Chapter Two #2
“Okay, but I need to know what happened. He’s really a good kid.” He gives me a tilt of his head and a distasteful scowl. I’m sure he’s used to hearing these things, but my brother really is one of the good ones, or so I always believed.
“Miss, we hear that all the time, but driving a vehicle without a license while transporting a passenger…” My mouth falls open because that can’t be true.
“You mean he had someone else in a car,” I say. He shakes his head, so I continue, “Maybe he was out learning how to drive. He has a permit. It has to be a misunderstanding.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Scott, but your brother was operating a motor vehicle for Uber and struck a government vehicle.”
My hands splay out on the cold table in a semicircle and then rise up to my face, rubbing it. “Oh my goodness. How could he? We don’t even own a vehicle.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Scott, but that’s another problem. He seems to have borrowed the vehicle from a friend.” I slam my head on the table a little harder than I should have.
“Ow.” I lift it back up and rub my forehead.
“Oh, please be careful,” he gasps, reaching out and taking my hand. “Do you need an ice pack?”
“No, I’m sure I’m fine. I can’t believe I just did that.
It’s been a rough morning. Seriously, what has gotten into him?
I get that we need money, but we’re making it work and we’re not exactly starving or anything.
How much trouble is he in? Can I see him?
” I’m spitting out my thoughts without taking a breath.
He gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “Please take a calming breath, Ms. Scott. The parent isn’t going to charge for the vehicle; however, your brother is facing charges for driving without a license.”
“Oh no. What am I going to do?” I don’t cry in front of this man, but I feel like it. The rush of emotions is right at the surface, but I have to remain strong.
“Calm down. Where are your parents?” Damn it. Is he trying to make me cry?
I swallow hard and let out a heavy, chest-aching sigh. “They died six months ago, and I’ve been in charge of my brother since then.”
“I’m sorry about that. His behavior is quite normal for a kid in his situation.” I hope this is a one-off type behavior, a misunderstanding, because my brother is a good boy who doesn’t misbehave. I close my eyes, wishing this was all a dream.
“Honestly, I think we can help you out,” the overly friendly officer says.
“Are you serious?” I ask, wondering how it’s even possible.
“We can’t get him out of the charges with the passenger, but I can get him out of the accident itself.”
My heart stammers, conflicted and confused. My brother is in less trouble; however, I’m not sure what that actually means. “I suppose that would be wonderful.”
“I’m not sure if the charges will even hold up because she jumped in his Uber.
He wasn’t even her driver.” I don’t know what he means or what actually occurred.
All I care about is getting Noah out of trouble and back home.
Goodness, I’m immediately thinking about his caseworker, who was concerned with the fact that I was too young to care for a teenage boy.
“Oh. So what will happen?” I ask, biting anxiously down on my bottom lip.
“That will be up to the DA, but we can release him to your custody and see if they’ll charge him later, but let’s keep our fingers crossed. Let me bring him in here to get his statement.”
“Thank you.” He smiles down at me and then stands up. “Would you care for a drink?”
“A coffee would be great.”
“Cream and sugar?” he asks. I’m actually quite grateful to the officer, even though I don’t seem overly appreciative.
“Yes, please.” A moment later, another officer brings my coffee into the room, setting it on the table with a small handful of creams and sugars. “Here you go, Miss.”
“Thank you,” I say, smiling at the gentleman.
As I’m shakily stirring it into my cup, Noah is brought into the room by Officer Fields. “I’m so sorry.” I’m on my feet, giving my little brother a quick, tight hug. He’s in cuffs, and that breaks my heart.
“What the hell happened?”
“They just let me borrow the car to run some errands, and, like, she had that sticker on there. I didn’t think anything about it until that lady just jumped in my car. Then two minutes later, they slammed on their brakes.” He waves his cuffed hands at me.
I look at the officer for verification, and he nods in response. “I have to admit, it was the guy in front of us who slammed on their brakes, forcing us to hit an ice patch.” He wags his finger at my brother. “That’s why you’re not supposed to follow too closely behind someone.”
“I wasn’t even that close, but damn, it was like stop from thirty to stop in a second, then the tires were screeching,” Noah exclaims, losing his cool.
“That’s why we’re dropping the accident charges because the guy in front of us didn’t like the cops following, so he did a brake check.” I sense that Officer Fields takes it extremely personally, and I can’t blame him. That isn’t safe, and it could have been much worse.
“What a sick man,” I gasp. It’s dangerous driving in these conditions, and he thinks it’s okay to put people’s lives at risk.
“Yes, that’s the least of his crimes. He wanted us to hit his car, but he has bigger problems.”
“Now his crazy ass caused us problems,” my brother says. I want to smack him upside his head. He needs to keep his mouth shut after he was driving someone else’s car without an adult with him. He’s still underage and not allowed to drive alone yet. Damn it.
“As for the lady who got in your car, we can talk to her and see what we can do. What did you tell her when she jumped in?”
“I told her I wasn’t her driver, but she just yelled at me to drive and that she didn’t have all day, so I just started driving. She was a real fucking bitch.” He squeezes his fists together and huffs.
“We can look up her records and see if she ordered the Uber. If you’re telling the truth and she didn’t order your car, then we can get that case against you dropped easily.”
“Why are you doing all this?” I question. People aren’t generally nice to me unless they have a personal interest in me. I remember Mr. Cochran being really nice to me when I first started, until he found out I had a boyfriend. Of course I don’t, but that’s what I told him.
“It’s the holiday season, and it’s almost Christmas time. I’m trying to be nice to the kid.” He smiles at my brother, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.
Noah’s gaze narrows before asking, “Or you think my sister’s hot, don’t you?”
“Well, there’s no denying that, but still, I’m just trying to help you guys out.
You both could truly use it after the year you’ve had.
” He’s certainly right about that. Four hours later, all the charges are dropped, and my brother is released with a strong warning to stay away from driving without adult supervision and to consider waiting until spring.