Chapter Three: Oh My Friggin’ Gawd

Chapter Three

Oh My Friggin’ Gawd

Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive

“Pull over!”

I could’ve sworn I heard that come from somewhere behind me while riding Vamp north on the FDR Drive. When I looked back, I didn’t see anything except a taupe-colored Mercedes.

My BFF and VBF had helped me load my luggage into the trunk of the limo. We’d made one stop for Vive to pick up some liquor to make her cosmos. Vive’s driver had bought the booze for her. I know!

We were on our way uptown. New location, new life—here I come. No more Kelle, that was for sure. Having my ex call me a fat dumb “c” motivated me to move on in ways I hadn’t anticipated, even more so than him sleeping with Mom. Like uber grossness.

In regards to getting revenge on Kelle, it all seemed overrated. Why put good energy into a bad situation? He wasn’t worth it. I was free to get my adult life started, and I wanted to, right now. Possibly faster than Vamp could even take me. From this moment forward I’d live every day as if it was my birthday. Because this weekend, it was. Hello.

Blue and red lights flashed.

Had the candied dots and spots returned? Or was I hallucinating? I eased my grip on the throttle and glanced in the rearview mirror.

On a Harley Davidson, riding my purple bum, wasn’t the luxury car I saw earlier but a brick-house of a man. I looked closer and realized he was from the New York Police Department.

I checked the odometer.

43 mph.

He changed lanes. The cop wasn’t for me. So I adjusted my Chanel sunglasses over the bridge of my nose, refocused my attention on Vive’s stretch Bentley ahead, and throttled on.

Vive’s rear bumper read: Party with Our Girl Vive! The Farnworth Firewater liquor company, founded by her great grandfather had a logo of two inverted F’s bookending the slogan. It had been Vive’s mantra for as long as I’d known her. She’d been born with glitter and glamour in her veins.

The girls waved at me from the rear window toasting their cocktails. Taddy’s lips moved faster than the wheels on the Bentley.

On my left, the Harley came up beside me. To get a better look at him, I dropped my chin and peered out over my shades.

All I could make out other than his shiny blue helmet and black aviators were his biceps. With python arms wider than my thighs, his body reminded me of The Hulk right before his clothes would shred and he’d turn green.

Hot.

Smothered in ink he sported a tattoo sleeve up and down his right arm.

So hot!

Staring ahead, he held what must be his radio and talked on it.

He couldn’t see my eyes under these shades. Right? I pushed the frames back toward my sockets and winked flirtatiously.

Taddy had mentioned earlier while we loaded up the limo, “Girlie, the sooner you start thinking about other men, the faster that’ll put Kelle out of your horny mind,”

Taking Taddy’s advice, I tried to imagine this cop naked. I could easily gaze at him for hours. When he didn’t look over, I licked my lips and blew him a kiss.

I’d only closed my eyes for a second, and sure enough, when I opened them he stared at me and frowned.

“Ahem.” I cleared my throat. All I needed to do next was crash Vamp into the dog park over there, shouldering the highway because I was too busy cruising the NYPD. Not! I returned my attention to the road.

Sirens sounded.

Eh? I glanced back to Hulk on the Harley.

Those delicious guns, which could easily pin my body down while he teased my Lady V, punched the summer skies. The cop pointed at me and shouted, “Scooter! Pull over.”

“Me?” I shouted back at him, poking my finger at my chest. Come on, dude. I was only teasing. He couldn’t possibly be giving me a ticket for blowing him an air-kiss could he?

He nodded.

Ugh. I slowed down.

Hulk on a Harley sped up next to the limo, motioning for them to do the same.

The Bentley’s brake lights flashed.

The girls got up on their knees and peered out.

Vive sat on the left. She stuck her head out the window and shouted, “What’s the matter, Officer? We weren’t speeding!” I thought she’d lost her mind to address a cop like that.

Ohhh. Then I realized it was a distraction technique.

As Vive drew attention to herself, Taddy cracked the door on the opposite side and dumped out the liquor. Smart girl.

Today couldn’t get any worse. I knew God had a funny sense of humor. However she wouldn’t give me some bogus ticket on the very day in which my boyfriend had been caught banging Mom. Would she?

Knock, knock. Hello God, are you listening up there?

Once everyone’s wheels came to a complete stop on the side of the highway—by the distance of the Queensborough Bridge to our right, I estimated we were near East Seventieth Street—the cop got off his Harley and approached.

“Stay on your bike,” he ordered in a thick Bronx, maybe Brooklyn, accent. Striding past me, he went straight for the limo.

I got an eye full of him. Woof!

His ass was stacked like a baseball player’s juicy man-booty. He spoke to Vive’s driver for a minute, and then he talked to Vive.

With her diamond Rolex on her wrist and a ring on every finger, Vive’s hand waved in the air as she talked. Then suddenly her hand balled into a fist, and Vive’s thumb pointed back at me.

He looked at me directly and approached.

Why was I getting nervous? I wasn’t the one in a car drinking underage. As he came closer, I sized him up, literally.

No slouch in sight. Standing at about six-four, he gave new meaning to the word swagger. His broad shoulders moved with a confident stride.

“Afternoon,” he said, his voice deep.

“Hi!” A slight chew of my bottom lip, then I licked my upper. I gave him my most innocent smile.

“License and registration.”

“Um, I, okay, Officer…” I handed him the papers, glancing down at his badge, and read out loud, “God.” What an odd last name.

He lifted his aviators, resting them on his forehead.

Wow. Eyes black as onyx. Making me feel dainty, he stared through me and demanded, “Remove your helmet.”

“Promise not to laugh at my static hair?”

“Now.”

“Sorry, I was kidding. This pulling me over thing is, like, making me nervous.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’s been a rough day. Actually I’d say one of the worst days of my life.” I loosened the strap around my chin and realized he didn’t want to hear my pity party. I sure as fudge felt like crying again though. If I allowed my mind to revisit standing in Birdie’s bedroom doorway earlier today, I would sob up a storm. But why bother?

Officer God flashed his perfectly straight, white teeth, almost as if he was about to curl the edges of his full lips into a smile. He didn’t. Instead he inhaled deeply through his mouth. His broad chest rose up a bit as he held it for a few seconds.

You are one scary, sexy man. I couldn’t help but take in his masculine energy. I smoothed my hair the second I took off my helmet and held it up against my suddenly hard nipples. My headlights were on high. For whatever reason, when aroused they became erect and somewhat pointy.

There was no bra on the market which covered them. Trust me, I’d tried them all.

A while back, Birdie had suggested a flower-shaped silicone adhesive to contour over them. That’s what she’d used for years on photo shoots. When I’d taped them on, they’d flattened my mounds right out. I thought I’d found my pointy nipple solution.

Ohhh, the sheer torture when I’d peeled those buggers off at the end of the day. Take a band-aid and stick it on a sore spot. Then wait a few hours and rip it off. That hellaciousness is what happened to my nipples.

Calculating in my head 365 days a year multiplied by the fifty more years I’d be taping these puppies down till I hit menopause, it was close to eighteen thousand times. For sure my nipples would only stretch and sag with every application and removal of the contour. So I stuck to no tape.

Regardless, in situations such as this one right here, staring at Officer God who’d descended upon me from the Harley Davidson heavens causing an intense stir in my pussy which in return shot arousing tingles all through me. I wished I’d worn them.

Why? Because it was me on my bike, the cop standing next to me, and my nipples between us screaming for attention.

“Sunglasses too?” I asked, hoping he’d look at my face and not my breasts.

He nodded. “Regardless, I can see your eyes. It’s bright out.” He chuckled causing me to lean forward in curiosity.

“What’s so funny?”

“I could’ve sworn you winked at me when I rode up next to you.”

So friggin’ busted.

“That’s hysterical.” I tried to add a giggle of amusement. However, my tone flattened. I was the world’s worst liar. “As you said, it’s bright out. I, uhhh, must’ve squinted.”

Tugging at the front of his pants, Officer God shifted his weight to one foot. I tried not to stare but I had to look down. I cocked my chin up a bit to make it appear like I wasn’t lowering my focus on his jewels.

OMFG! Down there, he was as hard as a rock. I was afraid it was gonna get loose and slap me across my face. I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“What ‘bout when you blew me a kiss?”

Dang. Clearly Officer God had eyes on the side of his head while he talked on the radio. Quick, I had to come up with a good reason. “Earlier today, I chewed some nappy gum. I spit it out in the trash. So my lips have been involuntarily puckering at everything including cops.” I’d become convinced that all of my earlier symptoms experienced at the penthouse—such as the fever, white spots, and anxiety—had been intensified by that darn gum. From here on out, it was Dylan’s Candy Bar and me together forever, no more weight-loss scams.

The longer he stared at me the more I felt the afternoon’s heat magnifying off the highway’s pavement. The sun shined stronger than before.

Why did I feel as if I’d just been placed in some industrial-strength-professional microwave, set on high, ready to defrost and then bake a turkey, all in a mere sixty seconds? If I was ever going to pass out, I hoped it’d be right now. Otherwise I’ll just drop dead of mortification.

“Mmm.” Officer God didn’t buy my winking and air-kissing excuses. “No static.”

“Huh?”

“Your hair.”

“Oh, right.” I flipped it to the side, letting blonde strands fall over my shoulder. I reeked of the StrawberryNet’s Ultra Mega Super-duper Hold Extreme Hairspray I’d used. Lord, that stuff smelled cheap because it was.

Over the years, I’d learned the more inexpensive the hair product was the better it worked. That can be said for shampoo and conditioner too, hence no static from my helmet, a biker girl’s beauty tip.

“Alexandra Easton.” He said my name and studied my driver’s license.

“That’s me. Everyone calls me Lex.”

Ever since those “Alexandra the Great” articles had appeared in the papers during my childhood I’d requested to shorten my name.

Hearing Officer God say it almost made my name sound sexy. There was no raised influx in his voice, which usually meant he’d identified me as being the daughter of the world’s most famous couple.

I sorta loved that. I can’t remember the last time someone didn’t know of my folks. Like ever.

“Tomorrow is your birthday.” He smiled. “A big one.”

OMFG! Officer God’s grin was utterly heart-melting.

“Eighteen. Can’t wait. My BFF, VBF, and GBF are going to Paris with me tonight. We’re all on the red-eye.” Note, I didn’t say my BF. That’s because I sure as fudge didn’t have one anymore. And Kelle wasn’t going to Paris with us. He could use the first class ticket I’d bought him for a one-way trip to hell.

“Eh?”

“My friends. Two of them are in the limo.”

“Gotcha. I turned twenty-one a few weeks ago. Milestone birthdays spent with close friends are cool.”

“Happy Birthday. Did you do anything fun?”

“Started this new job.” He said proudly and padded his name badge.

“Is your last name really God?”

From the deepest part of him came a chuckle. Baritone, his laughter sent a warm fuzzy to the center of my stomach as if I’d eaten a cinnamon red hot candy.

He scratched his chin for a second then replied, “No. Ford is my first name. Alessandro-Vollero-Gotti is my last. God is short for Gotti. The NYPD didn’t have enough room on my badge. They cut it short.”

It was as if Officer Gotti and I weren’t on the side of the highway. No siree. We were on a date. At least in my head, having a romantic dinner, sharing a plate of spaghetti bolognese and getting to know one another better. Humor me here, people. It’s my birthday weekend, okay?

I studied his uniform. No pins or ribbons decorating him with accomplishment. He was as he said, new to the force. Wrinkled with deep squares as if it had come out of the wrapper, his uniform probably hadn’t even been washed yet, let alone ironed.

Whoever had ordered his uniform should’ve put in for a bigger size. It appeared almost uncomfortable. I wanted to rip it off him. He was gonna get his Hulk on any second now.

I don’t know if was the sun, or the fact that he was the hottest cop I’d ever seen, but for a second as he talked, I couldn’t hear him. It was as if someone had stuffed cotton in my ears. My mind was in another place. I sat back on my bike, letting Vamp’s engine hum between my legs. Nipples hard, the little hairs on the back of my neck saluted.

For a few seconds I fantasized…

Officer Gotti pressed his hard body up against me as I unbuttoned his shirt and ran my fingers over his defined chest.“Lex,” he said to me in a flirtatious voice. “You are one sexy woman.”

“I know.” I replied more confidently than I am in real life because this was my hot-cop daydream. Hello! In my head I’m a drop dead gorgeous diva with the hips of Shakira and the face of Charlize Theron. Besides, regardless of what a woman looks like, if she’s confident in what she has to offer, she’s attractive. At least that’s what Mrs. Pringle, my gym teacher, used to say at Avon Porter.

My right leg came up, sitting sidesaddle on the bike in a Roberto Cavalli leather mini-skirt. I’d had a wardrobe change, fresh application of lip gloss and a spritz of my Diorama perfume too.

He stood in front of me. My knees touched.

“Spread ‘em.” Officer Gotti demanded.

Sweet and innocent, I bit down on my pointer finger and shook my head. “I don’t know what I did wrong to be pulled over.”

Inside I hungered for him to violate me. Take my Lady V.

“Do as you’re told.”

“And if I don’t, Officer?”

“I’ll be forced to restrain you.”

“Restrain away. I’m not spreading.” Glancing down at the bulge swelling in his pants, he seemed turned on by me not giving in so easily.”

Before I knew it, the handcuffs came out. His strapping arms came wide, and he hugged me. Reaching for my hands, Ford cuffed my wrists behind my back.

Clink! Clink! They pinched my skin. He had me under lock and key now.

There I sat on Vamp, facing him. Merciless! I friggin’ loved it.

“You know damn well what you did and why I had to pull you over. Now you must pay for your crime.” Officer Gotti grabbed my knees and exposed my panties. His erection rubbed against my thighs, sending a pulsing urge to jump on top of him. But I didn’t. I played cool as if I’d done this a million times before.

His huge, square hands framed my face as he kissed me. His touch was rough and callous. But he was trying to be easy on me. I could take it. A thick, wet tongue danced in and out of my mouth as he unbuttoned my blouse.

Caressing my breasts, he kissed my neck and complimented me.  

Floating into the summer’s white fluffy clouds, I wanted to hold onto his python arms and balance myself. Simply euphoric, that’s how I’d describe this feeling. With my hands cuffed behind my back, it caused my nipples to distend. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them.

Neither could he.

“Miss Easton, you know what happens to erect nipples, don’tcha?”

“You put tape over ‘em?” I said coyly.

“Never!”

“Then what?” I asked, as he tugged on one.

“I tease. I play. I—” He pinched my nipple.

My spine straightened.

In a unique way Ford exerted control while remaining gentle all the same.

So aroused, I was flying high on the FDR.

“I torture them until you so much as cannot stand even the slightest drag of my tongue over your hot flesh. You’ll whimper for me to stop.”

“Never!” I teased right back.  

“I wanna hear you beg.”

“What else do you do to them Officer?”

“They get eaten.” In a flash, he dropped his head to my left breast and licked. “Birthday girl, you taste—” Nipping at my sensitive flesh, his teeth grazed over them sending arousing chills all through my body. Then gently he clamped down, giving a slight tug.

Ohhh my gummy bears. 

He released and said, “Your nipple tastes like sugar.”

“That feels…good. Don’t stop. Please, Officer. I’m begging just as you wanted. Go on. Keep licking my sugar.”

“Very good birthday, girl.”

“I can follow directions well.”

“I’m going to make you come over and over.” He suckled my right breast while caressing the left with one hand and tugging at my panties with another. Pulling on the elastic trim, he let it snap. “I’m gonna tear those panties off you in a few seconds.”

A part of me was on the edge almost wanting to drive Vamp off into the far distance. I’d say that was my good-girl side struggling not to give in to temptation.

“Yes. Yes. Tear my panties off!”

Yet another part of me, maybe the real person who I’d always wanted to become, gave in to him with reckless abandon. I, Lex Easton, soon to be an adult, felt as if I was water in his hands. He controlled my temperature. I was hot about to boil over.

“Get ready.” Humming to himself, his attention returned to my breasts. He swirled his tongue over one, then flicked, tugged, and sucked the other.

“Ford, you’re…amazing.” Exhilaration ran from my scalp to my toes. Slow and deliberate, his touch on my breasts created a synergistic energy. A dense heat surrounded us. My peripheral vision blurred. I was getting drunk on this erotic exchange.

Insides blazing, the Victoria Secret’s I’d put on earlier that day were soaked, more than I’d ever thought possible. If Ford kept this up, I’d come buckets right on the bench of my scooter.

He gazed at me. “Keep your eyes on me. Watch. Don’t close them. Understand?” His mouth returned to my nipples.

“Ah-hmm.” I purred and did as instructed. I stared at Ford. “I don’t know how much more nipple play I can take.” Let’s get real here, a lick and a tug and I nearly flew to planet Mars. A ten-minute breast feast and I had skyrocketed to another universe.

In my clique, Vive was the only one of us to have gone all the way. She loved sex. And Vive went out of her way to get it. For her graduation present, earlier this summer, her parents had sent her to India with the assignment of touring a new Farnworth Firewater distributor. Little did her folks know Vive had signed up for an intensive tantric workshop taught by a young prince claiming to be the long-lost son to the Kingdom of Mysore.

When she’d returned, Vive had told Taddy and me, “Honey, Tantra is not the act of gymnastic sex but the devotion of selflessly giving yourself to pleasure another person. Prince Baji Rao spent nearly a whole day nibbling on my titties. My hormones reacted in ways I didn’t know existed.  I was reborn and transformed.”

She didn’t exactly tell us where or what she’d been transformed into. Regardless, it sure felt as though this, right here, whatever Officer Gotti was doing, came close to being what Vive had described with Prince Baji Rao. His attention to my breasts was insane. If I didn’t know any better, I would say Ford had the tantric touch.

“Lex, I must have you.” He unzipped my skirt from the side and tore my panties off with one swift yank. They flew back onto the highway, landing on a car’s windshield as it passed by.

The car cheered us on with a honk of their horn as they shouted, “We love you, Lex Easton.”

Oh yes, in my daydream fantasy, I was going to give up Lady V out in the open, for all the public to watch. The tabloids which had torn me down my entire life could suck it! I was a beautiful creature who was being adored by the hottest man I’d ever flippin’ met.

“I’ve never…”

“Had a guy go down on you?” he asked.

“No. But I want you to.”

“Beg for it, birthday girl.”

“Officer, make my wishes come true and bury your face between my legs. Please. Right now. You must. It’s what I want.”

“Are you sure?” He asked as licking his lips, appearing ready.

“Yes…please Officer, eat me as if I’m the only thing you’ll have today.”

He did.

I squealed with how easily he got me wet.

“Birthday girl, the creamy center of your pussy is winkin’ at me. It’s pink and—” He licked then said, “—hot. You’re burning up. Allow me to blow on this.”

“Put my fire out!” I begged.

Ford kissed an inner-tender spot on my thigh. Unexpectedly one long stroke of his tongue ran straight to my core then back to my mid-thigh. He bit playfully at my flesh. His gorgeous face and those black eyes looked up at me intently as he then blew a steady stream of pressured breath from his tight lips onto my Lady V.

“Ohhh.” Stifling a scream I held my breath.

“Damn woman, you taste good.” He fingered my wetness. Pulling some of my juice out, he sucked it off dramatically.

“Yes. That’s it.” I moaned watching him get off on getting me off.

“Beg, baby. Beg for it.”

“Eat my pussy. Get every last drop till I’m dry.”

Hulk on a Harley scared the crapola out of me. I’d never seen anyone love the taste of women like he did. Come to think of, it this was my first time I’d ever had a guy go down on me. Like ever. So there was nothing to compare it to…but seriously, he was off the charts.

His hands were smothered in my essence as he nestled his face between my legs and bit gently on my clit.

My entire body trembled.

“That feel good, birthday girl?” Ford lapped his tongue deep into the well of my cunt. His fingers followed his tongue, taking turns, jetting in and out of my heat, firing me up.

“Ahhh-huh.” If my hands were free, I’d tug at his scalp.

“This pussy—” he grunted, fingers going in deeper “—is going to surrender itself to me. It has the right to remain silent.” And like that his mouth hunkered down on the hardness of my clit. “Love sucking this cream outta you, birthday girl.”

Seat shaking, toes curling, Vamp and I were so close to shooting off across the Hudson River. We’d for sure land somewhere in Astoria, Queens.

“Come on my tongue.” He snarled from the side of his mouth.

“Now?”I quivered.

“Damn Lex, now, yes. Come for me!”

In total ecstasy, my moans turned to screams. I couldn’t hold it in any longer. He was the biggest, hottest dude I’d ever seen, and he had strapped me to my bike and ate me out.

“Miss Easton!” I heard him say from somewhere other than between my legs.

“Errr…”

“Miss Easton.” He tapped my shoulder.

“Huh?” I blinked, snapping out of my fantasy. “What?”

“You okay?”

“Oh.” It wasn’t real. My daydreams were always just that—a dream.

“I was talking to you.” Officer Gotti glanced back at his bike, then asked, “Did you hear me?”

“No. Sorry the heat’s getting to me on this bike.”

“Turn your engine off.”

I did as he suggested. “Why did you pull us over?”

“On my radio, there was an APB issued for a purple scooter and limo leaving the scene of a crime.”

“Say what?”

“I patrol this highway. I’ve spoken to the detective who’s looking for you. His team should be here shortly. I was asked to detain you for a bit.”

“For what?”

“Can’t say. This it out of my jurisdiction. Won’t be long.”

His radio made a noise.

“Stay on the bike. I’ll be right back”

Just as he got to his Harley, two black and white sedans pulled up. Their lights flashed.

Up above, a helicopter came out of nowhere. Dang, it was The Manhattanite Times TV station.

One, two, three, four policeman huddled around Officer Gotti. They talked about something which had happened in Soho. I couldn’t hear much else with the chopper swarming over us.

Officer Gotti waved them away but they didn’t budge.

I looked up at the reporters with their cameras. WTF!

Taddy and Vive’s eyes widened as they mouthed to me through the window, “What’s going on?” Ignoring the cop’s demand to stay in the car, they got out.

Vive had her purse in one arm and her dog in the other. Thank heavens her hands were occupied because she’d probably give the chopper the finger.

A second cop approached. Officer Gotti stood behind him and crossed his arms. “Miss Easton?”

I nodded.

“What’s your relation to a Birdie Easton residing at 245 Spring Street?”

My stomach dropped. “She’s my mom. Why?” I didn’t like the sound of this.

“Over here.” Another cop stood at the limo, the trunk opened. One by one, he pulled out my luggage onto the side of the road.

Officer Gotti stayed with me as the others went over. He lowered his opaque shades and covered his eyes. I couldn’t get any read off him. But he was staring at me suspiciously. Unable to tell what he was thinking from his body language, the way he’d rubbed the back of his neck had told me he couldn’t figure out what was going on either.

Vive marched up and asked loudly, “Excuse me, police person. Just what do you think you’re doing?”

“My job lady. Now step back,” the cop shouted.

She didn’t. “Do you have any clue who I am? I have a right to know why you’re searching my car!” When they ignored her, she pulled out her cell phone from her purse. “I’m calling my father’s attorney.”

Hedda Hopper, who never barked started, to yap and yap.

“Turn around. Place your hands above your head.” One cop said to Vive and another to Taddy.

I gasped and covered my mouth in shock. That threat to call her lawyer didn’t go over well. Officer Gotti stalked over and took Hedda from Vive’s hands. She started screaming.

“What for?” Taddy asked. She was much calmer than Vive. “Why are you arresting us?”

My heart sank. Was this over the drinking?

A policeman cuffed Taddy, then Vive, and lastly their limo driver. He filed them up against the white line on the road.

Another cop approached me, pointed at my bags, and asked, “Miss Easton, are those your things?”

“Yes. Someone please tell me what this is about.”

The cop’s face wrinkled, perhaps out of confusion about my question. Ford walked up and stood beside him as he asked, “Why don’t you tell us where you were coming from and where you’re headed to?”

So I did. Well sorta. I told them Birdie and I had a disagreement and I’d packed up my stuff and left.

“Did you start a fire on your way out?”

“A fire?” Oh no-no-no. “In the bathtub, I burned a dress with some photos. It was nothing.”

“Hands up. We’re arresting you for arson. You have the right to remain silent.” His Miranda warning continued.

“You can’t be serious. Nothing happened.” I figured Kelle had probably called the police making this a bigger deal than it really was.

“Your little fire caused a rather large explosion.”

“What in the heck are you talking about?” Taddy shouted.

“Nothing has blown up except for your career. Just wait till my daddy’s lawyer hears about this.” Vive screamed.

“Miss Easton, we have you and your friends on video at the parking garage loading up that limo and leaving the building.”

“When did transporting good fashion become a crime? She’s moving in with me. And we’re going to Paris tonight. Now, give me my fucking dog back,” Vive spewed, as she wrestled with the handcuffs.

The cop ignored Vive and spoke directly to my face. “Shortly after you drove away, most of your mother’s penthouse exploded.”

“No.” My legs felt weak and my head heavy. I dropped to the ground and sobbed. “Where’s my mom? Is she okay?”

“She’s being treated at Manhattan General,” a policeman replied, as another one lifted me to my feet. Before I knew it, I was in the back of their sedan being taken to the police station and charged with what exactly, I didn’t know. Vive, Taddy, and their limo driver were arrested as accomplices and taken in another car.

Like the daydream, hot-cop fantasy I’d had moments ago, my hands were tied behind my back and I was restrained by the law. But unlike my wet imagination, Officer Gotti Alessandro-Vollero-Gotti stood on the side of the road, next to Vamp, and held Hedda Hopper in his arms as I left him behind.

All I could think about, all I had promised myself I’d never think about again not after what had happened earlier was Mom.

Was Birdie alive? What about Kelle? Had I killed them both?

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