Our good memories are tainted by the bad ones. The man standing in front of me, I don’t know. What I do know is, he’s the enemy.
And the man at my side—he’s my savior.
I try to school my expression into blankness as the two men stare down Ardan.
“We got called in for a disturbance here,” Darren says, his gaze touching me from head to toe. “Did the two of you have a fight or something?”
“No,” Ardan replies, tone full of steel. “There must be a mistake, Officer. Nothing going on here except a couple unwinding after a long day of work.”
He says officer with something dark and bitter in his tone, and the cops don’t miss it.
“We’ll just take a look around,” the other officer says, and Ardan’s body posture instantly becomes a little more menacing; he stands up straighter and his hands clench.
“Pretty sure you need some kind of warrant to do that. How about I call my lawyer first and see what she says about it?”
Darren’s face scrunches up in distaste. “We can do whatever the fuck we want. Now step aside before we arrest you and take you in.”
“For what? Knowing my rights?” Ardan says, sounding incredulous. I notice he speaks to the other officer, not Darren. “I’m going to call my lawyer. She will be here in ten minutes, and I’m sure she’s going to love hearing about exactly what the fuck is going on.”
He steps away from the door and stands next to me, pulling out his phone. Darren steps inside, but I notice the other officer hesitate, maybe wanting to follow protocol. Darren has no such hesitations, however, looking around and checking each room.
“Everything seems fine here,” the officer says to Darren, then looks to me. “Is there anything I can help you with, ma’am?”
I shake my head and step closer to Ardan. “I’m fine, sir. Just a little confused as to why this is happening right now.”
He nods and glances around one more time before exiting and heading toward the police vehicle. Darren looks straight at me, making my heart race and my chest tighten.
I can’t bear to even look at him; it makes me feel sick. Makes me feel dirty.
“I’ll see you soon,” he says.
A threat.
And then, he makes a mistake.
He reaches his hand out to touch me.
In a move so quick that I almost miss it, Ardan reaches his hand out and pushes Darren’s arm away before his fingers can touch my face.
“I don’t give a fuck who you are,” Ardan growls, his voice so full of anger. “You do not lay a hand on her.”
Darren drops the pretense of not knowing who we are and snarls, “Shacked up with a biker, Tina? Think that’s going to save you?”
“Think being a cop is going to save you?” Ardan fires back, pulling me closer to his side. “This is my city, you fucker. Enjoy it while you’re here, because if you come near Valentina again, you won’t make it out alive.”
Darren swallows and then looks at me. “This is the man you chose?”
I shrug and say, “At least he’s never called me names or belittled me or left bruises on me. I definitely traded up.”
Ardan goes still beside me, and I regret letting the words fall out of my mouth.
“I will fuckin’ make you regret any harm you’ve done to her,” he growls, making me sigh and tug on his arm. Before Darren can reply, the other officer returns and asks what’s going on here. Darren quickly backs off. The two of them leave, and I stand there a moment, replaying the situation in my head. What was the point of that?
“I think he was testing his cop buddy,” Ardan says, obviously analyzing what happened as well. “That cop’s not dirty, though. He wouldn’t have allowed Darren to do anything. Although Darren could have arrested me by saying I attacked him or some other bullshit.”
He starts to pace. “What fuckin’ game is he playing at?”
He stops and looks at me, comes to me, and kisses me softly. “I’m going to call Faye. Do you think you can try to get some rest?”
I nod, even though I know it’s a lie. There’s no way I’ll sleep now, especially with him not in the bed with me. Another kiss, and then I leave him to his phone call. I lie in bed, staring up at the ceiling.
I stay like that for an hour until Ardan returns to bed. Once he wraps me in his embrace, only then does sleep come.
“You know Irish wants to kill Darren, right? Not like a metaphor—he actually wants to kill him,” Faye says boldly, sipping on her cocktail.
I look into my martini and nod. “Yeah, I think I got that last night when he threatened him.”