“Your mom loves her; so does your grandmother.” His eyes light up.
“That’s good, ‘cause she’s not going anywhere.”
“All right, son, let’s go get your girl.” He pats my back before we turn to go into the building. Once inside, we’re ushered into a small waiting area. There is a man there around my age; his pressed, white button-down shirt and khakis make him stand out. When he sees my dad, who is in uniform, he goes right to him.
“Do you have any information about Lilly Donovan?” the guy asks, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. My hackles rise at the name of my woman coming out of this guy’s mouth.
“Who are you?” I ask without thinking. His head swings in my direction, his eyes meeting mine.
“David. Who are you?” he asks, looking me over.
“Her boyfriend,” I tell him, wishing that I could say fiancé or husband.
“Oh.” He shrugs like it’s all the same to him before turning to face my dad again. “So is she going to be okay? I mean, should I call a lawyer?” he asks, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his pants.
“Don’t worry; my son will take it from here,” my dad says, nodding in my direction. “He will have her call you when she’s out and settled.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Oh yeah, sure, of course,” David says before turning and leaving the room without another look.
“Not fucking likely,” I say under my breath and happen to look at Trevor, who is wearing a smug grin on his cocky face. If we weren’t surrounded by officers, I would punch him. We all take a seat, and it’s not long before someone comes to get us. We get to a section of the station that is a long hall with a few chairs spaced out. I see Lilly sitting in a metal chair; her face is tilted towards her lap, and even from a few feet away I can see the tears running down her cheeks. “Baby,” I whisper when I get close enough to touch her.
“I didn’t do it,” she cries softly as I pull her into my arms.
“I know you didn’t,” I tell her, pulling her closer to me.
“They said that I stole checks from an old woman and wrote them to myself and cashed them,” she cries harder, her body convulsing.
“Baby, you need to calm down before you make yourself sick,” I whisper into her ear while rubbing her back.
“I-I can’t ca-calm d-down. They told me that the wo-woman that this happened to d-didn’t even have m-money for f-food be-because of what they th-think I d-did.”
“It’s okay. We’re going to get this figured out; I promise,” I say, trying to calm her down while the rage inside me starts to burn hotter and hotter. The minute I find out who really did this, I'm going to rip off their fucking head and shove it up their ass.
“I feel so bad,” she whispers into my chest. My dad stands close by with a look of worry and understanding on his face, and Trevor looks like he is ready to help me hide the body.
“Did they say you could leave?” I ask her, pulling her small body tighter against mine.
“Yes, but I can’t leave the country.”
“You weren’t going to anyways; so that’s okay.”
“I know; I told them that.” She nods, sniffling.
“Good, let’s get out of here. We’ll stop by your house and get you and Ashlyn some clothes. Then we can head to my house for the night.”
“I don’t—”
“Hey.” I tilt her face towards mine with a finger under her chin. “If you think for one fucking second that I'm letting you out of my sight tonight, you have lost your damn mind.”
“Okay.” She sighs, looking down.
“You okay, darlin?” my dad asks. Her body stiffens and she looks over her shoulder; seeing both my dad and Trevor, her face pales, and I feel her body start to shake.
“Oh no,” she whispers, looking back at me.
“Hey, it’s okay. My dad came when I called him. Both he and Trevor wanted to make sure you were okay,” I tell her quietly.
“They already hate me,” she says under her breath as new tears begin to fall from her eyes. “I think I'm going to be sick,” she says before covering her mouth with her hand and running down the hall towards the sign marked restrooms.
“I think I need to apologize.” My dad lets out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t think that she noticed.”
“She’s sensitive. The day after the bar-b-que she was excited to get to know you guys. She thought you were all welcoming her into the fold; then she noticed that y’all acted different with her than you do with November or Liz, and that was okay with her. She understood that it would take some time to build a relationship, except no one ever tried, and now she feels like an outsider. Well, except Ma; she has made it clear from day one that she has Lilly’s back.” I smile; I love my mom.#p#分页标题#e#