“Yours too.” She sinks into her armchair, and I force myself to take back the seat on the couch while blue and red lights flash through the curtains. Of course they would rush here now that this is not an emergency, but when you need them, they take their sweet time.
“Fuck. Rachel, this is wrong,” I say as I peek through the slight gap between the curtain and the window. It is just enough for me to watch my husband and his idiot friend being escorted into a police car. “You know we’ll have to go pick them up, right?”
“I know,” she says, completely unbothered.
“So why on earth did you report them?” I ask as I get comfortable in my seat; there’s no point in trying to argue with her.
“He ghosted me for a week, so I reported him to the cops.” She gets comfortable in her armchair, book in hand, as if she didn’t just report both of our men to the cops.
“Sounds fair,” I admit. She kind of has a point here.
“I know, right?” She opens her book with a giggle, proud of herself.
“How do you like the new book?” I try to change the subject, but my brain goes back to autopilot, and I ignore everything she is saying, answering her questions like a zombie.
I drink the remainder of my glass because my friend might have just caused me a prison sentence. Yes, this is not related to Alex’s death. But Leo seems drunk enough that if he panics, he can spit out everything to the cops, and it wouldn’t take them long to come back here and pick me up too. They already know the fucking route to the snitch’s house.
“Don’t worry. We are going to pick them up in a few hours.” She confirms, and now I am certain that if we get away with murder, I am going to commit another, and she will be the victim.
Leo
“You said we won’t get in trouble,” I shout as the door locks behind us.
Kai raises an eyebrow at me. “And you believed me?” He questions, and even though I still want to punch him, he has a point. Why did I believe him? It’s not like his plans have been much of a success in the past.
“I can’t be here.” I say and take a seat on the cold metal bench screwed to the wall. I place my head in my hands and try to take a deep breath, but the only thing I inhale is the stale smell of the cell, and that makes my nausea worse. “I hate you.” I mumble, and Kai chuckles.
He waves a hand to the police officer on the other side, and the man looks at him with annoyance. “Can I make a phone call? It’s all a misunderstanding.” He tells the officer with this polite, manipulating voice he uses when he needs to get out of a mess. I have seen him use it countless times, and even though he doesn’t look exactly trustworthy, most people believe this act.
The officer approaches and allows Kai out. I try to follow, but he closes the door right on my face, and everything seems to shrink. The walls of the small cell move inward, trying to crush me into a Leo made pulp. The room is spinning, and I can’t focus on what Kai is doing until he is allowed back in and immediately rushes to me. “Calm down, man. I am here. Rachel will come and get us. Noah too.” He tells me, and it’s not until Noah’s name is mentioned that my mind clicks back to reality. I want to yell that he shouldn’t come here, but how exactly do I tell Kai that my boyfriend, or fake husband, or whatever he is can’t come pickme up from the police station because he kind of helped me hide a body? Well, not really. Logan did the hiding, but Noah did the preparation for the hiding, and I was standing there useless, having a fucking panic attack, kind of like the one I am having now.
“Everything will be okay,” Kai whispers as he forces me to sit on the bench, and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath again. This time it actually works. My pulse goes back to a normal rate, and I focus on Kai’s voice, even though I no longer hear exactly what words come out of his mouth. I just focus on the sound, grounding myself, trying to allow the rational part of me to kick in and save me.
I am sure Noah will figure it out. He is smart. Smarter than me, that’s for sure.
Noah
RACHEL IS DRIVING USto the station while I practice a speech that I am secretly wishing I won’t need in my mind.‘No officers, we did not kill anyone, and my husband is a law-abiding citizen. He could never hurt a damn fly. What was that? You are asking about the man he punched last week, and it’s the same man that told you we killed someone. Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it, officer? He told me what happened. My husband did nothing wrong; this guy is out to get him.’It sounds convincing in my head, if we don’t count throwing Logan under the bus and claiming Leo as my husband in front of Rachel, Kai, and the whole police station.
“Are you coming?” Rachel calls out, and I realize she has parked the car and is halfway to the station’s door. I rush out, closing my door a little too hard, and Rachel side-eyes me with a scolding look.
“Fuck off. Don’t you even start about the damn door.” I bark as we enter inside. The small police department is packed with people, because the smaller the town, the bigger the fights on the weekend and on Friday night. No one can seem to stay out of trouble here. On the happier side of morbid news, we are actually fitting in here quite well, all four of us. A little band of criminals.
“Hello, my name is Rachel Roberts. I am here to pick up...” She stops scanning the place for our boyfriends. “Those twoidiots.” She points at them, happily sitting on the floor of one of the holding cells.
“Weren’t you the one who called us about them in the first place?” A younger officer asks, and Rachel shoots him a look. He immediately changes his tone, because my friend is scary, and honestly, I would do the same. “I am sure it was a misunderstanding.” He claims before he leaves to go get the idiots in question.
Finally, he comes back with the two men looking like wet cats. “Let’s go.” I say and motion to Leo, who doesn’t argue, leaving his friend at Rachel’s mercy without hesitation.
“Thank you for saving me.” He whispers as we head to the road and motions to the taxi stop at the end of the road. “Let’s go get a cab. We can talk about this at home.”
“Your home?” He questions.
“Well,husband,” I say, emphasizing the word. “We don’t share one yet, and I don’t know where you live. Plus, you seem too drunk to leave you to your own.”
“Fair.” He nods, and it’s clear he is still too drunk for his own good.This night is a fucking mess. In fact, this damn week has been a mess, and we shouldn’t be trusted to make any fucking decisions ever again. None of us. Especially not me, because the more time I spend with this man, the more head over heels fucking in love I am falling for him. Denying it is useless.
I grip his t-shirt and pull him closer; my lips press on his, and just like that, everything is okay between us again. All the worrying seems stupid now, as if there had never been even a sliver of possibility that this man would hold a grudge against me. He presses his body against mine, his hand firmly on my back as he holds me, kissing me in a way that erases every kiss I have ever had in my life. It’s just in this moment that I know this is not a fake marriage, and this man will always be my husband.
