Tipsy (22 page)

Did that mean I would forever be
considered a criminal? Or was that only if I was found guilty?
Wait. Was this going to go to trial?

Clearly, I was not handling this
well.

And I hadn’t even been questioned yet.
They literally stuffed me in the back of a squad car, drove to the
station, and shut me in this interrogation room. They tried to ask
me one question, and I demanded to speak to Blue.

Not a lawyer. Blue.

Except the minute I asked for Blue, a
hush fell over the room and everyone left. I heard some yelling a
while ago, but no one had been in since.

I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing
or a bad thing.

I kind of wished I hadn’t drunk that
coffee earlier. I kinda understood why my chair smelled like urine
now.

I had to pee.

How long were they going to leave me in
here? I felt like an animal chained up and shoved in a
cage.

Holy moly… were they going
to put me in a cell? That was like an
actual
cage.

It would serve them right if I peed
right here and now!

Take that, idiots who
arrest law-abiding citizens! Clean up my pee!

Yes. Clearly being incarcerated made me
unstable and dramatic.

Whatever.

As more minutes wore on, some of my
anger and frustration wore away and was just replaced by anxiety. I
realized things looked really bad for me. I was literally caught
with a huge stash of drugs, with some of them in my
hand.

Yeah, I was going to try and tell them
it was all a misunderstanding. I would tell them about the
conversation I overheard, about how I went looking for stuff I
really didn’t expect to find.

Would they believe me?

I didn’t know and frankly, I was kind
of scared to talk. I was afraid I would just make things worse. I
guessed I was going to have to get a lawyer. I would probably lose
my job over this.

I wanted Blue.

If Blue were here, he could vouch for
me. He would believe what I said. Maybe he would convince the other
guys I wasn’t lying. He could be like a character
witness.

Only I didn’t know where Blue was or
where he lived. Hell, I didn’t even know what kind of car he was
driving. I wasn’t sure if they would let him come to the station
for this; it could compromise his cover.

The headache threatening me earlier
decided to add to my torment by beginning to scream behind my eyes.
My stomach felt nauseous and my hands and knees were shaking from
all the stress I suddenly felt.

I closed my eyes against the harsh
fluorescent light overhead and leaned forward, resting my
overheated forehead on the table. It was cool and felt a little
soothing against my headache.

I needed a plan.

A plan would make me feel better. More
in control.

Whenever the officers came back, I
would make them let me go pee. Then I would demand my one phone
call. I would call Dee and she could post bail (would I need bail?)
and get me out of here. I would get a lawyer, who’d probably charge
all of my savings just to talk to me. But I would hire him anyway.
I would rather be poor than in the big house with burly women named
Wilma.

After that, I would let the police
question me. I would tell my story. I would stick to the
truth.

The truth would set me free.

Why did that sound like the most
pathetic line ever?

I took a deep breath. It was a good
plan.

I turned my head and rested my cheek on
the brown tabletop and stared at the wall across the room. I
wondered if someone was watching me through the two-way mirror
behind me. If so, they were going to be very bored.

I heard the doorknob rattle, but I
didn’t bother to turn my head and look. I had no desire to see
disgusted looks of the men who brought me in. Being treated like a
criminal sucked. I guess that explained all the chase scenes in
movies when the bad guys were running from the cops. Running was
better than this.

The door flew open and all the air in
the room shifted, like it was being sucked out with the force of
the opening door. Fresh air from the station leaked in; it was much
cooler and fresher smelling.

A string of expletives echoed around
the room. Someone was good and pissed off.

I knew that voice.

I jerked upright, blinking against my
headache at Blue, who was striding into the room.

“
Blue,” I said, relief so
palpable in my tone that I could taste it in the back of my
throat.

“
What the fuck is this!” he
roared, throwing out his hands and turning around to face whoever
was standing in the doorway. “You
fucking
cuffed her!”

Another voice from out in the hall, a
more calm and authoritative voice, said, “Give him the damn cuff
keys.” I heard the jangle of keys and saw Blue snatch them out of
the air. Then behind him I heard the same voice mutter,
“Idiots.”

Blue was at my side in seconds,
kneeling down so we were about eye level. “Hey there,
sweetness.”

I didn’t say anything because all of a
sudden I felt like crying. His gentle tone meant just for me was
going to be my undoing.

I had missed him. Yeah, it hadn’t been
very long since our night together, but it seemed that the only
time I ever got with Blue was stolen moments. Little pockets of
time where he filled me up so completely but then left, leaving
that fullness to drain away like a too-old battery.

Not only that, but worrying about his
safety, where he was, who he was with. Not being able to talk to
Dee or anyone about him. And then this… the drugs, the
arrest.

He reached around behind me, looping
his arms around my waist, and had the cuffs gone within seconds. My
arms fell forward in my lap and my shoulders felt numb and prickly
from being in the same position for so long.

Blue grabbed my wrists, rubbing them,
like someone would do when they were out in the snow too long and
needed to generate warmth.

“
Rough night, huh?” he asked
gently.

I nodded. “I have to pee.”

He chuckled. “Come on.” He stood,
drawing me to my feet, and led me to the door. Two officers who had
been at the salon stood in our path.

Blue angled himself in front of me.
“Step aside,” he said. His words weren’t demanding or mean, but
there was steel in them.

The men moved and we walked out of the
tiny room. I breathed a sigh of relief. Blue walked beside me,
glancing out of the corner of his eye.

“
That room smelled like
urine.”

He made a face and looked over his
shoulder. “You put her in Potty John’s room?” he
growled.

“
It was the only room open!”
one of the guys defended.

We stopped in front of a bare door to
what I prayed was the ladies’ room. “Who’s Potty John?” I had to
know.

Blue grinned. “One of the local drunks.
He gets hauled in here all the time and the guys put him in one of
the interrogation rooms to sleep it off.” He cleared his throat.
“He has a tendency to, uh… piss himself.”

I laughed but quickly slapped a hand
over my mouth. Nothing about this night was funny.

Blue got an angry look on his face and
gestured to the door with his chin. “I’ll wait here.”

I nodded and rushed inside to quickly
do my business. At the sink, I ran cold water from the tap and
splashed it over my face after I washed my hands. Using a paper
towel, I dried my skin and then wiped up the raccoon eyes my
mascara had given me.

I felt bone tired. Not just bone tired,
but weary. I knew it was the reason I felt so emotional, and damn,
if looking at Blue wasn’t making it worse.

I wanted to go home, but I knew it
wasn’t going to happen for a while.

After glancing at my less-than-stellar
reflection in the mirror, I gave a sigh and trudged to the bathroom
door. Before pulling the handle, I stood up and pulled my shoulders
back. I might be exhausted and scared, but I wasn’t going to show
all the men out there that.

Blue wasn’t in the doorway like I
thought he would be. He was a few feet away. His back was turned
and he was speaking to a few nearby men in uniforms. Judging from
their expressions, he wasn’t saying very nice things.

One of the officers who arrested me
looked up, noting my reappearance. Blue stilled, said something,
and the officers walked away. They didn’t go far, though, stopping
at the end of the hallway and watching me.

Like I was a criminal.

Something inside me snapped.

I glared at them. “Y’all are a bunch of
idiots!” I spat. “You’ve done nothing but waste everyone’s time
tonight.”

Blue was at my side instantly, wrapping
a warm palm around my elbow. “Julie,” he murmured.

I glanced at him, anger bubbling up
inside me like a soda that was shaken up too much. “Don’t.” I
growled. “Don’t you dare tell me to shut up. That was nice compared
to the things I’m thinking about them.”

I swear his lips twitched. “I wasn’t
going to tell you to shut up. You can yell at them all you
want.”

“
Thank you.” I sniffed and
resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at the men in the
hall.

“
Come on,” he said, tugging
me gently and leading me down the hall and past the officer’s on my
shit list.

“
I am not going back in that
room,” I said, dragging my feet.

“
That’s not where we’re
going,” he replied calmly. He led me into a private office with a
desk and all the usual office furnishings. The most interesting
thing in here was a half-dead plant. Once I cleared the threshold,
Blue shut the door behind us.

“
Are you going to
interrogate me now?” I asked a little bitterly.

He didn’t say anything, but I felt his
penetrating sapphire stare. He took a step forward. Then another.
He came so close that I could feel the heat off his body and smell
the scent that seemed to be his calling card. His chest rose and
fell evenly with his relaxed breathing. He was wearing the same
leather jacket he wore the other night, and the gray knit cap was
on his head.

I was ready for the barrage of
questions. I was ready for him to ask for my statement.

I was less prepared for his
arms.

He wrapped them around me, pulling me
tightly against his chest. Basically wrapped himself around me,
making me feel small. In that moment, if I would fit, I would have
let him put me in his pocket.

I buried my nose in the soft fabric of
his red T-shirt, wrapping my arms around his middle, beneath the
leather of his coat. His palm came up to stroke the back of my
head, and I felt the brush of his lips on the top of my
head.

“
I’m sorry.” He murmured,
rocking us both a little. The swaying motion was oddly
comforting.

“
What’re you sorry
for?”

“
That it took me so long to
get here.”

“
How’d you know I got
arrested?”

“
You asked for me, didn’t
you?”

I snorted against his chest. “Yeah. But
after I asked for you, they pretty much left me in that pee-ridden
room to rot.”

He chuckled. “They knew they screwed
up. Soon as they told Watson who they arrested, he contacted
me.”

I glanced up. “But how would he know
who I was?”

He kissed my forehead. “Because I told
him.”

“
You did?”

He nodded. “You matter.”

It was a simple two words. They carried
so much weight. I felt tears well up behind my eyes.

“
You matter too,” I
whispered.

He smiled.

“
I had a plan to help
you.”

He groaned, cutting me off.
“Please tell me this isn’t the result of one of your
plans
.”

I nodded. “It was a good one.” I
paused. “Well, until the cops showed up.”

He looked horrified. “What
the hell kind of hare-brained
plan
are we talking about here?”

I released his waist and stepped back
so I could meet his eyes full-on. “I know where the drugs are, and
I know who’s been helping Dom.”

24

Blue

Being back at the station was slightly
jarring. It was so familiar here, yet it seemed foreign. I spent so
much time over the last several months undercover, I had barely
been here at all. Just when I was getting back into things, they
pulled me back undercover again.

Being here was almost like walking into
the past, or having a strange sense of déjà vu. Of course, I
couldn’t really think about that because I was so focused on the
reason I was here. Julie got herself arrested.