Bennett (On the Line Book 2) (20 page)

Bennett just held him silently. The staff had evacuated the office and we were alone in the room now.

“What are you going to do?” I asked Bennett.

“Hold him ’til he comes to his senses.”

“I’ll never—” Liam started.

The waiting room door opened then and four uniformed police officers walked in. I knew two of them from work.

“Charlotte?” one of them asked, hand on his nightstick. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I wiped furiously at my cheek. “Liam, you
will
stop now. You’re both getting arrested. This is over.”

“We doing this peacefully?” an officer asked Bennett.

Bennett let go of Liam and raised his hands in the air. “Yeah.”

Liam raised his head, the chair cushion streaked with his blood. He just nodded, stood, and offered his hands up for the cuffs.

“I’m so sorry, Charlotte,” Bennett said, his voice thick with emotion.

I was too numb to even answer. The waiting room was a wreck. I watched Bennett’s and Liam’s backs as they were walked out, then sank down into the nearest chair.

I definitely wasn’t finding out the sex of the baby today. It looked like instead, I’d be going to the police station to bail out Bennett and Liam.

Bennett

I
shifted my hands in my lap, trying to stop the handcuffs from digging into my wrists. It didn’t work. Fucking Liam. I glared at him across the police department conference room table.

“Don’t look at me.” He scowled at me.

“Just enjoying the view of your smashed face.”

“Yours isn’t looking so great, either.”

I shook my head. “Couldn’t have picked a worse time and place, man. You scared the shit out of those people in the waiting room.”

“Like hell. They were watching like it was an episode of Springer.”

“Yeah, it kinda felt like one,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Real classy, douchebag.”

“
Classy
?” He leaned forward, eyes wide. “You knocked up my sister. I’ll never forgive you.”

“I don’t remember asking you to.”

The door to the conference room opened, and the officer watching us from a chair in the corner stood up. A polished black woman in a business suit walked in, followed by Orion.

Our coach’s expression hardened when he saw our messed-up faces. I looked down at my lap. This wasn’t unusual behavior for Liam, but it was for me. Especially when I was busting my ass on the ice to hopefully move up to a better pay grade.

“You want me to stay, Ms. Amandre?” the officer asked.

She looked at Orion, who shook his head.

“These boys won’t even scratch an itch in here without my permission,” he said.

“You can remove the cuffs,” she said to the officer. He nodded, pulled out a key, and unlocked both of us.

Liam’s expression was murderous.

“Don’t even think about it,” Orion said sharply. “You two destroyed an obstetrician’s waiting room full of pregnant women and children. I definitely wasn’t prepared for that call. Listen to Ms. Amandre and don’t move a muscle.”

“Gentleman, I’m Wren Amandre. Charlotte works for me. Normally, I’d probably refer this case to a special prosecutor to avoid the appearance of a conflict. If we can come to terms right now, I won’t have to.”

I rubbed my sweating palms on my thighs, still in shock over this whole thing. I’d kept my nose clean all these years, and now it was all crumbling around me. It was a hundred times worse with a baby on the way.

“The victim’s wishes are often honored in decisions about charges in assault and battery cases,” Wren said. “Do either of you wish to pursue charges against the other?”

“No, ma’am,” I said quickly.

Liam just shook his head, still staring at me.

“Okay. We also have Dr. Lansing’s wishes to consider. Charlotte appealed to him, and he has agreed not to pursue charges if you’ll make full restitution for the damage done to the office.”

I owed Charlotte big for that. I hated to think about how embarrassing it must’ve been for her to claim us as the father of her child and her brother to anyone who had seen that fight.

“We will,” I said. “Thank you for—”

“Oh, I’m not done.” Wren arched her brows at me. “I also told Dr. Lansing this agreement would be contingent on both of you performing community service.”

Liam exhaled deeply and I kicked his shin under the table.

“Of course,” I said. “We’ll do it.”

She slid a paper across the table at me. “Which of these organizations can I tell to expect your call next week?”

I scanned the list. “I’ll take the suicide prevention one.”

“Good. They always need help. How does forty hours sound? You can have three months to get it in.”

“Sure. I’ll get it done.” I passed the paper to Liam. He looked up at the ceiling rather than down at the paper.

“You’ve got ten seconds,” Orion said to him. “Or I’ll be looking for a new center this evening.”

Liam looked down at the paper. “I’ll do the injured veterans one.”

“Excellent,” Wren said. “Eighty hours.”

Liam furrowed his brow, confused.

“Eyewitnesses told the police you were the instigator and that Mr. Morse repeatedly asked you to stop. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have pressed charges against him, no matter what.”

I knew that look on Liam’s face. It was how he looked before he was about to fly off the handle.

“I’ll do eighty hours too,” I said. “I’m just as responsible for what happened. I had it coming.”

Wren picked up the folder she’d set down in front of her on the table and looked back and forth between Liam and me. “Charlotte deserves better than this.”

She might as well have kicked me in the gut. Her words cut deep down to the heart of all my worries about being good enough for Charlotte.

“Yes, ma’am,” I said.

Wren’s eyes softened as she looked at me. She got up and left the room then, leaving us alone with Orion.

“I don’t even know where to start,” he said the moment the door closed. “You two jackasses embarrassed yourselves, your team, and me today.”

“It was me,” Liam said. “I’m the one who started it.”

“Believe me, I know. You’re a PR nightmare already, and your solution to that is to bang the PR lady to stay in her good graces.”

“That’s not—”

“Did I say you could talk?” Orion yelled.

“No, Coach.”

Orion turned to me. “Bennett, you should’ve told him. That was a hell of a way for him to find out you got his sister pregnant.”

“You’re right, Coach,” I said.

“But you—” he pointed at Liam “—fucked up bad this time. You’d better blow me away on the ice and do that community service with a smile on your face every second you’re there.”

“I will.”

“If the press gets wind of this, you keep your mouths shut and send ’em to me.”

We both nodded. A knot of tension formed in my stomach at the thought of this hitting the news.

“Any injuries?” Orion asked.

“I think my wrist is sprained,” I said.

“Go home and ice it. You’re going to Chicago in the morning for some one-on-one with my former teammate Niko.”

“Vereshkova?”

“Yes. He’s got an off day and he wants to work with you.”

I nodded silently, but inside I was elated. This was a chance to get recognized by a player from the team I wanted to be on.

“And when Bennett gets back tomorrow night, figure out how to put this behind you.”

Liam scoffed and looked away. Orion stood and I followed him out of the room, knowing Liam and I would be at each other’s throats again soon if I stayed.

Charlotte was sitting on a bench in the lobby of the police station, her elbows resting on her knees. She looked up as I approached.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“Bennett.” She sighed, looking relieved, and stood up. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.

“I’m sorry, Char.”

“It’s not your fault.”

I pressed my face against her neck, taking in her sweet, familiar scent. “I should’ve done better.”

She pulled back, hands on my shoulders, and looked up into my eyes.

“It’s not your fault, Bennett. You were only defending yourself.”

“I just hate this for you. You missed your appointment and the doctor’s office probably—”

She laughed. “I’ll be finding a new doctor.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re banned from Dr. Lansing’s office now.”

I shook my head. “Shit. I’m sorry, babe.”

“It’s all right. They’re squares.”

“You okay?” I asked, stroking a thumb over her cheekbone. “This had to be stressful for you.”

Shrugging, she said, “I didn’t have to clean out my savings to bail you guys out, so all in all, I’m good.”

“What about the baby?”

Rubbing a hand over her belly, she smiled. “The baby’s good. I felt some kicks while I was waiting for you.”

She looked at someone behind me and I turned. Liam was approaching.

“Let’s go,” she said to me. “I’m not talking to him right now.”

“Charlotte,” I said softly. “Come on, he means well. He loves you.”

“He’s got a funny way of showing it.”

I tipped her chin up so she’d meet my eyes. “I’ve got two sisters. Bet I’d have done the same thing.”

“In a doctor’s office?”

“Eh . . . maybe in the parking lot so I could find a big rock to beat the guy with.”

She looked at Liam. “Are you sorry?”

He shrugged and sneered at me. “I’m sorry you’re carrying his kid.”

“You told me I was like a brother to you,” I said to Liam.

Liam narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, you were.”

I felt that hit harder than any of the rest. He walked out of the police station then, not looking back.

Charlotte

Bennett stared up at my spinning ceiling fan, lying in my bed with his hands behind his head. Liam knew now, and we could spend as many nights together as we wanted with no fear of being caught. But there was no joy in it, because Bennett was a million miles away.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, closing my laptop and turning to him.

“I hate that I came between you and Liam.”

“You didn’t.”

He looked over at me skeptically. “If not for me, you guys wouldn’t be pissed at each other right now.”

“Maybe not over this, but we’d probably be pissed at each other over something else. We’ve always been this way. It’s because we’re both strong-minded.”

“Strong-minded?” He laughed softly.

“Yes. What’s funny?”

“Nothing.” He turned on his side, cringing from the pain in his ribs, and leaned up on an elbow. “You know he and I will work this out, right?”

“Why would you even want to? Look what he did to your face.”

“Babe, I get beat on all the time. That’s hockey. We settle shit with our fists. That fight between Liam and me needed to happen.”

Bennett’s eye was still swollen and purple. I couldn’t understand why he wasn’t bothered by Liam’s low opinion of him. Or, apparently, his trip to the police station today and the community service he now had to do.

“He owes us both an apology.”

“For standing up for his sister?”

My eyes bulged with anger as I sat up in bed. “I didn’t need standing up for, Bennett!”