Chapter Twenty-Two
MATT
Madeline apologized profusely on the way to the station before we were separated and taken away for questioning.
I told the officers exactly what I’d told Officer Devon.
But his statement about me trying to bribe him didn’t sit well with my case, and I was put into holding until bail could be granted.
I’m in for a long wait, and I’m currently missing my friend’s wedding.
I’m fucking fuming as I pace the cell that has three other inmates in here with me.
A stocky, tattooed guy who seems angry at the world.
A man with dreadlocks who looks like he’s ready to stab me with his glare at any second, and a short, skinny guy who looks barely old enough to be legal, but he certainly appears troubled.
Like he has voices talking to him in his mind or something, by the way he keeps looking up and to the left.
I continue to pace back and forth up against the bars, trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to get out of here. They mentioned that when they frisked me and took my cell phone and wallet, I would get one phone call. So I’m just passing the time until I can make that call.
“You that bassist from Recoil?” the dreadlocked cellmate calls out through his death stare, and I turn to him and let out a small sigh.
“Yeah.”
He stands up, his massive stature towers over me. The sheer size of the guy is daunting. He has muscles on muscles and has to be edging on nearly seven foot. His veins pop out on his skin so much that it’s like little worms running along his flesh.
“What’s your name?” he asks.
I look around the room as the young guy twitches, slightly jolting his head to the side, and the stocky guy yawns like we’re boring him.
“Matt, you?”
“T-Dog…” His lips curl up. “You know, what your crew did to Debt Money was pretty disrespectful,” he says, and I slump my body and clench my eyes shut while rubbing my temple.
Trust me to be put into a cell with the rapper Debt Money’s goon and have to pay for a beef that’s held more between Danger and Ryan than with me.
“Look, T-Dog, I have no beef with Debt Money. I know Recoil and he had history, but we’re cool now.”
He brings his fist up and cracks his knuckles as a scare tactic.
It works.
“You’re not cool. He’s my cousin’s, friend’s, uncle’s, nephew. And you mess with my family, you mess with me. You feel me?”
I screw my face up at how exactly that makes them family, but I’m not willing to argue with a giant. Nodding, I exhale. “I feel you, T-Dog.”
He steps closer as I take a step back. My back hits the bars, and he pushes right up against me.
The kid giggles as he jumps on the floor, squats, then hops like a frog while laughing like a madman.
The stocky guy looks, yawns again, and rolls over, facing the wall like he’s not getting involved in any of this shit.
I breathe heavily as I look up at T-Dog and grit my teeth, wondering how this day could possibly get any worse.
“You gonna feel all of me right now,” he says, lifting his fist as the kid laughs maniacally.
I bring my hands up in surrender and open my eyes wide. “Wait, wait, wait,” I call out just before his fist connects with my face.
He stops his attack, and the kid moans out in frustration as I breathe out in relief that he actually stopped. “What if I give you something? Will you promise not to smack me up?”
He stands back and clicks his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “What could you possibly give me?”
I realize that the guards took my wallet, and I’m pretty much fucked. So I start rummaging over my body for something, anything, and he grabs at my arm, stopping my movements.
“This… I want this,” he says, pointing to my watch.
It’s a sixteen-thousand-dollar Rolex that I wasn’t going to part with when I was arrested, so I slid it up my arm under my shirt.
But my bet is T-Dog knows that, and that’s why he’s gunning for it.
But fuck, my bones in one piece are worth more than one fucking watch.
I can buy another one. It’s not sentimental, it’s just expensive. So he can have the fucking thing.
I pull it off my wrist and go to hand it to him, but I hesitate before handing it over. “You can have it if you swear not to hurt me and the other guys in here. Or the other members of my band if I ever see you in public,” I demand.
“Yeah…” He puts his hand out for me to shake, which we do, then I hand him the watch with the other. He grabs it and then shoves my shoulder, pushing me into the bars with a grunt, and turns, strutting off back to the bench.
A sense of calm settles in the cell, and I go back to pacing while the other three sit and watch me. I must pace for what feels like hours as my legs become tired.
Surely, the wedding is well and truly over by now.
I bet Danger and Lunar are fucking annoyed at me.
Not to mention what Alex is thinking.
“Rocker, will you sit down? You’re making me want to punch you,” the stocky guy says, and I turn to face him as T-Dog and the young guy laugh.
I shrug and walk over to the bench where they’re sitting and finally take a seat with them. Pulling my knees up to my chest, I rest my head against the brick wall, taking a deep breath.
“Levine?” a cop calls out.
“Yeah,” I say back, staring at the cop who’s not even looking in the cell. “You can make your one call now.”
Finally!
I walk to the door, and the guard places some chain-style handcuffs around me. Shaking my head as he leads me down a hall, I huff. “Is that necessary?”
He shrugs like he’s bored by even being here. “Sorry, man, it’s protocol. Be quick with your call, you won’t have long once you connect.”
He leads me to a single telephone on a wall, and I contemplate who the hell I am going to call. Definitely not Danger, this is his big day. I could call Nate, but he would rub this in my face big time. I should call Oliver, but the only person on my mind right now… is Alex.
I pick up the receiver and dial her number, but as I prepare to say the next few words, I wonder how she’ll take the news. I wonder if she’ll hate me for this and if she’ll think less of me…
“Penelope’s Sperm Bank, you yank it, we tank it,” she chimes down the line, and somehow it takes the edge off this craziness.
“God, are you ever serious?” I say down the line, a small smile touching the corner of my lips.
“Matt, where the hell are you? It’s practically over!” her tone more serious now.
Glancing around the mundane area and the officer standing beside me, I exhale. “I’m a little… detained.”
“Well, getting busy with a beaver shouldn’t take precedence over your friend’s wedding, sir!”
Smiling, I actually laugh. “How was your date?”
She groans, like the thought is actually a drain mentally. “Ronan was a bust. But there’s an Aussie biker, Techie, here, though. He’s a babe, a total hottie… and that accent, plus bad boy. Oh my God. Can’t say I haven’t thought about—”
The guard taps his watch, and I grimace, not wanting the call to time out, so I interrupt her. “Alex, I don’t have much time.”
“Huh, what do you mean? Time for what?”
“To talk. I’m in a bit of trouble. Alex, you need to come to the police station and bail me out. I’ve been arrested.”
She’s quiet for a pause, takes a deep breath, snorts, and bursts out laughing. “Oh, good one, Matt, you almost had me there.”
Exhaling, I let her laugh it out until she slowly stops and then pauses again. “Wait… Matt, you’re not laughing. What the hell are you playing at? Are you really at the police station?”
“Yeah, Alex, I’m really here. I need your help. Can you get Nate and come down? I’ve gotta be bailed out.”
“Fuck! What the hell did you do?” she asks, and there’s nothing but complete seriousness in her tone.
“I didn’t really do anything. It’s more about wrong place, wrong time, type of thing.”
“Cryptic much. Matt, how much trouble are we talking here? Should I bring Nate or Tillie, too?” she asks.
“Yeah… probably Tillie, too.”
“Shit! Matt, you’re scaring me. Are you hurt?”
I smile that she cares about my safety. “Not physically. Mentally, though, I’m a little worse for wear, but I’ll be okay. Can you just get down here?”
“Can you tell me what the hell you’re in for, please?”
I sigh. I didn’t want to have to say this shit out loud. It sounds so dirty when you say the actual words. “Soliciting a prostitute and bribing a policeman.”
The phone is quiet, and I bang my head against the side of the phone, knowing that Alex must be going through a range of emotions right now.
“Wow… okay, well, I’ll get the team together, and we’ll be right down. I, ahh… don’t really know what to say…”
“It’s not true, Alex. It’s all a misunderstanding.”
I hear her force out a breath like she’s relieved. “Okay, we’ll be there, really soon. We’ll get this fixed, Matt. What happened to Madeline?”
I let out a terse laugh. “She’s the fucking prostitute.”
Alex chokes on thin air. “What? Jesus! Okay, didn’t see that coming. We’ll fix this, Matt. I’ll be there soon. Just hang in there, okay?”
It’s so good to hear her voice. She’s like a bright spark in this shit hole of a day. “Alex?”
“Mmm…”
“How was the wedding?”
“It was beautiful. Lunar was stunning, and Danger cried like a little bitch.”
I genuinely laugh. That was just what I needed to get me through until my family comes and rescues me.
The guard taps his watch again, and I nod.
“I gotta go. I’ll see you soon?”
“I’m gonna go round everyone up, and we’ll be there as soon as possible. Just hold on. We will sort this mess out, Matt.”
“I know, I’ll be here.”
“See you soon, horn dog,” she teases, and I groan.
“Too soon, Alex. Too soon.”
She giggles. “I know this hurts now, Matt, but you’ll laugh one day…” She hesitates. “Probably. Okay, I’m going. Bye,” she says and ends the call before I can say anything else.
The guard looks at me and tilts his head back toward the way we came.
I roll my eyes and start walking with him.
***