Playing Patience (7 page)

After the cop cuffed me, he pulled me outside. The cool night air rushed through my hair and gave me a chill. The cop pushed me against the car and I found myself right next to Patience. She looked up at me with frightened eyes and I could only imagine how this felt for her.

“First time being arrested?” I asked casually, like we were at a diner instead of waiting to be thrown in the back of a cop car.

“Yes,” she squeaked.

She looked so afraid. For some strange reason this girl played on my conscious and I felt bad for her. I wanted more than anything to unlock her handcuffs and let her scurry home. I wanted to make her feel better, so I said the first thing that came to mind.

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it. Your dad will have you out in no time.” I shook my head. “Me, on the other hand, I’ll be there for the night.”

I didn’t miss the sudden change in her expression, except it wasn’t an expression of relief. She should have been relieved knowing that her dad would make everything okay for her, but instead, an expression of pure fear filled her eyes. I was about to question that expression, but then I remembered the quarter bag of weed I’d taken out of the ounce and stuffed in my back pocket to sell while I was at The Pit. In that moment, I knew I’d be spending more than one night in jail.

“Shit,” I said out loud.

“What?” she asked.

“I just remembered I have some weed on me,” I whispered. “Looks like I’ll be in jail for a while.”

“Drugs are bad for you.” She batted big blue eyes up at me.

“So is going to the wrong side of town,” I snapped. “But you just can’t seem to resist, can you?”

“You don’t have to be so mean to me, you know? I’m actually a pretty smart girl. I know coming to this side of town isn’t safe for a girl like me, but I also know it’s not safe for my friend Megan, either. If she comes, then I come. It’s called being a good friend, asshole.” She came back at me, then cut her eyes.

A girl had never looked so sexy. She called me on my shit and then threw it back in my face. I had to admit, it was a massive turn-on. The fact that she was in those low-rise, tight jeans and that sexy-ass black top didn’t help matters. Then she did something that someone had never done for me before and blew my mind and pissed me off all at the same time.

“Where’s the weed?” she asked a little too loudly, making me shush her.

“Shit, why don’t just go over there and tell the cops about it instead of yelling it?” I said sarcastically. “It’s in my back pocket. I’m sure they’ll find it, but on the off chance that they’ll find it in their hearts to let us go, let’s not mention it.”

She turned away from me and toward the officers who were still busy bringing out people from The Pit. Most got away, but there were still the weak ones who were caught. That’s what this girl did to me; she made me a weak one. I’d never been caught in a raid before, but stopping to help her got me caught and I was going to go to jail, while her daddy got her off the hook.

“Hey, officer! Can you come here, please?” she yelled across the parking lot.

I couldn’t believe it! After all I had done for her; she was going to seriously tell them about the drugs. What a bitch! A young cop stopped what he was doing and worked his way over to us.

“Ma’am, you’re going to have to wait until we get everything taken care of here and then we’ll let y’all have a seat in the back of the car,” the cop said.

“No, I need to confess something!” she said in a rush. She motioned in my direction and rolled her eyes and exaggerated a sigh. “My boyfriend here is trying to play the hero, but he’s got my weed in his back pocket and I don’t want him to get in trouble for me. I know he loves me and all, but I wouldn’t feel right about it, ya know?” She darted her eyes in my direction, then quickly looked away.

I stared openly at her with my mouth hanging open. It was a rarity that someone shocked me, but the little snowflake girl had landed me speechless. No one had ever taken a hit for me. Grown men had refused to fight for me and here she was playing the tiniest hero. I couldn’t let it happen, but an unwanted rush of pride ran through my system at her words. Why I’d be proud of a practical stranger, I don’t know, but I was.

I said the first words that came to my mind. “I’m
not
her anything and the drugs are mine.”

A pink flush rushed up her neck and spread across her cheeks. She looked as if she’d been slapped in the face before she turned her back to me. She had to know I wasn’t some punk who would let a woman take my charges.

The cop looked between us and shook his head. “Whatever you say,” he said as he started to pat me down. He reached into my back pocket and pulled out the bag of weed and ticked his teeth. “Looks like your little female
friend
got you busted, buddy.” Then he opened the door to the police car and lowered my head into the back seat.

Patience joined me in the back, but she wouldn’t look at me. I didn’t say anything to her. There was nothing to say. I guess technically I could thank her for trying to take up for me, but then again, had she not said anything they may have never found it in the first place.

The drive to the police station was awkward and silent. The cops chatted in the front seat about an underground drug problem and The Pit being the center of it. I wasn’t surprised, but it still sucked that we were losing our favorite place to play. These things happened, though, and soon there’d be another place and they’d call us to play. Until then, we’d play in the garage and our groupies would collect there.

The police station was full of Pit people. Tattoos and piercings as far as the eye could see. This wasn’t strange in a place like The Pit, but in a police station surrounded by white walls and police, they stood out. They sat Patience and me in a room alone and still she said nothing as she sat across the table from me. The room was the same room they’d put me in when they thought I drugged her. Funny… every time I get mixed up with this girl I end up in a police station.

“You should’ve just let me take it.” She finally spoke.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “I’m no bitch, snowflake. I couldn’t let a girl take my drug charges, especially the governor’s daughter.”

“My name’s Patience.” She smacked the top of the table. “And I don’t know how you know I’m the governor’s daughter, but that’s the main reason why you should’ve let me take the charges. There’s no way my dad would let me sit in jail for long. He’d bail me out as soon as possible, but you’ll have to stay.”

“It’s done. Plus, we wouldn’t want to ruin your perfect record. What would Harvard think?” I pretended to be appalled.

“Are you always such a rude ass?” She nervously picked at her nails.

I leaned my chair back in the corner, rested my head against the wall, and closed my eyes. “Always.”

The room stayed silent after that. I could hear her anxiously fiddle with the table and the little cup of water she was given. Then I heard the door open. I opened my eyes, but I was tucked away in the corner behind the open door and couldn’t see anything. When the door closed, I could see Patience standing before her dad, the governor. His back was to me and I was sure he didn’t know I was there.

He towered over her and I watched as she physically cowered in fear. I didn’t like to see her react that way. She was supposed to be my tiny savior. She had thrown herself in front of the metaphorical police train for me, yet here she was, cowering in fear in front of the one person in the world who was supposed to protect her. Maybe he was a strict man. Actually, thinking back to how he had acted the first time I met him, I was almost positive he was a strict man.

Then he shocked me when he reached out and pinched her cheeks with his hand. He squished her lips up as his thumb dug into one side of her face and the rest of fingers dug into the other side. She tried to pull away, but it only made his fingers dig deeper. I was on the edge of my seat, ready to pull him off of her, when he spoke.

“This is a new look for you,
daughter.
Who knew you were this wild girl? I wish I had known.” His voice was soft and menacing. He leaned in and got closer to her face. She tried to turn her head away, but his grasp was turning her cheeks red. “Is this what you like? Do you like the rough side of things?”

I stood abruptly and her eyes flittered to mine. I’d had about enough of his bullshit and if he didn’t take his hand off of her, I was going to remove it for him. He released her quickly and turned to me. Surprise at seeing me there dashed across his expression, but then the calm, cool politician slipped back in place. I suddenly had a deep hate for the man standing in front of me, a fucker who manhandled his daughter and dug into her silky, untouched cheeks. The bastard! I bet he hit her.

Thinking of that and knowing the extent of what it felt like to be beat by your father had my blood boiling. Me, I could take a man’s ass beating, but not snowflake. She was delicate and seeing how petite she was and seeing how he towered over her just pissed me off more.

“Ah, our little friend Zeke. I should’ve known you’d have something to do with
this
.” He motioned to Patience’s clothes.

“Dad, he had nothing to do with me being at the club.” She came to my defense again, but I wanted to dig into him in any way I could as payback for touching her.

“Of course I had something to do with it. What can I say? I can’t stay away from her.” I lied.

I heard Patience gasp from beside him as I met his stare. I didn’t even think about the effects my little statement would make on her, but I enjoyed the expression that crossed his face. His jaw ticked and I knew I’d hit a nerve, and then an intimidating smile spread across his face.

“She’s definitely a special girl. However, I’d prefer it if you stayed away from my daughter.” He put a protective arm around her waist and pulled her closer to his side.

It pissed me off even more that he was now pretending to protect her from me. He was the one that was obviously a danger to her, while I had only tried to help her. I could feel the heat of my anger on the back of my neck. I flexed my fists and weighed the charges that would be slammed against me if I knocked this fucker on his ass.

“I’ll try, but I can’t make any promises. She’s pretty addictive and I have one hell of an addictive personality.” I hit him with another dig.

Patience stared at me, mouth gapped open in shock.

“Dad, he’s fooling around. We barely even know each other,” she said with wide eyes as she looked up at her father.

His face had now taken on a deep-red hue.

I put my hand over my chest like I was hurt. “After all we’ve been through, snowflake. That cuts deep. I’d like to think I know you pretty damn well,” I said as I purposely looked up and down her slim figure.

Her face turned as red as her dad’s and she threw her hands in the air.

“Stop it, Zeke! He’s going to think you’re serious!”

Finally, I’d had enough and I was starting to worry that maybe I’d made things worse for her.

“Whatever you say, princess,” I said as I fell back into my chair and spread my legs out in front of me.

Crossing my arms, I peered up at both of them through my hair. I bit on my lip ring and watched as she looked up at her Dad. Her eyes were wide with fear and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach thinking about her possibly getting hit when she got home.

“I’m just screwing around,” I spit out.

Her dad looked down at her, then grabbed her hand.

“Patience, we’re leaving.” He then turned back to me. “Son, I think you need to get yourself straight. You’re headed nowhere fast.”

“I’m not your son,” I snapped. “And where I’m headed is none of your business.”

He said nothing as he turned to leave the room. Patience looked over her shoulder at me and I didn’t miss the worry in her eyes. I didn’t like it. I wasn’t her concern. I turned away and heard the door click as it shut behind them.

Three days later, I left the jailhouse with a pretty hefty fine, sixty days worth of community service, and a phone full of text messages from Javier wanting to know where his product was.

Six

Patience

The ride home from the police station was awful. Being alone in the car with my dad was insufferable. Once we made it to our side of town, I could feel the anger radiating from him. The fact that he had been silent for most of the ride scared the shit out of me. I knew once I got home I was in for it. I didn’t even want to think about what he was going to do to me.

“I had no idea this was the kind of girl you were.” He filled the silent car with his sigh. “I never thought in a million years I’d have to go to the police station and pick up my daughter. Maybe I should treat you like the juvenile delinquent you are. Would you like that, Patience? Do you want me to treat you like you look right now? Huh? Do you want me to treat you like a little whore?” His voice went from calm to vicious as he continued to talk.

I didn’t respond. Instead, I stared out the window and watched the big houses go by. I silently prayed that Lynn, our maid, was up and about. I hoped my mom’s nurse, Patricia, would be up taking care of Mom. I wished for anyone that could save me from him, but I knew in the back of my mind that he made sure we’d be alone when we got home. That thought made my stomach turn and I suddenly remembered the time I got sick and threw up on him once he was done with me. I was only nine and he told my mom that I must’ve had a twenty-four-hour stomach bug.

Once we pulled up to the house, I got out and followed him through the garage and into the house. He threw his keys onto the marble kitchen counter and ran his hands through his hair. I put my head down and started out of the kitchen, but before I got halfway out of the room, I felt his hand come around the top of my arm. My body tensed up as he spun me around to face him. I didn’t have time to think as his palm landed hard against my cheek. My ears rang and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.

I reached up and covered my cheek as I looked up at him in shock. He was abusive, but not this kind of abusive. He had never hit me and now, as he looked down at me with a strange expression on his face, I knew he was taken aback by his reaction as well. His realization seemed to piss him off even more as he grabbed the tops of my arms and pushed me up against the wall.