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And I know there’s nothing I could say that would change their minds.
Not a damn thing.
THE WAIT IS EXCRUCIATING. My parents were pissed, insisting that we stay outside while they go deal with this. Somehow, standing outside the police department and knowing Cam is in there is worse than waiting around at home. Every time the door opens, I find myself hoping he’ll come walking out, but it never happens. And when my parents come back out with a lawyer, and without him, my stomach drops.
“What’s going on?” I ask in a rush. “Is he okay? Is he coming home?”
My mom shakes her head sadly. “Not tonight, sweetie.”
What?“Why not? We bailed him out last time.”
“This time it’s a little more complicated,” the lawyer answers. “He violated probation, which means a judge isn’t going to set a bail tonight. He will have a bail hearing within the next ten days, but until then, he has to stay in custody.”
Hayes throws his head back, trying to take a deep breath but needing to walk away for a second to calm himself down. Meanwhile, Mali holds my hand tightly.
“How bad is it?”
The three of them share a look, like they don’t want to answer, but my dad gives him approval to tell me anyway.
“Honestly, it’s not good,” the lawyer says. “This is his second assault in a short period of time, while he’s still on probation for the first incident. It’s going to be hard to prove to a judge that he’s not the violent person this makes him look like he is.”
“But it’s his word against Isaac’s, right?” Mali asks.
The lawyer frowns. “Afraid not. The police said there’s a video the victim’s brother took of Cam committing the assault. The case is airtight.”
I swear to God, if I ever get ahold of Craig’s phone, I’m going to shove it so far up his ass he’ll have to hiccup to make a call.
Mali shakes her head rapidly. “But he was only doing it to defend me. Isaac…he…”
She can’t seem to get the words out, no matter how badly she may want to, but they don’t matter anyway.
“Trust me, I know what kind of people the Morrisons are,” he says. “But unfortunately, there’s no excuse for assaulting someone, as infuriating as that may be sometimes.”
He goes on to tell us that we need to just sit tight and wait, but I don’t see how that’s possible. One of my favorite people in the world is sitting in a jail cell right now. Patience isn’t exactly my strong suit on a normal day, let alone now.
I FEEL NUMB INSIDE.It’s as if I’m watching my life play out, watching everything go wrong, but I can’t move. I can’t stop it from happening. The only thing I can do is watch and wait for a broken system to save my brother.
A system that nearly failed him the last time.
When we left my house, the three of us piled into Mali’s car. I was shaken up, and Hayes was far too pissed to drive. But as Mali slams on her brakes in the middle of Main Street, I’m starting to wonder if we should have taken an Uber.
“Oh, hell no,” she says, unbuckling her seatbelt and throwing the door open.
I don’t even see what she’s talking about at first. It isn’t until I see her storming across the street that I see him. Isaac has definitely had better days. His face is covered in angry bruises and swollen so much I didn’t even recognize him. But honestly, I think he’s lucky that’s all he got.
“Shit,” I murmur.
Cars behind us honk as Hayes and I rush out onto the street. We don’t even shut the doors as we rush to catch up to Mali. But we can’t get there in time before she shoves him with all the strength she has.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” she screams. “You know exactly what happened that night! You know that you deserve every fucking bit of what you got! But you just had to get him arrested, didn’t you?”
Isaac snickers, and I have to grab Hayes’s wrist to hold him back. As much as we love Cam, and as pissed as we are, this isn’t our battle. It’s hers. And she needs to do this.
“He did this shit to himself,” Isaac argues.
Mali scoffs. “That’s bullshit. I was drunk and you took advantage!”
He rolls his eyes. “Such a typical girl. Hook up with a guy and then regret it later so you cry sexual assault.”
