For the Love of the Law

Chapter Thirty Five | I'd Believe In You

I remember how panicked I was then. How helpless I had felt, how upset. 

"Boys," I said around the lump in my throat. "Get in the car." 

They didn't have to be asked twice. I walked back inside, snatching my keys up off the kitchen island before running up to my room and stripping out of my booty shorts, yanking on a pair of skinny jeans and grabbing a jacket, running back downstairs and locking the front door behind me. 

Once I was in the car, pulling out onto the road, I glanced at Jag and Archer. "Can one of you two please tell me what happened at school today?" 

Archer and Jag shared a look, before they both sighed. 

"He didn't have drugs on him, Harlow. At least not intentionally." Jag muttered the last part, looking straight ahead out the front windscreen.

"We were just getting ready to leave school and Marley opened his locker, and inside there was a small bag of white powder. He didn't know what to do with it, so he just left it in there. He was going to go tell the principal, but he wasn't at school. He was just going to wait until tomorrow to tell him, but I guess someone found it." Archer explained, his teddy bear coloured eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. They were telling the truth, I was sure of that.

"Do you know who put it there?" I asked, feeling a little suffocated about this information. "Who planted drugs in his locker?" 

"We don't know." Archer said, his eyes sliding over to Jag as his jaw hardened. 

"But I have an idea who it was." Jag spat out, the menace in his voice taking me for surprise. "I think you do, too." Those dark, dark eyes of his sliced over to meet mine, and a cold feeling washed through me. 

He wouldn't do that. Samson was plenty of things, but someone who did drugs? No. He wasn't that stupid, even though evidence would prove otherwise. 

But then why was he suddenly seen hanging around with some of the gang members? And the rumours, it all kind of made sense.

But I told myself to forget even getting angry towards him, at least until we knew for sure what had gone on. 

"If it was Samson..." I murmured, my knuckles tightening on the steering wheel. 

"Then we're going to deliver him payback. Our way." Jag replied, a dark look taking over his expression. 

"You won't kill him, will you?" 

"No. But Archer's got the strongest right hook I've ever seen. He might." 

* * * * 

By the time we'd parked up at the police station, I had called dad to tell him to come straight to the station when he finished work. He had said he was coming immediately, and that made me feel better. Inside, the station seemed quieter, so we walked straight up to the reception desk, and I spotted Stan almost instantly. 

I was about to call out his name when Stan looked up, seeing me before I could. He walked over, pulling me into a hug without a word. 

"We'll figure this out, Harls." He whispered, dropping a kiss to my hair when I closed my eyes, holding on for a few more seconds. "I don't believe for a second Marley would do this."

Stan led us down to one of the small rooms that held a few couches and a coffee table, stacked with magazines and a small tv was mounted to the wall, displaying the news. There was a window covered in blinds that looked out into the station, so you could see police officers at their desks, others walking around, the coffee machine right under the window.