to kick his ass further is hindered only by the cuffs on my wrists and the zero space for leg room in the back of the car to kick him.
He shakes his head. “I can’t tell you.”
“Yes, you can.” I snap at him. “You can dig down deep and muster the strength to tell me what’s going on.”
He's silent for a moment, and I think that he's actually going to tell me the truth, but the lies that spill out of him are beyond any bullshit I would have imagined he'd come up with.
“I’m an undercover cop,” he blurts out. “I needed to do something to get arrested to throw off suspicion to some members of my crew, so I could pass along key information in saving the lives of all the people in Club Dominion right now.”
“Wow.” I shake my head at him. “If you’re going to lie to me, at least make it something believable.”
"I wish it were bullshit, but I'm telling you the truth." He licks the cut on his lip, and a sudden heat hits my lower belly. I push the feeling away as he turns in his seat, as much as he can in our restraints, to look me dead in the eyes. “I’m sorry I pulled you into this, but I didn’t have a lot of time to think my plan through. I’m telling you the truth.”
My dad has been in and out of jail most of my life, so he wasn’t around for softball games or school recitals or even my birthdays, but he did give me one gift that has been invaluable most of my life. He gave me the ability to read when someone is lying to me and this guy—is telling the truth.
I glance out my window to the club doors and picture all the people inside, including Bridget, Jessie, Beth, and Claire.
“What are you waiting for?” I tug at my restraints, but it does nothing but cut into my wrists some more. “My friends are in there. We need to get them out.”
“Hey, look at me,” he says, his tone deep and authoritative. I turn and meet his intense stare. "I know things seem bleak, and you have no reason to trust me, considering I'm the reason you are sitting in the back of this cop car, but I’m asking you to do just that, to trust me. Can you do that?”
I look over at the club doors and then back to him, weighing the options in my head and not finding any other than to do what he’s asking of me. “Yeah, I trust you.”
“Good.” He nods and adjusts in his seat to thump his elbow against the window to get the attention of one of the uniformed officers that arrested us. “First things first, what’s your name?”
“Veronica.”
“Veronica, I’m Dean.” He thumps his elbow against the window again. “Next thing, we need to send out the message.”
All I wanted was a relaxing weekend. How is it possible that I've somehow stumbled into a mess with the law, and it wasn't even my fault? The only thing giving me comfort at this moment is knowing that the other girls will be okay, and they aren’t in the same unlawful position I’m currently in at the moment.
DEAN
This woman continues to surprise me at every turn—I didn’t scare her off at the door, her right hook has the same power as some of the guys I spar with at the gym, and she believed me when she had absolutely no reason to take me at my word. If we weren’t currently in the backseat of a cop car, I’d be doing everything in my power to get her phone number.
“Come on!” I yell, thumping my elbow on the window again.
I need to be careful how the next few minutes are handled. Just because Frankie and Lorenzo disappeared into the crowd of people when I got tossed into the back of this cop car, it doesn't mean they don't currently have eyes on me.
