The blue lights finally made it to the scene of the crime, and there I was with the pole in hand, a furious Rio, and my sister in the car with her son. I didn’t know what relationship she had with Rio. Heck, they had barely known each other back when we were kids. There had to be something going on between them for her to bash his Jeep. Was that why he had kept his distance from me at work? Was he dating my sister? He knew how I had once felt about her, so maybe he hadn’t known how to tell me, or maybe he hadn’t thought anything of it at all. Tory was stunning. She had only gotten more gorgeous with age.
“Bryn?” Rio said my name, and I looked at him.
I didn’t know what to do. No words were coming. I was just standing there. Mute.
“What the fuck? And I thought I’d pissed off a crazy tonight. Turns out, you did,” the blond guy said.
I shifted my gaze to him then. He was Tory’s type. I could believe she had been dating that one more than I could Rio. He had the bad-boy look to him she was drawn to.
Had Bryn attacked the Jeep because she thought it was his?
“What the hell did you do?” Rio asked me.
My eyes swung back to his. If I told him the truth, he would press charges. At least, there was a good chance he would press charges. There was a small chance that he wouldn’t if he thought this was my doing. Maybe I was putting more faith in the friendship we’d once had, but deep down, I couldn’t believe he would have me arrested.
“I d-d-d-didn’t know th-th-th-this was your Jeep,” I stammered. When I was nervous like this, it was harder to control the stutter that I had worked so hard to overcome. Lying to Rio and taking the blame, however, had brought it back full force.
His scowl deepened. “You fucking bashed in my Jeep, Bryn? What is wrong with you? Although this is crazy as hell, you could have at least made sure to trash the right vehicle. Dammit!” Rio stalked over to observe the damage and ran a hand over his short hair.
“Got a call from someone who was leaving the bar. Said there was a female beating a Jeep up. This yours?” the cop asked Rio.
He locked both hands behind his head, just staring at the damage. “Fuck,” he groaned.
I felt sick to my stomach.
“You do this?” the cop asked me.
I paused only for a moment because I knew I had to say something. Cullen was in the backseat. If I told them the truth, then he would witness his mother being arrested. I couldn’t do it to him. I also wasn’t sure I could even get the words out if I tried to talk.
“No, it was a misunderstanding. You can go,” Rio told the cop just as I opened my mouth to confess.
I swung my gaze to his, waiting for him to say more. That small part of me that had thought Rio wouldn’t press charges if he believed it was me had been right. It made me feel even worse instead of relieved.
“Are you sure? She’s holding a metal pole, and that Jeep is going to need extensive body work,” the cop said with a concerned expression on his face.
Rio nodded. “Yeah. It’s fine. You can go,” he replied.
“Shit,” the blond guy said under his breath. He was as surprised as the police officer.
The cop shook his head and shrugged. “All right then, but if this is a lovers’ spat and it goes beyond this, I’ll be taking you both in. Clear out of here.”
“We will. It’s done,” he assured the cop.
With one last glance at me, he looked disappointed that he wasn’t going to be able to arrest anyone over this before walking back to his car.
“Tha—” I started to thank Rio, but he held up a hand.
“Don’t speak. Just go. I don’t want to look at you,” he said, his hard glare on his beat-up Jeep.
“Better go on before this sinks in and he snaps out of his shock,” the blond guy told me.
I wanted to explain it all, but I was afraid of what Rio would do to Tory. Maybe he would let her off the hook too. I just couldn’t be sure. I wanted to tell him I would pay for the damage, but I was barely able to keep the bills paid and food in the apartment. Yesterday, Tory had been fired from her second job since moving here. I didn’t know when she would find another job.
“I a-a-a-am so s-s-sorry,” I stammered, needing to say something.
There was no way to describe how horrible I felt. Keeping Tory safe for Cullen’s sake wasn’t always easy, but this was by far the most difficult thing I had done. Speaking had become easier for me when I was calm and could speak slowly and think about my words. But tonight, I felt the block there, taunting me. Reminding me how my brain was broken.