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The thought of having to go into that police station and answer questions after the night they’d just had was overwhelming. “I can’t—” Bianca began.
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice,” Elias said, cutting her off. “Unless you want a black and white at your door in a few hours, arresting you for failure to comply.”
Her jaw agape, Bianca reluctantly opened her door and slid out of the car.
“You bastard,” she whispered, this time hoping that he heard her.
Four
“For the thousandth time. There is nothing else I’d like to declare,” Bianca reiterated, glaring at Elias.
Detective Roberts looked between them, his eyes wide.
Elias crossed his arms glaring back at her. “You have nothing you want to add to this report?”
Bianca blew air through her lips. “I accidentally got high. I stole a boat. I lost the paddle. You came and rescued me. We walked back. The end.”
“We’ll buy them a new boat if there was any damage,” Cassiel said, looking at his sister strangely.
“That’s great. We’ll let the, ah,victimknow that. When we find out who they are. I’m sure that paddle means the world to them,” Roberts said, already signing the documents and putting the papers away.
“Wait a second,” Elias said, stepping forward and taking Bianca by the arm. He brought her a few desks away and angled them away from prying eyes. “You’re not going to tell them what we did?” he asked.
“No!” Bianca gasped, trying to keep her voice down. “Do you have any idea who my family is?”
Elias’ eyes narrowed warningly. “I know who the Lorings are, yes.”
“Then you should know that if my uncle Gabriel finds out that Imasturbatedin front of acopin a boat that Istolewhile I washigh, I will neverevertake another step in this world without someone watching me. Do you think I want that?” She let that sink in for a moment.
Elias’ eyes slid away from hers. “You can file an anonymous complaint against me at any time if you’re worried about retribution from anyone, including your own family,” he said quietly.
“I don’t want to file a complaint!” she yelled, then immediately dropped her voice. “And I don’t want you filing one either. Please. Don’t say anything.”
Elias nodded tightly in agreement, and she spun away from him, heading back to Roberts’ desk. “Can I go now?”
“Please, yes,go,” Roberts said through a yawn.
Cassiel stood up as Bianca swept past him. He stayed behind for a moment, saying something to Elias that she didn’t quite catch, and then he followed her outside to where Alejandro was waiting with the Range Rover.
Cassiel settled in next to her after giving directions to Bianca’s place and said, “So, sis. You want to tell me what really happened?”
She was so tired she started laughing. “You’re such a jerkface.”
He smiled at her use of one of their oldest taunts. “I know. But I also know that a lot more happened in that boat than a little ‘should I, shouldn’t I’,” he replied. “You shook him up pretty badly. Am I going to have to clean that up?”
Bianca bit her lip. More likehehad shakenherup. But she couldn’t explain that to her brother, or explain the ache that kept swelling and swelling, bigger even than the warmth that it was replacing. Elias kept insisting that what they’d done was so wrong he should be punished for it and that hurt her, much more deeply than she could have imagined. There was nothing wrong with what they’d done. To her, it had felt natural to be like that with him. Apparently, he didn’t feel that way about her.
“No,” she said.
“Good,” he replied. “Now. About Eden.”
Cassiel proceeded to lecture Bianca on how she couldn’t maintain a friendship with someone who endangered her life. He never once mentioned their uncle Gabriel’s political future, or the fact that they were in a stolen vehicle, but focused solely on the fact that Eden could have gotten Bianca killed. Anything else, and Bianca could have argued back, but even she had to face the fact that Eden really could have killed her, first by driving high, and second with the drugged water—even if that part had been unintentional.
“Look, this has nothing to do with how many times she’s been there for you, or how screwed up her family is, or how this would look in the press,” Cassiel’s green eyes were raw when they met her blue ones. “When I got that call from the police, for a split second, I pictured you dead. Do you have any idea how much that hurt?”
Bianca swallowed guilty tears. She nodded. “I’m sorry,” she agreed. “I won’t hang out with her anymore.”
“Thank you,” he said, breathing a deep sigh. He put his head back on the headrest. “Fuck, I’m tired,” he groaned, as he leaned his head back, and shut his eyes.
