Dim, brighten, dim, and brighten again. The single caged bulb that illuminated the cell made the most annoying whirring noise as it flickered according to the conflicting emotions of the occupant of said cell. A cat-call from across the corridor made dark eyes turn slowly in that direction, narrowed on the drunken male who’d caused all this in the first place. Still, rather than incite the policia to beat her senseless for trying to get through the bars to finish him off, eyes turned back to her tightly clasped hands. Cursing the effect of alcohol on the male brain, along with her looks, she shifted on the uncomfortable bunk. Of course, it was just her luck that there were policia on the premises when the bastard had decided to come on to her and ignore the clear ‘not interested’ that she’d snapped out. A wince as she recalled what happened when two of the officers had grabbed her from behind after she’d dropped the man to the floor. She hadn’t meant to hurt them, but it was so unexpected that instinct kicked in… and they’d wound up twitching on the floor as if hit with a tazer.
She couldn’t be sure, but she thought the two officers were taken to the hospital. And their fellows? Well, they were treating her like a very dangerous person indeed. It didn’t matter that she’d gone still and complacent after seeing the two men brought down – by her – like that. They didn’t trust her. Not entirely surprising, but what did surprise her was that the looks they sent her could still hurt. She’d thought she’d built a very sturdy wall between herself and those looks, but apparently there were chinks in the armor.
“Damnit, Sparky! You attacked the police? What were you thinking?”
Head turned to look at her brother-in-law. He must have seen the anguish in her eyes before it could be hidden, because the angry look on his face softened. “Don’t. Not tonight, Luc. Just… get me out of here as soon as you can.” A sigh, her voice softer and tone changing to something like a lost child. “Please.”
Kaitlyn watched Luc as he processed her words, her tone, the look on her face… then he nodded and turned to take care of the details that would allow her to leave in his custody. There was something to be said for having a powerful, rich man as her brother-in-law. But she needed the presence of her twin, the comfort that seemed to radiate from Chloe. If the two officers were seriously hurt by her actions… a shudder went through her. Fingers slowly unclenched so that she could lift her arms to hug herself.
What was taking so long? She was going to go mad if she had to sit here much longer, listening to the whir of the bulb and the cat-calls from the drunk across the corridor. Even as the question went through her mind, footsteps approached with the jingle of keys. The frown on Luc’s face as he followed the officer to the door wasn’t comforting. In fact, it made her blood run cold, immediately thinking that the charge had been too much for the two men that had grabbed her.
After Luc was let into the cell and the officer had moved a few feet away, he joined her on the bunk and reached to place an arm around her shoulders. Realizing what he meant to do, panic flashed through her. If she hurt him Chloe would never forgive her, so she jumped to her feet and moved as far away from him as possible.
Strangely, though he knew what could happen, he followed her, corralling her in the corner. “You’re going to make the bulb explode. Just breathe, dolcezza. Even breaths, remember?” By then he’d managed to put a hand on either of her shoulders. When she didn’t see any cringing or twitching from the contact, she began to relax. Finally she allowed him to pull her into a loose hug. “Chloe said I had to give you a hug whether you wanted one or not. You know I can’t disobey her.”
It forced a faint attempt at laughter from her. She would never have thought that Luc would willingly touch her… or that she would actually welcome the comfort he was offering her. After all, they were usually hating each other so this was something completely different for them. After a moment she risked a look at his face. “I’m not getting out of here tonight, am I?”
“I’m sorry, Kate, but you’ll have to stay here two, three days at most. I already spoke to Stephano and he’s working on it. There aren’t exactly guidelines for what to do about people with your particular talent. Technically, they were in the wrong for laying hands on you without identifying themselves at all. You were only defending yourself against what you felt was an attack.”
She hadn’t really believed it would be that easy to gain her freedom, but it was still disappointing. No doubt she would have trouble sleeping tonight as she did any night when she’d hurt someone who didn’t deserve it. Some tough-as-nails bitch she turned out to be. Head bobbed in a nod to indicate she understood before she moved back to the bunk and pulled her feet up to hug her knees to her chest.
“Do me a favor? Make sure my bike gets home. I don’t want anyone stealing it because some idiot got too drunk to understand what ‘no’ means and landed me in jail.”
Lucien nodded as he headed for the door to get the officer’s attention. “Of course. Jeremy came with me so that he can take my car and I can drive your bike… if that’s all right?”
Oh, he was smart for asking permission. No one, no one, drove her motorcycle but her. That was a rule she had always had, but in this case she was willing to make an exception. “If it gets even a scratch I’ll –“ “I know, I know. You’ll skin me alive.” He stepped out of the cell and paused to look back at her while the guard closed the door. “Good night, dolcezza. I’ll get you out of here as soon as I can.”
A faint smile was her only answer as she scooted until her back hit the wall. As he walked away, she let her head fall to rest her forehead on her knees and tried to ignore the whirring bulb and the chatter from the people in the building.
Damn this ‘talent’, damn her looks, and damn the effect of alcohol on the male brain. It must be karma finally catching up with her… and boy was karma a bitch.
