Fuck. My dad was going to kill me.
"Then just charge me, but not her," Will offered sweetly.
"She was the one flashing her breasts and screaming. If one of the two of you should be charged it's her."
"It was my fault. I take full responsibility," Will told him. Joe made a disapproving sound.
"I'll write you both up on misdemeanor indecent exposure citations. I'm sure your attorney can convince the prosecutor to go easy on you," the officer said, asking for our driver's licenses before he walked away.
"Jesus," Joe muttered, running his hand through his hair. "You two just couldn't wait until you got home to get your freak on, could you?"
"How bad is this, Joe?" Will asked.
"An indecent exposure citation is nothing for first offenders. A few hours of community service and I'm sure the prosecutor will dismiss it. Then we can petition for an expunction to remove it from both of your records. It'll be like it never happened. But it also means you can't ever get any future charges, since you only get one expunction in your lifetime."
That made me feel a little better about things. "How long does all that take?" I asked him.
"Ah, probably no less than five or six months, and that's if you do the community service right away. I'd say you need about twenty-five hours at a non-profit organization."
"Five or six months! I'm trying to find a job!" I exclaimed.
"Hey, it's not my fault you were fucking in public," Joe said defensively. He was right, of course.
"I'm sorry, Lacy," Will said.
"The first rule of sex in public is bite down on something to drown out the sounds. The second is not doing it in a crowded parking lot. Kids," Joe muttered, shaking his head. "But hey, it could be worse."
"What could be worse?" Will asked.
"Getting charged with a crime against nature."
"What's that?"
"Oral sex in public. I'd say that's a tad more embarrassing. I'm sorry officer, I tripped and my mouth fell on his dick doesn't usually work as an explanation. Neither does the whole, I was bent over looking for my car keys between her legs."
"Thanks Joe, for helping us look on the bright side," Will said sarcastically. "I wonder if Tyler knows this jackass cop and could talk him out of this."
A minute later the officer came back with our citations. At least he wasn't taking us downtown to get arrested.
In the darkness I looked down at the stupid pink sheet of paper in my hands as Joe drove me and Will home in his SUV.
"I'm sorry, Lacy," Will said again into the silence.
"Stop apologizing. It was my fault we got caught," I told him, rubbing my temple where a headache was starting. I knew I had to tell my dad ASAP. Joe warned us that all the shitty attorneys would get our addresses from the arrest report, and then our mailboxes would be flooded with letters from them offering to represent us.
"I know you don't need this right now, and I wish I could fix it," he said.
"The next right and then you can let me out," I told Joe when we came up on my neighborhood.
"Do you want me to walk you up?" Will asked.
"No thanks, I'll be fine."
Joe's SUV came to a stop and I reached for the door handle. "Thanks for the ride," I said, then my cheeks burned thinking about earlier. Will and Joe both chuckled, and I couldn't help my smile either.
"Bye, Lacy," Will said.
"Bye, Will. Thanks, Joe," I told them before heading inside. Luckily my dad was already asleep when I walked into the house. I went to bed, trying to figure out how I was going to tell him in the morning.
Chapter Five
"What the hell were you thinking?" my father yelled, so loudly his assistant could probably hear through the closed office door. I couldn't help but flinch at his tone while I continued standing in front of his desk during his chastising.
"I … we didn't intend to get caught like that. The cop was an ass-"
"I have never been more embarrassed in my life!" he exclaimed, hurting me like never before. Anger flared in me, making me want to hurt him back.
"Me having sex in a parking lot is more embarrassing than you getting caught fucking your slutty client behind Mom's back?"
"You better watch it, Lacy."
"What I did is not that big of a deal! Joe said that with a few hours of community service it'll go away."
"Everyone in the office knows about it from the arrest report last night. Everyone in the legal field knows my daughter was screwing our IT guy in public."
"So?"
"So? So, you should be with Zack! I still can't believe you ended things with him," he said, rubbing a hand over the bald spot at the top of his head.
"I guess my dislike of cheaters came from mom's side of the family."
"What about Joe? He's a nice, single guy that'd be good for you," my dad said.
"Joe? Are you serious? You're trying to play matchmaker?"
"Lacy, you could have any man you wanted. Now that you're out of school it's time for you to stop wasting time screwing around." The "with someone like Will" was left unsaid, and his low opinion of the man pissed me off.
I had a news flash for my father. I'd date whoever the hell I wanted, and I wasn't planning on settling down anytime soon. Maybe ever, since all the relationships in my family turned out so well. If he didn't like it, that's too bad. It was his fault for ruining our family for a piece of ass. I would not end up like my mother, crying herself to sleep at night and staying in bed all day, every day, because of her depression.
"Any man I want as long as you approve of him? I'm a grown woman and I'll make my own damn decisions about who I date. Besides, I thought you liked Will."
"I did. Until he got you charged with a misdemeanor for screwing him in public and letting everyone find out about it."
"Oh my God," I said, covering my face. "It was my fault, not his."
"I don't care. You're not going to see him anymore."
"What?" I asked in disbelief. "Since when do you think you can tell me who I can and can't see?"
"Since you became a criminal! If I find out you're still seeing him, I'll have his ass fired," my father shouted, slamming his fist down on his desk.
That was it, I stormed out of his office and slammed the door to mine. Who the hell did he think he was? I didn't know if I was going to see Will again or not, but I sure as shit wasn't going to let my father make the decision for me.
…
Will
"Hey boss, you wanted to see me?" I asked Bill when I sat down in his office. My supervisor looked unusually pissed.
"It's about what happened last night."
Oh shit.
"Joe said it'll be dismissed and off my record in a few months," I assured him.
"I don't care about that. It's an insignificant, minor charge."
"So then what's the problem?"
"Jim Pierce called me this morning," he said with a sigh.
Oh fuck. Why had Lacy's dad called?
"He said he didn't want you doing anything else for his firm. And," he paused, rubbing his hands over his red face. "He said if he finds out you've had any contact with his daughter he's firing us."
My jaw dropped and it felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. I wasn't allowed to see Lacy again, that's what he was saying? I wasn't allowed to see his grown ass daughter?
"Will, you know I think its total bullshit, but this is one of our biggest accounts and we can't afford to lose it."
"I've been doing all the work at their firm for over two years, and I'm done because I fucked the boss's daughter? I didn't know that when we met."
"It's ridiculous. I know you're the best tech we've got, and I hate to give in to the bastard, but I don't have a choice."
"Yeah, I get it," I told him, standing up to leave before I exploded.
"Will?" he said, stopping me with my hand on his office door. "If he fires us, then I'm sorry, but you're out."
I'd never had a temper, or even been truly angry in my life until that moment. I wanted to hit someone or break something. I headed straight out the front door, needing air before I added property damage or assault to my criminal record.
That woman was a fucking curse! Ever since I'd met her my life had been shit. Now I had a criminal record and could very well be facing unemployment. Not because of my job performance, but because an asshole thought I wasn't good enough for his daughter. Hell, he was right of course, which pissed me off even more. But despite all that, I'd never wanted anyone as much as I wanted Lacy.
I pulled out my phone and called my defense attorney.
"Hey, Will, what's up?" Joe answered.
"My criminal record might be getting a helluva lot longer."
"What? Why?"
"I'm real close to getting fired because of your fucking boss, and I want to break something."