Resentment(41)
Dean crosses his arms and leans back. “Any idea what happened to my five boxes of protein bars?”
“Nope.”
“Are you sure?” He raises his eyebrow. “I set them on the counter last night and they were gone this morning.”
“Depends. Do you know what happened to my rosemary chicken leftovers? What about my mashed potatoes and steak? Have any idea what happened to those?”
“No.” His eyes turn to slits. “Not a clue.”
Eric returns with a set of keys before I can say something else to Dean.
“Don’t fuck up my car, Mia,” Eric says. “It’s only two years old.”
“I won’t.” I start to ask him why he has more than one car, but then I realize he actually has three cars. The car we rode back in from dinner was a Lexus.
How much money does he make doing this?
“Mia?” Eric waves his hand in front of my face. “Why are you standing there talking to yourself?”
“Sorry, I was just thinking out loud.”
“I bet...” Dean mutters under his breath.
“Do you want one of us to come with you?” Eric asks. “I could probably get you there faster.”
“Not at all.” I hold up my smart phone and rush toward the door. “I have GPS. I’ll be fine.” I make my way to the parking garage next door and slide behind the wheel of the Civic.
I type in the address and am surprised that it’s a straight shot along the highway.
I take my time driving there, and go over all the potential questions in my head on the way over, hoping for the best.
***
The interview lasted all of fifteen minutes, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not. I felt like as soon as I sat down it was over, and outside of her asking to see pictures of my previous artwork on my phone, she didn’t ask anything that hadn’t been asked before.
Feeling slightly defeated, I try to replay the interview in my mind to see if I can gauge her facial expressions.
I’m crossing the threshold of the City limits when I suddenly see blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror. There’s a black squad car that’s rushing toward me, but I notice the red car at my left is going way faster than I am.
Is the cop chasing me or the red car?
I speed up a little bit.
Definitely the red car...
I switch lanes.
He switches lanes.
I switch lanes again.
He switches again.
Fuck! He is chasing me...
I pull my car over to the right shoulder and shift to park as the police car slows to a stop behind me. I glance in my rearview again, but he hasn’t gotten out yet.
What the hell did I do?
As I glance back again, the officer gets out of the car and starts walking toward me.
When he approaches my window, I hit the button to lower it.
“License and registration, please.” A familiar deep voice says.
I look up and see the profile of the last person I expect to see right now. “Dean? Is this some type of joke? Is it Halloween?”
“Does it look like I’m joking?” He takes the shades off his face and his green eyes do that same “Yeah, I’m totally fuck-able and I know it” thing they did in high school. “Your license and registration, please.”
This is bull shit.
“Why the hell did you pull me over? Are you really this upset about the protein bars?”
“Ma’am.” He nearly hisses. “I’m only going to ask you one more time, your license and registration, now.”
I retrieve my license from my purse and Eric’s registration from the glove compartment and nearly toss it at him. He takes his PDA from his waist belt and starts typing my information into the system.
“Can you please tell me why you pulled me over now?” I ask through gritted teeth.
“You were speeding.”
“Speeding?” I arch a brow. “I was not speeding.” To make sure, I click on my dashboard and check my last known speed.
“I was only going sixty.”
“The speed limit on this stretch of highway is fifty-five.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? You stopped me for going five over?”
He leans down and glares at me. “I can stop you for going one over, if I choose.” “As a matter of a fact, it’s against the law to speed in front of a hospital exit.” He points to the hospital directly across the street from where we’re parked. “I think I’ll give you a ticket for that, too.”
My jaw nearly hits my lap, I’m so stunned. “You’re being fucking ridiculous. You pulled me over on purpose. You knew I was driving Eric’s car, you knew exactly what it looked like.”
“If you’d like to make a complaint, please do so in writing.” He has the audacity to smile, as he hands me the ticket.