I’d give anything to be able to wrap my arms around her right now, rest my chin on her head and just breathe her in. The silence is broken and the moment lost to the sound of a cop walking between the cell doors, telling us that we’re being bailed. I look to Blair with obvious confusion because she answers my question without me having to speak it.
“We’ve been here all night, you were asleep for almost eleven hours. I could hear you snoring from in here. I must have lost my cell when the fight broke out so I couldn’t call my mom. I don’t have it memorized as stupid as that sounds.” She moves into the hall as the cop opens her door and she looks at me with a worried expression. “I didn’t know what else to do so I got your mom’s number from your phone and called her.”
Fuck. “That’s fine princess,” I say as calmly as I can manage. I’m just mentally praying that mom hasn’t told my dad.
We are both led out into a separate room where some overweight tired-looking older cop fills paperwork out for us while handing me back my keys, cell and wallet.
“Lucky for you two, you have connections,” he says looking us both up and down. “All charges brought against you have been dropped.”
I feel a chill run down my spine at the word connections that can only mean one thing. My dad knows. I look at Blair and she must be having the same thoughts judging by the look on her face. I give her a smile, attempting to reassure her that everything is okay, but I don’t believe that for a second. We both have to sign some paperwork before being ushered out into the reception area where sure enough, my dad is leaning against a desk waiting. He looks completely furious, his arms are crossed over his chest and his gaze is narrowed. He glances from me to Blair and then back to me again with nothing but disappointment and anger in his eyes. There’s no ‘hello’, no ‘how are you?’ No pleasantries at all. He turns and walks out, expecting us to follow silently, and that’s exactly what we do.
Blair has my hand in a death grip as we walk towards what I’m assuming is a rental. Dad opens the back door and stands aside to let us both in. His jaw is working back and forth and I’m sure that if I were on my own right now he wouldn’t be so quiet. Blair climbs in and he closes the door, stopping me from following.
“You’ve got some explaining to do once your girlfriend’s gone,” he tells me in an eerily calm voice.
“Yes, sir,” I answer and make my way around to the other side of the vehicle and get in.
The car smells ridiculously strongly of lemon air freshener, and I don’t know if it’s because I’m already not feeling too good, but I find the smell nauseating and overpowering. I’m hung-over, I can still taste whisky and my head aches like it's being squeezed in a vice. The morning sunlight is streaming through the windshield and stinging my eyes; no matter how I try to arrange the visor it offers no relief. We drive in silence for about ten minutes before my dad’s resolve breaks.
“What the hell happened? I’m dying to know why I had to get on a plane and come bail your sorry ass out of jail. You’d better have a damn good explanation.” His voice cuts through the already frigid atmosphere in the car and I see Blair tense from the corner of my eye.
“It was my fault, Mr. Jamison. A guy came onto me at a bar and Ethan was just trying to protect me.” My head snaps to Blair’s and she’s pleading me with her eyes to go along with her story. She’s trying to protect me and as much as I love her for doing it. I hate that she feels like she needs to.
“Do I look stupid to you, girl? I was talking to Ethan!” he barks out and Blair flinches back in her seat.
“Don’t talk to her like that.” I can handle him talking to me like I’m a piece of shit but not her. Never her.
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to? I’ve just come to bail you and your little whore out and this is how you talk to me?”
I see red and ball my fists at my side. “If you ever call her a whore again I swear to god I’ll make you regret it.” My words filter into the calm and quiet of the car but they hit their mark as intended. The road we’re on is empty, so he pulls to a stop and turns in his seat with his eyes blazing like fire. I know what’s coming next; at least I would if we weren’t all strapped into a car. This would be the point where he loses his shit and beats the crap out of me until he feels better. Thing is, he can’t really do that from where he’s sitting and he’s not the kind of guy that likes an audience. Blair’s eyes are wide as she takes in the stalemate that we’ve come to.