Redeemed Book 2: A Military Stepbrother Romance (9 page)

“But, now that you’re back, I can safely say that I lost, and as you may be able to tell from his catbird attitude, Jefferson won. So even though my bet is lost and gone forever, you have to believe me, Harrison, I still want to help you out.”

“I can tell you do, Officer Stallman, and I thank you for that, even if my stepbrother here,” I flicked my head toward Harrison,” doesn’t seem to want to show it.”

Stallman chuckled. “I was a lunkhead like him back in my day. I know the type. It takes something or someone special to get people like us back on the right track. I’d hoped that for you it would be the military. It still might be.”

I could see Harrison’s eyes waiver, like his resolve was very very slightly beginning to crack and let some light in. I breathed in deep, hopeful.

“Now, back down to business. The reason I, encouraged officer Jefferson to take a break for a few minutes, was to tell you something about your future.”

That sounded ominous. I leaned forward, glancing at Harrison, and saw he was paying attention also. Good, it looked like he was finally getting it through his head - this was a big deal.

“The guy you assaulted,” he waved his hand again, “and lets not go through that song and dance again, we all know you did it. The guy you beat up, well, he’s not exactly someone we particularly like around here.”

“He’s known as a guy who gets a little aggressive with women quickly. No one presses charges, though. His family’s on the wealthy side and they are very good at hushing things up. Still, we know to keep an eye out for him.”

“He’s done this before?” I’d gotten off easy, but if he’d forced himself on other girls in the past…I was even more grateful Harrison had been there when he was.

“Yeah, a few times. In any case, we took his statement yesterday after what happened between you two a couple nights ago and given Harrison’s record the chief said we should bring you in and sweat you out. Not because, you know, we believe Steve’s version of things, we just wanted to hear your side of the story.”

“Now I know you don’t trust the police - I’ve read your file, and to say that I understand your suspicion, given what you’ve been through, is understating things quite a bit. But we’re really here to help people like you, Harrison. We’re here to give you a fair shake.”

Harrison still didn’t respond, but I could see a little smile starting to crease its way across his face. I didn’t understand how he could be so calm and serene in a time like this. His future was at stake and all he did was smile?

“But since you don’t seem to want to help us, all we have to go on is the statement your stepsister made to us this morning.”

If Harrison hadn’t been handcuffed to the table he’d have jumped up in fury. As it was he turned to me, his face livid. “You made a statement?” He bellowed at me, just barely keeping his voice from exploding. “I told you not to say anything!”

I felt the tears start to flow. “I couldn’t do nothing, Harrison! I didn’t know what to do last night, so I came here and told them what happened! I was just trying to help!”

“I don’t need your help, Laurel! I had it under control!”

“You call this control?” I choked up. “You’re in an interrogation room! You spent the night in jail, Harrison! They’re talking about charging you with assault! What kind of control are you in!?”

Harrison’s arms, taut before, went slack as he took in my words.
 

“Let’s make one thing clear,” officer Stallman added, “this is not an interrogation room. This is a conference room. We’re having a conference here.”

Neither of us responded to his attempt at a joke.

“Let me stop you two right there before one of you takes the other’s head off. I just wanted to let you know we’re not proceeding with the case any further.”

I felt my jaw hit the floor and Harrison looked similarly surprised. “What?”

“You heard me. Like I said, Steve is not exactly viewed fondly around here, but his family wields certain influence that requires us to at least check things out when he gets beat up, especially if the suspect in question has had such a long and colorful history with the local police, as you have, Harrison.”

He sat back. “But the statement you made, Ms. Gold, was detailed enough that we’re pretty certain you were actually present, despite not being a part of Steve’s version of the events of two nights ago. You included some key pieces of information that lead us to believe your take over Steve’s. And if what you said really happened, then for my money Steve’s lucky he’s still walking today.”

Harrison nodded, finally showing emotion to someone in the room besides me. Officer Stallman leaned forward, his hands out, a key in one of them. He reached toward Harrison’s handcuffs, but then stopped.

“I get that you’re not big on words, Harrison, especially not to police, but I’m gonna give you a little bit of advice before I escort you two out of here.”

“We’re all ears,” I said, tugging at Harrison’s sleeves till he nodded.

“I’m gonna come out and say it flat: you’re not going to get much sympathy around here. The file we’ve got you has been circulated to the nearby towns and the police aren’t going to show you any leniency if you screw up again. I know, I know, you did this to save your stepsister; in your shoes I would have done the same and shown much less restraint than you did. But that doesn’t change things - you need to keep yourself in check. Stay out of things. I know you want to get involved, but you can’t afford to, not with your record.”

Officer Stallman reached forward and in one swift motion unlocked the bracelets from around Harrison’s wrists. Harrison rubbed his hands together, working out the kinks from having them on for so long. “Are we done here?”

Stallman sighed before standing up. “Yeah, we’re done here. I’ll walk you out, and make sure Jefferson doesn’t see us. He’ll find out soon enough, but I’ll take care of him. He’s still got a free dinner coming up because of you.”

Harrison stood up and I followed him, looking down at the table then at Harrison’s hands. “Thank you so much, officer Stallman,” I offered, as Stallman opened the conference room door and ushered us out.

We stepped toward the door, but Stallman stopped Harrison as they passed by each other. “Hold up there a second,” Stallman started. “I just wanted to thank you for your service. I was really happy to hear you’d joined up, and it’s good to see that you’ve made it this far.”

Harrison drew himself up straight and nodded, taking Stallman’s offered hand and shaking it formally. “Don’t mention it,” I barely heard him whisper.

Officer Stallman glanced out the door down the hall in either direction before giving us a thumbs up. “After you, folks, take a right.” We went out and down the hall back toward the reception area.

“I’ll leave you both here,” Stallman said from behind us when we got to the door. It felt like we’d been in the conference room for hours, but it was still just before noon, and the day outside was bright with scattered clouds. “Harrison, remember what I said. Keep your nose clean and we’re all good.” He smiled. “As much as we enjoy your company, you know, we’d rather not see you around here ever again. Got it?”

Harrison nodded, still silent, and I waved, smiling at Stallman before he turned and went back down the hallway into the depths of the police station.

“Shall we go home?” I searched Harrison’s face for signs of relaxation so I could relax myself, but didn’t get anything from him.

“Yes, lets,” was all he said.

As expected, the car was freezing when we got back. It felt weird having Harrison in my car, probably almost as weird to him as me being in his. We drove home in silence, with Harrison resisting every attempt of mine to start a conversation until I just gave up.

The trip took about 15 minutes, and when we pulled up in front of the house I was happy to see our parents car not in the driveway yet. Crisis averted; we wouldn’t have to explain where we’d been, and hopefully “police station” and “arrested” wouldn’t come up in conversation at home, well, ever.

We got out of the car and walked up the steps toward the front door of the house, careful to avoid the new coats of snow that had fallen while were otherwise engaged with the law. Harrison walked in front of me, saying nothing.

The house still held some heat inside, and after I closed the door behind us, I started taking off my jacket and making myself, well, at home, but Harrison stood in the center of the hall and didn’t do anything.

“Everything OK?” I asked, putting my hand on his shoulder, tentatively at first. I wanted him to know I was there for him.

My hand only rested on his shoulder for a moment before Harrison spun around and knocked it off. “Don’t touch me.”

I reeled back as if he’d hit me. “What’s your problem?”

Harrison got up in my face. “You, Laurel, you’re my problem. I didn’t ask you to ‘help’ me out back there. I didn’t ask you to get involved, and I didn’t want you to.”

I stared, dumbfounded. “I couldn’t just let you get in trouble like that, Harrison. You weren’t telling the police anything, and it was getting you nowhere. If I hadn’t done anything you’d still be in jail.”

“I didn’t ask for your help, and I didn’t want it. I’d have been fine without you.”

“But -“

“No buts, Laurel. This whole thing between us was a mistake, I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

“What are you saying?” I couldn’t believe this was happening, I thought that when we got home things would go back to normal, now that Harrison was out of harm’s way.

“I’m saying you should stay away from me for the rest of your trip. Happy holidays.”
 

“Can’t we talk about this?” I grabbed his arm, trying to keep him around. “Don’t rush into anything.” I felt his muscles tighten when I touched him, and I could tell he was about to turn and leave, but Harrison stopped, folding his arms across his broad chest.

“There’s nothing to talk about. I don’t know what I was thinking telling you all that stuff in the car. It was never going to work between us. We’re too different, and that’s even before we deal with our parents.”

My heart sank at his words. A few days ago I would have scoffed at the very idea of Harrison and me ever being anything more than enemies, but I had to admit over the last day the idea had sounded less totally insane than before. More ‘highly unlikely.’

At least, before this conversation. Now we were getting back into more familiar territory. “Then what was that, the things you said Friday night, what we did afterward?”

Harrison’s eyes bore into me. “It was a huge mistake. We should never have had sex. I wish we’d never done it.”

There it was, the gut-punch. One of the worst things you can say to someone. The tears welled up in my eyes, and I didn’t even try to hold them back. “I wish you wouldn’t throw this away so fast,” I said, not bothering to wipe my face.

“There was nothing there to throw away. The sex was fun, but it was never going to work. I’m going out.” And with that, Harrison turned and left the house, slamming the door behind him.
 

I flinched as the door shut, but by then I was already flashing back to him storming out of the house over and over, years back. I was almost used to it by now, but that didn’t make the tears hurt any less.

Chapter 19 - The Mall

It wasn’t easy, the next few days, but I tried to get my life back to some semblance of normalcy. Harrison made himself scarce, which really helped. I kept on going over what had happened between us, but that didn’t bring him back, didn’t change his mind about us.

I tried to spend more time with my dad, which he certainly appreciated, even if he found it a little strange. I figured I wasn’t home all that often and I wanted to make sure we got a little father/daughter time together.

Eventually I ran out of things we could do together, so I was by myself again. I tried helping out my stepmother Ruth in the kitchen, and that went well for a couple hours, but it was a bit awkward.

On the Thursday after Harrison’s blow up I called up Maggie, hoping she’d have some free time away from her family. I must have caught her at the right time, cause she sounded desperate to get out of the house, and jumped at the chance for non-family time.
 

We made plans to go holiday shopping that afternoon. I had a couple hours to kill before I had to get ready, I decided to catch up on my reading, dusting off the romance novel I’d ignored for a little bit too long this trip.

 
A couple hours later, I drove to Maggie’s house. The weather had cleared up over the last few days, but it had stayed bitterly cold. Even in my car with the heater on full blast, I shivered as I drove, watching the several inches of new snow on either side of the street.

I was glad that I’d dressed even more warmly than when Harrison and I went out to the forest. I wasn’t leaving anything to chance this time, despite the deceptive sun coming out, I knew it would be freezing out. The walk, no, make that run from the front door to the car had not been fun at all and had reminded me that I’d made the right decision, clothing-wise, even if my old cold weather stuff fit a little snug. Damn these curves!

It was tougher to find parking near Maggie’s house - looks like all her neighbors had family driving in from out of town. I managed to find a spot a block away then hurried to Maggie’s door, eager to get out of the cold quickly.

As I walked toward Maggie’s house, carefully stepping to avoid the small yet potentially murderous patches of ice that glistened in the weak partial sun like enticing sheets of glass, I saw two kids playing in the fresh bounty of snow.

Both were covered head to toe in giant snowsuits that completely covered them except for their faces, gleeful as possible. It was clear from the snow suit colors, one pink and the other pale blue, that one was a girl and the other a boy.

The boy sat in the show making small piles of snowballs, very focused on this work. I guess the girl must have realized what he was setting up to do, because she didn’t waste any time and attacked first, throwing from her smaller pile with pinpoint accuracy.