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He stepped back as I opened the door, and as soon as I was outside, I saw who the cop was. Officer Asshole. Just my fucking luck.
I didn’t even ask why he’d pulled me over. I wasn’t about to rile him when even the slightest bullshit could fuck with my parole.
“Move to the front of the vehicle,” he ordered.
My entire body burned with humiliation as I followed directions, doing a field sobriety test, even though I’d only had half a beer. I could feel Kara and Charlie’s eyes on me as I did what I was told like a fucking puppet.
“You’re free to go,” Officer Dickhead said, handing me my license and Kara’s paperwork.
“Thanks,” I said, the words nearly choking me.
I got back into the Jeep and buckled myself in, waiting for him to leave. When he didn’t, I started the Jeep and pulled back onto the road.
“What the fuck was that?” Charlie asked.
“Not now,” I ordered, glancing in the rearview mirror.
He followed us until we pulled into the apartment complex.
“Why the hell did he pull us over?” Charlie asked as we parked.
“He didn’t say,” I replied, climbing out of the Jeep.
“Well, why didn’t you ask?” Charlie sputtered. “He can’t just—”
“He can do whatever the fuck he wants,” I said, cutting her off. “And there wasn’t shit I could do about it. I’m on parole, Charlie.”
“You still have rights,” she argued as we walked toward their door. “The fucking constitution—”
“Just stop, Charlie,” Kara ordered, her voice wobbling. “Jesus, just stop.”
Charlie’s mouth snapped shut as I unlocked the front door and opened it wide so they could go inside.
“It’s been a long day,” Kara said as I walked in behind them. She barely looked at me. “I’m just going to go to bed.”
“You kickin’ me out?” I asked in disbelief. “You want me to go?”
“Of fucking course she is,” Charlie snapped, throwing her hands in the air. She stomped back to her bedroom.
“Kara?”
“This is moving really fast,” she sidestepped, still not looking at me. “Maybe we should just—”
“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kiddin’ me,” I ground out, reaching up to press at the headache forming between my eyes. Adrenalin was still racing through my veins, making my skin feel tight after that shit at the bar and then the run-in with the cop. I didn’t have the patience to deal with Kara’s bullshit, too.
I just wanted to fuck and fall asleep with her wrapped around me and process it all in the morning. If that made me an asshole, I guess I was an asshole.
“It’s been a long night,” Kara replied.
“Yeah, you said that,” I said. “Any reason why we can’t end it together?”
“I just think we should maybe take a little break—” she said, pausing when I scoffed. “Just a short break. Really short. Just—”
“You just think if I leave tonight,” I said, the adrenalin turning into anger in a heartbeat, “that tomorrow when you let me back in there, I’ll be so happy about it, I won’t ask you what that shit in the bar was all about.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. She smoothed her hand over the back of the couch. “That’s not—no.”
“Then why don’t you tell me now?” I asked. “Who was that guy?”
“Just some kid from school,” she said, trying to play it off.
“Old friend?” I asked sarcastically.
Her eyes met mine.
“No?”
“He’s just an asshole we went to school with,” she said through her teeth.
“Seemed like a bit more than that,” I replied. I wanted to pace, to move and get some of the energy out, but she’d stopped me near the door and there was nowhere to go.
“It wasn’t,” she replied stubbornly.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just tell him,” Charlie yelled from her bedroom.
“Fuck this,” I said, shaking my head. “You tell me why you were fuckin’ shakin’ and white as a ghost, or I’m outta here.”
Kara just stared at me. Her silence was like a punch to the gut.
Instead of heading toward the door, I strode past her down the hallway. Charlie met me at her bedroom door.
“Tell me,” I ordered.
Charlie glanced around me at Kara in indecision. Then, probably because she was drunk, answered me.
“I caught those guys—”
“Shut the fuck up, Charles,” Kara yelled.
“They had Kara cornered,” Charlie said quietly. “You know that little nook by the locker rooms?”
I nodded, nausea pooling in my gut.
“They caught her on her way out—”
“Charlie,” Kara snapped.
“Her hair was still wet,” Charlie said, swallowing hard. “They weren’t doing anything. They just, you know, were crowded around her. They wouldn’t let her leave and—”
“If you say another fucking word—” Kara screeched from behind me.
“They were saying a bunch of shit,” Charlie said, ignoring Kara as she straightened her shoulders. “Sexual shit. All the stuff they wanted to do with her.”
For a second, my sight darkened at the edges, rage like I’d only felt once before tightening every single muscle in my body.
