Chapter Seventeen #2
The sirens grow louder and louder. The man that's been rolling around by Liam's feet lifts his dirt covered head, looks both way and despite seeming like he's barely able to hold himself upright, he scrambles to his feet and staggers forward, dragging one foot behind the rest of his body until he disappears around the far corner just as the first waves of red and blue spill around, illuminating the entire alley and I run.
I run forward like my life depends on it, toward the light, the sounds, toward justice that's just pulled up to the curb.
I get to Liam just as he leans down, putting the half-conscious excuse for a man down, releasing the deadly chokehold he had on his neck and putting the barely moving body on the ground.
"Liam!" The second Liam's hands are free, I jump him like we've been separated for years, throwing both arms around his neck and slamming myself against him. "Fucking hell, are you alright?"
His exhale is shaky against my hair as he hugs me back. "Yeah, I'm fine," he rasps. "I'm—"
"Please step back, sir. Sir." It's not until there's a forceful pull on my arm, yanking me back that I realize the words I barely register are directed at me.
"Wha—" I let out as I'm being pushed away and the next time I blink, there's an offending body situated in the worst spot a body can be situated right now—between Liam and myself.
Every piece of me wants to reach out and get rid of the inconvenience. But the body in question happens to be wearing a police uniform, so I reluctantly step back.
"Okay. Why don't you tell me what happened," asks the officer, with his back currently facing me.
I step around the officer to face him and start talking the exact moment Liam does, words shooting out of me like bullets from a machine gun, and I'm gesturing so wildly I almost hit the officer in the face.
The man raises one hand, the gesture enough to shut both Liam and me up mid-word.
"Hold on. You"—he points at Liam—"from the top. You"—accusatory finger stops inches from my chest—"step away."
"But—"
"Sir."
My insides boil and my nostrils flair, and I swear if I get called sir one more time, I'm gonna lose it. I take one calming breath to avoid just that and do as I'm told, moving to the side and letting Liam do the talking.
It's not until I'm standing a few feet away from Liam and the note-taking officer, close enough to hear Liam's recounting, but not close enough to chime in, that I look around and take in my surroundings. And let me tell you, the image I'm met with is not the image I've imagined at all.
The entire alley flashes with red and blue and the cry a different set of sirens reaches me from a distance.
Liam runs his palm over his face as he towers over the officer. Sweat rolls down his temple and his cheeks are muddy. There's a single scratch on the side of his neck, a thin red line marring his skin. My blood boils.
Three feet to their left, a female officer is squatting down, touching the upper arm of a young man, the same man who just minutes ago was punching Liam on the back, currently moaning something incoherently, half his face painted red, his mouth open, jaw hanging at an unnatural-looking angle.
My eyes dart left, then right, then left again. The other two men have long bolted.
A wave of dread washes over me as I spot an ambulance wailing its way into the alley.
I look at Liam. Then at the man on the ground. Liam. The man again. And just as the reality of sinks in, the paramedics rush out of their vehicle and towards the mess of a man, and the officer next to Liam says, "You're going to have to come with us."
"WHAT?" I roar, whatever sense of self-preservation I possess seemingly on holiday now as I leap toward the officer and stand right in front of his face. "Why?"
I barely catch Liam murmuring, "Xander, out of one side of his mouth, but I ignore him.
"You can't take him. You won't take him! There were three of them and—"
The officer cuts me off with another "Sir," while Liam says my name again. "Do you want to get detained?"
Every fiber of my being ignites, and I accept my faith. I am getting detained. For assaulting a policeman. My body takes over and I launch forward, but I'm not even a full step into my journey to madness when Liam's voice rings in my ear, halting me in place. "Xander!"
My eyes meet Liam's and begin to water.
"It's okay." Words I recognize to be lies do nothing to calm me. "It's nothing. It's procedure."
I open my mouth to speak just as the officer steps to his vehicle and opens the back door and holds it for Liam.
The world officially stops making sense and I'm reduced to a shivering mess, to a sub-human level, useless, futile, a mere stone statue as I watch Liam's face twist into a fake, reassuring smile.
"I'll be back in no time. And please call Sawyer.
" An angry tear rolls down my cheek as Liam ducks down and squeezes into the too small backseat of the police car.
"Tell him I'll be playing hooky tonight. "
And before he can say anything else, the officer slams the door shut, his colleague already waiting in the passenger seat.
Liam winks at me from behind the glass and gives me another reassuring nod.
Unable to respond in any way, I collapse inside, hating the officers, the thugs, the entire world. And most of all, myself, for suggesting this stupid stroll, for dragging Liam around, for ducking behind that stupid car, for calling 911. For everything.
The engine coughs and I put both hands on my head, pulling on my hair, making it as painful as I can, to distract myself from the image of the police car currently driving away, getting smaller and smaller, and most of all, from the fact that I'm the one who's put Liam inside it.