“My boyfriend,” I screamed into the phone, not caring at all how this looked or what it could mean later. “He’s a professor at Cornell, got pulled over and your deputy is being an asshole. He made him get out of his car for no fucking reason. You need to find out who he is, and call him off.” I was practically barking at him, and I knew this would probably come back to bite me. I did not care.

I could leave my entire career right here, right now, if it got Patrice back in his car and headed home.

Day didn’t hesitate. “Let me call in.”

I waited on the phone, fearing the worst, because Patrice was still not back in the driver’s seat. I thought back to just minutes before when we’d stood on the sidewalk and said I love you. The thought of losing that, of losing him was unbearable.

Finally Day came back on the phone. “It’s Deputy Hines. He’s fairly new. I’ll radio him.”

I exhaled, feeling relief beyond anything I’d ever felt in my life. My limbs felt liquid as the tension started to seep out of me. After a few seconds, which felt like hours, Day spoke again and I could hear the tension in his voice.

“I radioed him, he’s letting him go.”

I nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see me, as I stared at my phone screen and finally saw Patrice getting back in his car.

“Thank you.”

Day exhaled. “No problem.”

I ended the call without saying another word and waited for Patrice to say something, but he must’ve forgotten that I was still on FaceTime. The next thing I knew, it seemed like the car was moving. When I looked at the length of the call I saw we’d only been talking for six minutes.

The longest of my life.

“How are you doing?” I asked in the most normal voice I could manage. Afraid I’d spook him while he was driving.

But when he spoke his voice was distant. “I’m fine. I’m going to turn this off, while I’m driving. See you in a few.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

Patrice

The five-minute drive to the building took me fifteen, because I had to stop twice when my hands started shaking so bad I thought I was going to get into an accident. I kept replaying the last ten minutes over and over in my head and I felt sick about all of it. I tried to calm myself and figure out a way to have a conversation with Easton about what he had done without losing it. I hated feeling like I did, humiliated and scared, so fucking scared.