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I didn’t expect it to make sense because I had a hard time making sense of it myself. All I knew was, as I sat there gripping the edges of the seat, my heart thumped uncomfortably, my stomach rolled, and the ball of panic in my chest seemed insurmountable. So insurmountable that I glanced out the window with the urge to run away.
Remove yourself from the situation. Get away, Prism. Go.
This was probably nothing. He probably blew through a stop sign. Or really was out a taillight. Or maybe it was a routine stop for a seat belt check. My heart leaped into my throat with the thought, and I reached up, grappling at my chest to check for the strap.
I blew out a breath, relieved to find I was in fact wearing the restraint.
“Matthew,” Arsen beckoned, and I dropped my hand into my lap.
My finger started bouncing against my thigh. One, two, three. One, two, three.
“Look at me.”
I turned, staring at him but not really seeing. I was lost somewhere in the confines of my mind where everything was blue and red.
Warm palms grasped my face, thumbs swiping under my eyes. “You’re okay,” he told me, but that didn’t make me feel better.
“What about you?” Us.
A soft sound left his lips. “I’m okay too, baby. I’m right here.”
Another blip of the siren and my tapping fingers started to tremble.
“Where’s your AirPods, princess?”
I said nothing.
“Are they in your pocket?”
I nodded.
“Get them out for me, okay? Put them in your ears.”
“What do you think he wants?” I whispered, eyes straying out the back window where a uniformed man was stepping out of his cruiser and making a show of putting on a hat.
“Probably something just as stupid as that hat,” Arsen muttered.
I laughed. It was more of a panicked sound, but the release of pressure felt good in my chest.
“What if they arrest us again?” I worried.
“They have no reason to do that,” he reasoned.
There was a loud knock on the window. I jolted, peering through the glass over Arsen’s shoulder to where the officer loomed in the dark.
“Eyes on me,” Arsen said, not even bothered the man was there. I shifted back to his dark, steady stare. “I’ve got this,” he vowed. “We’ll be out of here in just a minute.”
Knock, knock, knock.
Still unhurried, he leaned over to kiss me softly. “Get your AirPods,” he whispered as he pulled away.
I dug them out of my jeans as he rolled the window partway down. “What seems to be the problem, officer?”
“License and registration.”
Gripping the case, I watched Arsen hand over his ID and registration card.
The officer stared at them a moment. “Have you been drinking tonight, sir?”
