Page 205 of Nobody's Girl

The officer pushes me up against the wall so hard my lip must have busted. It throbs like hell. “Keep your mouth shut!” he yells.

I turn my head to look back at the officer. “I wasn’t going to do anything to her. I only wanted to talk, that’s all,” I say, though now I sound odd because of my busted lip.

In return, I’m smacked back up against the wall again and now my cheek stings. “I said to keep your mouth shut!”

I guess I should not say anything else. My face can’t take any more, and I remember hearing something about not talking to the police until you have a lawyer.

I’m shoved away from the wall and into the hallway. Mrs. Devlin hangs her head, refusing to look at me. Mr. Devlin glares at me, making me feel terrible for breaking into his home.

“I’m sorry,” I say, only to be pushed to move quickly down the stairs.

Both officers have me, one on each side as Ally’s father opens the front door. A light blinds me as the jackass’ car pulls into the drive. The passenger door flies open and Ally runs towards us.

She looks like a goddess in a white, flowing dress, her hair in curls which fly behind her as she runs the fastest I’ve ever seen.

“No!” she screams.

The officers pull me back and stand in front of me as my Ally thumps one of them on his chest. “Let him go! Let him go right now!” she shouts.

I’ve never seen her so mad. Her relentless poking of the cop in the chest pauses as he grabs her wrist, and then the jackass intervenes. “Release her now. And tell us what’s going on,” his royal assholeness says as he moves in behind my Ally, placing a protective arm around her waist.

The cop releases her hand and my Ally’s new protector takes it in his and looks at it.

“I’m okay,” she tells him as they exchange glances.

Mr. Devlin speaks up from behind us. “Take him away officers. I’ll deal with her.”

Ally looks up at the jerk holding her. “Eden, please make them let him go. I won’t allow this to happen.”

The guy looks at Mr. Devlin. “I want him released.”

“Don’t you want to know what we caught him doing?” Mr. Devlin asks.

The guy looks at Ally.

“No,” she says. “I know he’d never do anything so bad it should come to this. I have faith in him and I want him released and any charges my father has made dropped.”

The guy looks at her for a second. “As you wish, princess.” He turns his eyes to her father. “Drop the charges.”

And I’m in the twilight zone, because this whole thing just can’t be happening. As one of the officers unlocks my handcuffs, I watch the guy holding my girlfriend lift her left hand and bring it to his lips.

My heart stops beating as the porch light hits the large rock on her finger, making it glow like a torch, killing me.

“Ally,” I say, but all the words I know are lost and my mind is beyond numb.

Ally looks at the guy who has his mouth on her hand. “I need to talk to him, Eden.”

He nods and lets her go. I stand still as a statue as she comes to me, taking my hand, and leading me back into the house.

Her father sighs as we walk past him and says, “This is a bad idea, Ally. This should be dealt with tomorrow.”

Ally spins around and her anger is obvious. “You have stopped me from talking to him since the accident. It’s driven him to do things he’d never have done. I will talk to him tonight.” She turns back to glare at the officers. “As for the two of you, count yourselves lucky that I didn’t go ape-shit on you for what you did to his face. I’m sure it was uncalled for and we will be speaking to your captain about it.”

Wow! She is not the same girl I remember. What has happened to her?

Leading me to the dining room, she closes the door behind us and I can’t help but to hug her tight to me. “Thank you, Ally.”

Holding her feels so right. Her hair falls against my face and the silkiness sends chills down my spine. A gentle push from her tells me this is over. I let her go and it’s killing me.