XLVIII

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48

     Today was Tuesday and I had been in this room all day. The door opened and two guys came in helping Steve into the room.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Somehow our captive escaped but not before beating up Steve." one said before they left out.

"Steve are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine. I helped Braxton escape when no one was looking." he said.

"You can stop pretending." I said when he winced.

"I'm not pretending. After I had fake bruises he punched me in my stomach. I swear I blacked out for like four seconds. Fuck he punches hard." he said clutching his stomach.

     I laughed.

"Well maybe if you hadn't punched him, he wouldn't have punched you." I said.

"Fair enough. He's coming back later with help. You're getting out of here soon. Everything's gonna be okay then. Now I'm gonna lay down on this bed until this pain goes anyway." he said.

"Drama queen."

"I'm not overreacting. My stomach feels like it was run over by a truck."

"Don't worry I'm sure you'll recover soon."

****

Braxton's POV

     Once I escaped I ran as fast as I could to the nearest police station. I had to get Phoebe out of there soon. Once I found it I opened the door and walked up to the desk. The police behind it looked at me like I was crazy. I know I must look like crap.
     I haven't changed my clothes in four days.

"I need help." I said.

     They looked at me as if waiting for me to continue.

"My girlfriend was kidnapped." I said.

"Well sir you'll have to wait 48..."

"I know about the fucking 48 hour rule. It's been more than that. And the only reason I'm just reporting this today is because I was taken too, but I escaped." I said interrupting one of them.

     The cop that I was talking to motioned to one of his colleagues and whispered something to him.

"Follow me." he said.

     I followed him to an interrogation room. We both took a seat on opposite sides of the table.

"We'll help your girlfriend, but first we need you to answer some questions. My name is deputy Anderson." he said.

"Okay." I said.

"First off what is your name?" he asked.

"Braxton Martino."

"And your girlfriend's?"

"Phoebe Thorne."

"And the two of you are how old?"

     I knew we'd probably be in trouble but I didn't care. I'd risk my life to protect the girl I love.

"I'm 22 and she's 17." I said looking at the table.

"You do realize that you could go to jail for that right?" he asked.

     Really? Something could be happening to Phobe and he's worried about our frickin' age difference.

"Really? I had no idea." I said sarcastically looking at him.

"Don't get smart with me Mr. Martino." he said.

"Well focus on the real issue here."

"I have to focus on both since she's a minor."

     We started yelling at each other. Well technically he started it but still. All I did was come and try to get help for my girlfriend and I end up one of the bad guys just because of our age difference. The door opened and another officer walked in followed by my dad and Phoebe's.

"Braxton?" my dad asked.

     What were they doing here? I didn't care. Now I had people on my side.

"We've been trying to get in touch with you and Phoebe since Saturday." Gerold said.

"Phoebe and I were taken hostage. I just escaped to today and I came to get help only to have this man yelling at me because of Phoebe's and my age difference." I said.

"Anderson why are you yelling at my son?" dad asked.

"S...son? Sir do you realize that your son has....is creating a crime?" Anderson asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"He's dating a minor."

"That's not a crime in my eyes. No one's hurt and no one's dead."

"Not to interrupt but Phoebe still needs help." I said.

"Right. We're on it."

"Gather up a team and met us at Martino's house." Gerold said.

"Yes sir." he said.

"How can you two work with him?" I asked.

"It's not easy. You know Gerold and I watched you two argue for a good 20 minutes before we decided to break it up." dad said.

"Was it entertaining?"

"Very." Gerold said.

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