Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,1

Vince showed up, Mason arrived with his dad, Brian. The adults went to talk to the police about Aiden while the rest of us sat worriedly in the tiny reception area.

Mason gets his good looks from his dad, as their dark hair and tanned olive skin are almost identical, but Brian’s a bit shorter than his son. Brian’s dark eyes also lack that certain spark of mischief that Mason’s often hold—but then again, this isn’t a happy situation.

As the two dads talk to the officers, I sit straight up and study them intently, and it doesn’t look like it’s going well. Brian’s running his hand through his hair like Mason does when he’s frustrated, the gold wedding band sparkling brightly in comparison to his dark hair. My heartbeat hasn’t slowed down to normal since we sat down.

After a while, Vince is led by some officers to the back, and Brian comes to sit with us.

“What’s going on?” Mason asks his dad.

“They have Aiden in holding right now. He’s still a few weeks shy of eighteen, so they can’t question him without the presence of an appropriate adult and a social worker, and we’re trying to sort out who that is, exactly,” Brian explains, pulling out his phone and going through some contacts.

“But they can’t question him without a lawyer! Shouldn’t we be getting him a lawyer?” Annalisa exclaims.

“He doesn’t need a lawyer because he didn’t do anything!” Noah defends Aiden. “He has, like, seven alibis! Eight if you count the guy working the counter at the pizza place!”

Brian ignores Noah and stands up. “I’m calling a lawyer now. Hopefully, he’ll be here soon.”

And with that, Brian walks away to find a quiet place to make his phone call, leaving the rest of us to our unproductive worrying.

Half an hour later, a professional-looking man in a pressed suit enters the police station, and Brian gets up to shake his hand. They talk to some officers, who then hustle the man I’m assuming is Aiden’s lawyer into the back room.

Charlotte is sitting beside Chase, and they’re talking in hushed tones between themselves. Annalisa glares down everyone in the police station, and looks like she’s trying very hard to not punch anyone who looks at her the wrong way. Julian’s beside her, talking to Mason and Brian about what could possibly happen to Aiden and what’s going on in the back. Noah’s beside me, his foot rapidly and incessantly tapping the floor, the sound slowly driving me crazy.

Since moving to King City, I’ve been lucky enough to meet all these incredible people—friends who have become like a family to me. I’ve never had friends like this, who have your back no matter what, and who stick by you through hard times. We’re all in a police station on a Friday night instead of out enjoying ourselves, and it’s all because we care about each other, about Aiden.

While I’m grateful to have my friends, I hate that I’m stuck in an uncomfortable chair in a beige room with awful lighting, incapable of doing anything except try really hard to ignore the pit of anxiety and worry building in my stomach.

After a while, I can’t take it anymore and slap my hand on Noah’s thigh. “Stop!” I snap.

“I know I’m irresistible, Amelia, but now is not the time or place to get frisky,” Noah says.

I pull my hand back, in no mood for his Noah-ness at this particular time. His foot has stopped incessantly tapping, but I don’t feel any better. What’s taking so long? Aiden didn’t do anything. All of this all should’ve been sorted out already. Right?

The minutes tick by painfully. Charlotte’s strict parents call, and then her older brother comes to pick her and Chase up, who has his own worried parents to get home to. We promise we’ll keep them both updated.

We’ve been here for how long now? Hours? It’s past ten o’clock. Why has the activity in the police station not slowed down? The phone hasn’t stopped ringing. I have half a mind to rip every single phone off its cord and chuck them all out the window. The last time I was in a police station this long was when Tony found me for the third time, and I’d had to go from the hospital to the station to give my statement, which was useless, clearly, since he’s still out there, searching for me. And just like that night, my flight response is kicking in—I want to run as