Page 102 of Bleeding Hearts

The male cop who arrested me seemed disinterested in the whole thing, reading me my rights and not saying much else, but I could tell the woman suspected she was arresting the wrong man.

It was the way she looked at Demi with compassion and her father with disgust. She recognized the situation for what it was the second she walked into the house. But they saw me assault Alexander and regardless of the truth behind the situation, in that moment, that was grounds to arrest me.

Once they brought me to the station, they processed me, and I waited while bail was set. Luckily, the whole thing only took about three hours before King was able to post bail for me and bring me back here.

I haven’t thought about what happens next, but truthfully, I still don’t care much about what happens to me.

What I care about is Alexander Rhodes being put behind bars, far away where he can never get to Demi.

A knock sounds on King’s door and he stands to open it. He barely has the door open before I hear my mom’s voice.

“Sweetheart,” she cries, rushing through the door and into the room, my dad following behind her.

I stand from the couch to hug her, but she practically pushes me out of the way, plopping down onto the couch where I was just sitting next to Demi and pulling her into her arms.

Demi looks up at me, a look of amusement on her face as she hugs her back.

“How are you doing, honey?” she asks Demi as she pulls away, and I leave them to talk, walking over to say hi to my dad, who is introducing himself to King.

“Hey, Dad,” I say, and he pulls me in for a hug. “You didn’t have to come all this way.” I shake my head at him as he pulls away, and it’s the truth.

I called my mom at the station to ask for advice about Demi’s mother. I knew Kade would come bail me out himself or, if not, send King, which is what he did.

I wasn’t worried about being stuck in jail. I was worried about getting Alexander stuck there.

I know it isn’t right for me to ask Clara to come forward myself, that’s not my place, but I figured if anyone would know how to handle the situation, it would be my mom.

I didn’t take into account that she would also freak out the second that she heard I was arrested, pack up the car with my father and drive straight here.

I explained the shortened version of events to her on the phone, although I’m sure she’s getting a more detailed one from Demi now.

“Ash, do you know how many times you’ve told your mother you needed her?” he asks, looking at me dumbfounded. “Zero. Even through the cancer, you never admitted you needed anyone,” he says, and I glance over at King, whose eyebrows bunch together at the mention of my cancer, but he doesn’t say anything.

“When you called her and said you needed her, she already had one foot out the door, son. And you know I was trying to beat her to it.” He shakes his head.

“I know, Dad. Well, thank you for being here. I think Demi appreciates having Mom here.” I look over to the two of them, Demi talking while my mom listens, affectionately rubbing her back. “Come on.” I nod for my dad and King to follow me.

I walk into the kitchen, leaving the women alone to talk so I can talk to my dad without worrying Demi. Kade follows us into the kitchen.

“Dad, this is Kade. My friend and coworker,” I introduce the two of them. “He’s also Demi’s brother.”

“Elias Gray, nice to meet you.” My dad reaches his hand out.

“Nice to meet you too. Wish it was under better circumstances,” Kade says, shaking his hand.

“Sure as hell agree with you there.” My dad huffs, turning to me. “So how bad is it really?” he asks.

“I’ll be fine, even if they do go through with the assault charges. I have no prior record. I'll most likely get probation,” I say, and my dad nods. “But that still leaves Demi’s father a free man with no consequences.”

“Alexander, my father, is a manipulative man with a shit ton of connections,” Kade adds. “He’s trying to spin Asher as the villain, saying that he was the one who attacked Demi too since the cops already saw Ash assaulting him.”

“You really think the cops will buy that even if Demi is telling them otherwise?” Dad asks.

“I’d like to say no, but he has a lot of friends on the police force. He also has a lot of money that he won’t hesitate to throw at whoever will take it.” Kade shrugs.

“And Demi’s mother won’t come forward?” King asks, walking over to the fridge to grab a couple water bottles out of it, placing them on the counter for us.

“We don’t know,” I say. “Demi begged her to, but nobody’s heard from her since then.”

---