until you put your guns down.”
The shorter of the two cops glared at me. “We’re not going to shoot him unless he acts threatening.”
Nick bent his head and spoke softly into my ear. “Angle your body so they can’t see your hand, then take my phone out of my right front pocket.”
I shifted my feet and reached behind me, feeling for it. Oh freaking fudge, too far left. That wasn’t his damn phone! After two attempts, I got it and transferred it to my own pocket.
Nick reassured me as my heart hammered. “Now, move away and call Emmy. There’re two numbers in there. Use the one with an ‘R’ after it. PIN number’s the same as the house alarm.”
“What if they shoot you?”
“They won’t; don’t worry. Trust me, baby.”
Again, he asked me to trust him, and again, I had no choice. I stepped to the side, and the cops swooped in with handcuffs. My stomach churned as I tried to keep from losing my dinner.
A second police car arrived, then a third, and one of the newcomers motioned for Missy to get out of the car and stand next to me. I started to explain what happened, that Billy and his buddies had attacked unprovoked, but he wouldn’t listen. Four cops surrounded Nick on the other side of the lot. I recognised most of them from my time working at Buck’s, but they were all business tonight.
“Why aren’t they letting him go?” Missy asked the officer standing next to us, but she was met with a stony silence.
We could only watch as Nick was led to a squad car and pushed into the back. I averted my gaze as his head turned in my direction because, coward that I was, I couldn’t face him.
Three ambulances arrived, and Billy, Corey, and Bart were soon strapped onto stretchers. An EMT patted Billy’s arm in a gesture of sympathy, and I wanted to scream at him to stop. Billy didn’t deserve kindness. He deserved to rot.
And why hadn’t they let Nick go?
I didn’t understand it.
CHAPTER 37
AS THE CAR holding Nick drove away, I fumbled in my pocket for his phone. Call Emmy, he’d said. It made sense that he’d turn to her in a time like this—I hadn’t exactly been much help, had I?
“Now what?” Missy asked.
“I need to call Nick’s friend.”
When the screen lit up, I found it wasn’t his usual phone. That one had a picture of his Ferrari in the background, and this one was all black. Since when did Nick have two phones? As he said, there was a lot I didn’t know about him.
The cop next to me stepped forward before I could dial, and he didn’t look happy. “What are you doing?”
“Making a phone call.”
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to refrain from doing that.” Using “ma’am” gave the illusion of politeness, but he made it sound like an insult.
“I’m allowed a phone call. I’ve seen cop shows on the TV. Everybody’s allowed a phone call.”
“That’s if you’ve been arrested. You haven’t been arrested.”
Missy cut in, hands on hips. “Well, if she hasn’t been arrested, why can’t she make a call?”
“Because I’d rather she didn’t.”
“You can rather whatever you like. She can make a damn phone call if she wants to.”
He glowered at me as I typed in the PIN code, but I was beyond caring. I scrolled through Nick’s contact list, and just as he’d said, there were two entries for Emmy. What did the R mean? Now wasn’t the time to wonder, so I hit dial.
Two rings, and then, “Nicky, I knew you wouldn’t get through a whole weekend without calling me.”
“It’s Lara.”
“Oh. Where’s Nick?”
I fought back tears as I imagined Emmy calm and composed at the other end of the line. “My ex-boyfriend showed up, and there was a fight. It was h-h-horrible, and then the police came.”
“And I presume Nick was involved in this, given the fact that you’re talking to me on his phone and he isn’t.”
“They arrested him. I tried to tell them he acted in self-defence, but they wouldn’t listen. What can I do? He’s been taken to jail, and it’s completely my fault. I was the one who wanted to come here.”
“You can calm down, for starters. You’re no help if you’re hysterical. Now, have you got someone there with you?”
“Missy. My friend.”
“Good. Get Missy to go with you to the police station, and I’ll send someone to meet you there. Can you do that?”
“We have to