“Not you.” The female officer waved at Darcy when she popped up from the bench and wobbled on her dangerously high high-heels. “Everyone else.”
Darcy plopped back down with a curse, stretching out her long legs. Her knees looked like someone had taken a cheese grater to them and I shuddered to think how they got that way.
“Hey, Blondie,” she called to me and made a pretend phone out of her fingers. “Call me. We’ll hang.”
I winced and waved good-bye.
Facing the guard at the door, I asked, “So all of us can leave?” I glanced at Annie, thinking it a coincidence that we were all being released at the same time. “All of our friends are here to pick us up then?”
It had taken a couple hours to process us. The indignity of having our mug shots and fingerprints taken would stay with me for a long time. After that we had been allowed our phone calls. Annie called her roommate. I don’t know who Rachel called. I called Emerson. I knew she would come running and had no issue bringing bail money. Emerson hadn’t asked any questions. Not what I did to get landed in jail. Nothing. She simply said she was on her way and hung up the phone.
I knew if I called Pepper she would have come, too, but I wasn’t ready to face her and Reece and explain that I had been arrested with Logan at a kink club. That on top of everything just made me feel slightly ill.
They’d hear about it soon enough, I’m sure. That secret was too big to keep from them, but I was hoping to get out of this dress first. Maybe take a shower and grab a few hours of rest. The peaceful oblivion of sleep sounded like a luxury above and beyond a trip to Paris right now.
The officer shrugged. “I don’t know. You’re free to go though. The charges are dropped.”
“Dropped?” I echoed, stopping in my tracks.
“Thank God,” Annie erupted, lurching forward.
“How?” I asked, skepticism leaking out in my voice.
“Who cares?” Annie hissed, closing a hand around my arm. “Let’s get out of here.”
The officer answered me though. “Turns out one of your friends confessed that he broke into the house and didn’t tell any of you. We’re letting all of you go and holding him.”
Him. Andy, of course. I knew without having to be told. I guess I should be grateful he did the right thing and admitted that we were all innocent.
“See!” Annie exclaimed, eyes flashing. “We should sue.”
The officer’s lips thinned and she looked tempted to slide the cell door shut on us again.
“Annie,” I tugged on her arm. “Let’s go.”
By the time we were all discharged with our few belongings returned to us, predawn light was creeping in through the blinds of the police precinct. I didn’t see Logan or any of the other guys from last night around and I figured they had already been released. Or maybe we were being released first and they were now getting discharged.
When we stepped out into the lobby, Emerson was there waiting for me.
And so was Pepper.
I groaned internally. Reece and Shaw stood behind them. Mortification washed over me. This was the scene I had wanted to avoid.
“Georgia, are you all right?” Emerson and Pepper stopped before me, looking me up and down. Here, in the fluorescent light of the police station, my dress looked even more shocking. I’m sure I looked like a train wreck . . . hair a mess, makeup smeared.
“I’m fine. It was a mix-up. The party . . .” I didn’t feel like admitting at the moment that I had gone back to the kink club. I was satisfied to just call it a party. “Well, the guy throwing it broke into the house . . .”
“Yeah. It’s all over campus.” Emerson nodded, her eyes wide.
My stomach twisted sickly. “It is?”
“Yeah, on the news, too,” Pepper added, looking grim.
“Oh, God. On the news? W-why?” I shook my head, wondering why something like this was so noteworthy.
“Really, Georgia?” Emerson looked at me as if it should be evident. “A sex club broke into the Dartford dean of students’ house. You think that wouldn’t get out? Just tell me. Was Chippy the Squirrel there?”
Emerson’s attempt at humor fell flat.
Acid surged up my throat. Clearly, there was no keeping the kink club a secret. “The dean of students?”
If Andy was in front of me right now I would seriously throat-punch the guy.
“Georgia, are you all right? What were you doing there?” Pepper’s brow knitted with worry. “This is so not like you.”
That’s right. Stepping outside the box wasn’t like me. I looked from her to Reece. They made no mention of Logan, and I could only guess they didn’t know he was involved yet.
Her gaze flicked back to my dress before returning to my face. “And you missed Emerson’s show. At the gallery in Boston, remember?”
I closed my eyes with a groan. I had totally forgotten. On top of getting arrested, I sucked as a friend. Another consequence for living life outside my box. “I forgot. Em, I’m so sorry.”
She shook her head. “Forget about it. It’s okay.”
Rachel chose that moment to join us.
Craptastic. Things kept getting better.
Reece looked at her, then me. His nostrils flared and he swung his stare around the room, clearly searching for his brother. “Where is he?”
I shook my head miserably.
Rachel laughed. “Guess you weren’t his one call.”
“Logan was there, too?” Pepper asked.
Annoyance started to prick at my nerves. “Look, I appreciate y’all coming here, but I only called Em.” I so did not feel like a group interrogation this morning.
Pepper looked crushed, so I amended my tone, wondering why I was tiptoeing so much around them. They weren’t my parents. And I’m the one who spent the night in jail with a prostitute who wanted wardrobe advice for a crime I didn’t commit. “It was a mix-up. They let us go. They’re not pressing charges.”
This didn’t alter their expressions. Emerson and Shaw looked at me like I was some kind of curious creature that might perform tricks for them. Pepper just looked worried, as though I might spew pea soup next. Reece looked tense and unhappy, ready to rip into his brother at the first opportunity. Which was right about now.
Logan and the other guys emerged through the doors. His gaze took in the group of us at once. He hesitated before shaking his head slightly and walking over to us, resignation clear on his face.