“Where were you—”
Mom started to come forward, but LJ appeared in the room. He came from the direction of Dad’s study, his hair up and his tie loose like he’d been here for a while.
He also had his phone in his hand, one he pocketed when he faced the room.
“Your son was apparently at Maywood Heights’s county lockup,” he said, bracing his big arms. The dude towered. There were vaulted ceilings in this room, and the guy could probably touch the point with a slight jump. He frowned. “My guy at the force tells me he was arrested.”
Dad’s gaze shot in my direction. “Arrested?”
“Dorian?” The shocked reaction was my mother and Brielle, and their responses matching didn’t surprise me. Like stated, Wolf’s mom was pretty much mine too.
LJ nodded. “Arrested in relation to the murder of the same woman who happened to be the subject of you boys’ video.” LJ directed a hand toward the room. “He was released because the actual murderer was arrested around the same time.”
“Dorian.” My mother had her hands together, touching her lips with her eyes closed. It was like she was doing all she could not to freak out on me and the situation. She pulled her hands away. “Tell me you had nothing to do with what happened to that woman like you did with the video.”
Wait. She thought…
I shot up. “No, Mom.” I had nothing to say. She thought I killed that bitch? Or at least hired someone to do it.
But is that so far-fetched?
I shut down the thoughts, swallowing. “I had nothing to do with what happened to Mayberry. The murder, I mean.”
“No, you only kidnapped her, Dorian,” she whisper-shouted, causing me to blink. She directed a finger. “How would you not think your voice couldn’t be recognized?”
I said nothing, and Wolf leaned forward. He nodded. “We told her what we did, D. We had to when our parents all asked us.”
The rest of my friends nodded too, Thatcher’s and Wells’s gazes escaping. They hadn’t had a choice but to admit what we’d done, and I got that. Bow was the only one not involved in all this.
“As if it wasn’t obvious,” my dad barked, then pinched the bridge of his nose. He rubbed my mom’s shoulders. “You’re only lucky the press hasn’t picked up on the fact.”
“No, they’re too busy talking about the woman’s early demise.” This came from LJ, his face nearly as red as my buddy Thatcher’s before. “And that was a nice little fire I got to tame for you, Dorian. To keep your arrest in relation to the murder from being found out by the press.” He placed a hand toward my dad. “I took care of it, brother. My guy at the precinct’s got my back. As far as anyone at the precinct knows, your son never set foot in the place.”
He’d wiped it away, shielded me.
Though I was sure that wasn’t without cost. Financial if anything else.
I admit I’d been arrogant, and maybe that was why I’d gotten so sloppy when it came to that video. I knew my family and the people in my life would take care of me. I did what I wanted to do.
“I guess we all just got lucky the cops found the guy who the woman got wrapped up with. Some kind of drug dealer, I guess,” LJ continued. He faced me. “So the police just let you out after they brought the perp in? Didn’t give you any trouble after that?”
Everyone in the room faced me, and I realized something else, something big.
He didn’t know about my grandpa’s place in all this. Either his guy hadn’t mentioned it, or the dude hadn’t thought to.
And why did that relieve me?
After all that had happened with my grandpa, I thought the next thing I would be doing was blowing the horn on his ass and outing his place in whatever happened to me today.
But as I watched my parents, my mother sitting there awaiting my next words…
I wet my lips. “No problems.”
“Good.” LJ stood tall. “I’m going to go make a few more calls. Make sure this thing all stays controlled, and the narrative continues to go in our favor. I also got to call Billie.” His eyebrows narrowed. “She was trying to find flights to come into town too. She was worried.”
I didn’t know where he and his wife had been, but obviously not in town. They did like to travel a lot.
And I definitely had everyone’s eyes now.