Making our way to the road, I see the parked police car blocking the trail.
“That isn’t fucking good.” Collins mumbles, pulling the car up behind Darren’s.
I’m already moving over to them, shouting, as Z coughs out from the force of Darren’s punch.“Whoa!”
“Hit me one more time and see what fucking happens.” Z’s voice is furious, but calm, which I’ve never seen out of him, and it’s fucking terrifying.
“You…” Darren points at him and rushes again. Launching myself at him, I wrap my arms around him, dragging him backward away from the side of the car.
“Just because you can smell your wife’s pussy on me doesn’t mean I won’t hit back.”
Collins coughs, trying to conceal his laugh.
“Goddamnit,” I mutter to myself as Darren shoves me backwards, just trying to keep myself righted before I hear the hollow thud as Z thrusts his head at him.
Looking at them, Z laughs out, and as I look over at him, I can see the trail of blood down his face. I’m not sure whose blood it is, though. Darren stands holding his nose, withering because everyone heard that shit break just now.
“Just add assaulting an officer to the list of charges.”
Yup, by how he sounds, broken.
“Hmm.” Z just shrugs before glancing over to my cruiser and nodding. “Pretty sure the dash cam got everything, including at least one of the gut punches you already got in.” He’s right, it did. I’m not really sure what exactly to say before he looks at me. “I’m thinking him alone in a car with me is a pretty bad idea.”
I just nod and look at Darren. “He’s right. I’ll take him up to the station. You take my car.” I nod to him, not letting him answer. Darren slams the door shut after Z swings his legs back in so hard it sways the car.
“Cut it out.” I snap at him and push him backward. I don’t mean to, but Darren loses his footing and falls backward onto the ground.
I don’t stay to apologize. Moving into the car, I turn the mics off on the cameras.
“What did you do to piss him off that badly?” I ask Z, as I see his hostility shift towards me.
“Told him the truth.” I meet his eyes in the mirror before he nods. “Don’t worry, I kept your name out of it.”
I nod my head, knowing him well enough to know he’s thinking to himself how he shouldn’t have, because I’m a traitor.
“I tried to call you this morning and give you a heads-up, but no answer.”
“Thanks, man.” He deflates. I watch as the reality of the situation dawns on him, and he leans his head back against the seat. “How bad is it?”
“If I were to look just at the evidence without knowing everything, without knowing you… I would assume it was you.”
“What makes you think it wasn’t me?”
“You had no reason to kill him, and Darren knows that putting you in prison will hurt her. It’s his Hail Mary play.”
“They won’t let him take her back.”
Glancing back up in the mirror, I look straight at him. “You know that. And I know that. But he has no fucking clue.”
Pulling the car over, “Where’s your phone?”
“I don’t have it.”
“Shit.”
He rattles a number off to me, and I look up again.
“What?”
