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“Your ID too, young lady,” he says to me, and I want to vomit as I retrieve it and pass it over with unsteady hands. He checks both IDs, and his attention snaps back to my face. He clenches his jaw and his eyes turn hard and cold. “Go ahead and step out of the vehicle, both of you.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“What’s the problem, officer?” Wyatt practically growls with restrained anger, visibly agitated. “All my information is current. I’ve done my pre-inspection, and we’re already running behind.”
The officer puffs out his chest, angry at Wyatt’s pushback. Instead of answering the question, the officer takes a step back and puts his hand on his service piece—a move that has icy fear flooding my veins.
“I said, step out of the vehicle. Now.”
A high-pitched whimper escapes me as I latch onto Wyatt’s arm, not wanting him to get out and be alone with that officer. Wyatt shoots me a look, silently trying to tell me it’s ok as he gets out, but I know better.
The officer leads Wyatt to his cruiser, and I lose sight of them when the female officer has me step out as well and pulls me aside. I’m trying so hard not to cry, but it’s nearly impossible, my mind running wild about what might happen to Wyatt.
“What’s your name, honey?”
“Dolly.” I try to look anywhere but at her and stop from fidgeting.
“Dolly, what?”
“Dolly Harris,” I whisper, hoping she doesn’t make the connection to the missing girl reports—hope that is quickly dashed.
“I thought so. You know you’ve got a lot of people out here looking for you, Dolly. Or should I say, Dolores? You’re lucky we’ve had multiple people call in with sightings of you traveling with an older man who sticks out like a sore thumb as much as that guy”—she points to the back of the truck—“at various truck stops. Wasn’t too hard to figure out who he is.”
I straighten my spine and look her square in the eye. I desperately need her to listen to me, to take me seriously. “Look, I called my dad’s station when I saw the news reports. I’m telling you exactly what I told them—I’m not missing. I wanted to leave and told them they needed to stop looking for me. They know I’m not going back, ever.”
“And why did you do that? Did that man”—she stops to check the small notepad she pulls from her front pocket—“thirty-seven-year-old Wyatt Roberts, coerce you into running away with him or forcibly take you?”
My fear ramps up a notch, and I’m terrified they’re going to arrest Wyatt for a made-up crime he didn’t commit when all he’s done is try to help me. They could seriously destroy his whole life if I don’t fix this or get this woman to believe me.
“No! I told you I wanted to leave. I didn’t even meet Wyatt until after I had already left. I’m the one who had to beg him to take me with him when he didn’t want to.”
She doesn’t look convinced. “And has Mr. Roberts asked you or forced you to do anything in exchange?”
“Oh my god, no! Wyatt is a good man. He wouldn’t do anything like that. He’s just helping me out.” At this point, I’m not only terrified but also getting frustrated. It’s emotional overload.
She looks at me with pity in her eyes when tears start spilling down my cheeks. “Uh-huh. So you’re telling me there hasn’t been anything inappropriate going on between you two? You don’t have a sexual relationship with Wyatt?” She narrows her eyes, studying my reaction as I try to pull myself together.
I’ve seen the looks we get when we’re out together. Wyatt is huge, a lot older than me, and he looks rough around the edges. Compared to him, I must look like a child, and it doesn’t help that I’m a hot mess after crying all the damn time. She’ll never believe that I want to have a sexual relationship with Wyatt, so I have to lie.
“No, it’s not like that. Wyatt knows why I ran away, and he’s been nice enough to let me hitch for a while, that’s all.”
She’s still looking at me skeptically, and I fully expect her to catch me in the lie and grill me some more. She surprises me, though, when her face softens after a long, silent minute, and renewed hope blooms in my chest.
“Why did you run away, Dolly? My partner says he knows your dad, that he’s a wreck thinking something awful happened to you.”
I start shaking my head before she’s even finished speaking, fully leaning into my anger now. “He’s the reason I left. Unlike Wyatt—who is a good, decent man—my dad is an abusive asshole. I couldn’t wait until I turned eighteen and could escape. Like I said, I’m never going back, and I hope like hell none of this gets back to him, or he will be the one kidnapping me to drag me back to his house,” I say loudly, my voice higher pitched than when I first started.
My heart is beating out of my chest, and it’s getting harder to breathe. I still can’t see what’s happening to Wyatt, and I’m starting to feel lightheaded like I did a few hours ago when I was freaking out about Wyatt possibly having a girlfriend or wife.
I don’t know which is worse, which is actually pretty concerning since we’ve known each other for less than a week. I sway on my feet, and I know I’m going to collapse any minute if I don’t get to lay eyes on Wyatt soon and make sure he’s ok.
The officer reaches out to steady me with a hand on my shoulder. “Hey now, it’s ok, honey.” She sighs and looks off to the side, debating something silently. “Here’s the deal. I believe you—that you willingly left. I’m still not sold that there’s nothing inappropriate going on between you and Wyatt, but since you’re eighteen, it’s not really any of my business…unless he is hurting you,” she hedges. I scrunch up my face and am about to start yelling when her expression turns to resignation. “Alright, alright, I believe you. I’ll talk to my partner, confirm you left home willingly, and that you aren’t being forced into anything. You’ll be free to go, but I can guarantee my partner will call your dad the minute you take off. He’ll have all of Wyatt’s information, and it will be bad news for the two of you. So I suggest you say your goodbyes soon. Get as far away from him and this area as soon as possible.”
My stomach drops, and I cross my arms over it, holding myself. As much as that stings to hear after Wyatt and I have been so intimate, I know it’s the right thing to do. He is a good and decent man, and it’s not fair to him that he might get hurt if Dad comes after us. Our short relationship may have started out rocky between us, but I’ve quickly—and alarmingly—grown attached to him and how good he makes me feel, and I hate the thought of leaving him.
Wyatt
I’ll admit, I was scared shitless when we got pulled over, and the officers made us get out of the truck. I know her dad is a cop, and we’ve seen the news reports about Dolly being a missing person. I know the ugly truth about her dad, though, and the thought of her being dragged out and forced to go back home cut me up more than any potential consequences I could face, legal or not.
