“Nope, they all check out. Think we should hit ‘em with possession?”
Justin glanced down at me, before moving back and sighing loudly. “No, let’s just go with a warning. You good with that?”
“Sure.” His partner looked at me once more, before smirking and heading back into the room.
“I’ll meet you back at the car,” Justin yelled out, and once again, latched onto my arm.
“Wait!” I pulled back on my arm, which didn’t do much, as he continued his descent down the hallway. “I can’t just leave Mia here.”
“I’m sure she can find her own way back. She’s a big girl.”
I let him lead me out of the house, and noticed that it was nearly vacant now, besides one guy passed out underneath the table that had been pushed into the middle of the living room.
Justin opened the backdoor of the police car, and I shot him a glare. Did he really expect me to sit in the back as if I were a criminal or something?
“Just get in, Della. I’m dropping you off at home. I need to make sure you make it back all right, and you don’t do anything stupid.”
I huffed loudly, but slid in, and he shut the door behind me before getting into his seat in the front. He didn’t so much as glance at me as we waited, and the tension that was filling the tiny space of the car was almost suffocating.
“So, how are you doing?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he answered quickly and quietly. I could tell he really didn’t want to talk about anything, which made me wonder why he was so worried about getting me home anyway. He didn’t act as if he cared about me anymore.
“I’m sorry about showing up the other day.” He didn’t respond so I just kept going, not knowing if he was actually listening or not. “I shouldn’t have just shown up like that after…everything. I’m sorry if I made the day more difficult for you.”
He shrugged one shoulder, and looked back at me. “It’s not a big deal, Della. I was an ass and I shouldn’t have been, but it was a little bit of a shock to have you show up and I overreacted.”
I pursed my lips, happy with what I guess was an apology of some sort from him, but that didn’t mean I was over everything else. “So, was that girl you were with at Shorty’s the other night part of your ‘overreaction?’” I tried to make my question light and airy, but it was hard to keep the pain over what I had witnessed out of my voice.
“I don’t have to explain that, Della. We’re not together anymore. What I do on my own time, and with who, really isn’t your concern.”
I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, feeling the sting of his words. He turned back around as his partner walked out and opened the driver’s side door. I don’t know why it hurt so much to hear him say that we weren’t together anymore. We hadn’t been in a while, and I certainly didn’t think Justin was keeping it in his pants. He probably hadn’t lasted a week after I broke things off. I don’t know why I ever thought things were different between us.
“Where are we heading?” the other officer asked as he threw the car in reverse to pull out of the driveway.
“1434 Hill Street, just a couple of blocks over,” Justin replied, and I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head, wondering how in the hell he knew where I lived. Had he been stalking me or something?
I really didn’t think it was the appropriate time to accuse him of it, and I didn’t get a chance to either since we arrived shortly after at my house. Justin’s partner looked over at him as he put the car into park, and Justin quickly shook his head. Soon enough, the guy got out of his seat and came around back to open my door.
This man really confused the hell out of me. One second he was worried about getting me home, and seemed mad that I was at some random party and a guy was barely touching me, the next he’s pissed off and telling me that who he’s whoring around with isn’t any of my concern, and then, he was just completely ignoring me.
Awesome.
“Justin—”
“Don’t, Della. Just go home. It’s where you belong, not out at some frat house.”
“But I—”
“No.”
“C’mon.” The officer, whose name was Richards according to his uniform, pulled on my elbow, shutting the door behind me to cut off all conversation. I looked over my shoulder as Richards escorted me to my front door, and Justin’s eyes were anywhere but on me.
If that’s how he wanted to play it, then fine. I was done, so done. Done with men forever. All they did was cause heartache and problems, problems that I didn’t need in my life, now and really ever.
Justin Parker had made it perfectly clear that things would never happen again for us, and I guess I had to live with that.