AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Fucking hell, that girl… She obviously had me gone because never in my life would I have fallen on the sword for anyone but my family. I had for her, though.
Fuck, I really am in love.
I must have been, and now I kind of got how crazy my friends got when they initially got with their girls. Dorian had been fucked when he met Sloane. He’d literally lost his fucking mind, and Wolf had proposed to Fawn in the end. Out of all of us, I think my buddies had seen me getting engaged before that dude. Me who was the ultimate fuckboy.
Yeah, love had made my brothers crazy, and I supposed me too because I never did call my dad or use my name to get me out of my cell. Again, that call came from somewhere else, and I think I got an indicator when the police escorted me out. There was a woman filling out paperwork at the front desk, and I froze upon seeing her.
She did too when she glanced up. Aspen’s mom did a double take and was a colorful sight in this dingy-ass precinct. She wore a full-on pink suit and black pumps, the things clacking when she ultimately cut me off. I’d planned to pass her.
She didn’t allow me, but she stayed her place, kept her distance. She held her purse like I’d steal it, and I certainly didn’t blame her for her reservations about me.
I mean, I’d kidnapped her daughter once upon a time.
She also eyed my interesting state of dress, her dark eyes peering down the length of me and flashing at my bare chest. I was still wearing my costume from last night sans shirt. Aspen still had it.
She made no mention of any of it, though, standing there in silence. I swallowed. “Ms. Davis.”
Even my voice put her off. She gripped that purse in a vise grip, and that was a big reason I’d tried to sneak around her initially. Aspen had told me to avoid her mom, and that was for good reason with our history.
“Thatcher Reed,” she stated, clipped. She put her purse higher up on her arm. “They treat you well back there?”
I blinked, surprised she asked. I nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
Her jaw moved a little. “Well, you didn’t do anything wrong, so… in this instance, so…” She shook her head. “I had to make things right. My daughter told me the truth about everything. How there were no threats, and she’s been spending time with you.”
Whoa.
“I don’t understand that. Her hanging out with you.” Ms. Davis shifted in her heels. “But you’ve obviously reconciled.”
We had, and I started to say something, but the woman locked up. I thought because I moved when I started to speak. I put my hands in my pockets, keeping my place. “I’m sorry for the confusion.”
A curt nod in my direction, but she didn’t loosen up. “I’m down here filling out a statement, which is why I’m at the precinct. I dropped all the charges, and I wanted to let you know that, I suppose.”
“I appreciate that, Ms. Davis.”
Another curt nod. “Anyway, I have, but I just also want to let you know I don’t agree with… whatever you and my daughter are doing. I don’t know how it is you both have come to be in each other’s lives, but I think you know, Thatcher, how inappropriate that is. Or maybe you don’t or you don’t care, but it is. What you did to my daughter was sick when you were kids. It was cruel and damaging, and she spent years trying to get past you and what you did to her.”
My stomach locked, not wanting that. I hadn’t wanted to hurt her, the opposite.
Ms. Davis’s head lifted. “So there’s that. If I had things my way, she’d have nothing to do with you, but my daughter is grown, so…”
The conversation was ended by the older black woman. She passed me, and I simply should have let her.
“All due respect, Ms. Davis,” I said, not able to hold my tongue for some reason. I should have but I didn’t. I glanced over to her. “There was a lot more going on back then… during that time than you knew.”
I really shouldn’t have said shit, and the moment I did, my stomach tightened again. Ms. Davis’s lips parted, but before she could say anything, I walked away. I nearly clipped a few cops, though, and a cluster of them made me stop. They all rushed to the door, and Ms. Davis had to move too as more rushed from behind her.
“What’s going on?” she asked a cop at the front desk, and I was curious too. That was a lot of fucking cops moving out of this place at once. Ms. Davis frowned. “Is something happening? Should I be concerned?”
The woman sounded like a concerned citizen, but it was bold of an ask. Aspen was bold too, so I wasn’t surprised.
The cop behind the desk was a lady cop, and her mouth turned down. “I’d avoid Queenstown Hospital and the surrounding areas, ma’am. There’s unfortunately a hostage situation going on there right now.”
“A hostage situation…” Ms. Davis’s voice faded into a heavy breath, and almost instantly, her dark eyes flashed in my direction. She rushed in the same direction the cops went, but I ended up ahead of her. Queenstown Hospital was where we’d both left Aspen.
It was where I’d left Aspen.
CHAPTER
