Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 78142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 391(@200wpm)___ 313(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Antonio rises as well. “Are you okay?”
I stand, paralyzed and numb.
This isn’t happening. I’ve had two glasses of wine. I can’t…
“Diana…” Antonio again.
He picks up my phone and hands it to me.
I put it back to my ear.
“Diana? Are you there? Damn it!”
“I’m here,” I say, my lips trembling. “What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into, Dragon?”
“I didn’t do anything. You have to believe me.”
“What have you been arrested for?”
“Soliciting.”
“Soliciting what?” I ask, but I know the answer already. Soliciting a prostitute. What the hell was he thinking?
“I didn’t do it. A woman asked if I wanted to have some fun, I told her no, she badgered me, told me she had to go back with something, so I decided to be a good Samaritan and hand her some money. And of course, two cops saw the transaction and thought I was giving her money for sex.”
“Can’t the hooker corroborate your story?”
“She ran off,” he says. “I didn’t know who else to call. Jesse’s on his honeymoon, and my therapist… Well, let’s just say I’ve bothered him enough tonight.”
“Isn’t he paid to be bothered by you?”
“You know what? Forget I called.”
“Wait wait wait! God, Dragon, don’t hang up. Where are you?”
“The police station,” he says. “In a holding cell.”
“Fine. I’ll come get you.”
“When?” he asks.
Seriously? I’m offering to come get him in the middle of the night when he’s been arrested, and he asks when?
“Soon as I can get there. Christ.”
“Okay. See you later.”
I end the call and turn to Antonio. “I guess I’m going to go bail my roommate out of jail.”
Antonio widens his eyes. “I’ll take you.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll call an Uber, go over there, and Uber back home.”
“Don’t you have a car?”
“I do, but I don’t mess with parking in the city. Especially at this hour. Street parking will be impossible by the police station. Rideshare is usually easier.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“This is hardly your problem.”
“I’m not sure it’s yours either, Diana.”
He’s right about that, but the thought of Dragon sitting in a smelly holding cell with a bunch of vagrants makes me sick to my stomach.
Do I believe his story?
I do, actually. I don’t think he would solicit a prostitute. At least not on purpose.
I grab my phone and pull up the ridesharing app. Saturday night downtown, there are lots of rides available, so I get one quickly.
“He’s a minute away,” I say.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
I open my mouth to say no, but then I think better. Why not have someone come with me? It’s late at night.
I’ll get Dragon out.
And then he’s going to have to find another place to live.
Chapter Eighteen
Dragon
Funny thing about me.
Even after all the fuckups I’ve made in my life, I’ve never been arrested before.
I’ve come close, for sure. God knows, when I was still drinking and on drugs, I drove way more often than I should have.
But I never got caught, never hurt anyone in the process.
Because I don’t hurt people. Well, not anymore.
I never hurt Griffin.
I heard her screams. I went to her room. I saw the bloody knife. I picked it up. Everything became a blur after that.
I’m not actually in jail. I’m in a holding cell at the police station.
After I got here, they took all my information from my driver’s license and fingerprinted me.
Apparently, for certain misdemeanors, including soliciting prostitution, the City and County of Denver has preset bail amounts based on the severity of the offense. They gave me a paper, showing me the schedule.
Needless to say, I couldn’t afford it, which is why I had to call Diana.
Not only is she giving me a place to stay for free, but now I’m going to owe her for this bail money.
Of course, I’ll get the bail money back, once I either cop a plea, have a trial, or, in the best circumstance, get the charges dropped altogether.
But they won’t release me from custody until someone pays the bail.
At least the person I’m staying with is an heiress with unlimited cash funds.
Man, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d told me to get fucked.
I gave that hooker all my cash. All because she reminded me of Griffin.
What Griffin might look like today.
Fuck me.
I’ve thought about Griffin a lot. Especially during rehab. I didn’t have a choice. I had to face some shit about my life that I had stuck on the back burner for far too long.
Now that I’ve faced it? I wish I could shove it back into the corners of my brain.
This tiny holding cell smells like cat piss. There are only three of us in here, and I’m pretty sure the stench is coming from the guy with no teeth. The other guy is thin and agitated. He’s pacing the cell like he’s waiting for a bomb to drop.
I’m sitting on the bench, rubbing the ache in my forehead.