Vive’s bitter face soured even more.
Was it a stretch? Absolutely! But I had faith in Blake.
Ever since Blake had come out of the closet about being gay to Birdie, they’d had a super-glue bond. We were like fifteen.
Next to Cher, Birdie Easton had one of the largest gay followings in the world. She lived for her gays and had taken Blake under her liberal wing ages ago. She’d helped his conservative New England parents deal with his homosexuality.
Point being, Mom adored him.
“When will Blake talk to Birdie?” Taddy asked.
“Assuming Birdie is awake, Blake should be visiting her right now.”
“Blake is a better choice to talk to Birdie than Eddie.” Taddy seemed to have more confidence in this idea than Vive.
Vive sighed loudly and dried her eyes with her sleeve. “Maybe it’s good Eddie isn’t here at first. Know what I mean? He’d only make matters worse for you—”
“For all of us.” Taddy corrected her. “You better get your dad and Dick to spring Lex when we get out Vive. I mean it. I’ll never speak to you again if you don’t.”
“Heard ya the first time. And you can shut up along with Lex. The both of you, stop talking to me.” Vive’s lips trembled. “I need to think.”
Together we sat in silence. Another hour passed. We calmed ourselves down. The chilly air returned.
Vive kept making eye contact with me. Was that her effort for an apology? Maybe.
“Man, it’s like the rituals of the Russian Banya in here,” Taddy muttered and rubbed her palms together.
I felt a bit wonky myself, delirious even. In less than one day, Mom had slept with my boyfriend, who I then dumped. I’d packed up my entire life into Vive’s Bentley, blew the house up. I’d gotten myself arrested, summoned my father home to the states, and caused my two best friends to fight.
Not to mention if mental health experts were to evaluate Vive today, they’d probably diagnose her as having a nervous breakdown. Her moods had swung from nice to nasty.
Startled, Vive looked up, and her jaw suddenly dropped as she turned toward the cell’s bars.
“Sweet motor cop Jesus,” Taddy hissed under her breath in the same direction as Vive, breaking the silence between us.
I turned around.
There he stood, the Harley Davidson Hulk.
Taddy and Vive got to their feet and walked over to the bars. They couldn’t take their eyes off him.
Neither could I.
Officer Gotti appeared hotter now than he was earlier back on the highway. Inside this building, under these florescent lights, he radiated pure macholiciousness.
“Excuse me for asking this, but are you really a cop?” Vive said.
“Yeah. Why?’
“When you first pulled us over, I thought you were that WWF wrestler. Oh, what’s his name? Dwayne Johnson, that’s it.” Leaning up against the cell door, Vive didn’t resemble the distraught girl from an hour ago.
“The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns? That dude?”
“Forreals. You sure you ain’t his stunt double?” Taddy interjected, complimenting him.
Vive licked her lips
My confusion nearly paralyzed me. Did my two friends lose their minds? We’d gone from hugging besties to face-slapping frienemies and now horny girls on the prowl. WTF.
Perhaps the exhaustion and once slice of cheese sandwiches we’d eaten earlier had made us all rather punchy.
Personally the mere sight of Officer Gotti felt a tad bit too “mirage in the hot desert” for me. Men that sexy must be cocky douche bags.
“I noticed the same thing about him, Vive. But it wasn’t the time, or the place, to bring it up. After all, you were arresting us…” Taddy flirted in a soft-feminine voice.
Vive and Taddy sexualizing him up and down irked the fudge outta me. So I commented, “And now is a better time to acknowledge Officer Gotti’s looks?”
Okay, I’ll admit he did resemble that actor. However Officer Gotti’s skin was much lighter, he’s younger, and his arms are covered in ink. I mean smothered. It was effin’ hot.
Ignoring me, Taddy played with her hair. “Weren’t you in that NYPD calendar?”
What the heck was going on? In walks muscles and my two besties act stupid. Had they forgotten where we were? Jail. And who he was? The arresting officer. Hello!
“No.” His gorgeous face reddened.
“Don’t lie to me. You were Mr. November.”
Oh, for Christ’s sake. The girls were up to something. Maybe they wanted to win him over and see about the case.
“Much appreciated.” Officer Gotti thanked Vive for the compliments. “And no, I’m not in any calendar,” he replied to Taddy.
“Miss Easton…”
“Eh?” My insides turned to tapioca just from hearing the way my name rolled off his tongue.
“After I pulled you over, I went to Manhattan General and spoke to your mom.”
“How is she?” I thought back to those TV images of her arms and legs on fire. “Is she in pain?”
In unison, the girls took one step closer toward the conversation.
“Did you ask Birdie about what happened?” Vive bit down on the nail of her pinky finger, the last one left to gnaw off.
“What did Birdie tell you?” Taddy stared at me, confirming why they’d been so nice to him when he approached.
Officer Gotti was hot. Totally! However, Officer Gotti wasn’t on our side. He was on Judge Calabrese side. The man who’d boasted himself as being Birdie’s number one fan. Heck, everyone loved Birdie Easton including my boyfriend, correction my ex-boyfriend.
“Mrs. Easton seemed shaken up, but she’ll recover.”
“Was she well enough to give a statement?” After watching the news, I couldn’t imagine Mom being able to talk to anyone, let alone remember what had happened. She probably didn’t even recall screwing Kelle.
“Mrs. Easton reported you intentionally blew up her residence and tried to kill her.”
“I see…” A sour pucker started on the back of my tongue. I inhaled sharply, pushing the upset down.
The mood shifted.
Officer Gotti’s words caused any hope we might have had on getting the charges dropped to disappear. Our prison cell filled with despair, and Vive’s eyes radiated frustration.
“Police person!” Snapping back to her usual self, Vive cleared her throat. The WWF wrestler-Scorpion King Mirage had faded. Her face flushed.