Falling

54

Vinny Taylor

The last thing I ever expected to happen was to be standing in a holding area at the local police station with Logan, but that was where I was on a Friday night. My head ached, I had dry blood on my face, and I just wanted to go home.

Luckily, the cops had enough sense to keep us separated from Seth. And after we explained to them that Logan and I were brothers and Seth had come to our house uninvited, they let the two of us stay together. At first, I was relieved to have Logan there, but after a while I was wishing they had just held us separately.

Logan let out his fiftieth loud groan of the hour and I was about ready to start punching him. That would get them to separate us and give me some peace and quiet.

"How is it we end up in jail when that psycho was the one that came and attacked you?" Logan asked, letting out yet another groan, and putting his head in his hands.

"Logan, I'm still not going to have an answer to that no matter how many times you ask, so just shut up," I said, trying to keep my voice down.

"Dad should be here by now," Logan replied, ignoring what I had said.

"We don't even know when they called him."

"Is this unlawful imprisonment?" Logan asked, standing up and pacing around the small room. "I can't stay in here any longer."

I rolled my eyes at him. I was usually the one freaking out in stressful situations. Now I could see how annoying it was.

"Chill out," I told him with a hard stare. "They already told us they're not keeping us here so just shut up."

"I can't stay in here any longer," he repeated, and I turned to face him as he continued pacing back and forth.

I grabbed him by the shoulders to stop him.

"Logan, you're really pissing me off right now."

I didn't even know how long the two of us had been in there, but it seemed like it had been a while since we talked to the cops about what happened, and they had our injuries tended to. They told us that they brought all three of us into the station because they got a call about what was going on and didn't know whose house it was or who the instigator was.

I wasn't so sure that arresting all of us was the best course of action, but I had kept my mouth shut about it. At least I was away from Seth and there was no way he could get to me in here. Or Darren. If things went south with Hadley and he came looking for me, he wouldn't be able to find me. Maybe that was why I wasn't entirely pissed off about being arrested. It was Logan who was pissing me off.

Before he could say anything, the door to our room opened and the cop that had brought us in there stood in the doorway, motioning for us to follow him out.

"Your father is here," he said.

Logan nearly knocked me over in order to get out of that room. I glared at him as I followed.

Dad was talking to another cop when we approached him.

"So, what's happening with the kid that came onto my property and started attacking my kids?" Dad asked, his arms crossed over his chest. "This isn't the first time this Seth has fought with my sons and the school has done next to nothing about it."

"Dad—" I started, but he gave me a look that told me to shut my mouth.

"He will be released to his parents and might be facing some charges after we file the report and if it's decided to prosecute," the officer replied. "If you choose to press charges, he will still be released to his parents."