Read Tango with a Twist (Smashwords edition.) Page 15
#scenebreak
“All right, Foxtrot, you piece of shit, where is she?” The bellow shocked me awake, but not alert. Someone grabbed an arm, hauled me out of bed like a rag doll and threw me against my bedroom wall before punching me in the face twice. “Where is she?” He pulled me from the wall, then banged me against it again. “Where?”
I was too dazed and confused to respond.
Corey?
What the hell?
My clock said it was 8:15 in the fucking a.m. When would Dad learn to lock the fucking door on his way out?
“All right, Boyfriend,” a familiar male voice said. “Let's not jump to conclusions.” Officer Friendly pulled him off me. “Even if he was the last person seen with her last night.”
I slumped against the wall wishing for a gallon of coffee fed to me intravenously. “What the fuck is going on?” I wiped my bleeding lip with one bare arm and glared at Corey. “I thought we were friends, you asshat.”
“There's no need for name calling,” Officer Friendly interjected.
“No? What about names like assault? Or battery?” Okay, those weren't names, but I was still waking up. I reached for a pair of jeans and nearly wet myself when Officer Friendly pulled his gun and aimed it straight at my chest.
“No fast moves, kid.”
I threw myself against the wall with my arms straight out at my sides, heart beating faster than the drums in an insane techno remix. I'd never looked down the business end of a pistol before. Shitstix!
Even Corey stepped back.
“Really. . . wanting. . . pants.”
Officer Friendly nodded. “Just take it slow there, kid.”
Kid? Could this guy even drink legally?
Slowly, I reached for the jeans again. He didn’t blow me away so I pulled them on with a mental note never to sleep naked in this town. Maybe it was time to invest in pajamas.
“Where’d you go after I left last night?” the cop asked.
“Nowhere. I was here.” Shit. Button fly hard to handle with shaking hands. Should’ve grabbed sweats. “May I please put on a shirt?” I pointed at the t-shirt at my feet.
He nodded and lowered the gun, but didn't put it away. “You have any witnesses?”
“Well, there was no one sharing my bed, so no—wait, I talked to my dad for a while.”
Maintaining any sort of calm required a pretty huge effort. “Who else would be home with me at two in the morning?”
Corey shifted from foot to foot like a caged animal. “Where's Tango?”
His insane behavior finally registered and a chill rippled across my skin. “She's missing?” I remembered Dad’s warning about the stalker and the car.
“I'll ask the questions, here, kid.”
“For crying out loud,” I snapped, “stop calling me ‘kid.’ Have you even gotten laid yet?”
In a surreal moment, Corey actually chuckled and raised a hand for a fist bump. I glared at him, and he retreated behind Officer Friendly.
The gun flashed up and the snarky comment didn't seem so clever anymore.
Thank God I have a strong bladder.
Corey seemed to remember our male bonding moments. “Uh, Warren? Maybe you should put the gun away?” He touched Warren's arm for some idiotic, unfathomable reason.
The cop yelped in surprise. . . and pulled the trigger.
I closed my eyes and time stopped.
The sound of gunfire is the loudest noise in the universe when the gun is pointed at you.
Behind me, glass shattered.
I opened my eyes. Both windows needed replacing now.
Officer Friendly’s face drained of color. “I pulled the trigger.”
I moved faster than I have ever moved in my life. If Corey hadn't restrained me, we would've added “assaulting an asshole of the law” to my family’s list of crimes, only this one would have been very, very deserved.
“You pulled the fucking trigger?!” The string of curses and profanity from my mouth would’ve made any of the boxers at Dad's gym proud.
Officer Friendly slowly returned the gun to its holster and sat on the bed, quietly muttering, “I fired it. I fired it. I fired it.”
Corey held me to the wall and needed the full weight of his body to keep me from beating the unholy tar out of the bastard. “Foxtrot. Get it together.” His face hovered close to mine. “He didn’t hit you and Tango's really missing.”
My blood ran cold. “I thought I was suspect number one,” I snapped. Give me a break; there was still a lot of adrenaline in my system.
His face clouded with that pissed-in-his-master's-shoe expression. “I'm sorry. When Warren said it, it made sense to me.” He eased up. “I’m really, really sorry.” We faced each other, catching our breath. “The rose was sent right after you met her. The texts happened that day.” His face took a detour into confused. “And you lied to me about being gay.” His massive brow furrowed. “Why'd you do that?”
I swallowed and decided against the truth. “What makes you think I lied?”
“Monika.”
Which made sense for two seconds and then confused me even more. “When did you talk to Monika about me?”
He shrugged. “After we—” He literally clamped a hand over his mouth.
Wow.
Just. . . wow. Didn't even know how to process that. I finished the sentence for him: “Had cookies and milk together?”
He grinned that big goofy, grin for a second but must’ve realized it wasn’t going to fly. He drooped and stared at the floor. “No. It wasn't cookies and milk.”
Officer Friendly didn't seem to be keeping up. “We still have a missing girl to think about, gentlemen.” At least he wasn't calling us kids, anymore.
I grabbed shoes. “No, we don't.” No reason to worry, even. Not when I thought about it.
“So you do know where she is?” His voice hovered between question and accusation.
“I have a pretty good idea.” Pushing past them, I made my way downstairs to the cop car. Good thing Dad was out jousting dragons. Not sure what would’ve happened to Corey. Or Warren.