Yep, I thought, dragging a shaky hand through my short dark hair as the truck came to a complete stop. Tonight is about to get fun.
I opened my door and puked.
The door to the holding cell clanked open loudly against the wall, and I groaned as I held my head in between my hands.
Were all jails this loud, or was I being specially punished? Wasn’t it enough that I’d spent most of the night vomiting into the toilet in the corner? At one point I was almost sure that death would’ve been more beneficial to me.
“You reek,” a soft voice said, and for the first time I felt a real momentary stab of regret, as I looked up into my mom’s face. I quickly cast my gaze back to her feet so I wouldn’t have to see the disappointment in her eyes and noticed the boots of an officer walking toward me.
“Time to go home, son. Your mom has posted bail.” He grabbed me by the elbow.
“I’m not your son.” I yanked my arm from his grasp. “Back off.”
“Look, Mr. Walker, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. It’s up to you.” He took hold of me once again.
I growled under my breath and turned aggressively toward the man, intent on showing him a thing or two, jail time be damned.
“Chase.” My mom’s voice had almost a pleading quality to it. “Please. Haven’t we been through enough?”
I turned to look and saw the tears brewing in her eyes. That bit of guilt returned to prick at my conscience. I clenched my jaw so hard it felt like my teeth might break, but I backed down.
A few minutes later I watched as my mom signed her name—Tori Lynn Walker—with a flourish, and I was allowed to leave the police station in her custody.
“Where’s my truck?” I asked, scanning the parking lot.
“Where do you think it is? It’s been impounded.”
“Are we going to get it now?”
“No.” She hit the clicker on her key chain to unlock the doors to her red Toyota.
“When, then?” I asked, trying to ignore the dull pounding ache in my head.
She sighed heavily as she glanced at me over the roof of the car. “I’m going to sell it.”
Suddenly the dull pounding resembled a roar. “Excuse me?”
“No. Excuse me, but I can’t take watching you drink your sorry butt into oblivion anymore. You aren’t being responsible. Having a vehicle is a privilege—one you clearly don’t deserve. If you’d been the one driving it last night, you would be in a whole lot more legal trouble than you are right now. Connor is being charged with the DUI. You’ve been charged with underage drinking and possession of an open container. From the smell on you, I’d say you were lucky there isn’t a marijuana charge against you too.” She slid into the car and slammed the door behind her.
I did the same, intent on arguing with her, and instantly regretted the movement, my head throbbing.
“So now what?” I leaned back against the seat, suddenly feeling too tired to fight. “Am I grounded? For how long?”
“Oh, it’s going to be much worse than that for you.”
“What do you mean?” I didn’t like the tone of her voice.
“Well, first we have your court date on Thursday. Then after we find out what the judge has in store for you … we’re moving.”
“What?” I said incredulously. “You can’t do that!”
“I have, and we will!” She threw the car into gear and pulled out from the parking space.
“Where?”
“To live with Grandma and Grandpa.”
“You aren’t serious, are you, Mom? Please, say you’re joking about this! Do you really want to make my life a complete living hell?”
My mom hit the brakes hard as she came to the stop sign. I could see the anger written plainly on her face, but when she spoke her voice was soft again.
“The only person responsible for making your life hell is you, Chase.”
“Mom,” I groaned. “Please don’t.”
“It’s done. I’d been talking to them about it already. I made the plans final as soon as I found out you were arrested last night. Grandma and Grandpa are waiting for us.”
“I can’t do this, Mom. Don’t take us there. It’ll be even worse than it is here. There’s no possible way for me to fit in. It’s like Hicksville there! Even Dad hated it. Grandpa is totally insane and ....” my voice trailed off when I saw the hard look in her eyes.
Neither of us spoke again for the rest of the ride home, but I was biting the inside of my mouth in an attempt to keep my comments from spewing out. I knew it would only hurt her more, and despite everything I’d done to add to her burdens, that had never been my intention. I wasn’t trying to be bad or make things harder on her. I was only trying to forget it all.