Chapter Twenty-Two #2
I had no concern for consequences right now. Stalking right over to his new, shiny white BMW he’d been posting all over Instagram, I wasted no time lifting the crowbar over my shoulder and swinging it down full force on the hood of the car.
A crash, sounding like thunder, echoed, followed by Greybek’s shrieks. I didn’t pay him any attention though.
The car alarm immediately screamed into the summer air, and for something that was designed to deter criminals, it wasn’t scaring me off in the slightest.
A deep dent sat right where the crowbar had connected. After a few more blows to the hood, all leaving dents of their own, I moved to the windshield, giving a strike for every fuck-up he managed to execute.
One for taking her virginity.
One for cheating on her.
One for breaking up with her.
By the last hit to the windshield, the glass fell through, showering the inside of his precious car.
Hurt someone I love, and I’ll hurt something you love.
I was on a rampage, feeling murderous as I stepped back to see the damage I’d already caused.
I had no idea if anyone else was watching, but I didn’t give a fuck. This vigilante shit couldn’t wait. I was taking justice into my own hands.
The remainder of the car was too untouched for my liking, and when El’s heartbroken face flashed through my head, I blazed with fury again.
I’d never felt more lethal in my life.
Rounding the front corner of the car, I raised the crowbar over my shoulder. Swinging it like a damn baseball bat, I watched the passenger side mirror fly off and tumble down the road.
“Gallagher, what the fuck!” Greybek started jogging angrily towards me, and I halted just long enough to catch his furious glare. Clutching onto the crowbar, one step in his direction was all it took before he was turning his ass around and booking it inside.
Still bloodthirsty, I made sure to smash out both headlights and give a solid hit to the trunk. By the time I was speeding off, the car looked like it had been in a pile-up on the highway.
I headed straight home. Jogging up my front steps, I could feel my adrenaline lowering, slowly and steadily. My ragged breaths were finally fading, as if smashing the fucker’s car was enough to ease me from exploding. I’d hardly made it into my room before I was reaching for my phone.
Me: Are you doing okay?
El: Yeah, sorta. Thank you for coming over
Me: Always. If you need me at any point, let me know
“Jade, I’m home,” I announced. Her bedroom door was cracked open, and some Carrie Underwood song was playing lowly on the Bluetooth speaker she got for her birthday.
“I know. I heard you come in.”
I rolled my eyes. Smartass.
A loud bang shook the house, and I froze, brows touching as I gave a listen.
“This is the police! Open up!”
Aw, fuck. I should’ve known this was what came next.
Jade’s slippers tapped along the hardwood floor in the hallway, and I dashed to beat her to the door. She was trotting along casually in her pajamas, not a care in the world before I yanked her back.
“Go back in your room,” I demanded.
“What? Why are the cops here?”
“Just go to your room.”
Another knock.
I stared at the front door as if that would somehow make them disappear, and I was almost convinced it magically worked until a louder knock shook my bones.
Jade gave a small jump, and my left arm hooked in front of her, forcing her behind me.
“To your room,” I barked over my shoulder.
Hand hovering over the doorknob, I sucked in a breath so deep that it could’ve held ten people over.
Two cops stood before me, quiet other than the deafening displeasure radiating from them.
A moment of us eyeing each other passed. “Matt Gallagher?” one of them finally spoke.
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Yeah, that’s me.”
This wasn’t the first time I’d gotten the cops called on me. I’d gotten the cops called for a basic noise complaint, numerous fights, threatening people... the list went on.
This was a new one though.
When my parents decided to go out of town, they were afraid to leave Jade and me by ourselves. I was the one that convinced them everything would be fine, and I was also the one that went back on that promise.
“Matt Gallagher, we are placing you under arrest.”
Tipping my head up to catch a glimpse of the crystal blue sky, my shoulders rose and fell with another deep breath before I calmly turned around and placed my hands behind my back.
All those other times that I’d had the cops called on me, I was able to smoothly talk my way out of it, or there wasn’t enough for them to make an arrest.
I supposed a destroyed car and an eyewitness account would do it this time.
“Matt!” Jade screamed. “What the fuck!”
Avoiding her frantic gaze, I kept my voice placid, hoping not to freak her out more. “Everything will be fine.”
Shit. And now my fourteen-year-old sister would be left alone.
“Do not call mom and dad,” was all I said.
“Then who do I...” she trailed off, and anything else she said was lost as I was escorted out of the house and into the back of a cop car.
Sharp metal dug into my wrists, and I kept shifting, hoping to ease the discomfort, but nothing worked. Strangely, I was calm, and even as we inched closer and closer to the police department, I still had zero regrets.
Quite frankly, the only worry I had at the moment was if El was okay or not.
***
For once in her life, Jade listened to me.
She didn’t call our parents.
But now, I was wishing she had.
When I was let out of the holding cell and told I had been bailed out, I wasn’t sure who I would see.
I’d been expecting to be here forever. My mom and dad didn’t have an emergency fund that would’ve allowed them to bail me out.
I figured I was stuck here. After sitting in a cell for almost three hours, I’d been hyping myself up to pee in the lone toilet in the corner, certain that I’d have to get used to it.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. But if I was being honest, I would’ve preferred the gray, dystopian-like walls compared to the disappointed face of Mac Burkeley, standing with his arms crossed and a deep scowl to match.
He didn’t greet me, only turned, expecting me to follow.
Part of me didn’t want to.
My throat was tight as I trailed far behind him down the front steps of the police station and climbed into his silver Audi. The first few minutes of driving were quiet, and it was making my ears bleed.
When Mac finally spoke, there was an edge in his voice, and I recognized it easily because I spoke the same way when I was pissed.
“Destruction of property, huh?”
“Yeah,” I responded flatly.
Silence again.
Jesus, get me out of this car. I’d rather walk home. Or run back to the jail cell I’d been becoming acquainted with.
Desperately, I said, “How much was my bail? I promise I’ll pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it, Matt.”
“But really, I—”
“A thousand,” he spit out. “And there’s five thousand in damages.”
“You already...” I thought aloud.
“I already got you a lawyer,” he said matter-of-factly.
Him and I both knew my family didn’t have the money to pay for any of this shit.
Regret was starting to creep up on me, but it had nothing to do with Greybek.
I didn’t regret mangling his pretty little car; I only regretted dragging other people down with me.
Either way, I was determined to find the money to pay Mac back.
I didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry.”
I knew he was driving, but it felt like he was purposely trying not to look at me. And in that moment, I saw the resemblance.
The drawn breaths. The tight grip on the steering wheel. The heat of a thousand suns emitting from his core.
We were one in the same.
The sigh of a disappointed father rang through his voice. “Matt, I don’t care about the money. I want to know why you did it.”
“I...”
“Why did you do it, Matt?”
I couldn’t lie, but under absolutely no circumstance would I tell him the full truth. El had trusted me with extremely personal information, pieces of her heart that no one, especially not her father, needed to know.
I kept it plain and simple. “He cheated on her.”
Suddenly, I was the one that refused to look at him. Instead, I studied the familiar trees that laid the parameter of my neighborhood.
“And you thought that warranted destroying his car with a crowbar?”
“He’s lucky I didn’t take it to his face,” I spit out before I could stop myself.
Peering over to see his reaction, I watched him ease back into his seat, a hint of relaxation washing over him for the first time. He blew out another sigh, his firm grasp on the wheel loosening.
Now, the silence was bothering me even more. I squirmed around in my seat, growing more uncomfortable and not knowing why. Speaking for the sake of having sound, I faintly said, “You really don’t have to be paying for all this stuff.”
Mac talked like a businessman, all factual and competent. “If it doesn’t all get paid, then you could be looking at jail time.”
“If that’s what I have to do, then—”
His head shot over to me as he pulled up to my house, and even though the disappointment was still clear in his eyes, there was a cloud of worry accompanying it this time. “And ruin your future? All because you were defending my daughter?”
I didn’t talk back much to my own parents, but I’d admit, if I was in a shit mood, I’d get snippy with them. Mac though? I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. There was something about the man that caused me to shut up and comply every time.
Mac sighed again, looking at me as if he were thinking, What am I gonna do with you, kid?
“Just don’t let something like this happen again,” he said.
“Yes, Mr. Burkeley,” I replied strongly, nodding.
“Alright, now go lay low this weekend until your parents come home.”
“Thank you again.” I gave another nod, nearly sprinting inside. When I looked at my phone, it was strange to think it was in a cop’s possession less than half an hour ago.
Me: Party’s off.
Gavin: I know, Matt. Everyone knows.
Of course, they did.