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“No, we’re not,” I said, tears welling in my eyes. “He wouldn’t let me get to my car. He wouldn’t let me leave.”
Jim said something into his radio, then headed toward me. All business, he stood next to me and kept his focus on the group of men across from me when all I wanted to do was fall into his arms. Dramatic? Sure, butdamn itI was exhausted.
“You were holding her against her will?” Jim asked, then raised his hand toward the group of approaching friends. “I need you three to stand in a line on the sidewalk.”
“Or what?” one of them snapped. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”
“Or I arrest you for interfering with an investigation,” Jim snapped. “And keep your hands where I can see them.”
They stood on the sidewalk, arms hanging by their sides.
“I wasn’t holding her against her will,” Kent said, lying through his damn teeth. “We were catching up—”
“How much have you had to drink tonight?” Jim asked, placing himself between Kent and me.
“A few,” Kent said, all confidence as he raised his arms. “That’s not a crime. And you don’t see me driving. You’ve got nothing to hold me on.”
Another patrol car pulled up, and Tanner stepped out. Jim filled him in, and Tanner headed to question and keep an eye on the three on the sidewalk.
Jim glanced at me, reading something on my face that made his eyes narrow. “He wouldn’t let you get in your car?”
“No,” I said. “He kept me from getting into it twice. Then he grabbed my arm when I tried to go back inside to Lyla’s.”
Anger flashed in Jim’s eyes as he turned back toward Kent.
“I didn’t! She’s lying. Look, just let us go. We don’t have time for this—”
“You should’ve thought of that before,” Jim cut him off. “Place your hands behind your back.”
“You’re fucking joking,” Kent said, shaking his head while Jim put him in cuffs. “You can’t arrest me!”
“You’re being detained for drunk and disorderly conduct,” Jim said, continuing with his rights as he walked him to the back of his patrol car. Tanner let the other three go with a warning, and they practically bolted without a second glance for their friend.
Jim headed back to me after he got him secured in the car. “Are you okay?” he asked, none of the stern police officer to be found in his expression, just Jim.
“Yeah,” I said, rubbing my arms. “I mean…physically,” I admitted.
He reached between us, interlacing our fingers for a few precious seconds before Tanner called to him from his car.
“I have to go book him,” he said, eyes curious and concerned as he looked me over. “Do you want to come down to the station and make an official statement?”
“I…” My throat clogged, panic and fear strangling the words I wanted to say. “I can’t.” Making anofficialofficial statement would dredge up the past, leading to a trial that would no doubt drag the VanDoren name through the mud. I was doing everything I could to get back in my family’s good graces, and this wouldn’t be the way to do that.
I wondered if that mattered, though, in the grand scheme of things. He deserved to pay for what he’d done, but who was to say he’d done it to anyone else? Maybe it was just me. Maybe it was because of who I was and who I looked like. Maybe—
“It’s all right,” he said. “I can take a statement anywhere,” he said. “Can I swing by once I have this done?”
“Please,” I said, breathing out in relief. That would give me time to get my head on straight. Give me time to figure out the right thing to do. “I want to tell you something, when you come over.”
“Of course,” he said, squeezing my hand before walking me to my car. “I’ll text before I head over.” He opened my car door for me, ensuring I was safely inside before he gave me a reassuring smile and shut the door.
Safe. Jim made me feel so damn safe.
And after what I just confronted? Safe is the last thing I should feel, but it was impossible to deny.
I might be healing myself and my past, but Jim Harlowe was acting as my safe place to do that hard work, and I couldn’t deny it one second longer.
I was in love with him.
