Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Ayda
Iknew long before I went inside the station that Sutton was going to take great satisfaction in making me look like a fool, and he didn’t disappoint.
The smile he wore as I stepped inside was enough to set my teeth on edge, but the sanctimonious condescension that he started with had me in defensive mode from the get go.
Stepping from his office with his arms folded across his chest, he watched as I was escorted through the heavy doors and into the sea of workstations.
“Ayda Hanagan.”
“Howard Sutton,” I spat back with no less acid on my tone than he’d afforded me.
Whatever acquaintance had been there before I met Drew was long gone.
This was a man who was filled with hatred, and now that I was associated with Drew and the Hounds, I was tarred with the same brush.
It didn’t matter who I’d been before that. It never would again.
“Step into my office. I have some paperwork for you to fill out.”
“Can’t I do that out here?” I asked, looking around at the more neutral territory of the open floor where the half dozen other officers were milling around doing nothing.
“No, I think you and I need a talk.”
Of course we did. My day wasn’t complete without yet another lecture from the great Howard Sutton, chief of the Babylon Police Department. It seemed he had some wise ass statement every time we crossed paths those days.
I followed him into his office, shoulders slumped and dragging my feet. I dumped my purse on an empty chair before sliding into the one next to it, my body dropping low as I looked over the endless questions that were staring back at me. I was going to be there all night at this rate.
Sutton closed the door and meandered back to his desk before slipping into his chair and steepling his hands in front of him.
Neither of us said a thing to one another.
The longer we went without speech, the more uncomfortable things became.
Eventually, I pulled the pen from the top of the clipboard, just to stave off the discomfort that had started to eat up all of the oxygen.
“You fucked up, Ayda. You’re a failure. You failed yourself, your brother and your parents. How could you have been so stupid?”
“Is that your professional or personal opinion, Chief?”
“Don’t get cocky with me. I’ve known you almost your whole life.”
I sat forward, slipping the board onto the edge of his desk.
The pen immediately rolled toward the picture of Sloane, Maisey and the twins that sat on the surface.
My eyes took them all in before narrowing and aiming directly at him.
He hadn’t known me at all. He saw me around while I was growing up.
We’d shared polite conversation, but he had no idea who I was or what I stood for.
“What was my major?”
“Excuse me?”
“What was my major, Chief? You claim to know me, but you couldn’t. You know nothing about me other than that Tate is my brother, my parents were murdered on your watch, and I dated Jacob in high school. Whatever else you think you know, I assure you, you’re completely fucking wrong.”
“I know you’ve made the worst mistake of your life falling in with the likes of Drew Tucker and his band of fuckups.”
“Another assumption. You don’t know one of those men personally, especially not Drew.”
“Maisey—”
“Was a club whore who got pissed off when she realized the only thing Drew ever remembered about her was her mouth around his dick.”
“Listen here—”
“No, I’m not going to listen, Howard. Your prejudice against Drew and the club clouds your judgment.
You and I have never been friends, but we got along okay.
The only reason that’s not the case now is because of what you think you know, what you want to believe.
Drew isn’t a bad guy, Chief. Neither are the others.
Your wife was once associated with them and that fucks with your head more than any of their stupid mistakes.
You’ve made this rivalry personal, and I’m not going to let you, or anyone else for that matter, make me or Tate a pawn in it. ”
“Tate assaulted an officer.”
“No, Howard, he assaulted you. I’m just curious about what you said to make him react that way. You and I both know he has to be provoked in order to react like that. So what was it? An insult about him? Me? His friends? Maybe something Sloane said or did?”
“I’m not at liberty—”
“The hell you’re not. He’s still a minor, Howard—a minor with good grades, who’s a star on the football team and is known by his teachers as a respectful young man that works hard.
So tell me again how you’re not at liberty to discuss what was said.
My guess is you knew what you were doing, and you got exactly what you wanted. ”
“Sit down, Ayda.”
“No!” I shouted, half standing and slapping my hand on the desk. “I will not have a bigoted, discriminating, son-of-a-bitch dictate to me who I should and shouldn’t love because he’s a small-minded, insecure asshole. Now have someone go and get my brother so we can go home.”
“Sit your skinny ass in that chair and listen to me, Ayda Hanagan. I’ve done nothing but look out for you since your parents were killed. I tried to save you this trouble you got yourself into but your mind was poisoned against me and what was right.”
The maniacal laughter that suddenly filled the room belonged to me. I hadn’t sat down. I hadn’t been cowed by his roar of position and entitlement. It had only straightened my back and raised my chin so I was staring at him with venom.
“The only mind around here that’s been poisoned is yours.
Mainly because your whore of a wife is still drooling over my boyfriend and that just makes you crazy.
Whatever vendetta you have against Drew and the Hounds is your business.
It’s between you and them. I can sit and argue the finer points until the sun comes up, but you don’t want to hear it.
So, before I call city council, the state troopers, the rangers and whoever else I can get to listen about your corrupt little department, I would get my brother and save yourself the shame of being hauled through every court in the state for your shitty decision making. ”
“I’ve got nothing to hide, you stupid little girl.”
“My brother dated your daughter, you dick.”
“You’ve got nothing.” He was calling my bluff. His back was as straight as mine, his eyes flashing a warning at me. He obviously had no idea how much his daughter overheard, or how often she’d confided in me when she was worrying about whether or not she should tell her father what she knew.
It was my turn to call his bluff, so I did the only thing I could do and pulled out my phone, dialing the direct extension to Drew’s office, hoping he wasn’t there.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Calling Judge Atwood. He’s a customer down at the diner. He was very complimentary about my coffee. We got to talking about Tate and football the last time he was in—”
“Hang up the goddamn phone, Ayda. You have no idea what the hell you’re doing.”
“Don’t I?”
“Jesus. I’ll let Tate go with a warning, but it’s the only time I’m going to let this happen. You think about trying to blackmail me again—”
“I’m not—”
“This is called blackmail.”
I called it using what I had while I could. I was running the risk of getting myself thrown into a cell with Tate, and nothing would be able to help me if that happened. A nag of doubt made a shiver roll cruelly down my spine as I faced off against him.
I was about to dig my way out of the hole I’d created when Sutton gave me a look that had me swallowing my words.
He picked up his phone and dialed a number, his eyes scalping me where I stood.
“Bring Tate Hanagan to my office… Yes, I’m aware of that, but it was a misunderstanding so I’m letting him off with a warning.
No, he wasn’t part of the group. Asking them to buy beer for him, that’s right. Just get it done.”
Sutton hung up the phone and put his hands on his belt, the right one on his gun as his index finger ran the length of it rather than curling around the trigger. There wasn’t much more to be said between us, but he pulled up his pants before dropping his hands again and leaning on his desk.
“This is the only time I will ever be this generous, Ayda. I’m going to be watching the two of you like a hawk. You so much as put a foot out of line and you’re mine. Am I clear?”
“Crystal.”
“Wait out there,” he said, pointing to the hard plastic chairs on the other side of the nest of desks. “I’m sick of looking at you.”
I didn’t waste any more time. I didn’t say thank you, and I sure as hell didn’t linger.
I was out of the door and slamming it behind me before he could so much as take another breath.
By some miracle, I managed to get Tate out of there without a warning on his record, but that didn’t mean I was calm and in control.
My feet tapped out a rhythm on the dingy linoleum of the waiting room until some asshole in a uniform shoved Tate through the door with a nod in my direction.
Tate looked cautious and a little nervous, but otherwise unharmed as he pushed his hands in his pockets.
If I hadn’t known better, I would have said he was contemplating asking them to take him back to the cell.
I turned away from him and pushed through the door to the outer waiting room, stopping as Tate collected what little he’d had on him before he followed me like a reprimanded puppy. We didn’t say a word until we were standing on either side of my car, my shaking hands fumbling with the keys.
“A?”
“Just get in the motherfucking car, Tate, and if you value your life, keep your mouth shut.”
Now that he was free and in my hands, I was pissed off.
The fear had left the moment we’d stepped out into the cool November evening.
The breeze had washed away the last of the confusion and panic and all that was left in their place was anger and regret.
Anger at Tate for making such a reckless move and getting himself arrested.
Anger at Sutton for using that mistake to play me into his hands.
He’d been trying to get to the pack through me.
Then there was anger at myself for talking to Drew the way I had.
At the time, I thought I was justified. I thought I was right to blame him for something out of his power.
He’d made me a promise and several reassurances, and he’d used my undeniable faith in him to make sure I saw and believed it, things I realized I still had—faith and trust.
Tate smacking Sutton had been the decision of one person—Tate himself—and there was nothing Drew and the others could have done to stop it.
I was the one in the wrong to agree to it in the first place, but Tate was the one to push it over the edge and into the territory of disaster. That meant I’d been the one to place the blame where it didn’t belong.
I’d hurt Drew, all in the name of fear. What did that make me?
A big, fat hypocrite.
“Tate, give me my phone.”
“Can we talk first?”
“No. Give me the phone.”
Of all the times to become a petulant teenager, Tate chose that one.
He pulled my purse from the footwell by his feet and wedged it between him and the door so it was out of my reach.
There was no playful smugness in his face when he looked at me; there was no challenge, just apologies and as much regret as I was harboring inside of myself.
“Tate.”
“No.”
“Tate!” I reached over, and he smacked my hand away.
I should have left it at that, but I needed to talk to Drew. Taking a chance, I pushed myself across the center console, realizing a second too late that the car swerved in the same direction I had.