Chapter 30 #2
I look up to see Blossom, pale once more, eyes wide.
“I’ll go see who it is,” I state, placing my plate on the table, and turning towards the hall.
I’m not surprised when Nox and Steele follow, but the flashing blue and red lights through the windows either side of the door make us all pause. As does what looks like a fucking army of cops standing on the porch.
“Fuck,” Nox hisses under his breath, and I nod, but resume my steps, reaching out to grasp the handle with a remarkably steady hand.
I open the door to find a white guy in a suit, with a fuck ton of officers in uniform behind him.
“Is a Miss. Blossom Devonshire in?” the suit asks, and before I can say anything, Blossom is beside me.
“I am Blossom Devonshire, what’s this all about?” Her voice is steady, but I can feel the fine tremor in her body as it presses against the side of mine.
“Miss, I'm Officer Grady with the Augusta Police Department. We have a warrant to search this property and any outbuildings. I need you to step aside and allow us access.”
He hands her a piece of paper, and her eyes race across the page but I can see she’s not really taking it all in. I’m not fucking surprised, It’s all legal shit and I’d struggle to make sense of it too.
“Can I call my lawyer?” she questions, looking up at the suit, Grady, and he nods.
“Yes Miss, but we are under no obligation to wait for them to arrive. Please stand aside.”
Blossom looks to me, and I give her a nod. She swallows, and we move to one side to let the suit and his officers in.
“You boys need to step outside,” Grady tells us as some of the officers pour inside and head straight for the back, where the kitchen is and the door that leads to the pool house. My gut swirls.
“Why do they need to step outside?” Blossom demands, taking hold of my hand like the wonderful woman she is.
“It’s okay, Bloom,” I assure her, bringing her hand to my lips and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “We’ll be just on the porch.”
Tears fill her eyes, making them sparkle but she nods, giving my hand a squeeze before she releases it. Such a brave woman. I wish I could tell her, but the looks these pigs are giving us keeps me silent. They don’t get any part of what’s between us.
“What’s happening, Blossom?” I hear Tina ask, looking through the window to see her next to Blossom, hand on our woman’s trembling shoulder.
“Take the children into the dining room maybe? Somewhere away from this, then call Rupert please,” Blossom answers, and Tina gives the cops a disgusted look before she heads back to the kitchen, presumably to do what Bloom asks.
Three officers stand in front of us, all white guys, all with a nasty glint in their eyes. I look back to see Grady and his pigs striding back through the house, ignoring Blossom and coming up to us. He stands there, legs open wider than no doubt he needs them to be.
“Who’s got access to the pool house?” HIs words are clipped, short, and unease rolls through me.
“We’ve been living there,” I reply, a chill racing up my spine. Nox and Steele let me take the lead, keeping quiet.
“Who exactly has been living in the pool house?”
“I just told you, we have,” I answer, my scalp prickling.
“So everything that’s in the pool house is yours?”
I go silent, because something tells me that any answer I give will incriminate either us, or Blossom. My lips form a firm line.
He gives a huff through his nose. Then lifts a clear bag.
Suddenly I’m staring at an evidence bag with a massive brick of what looks like cocaine inside, wrapped in cellophane and tape.
My pulse races, my jaw clenching because I know what happens next.
“Anatole Reed, Steele Vaughn, Nox Kane — I'm placing you under arrest for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you.”
“What?” Blossom’s shocked voice filters in, but it’s background noise as the officers who were watching us, the ones with meanness in their eyes, step forward.
“Turn around! Face the wall! Hands behind your back!” They all yell at once, like they’re not standing right in fucking front of us, and we comply, knowing that if we do anything else, things will go to shit.
“Fucking thugs,” Nox’s officer whispers into Nox’s ear as he jerks his hands sharply behind his back.
Nox says nothing, his jaw feathering. I know that costs him, he’s always got a blade of something to throw back. But here, now, he doesn’t say a word.
Whatever we say will be used against us. They literally told us that.
I manage to twist my head even as my own arms are practically pulled from their sockets to find Steel’s gaze locked on mine, his mouth set in a flat line.
“Stop struggling!” his officer yells, even as I can see Steele is not fucking struggling.
“I’m not,” he tells the pig, but it makes no difference as the guy twists Steele’s arms, putting the cuffs on him.
“Stop resisting arrest!” I watch in horror as a baton comes down on the back of Steele’s head, making the front of his head crack against the wall.
Steele grunts, and it takes everything in me to not launch myself at the fucking cunt officer who just struck him for no reason. I’m pulled away as the pig jerks Steele around, no doubt the metal digging into his flesh like it is mine.
Our pockets are searched by other officers, our phones seized and placed in evidence bags.
“Go get their laptops,” Grady orders just as Jus comes bursting out the house.
He stops, his eyes bouncing round us, landing on me being dragged away in cuffs then going wide.
“Ant.” It’s a single cracked sound, but hits me like a fucking sledgehammer, especially when an officer is already moving towards him.
Thankfully Blossom gets there first, and my shoulder lose a tiny amount of tension when she wraps her arms around him, pulling him to her.
Her lips move, but I’m too far away to hear what she says, but Jus stops trying to get to me.
Good. He needs to stay the fuck out of this.
My gaze finds hers, tears in her eyes as she locks eyes with me.
We both know who’s behind this. Both know it stinks of Wilson, her father. Her head shakes slightly, her lips trembling as she takes us in.
It’s not your fault, Bloom.
I can’t tell her, but try to show her with my gaze, tell her that we’re coming back. That we’ll be okay. That she’ll be okay.
Then my head is being shoved down and I’m forced into the back of a cruiser, the door slamming in my face before I’ve fully grasped that Steele and Nox are in separate cars.
I twist, even though it pulls on the too tight cuffs, and turn just as we start to drive off. I watch as Blossom’s knees go, but unlike this morning, no one is there to catch her, and she starts to go down. Jus lunges, trying to keep her up but he’s not even a teenager and so he sinks with her.
My arms ache. Not from the cuffs at my back, but from my inability to hold her. To pull her close and show her everything will be fine.
Even if that’s the biggest lie I’ve ever told myself.
As we pass by the gates, I catch sight of a black Bentley, sitting there, window rolled down. Wilson Devonshire’s snake’s smile meets my eyes, and he gives a little wave as we drive past.
My jaw locks. I say nothing. Filing away the information that he made good on his threat. And I have no fucking clue how we are going to get out of this one.