Alyssa looked between the officers. "You can't honestly believe I orchestrated this? Why in the hell would I do that? I could have died!"
"Miss. Roman, are you having difficulties at school, home, with friends?" one of the officers asked her.
Her mother scowled. "Who doesn't have difficulties in their life? What is the meaning of this? My daughter was nearly killed today."
"In a car that was given a pass by a repair shop yesterday," the officer answered.
"Yes, which tells me someone fiddled with her car and you should be looking into that not accusing my daughter of wrongdoing!"
"Did you do something to your car?" the other officer snapped at Alyssa.
"I'm not answering any more questions, you've made up your mind and it doesn't matter what I say because you think I'm some angsty teenager looking for attention. I want to call a lawyer," Alyssa snapped back at him.
"Fine." He turned and left the room. The other officer sent her a glare and followed.
Alyssa's hands shook as she dialed her phone.
"Who are you calling, we don't know any lawyers?" her mother asked.
"Josh, his father has one on retainer." The phone rang and Josh answered, tears flooded her eyes and it took everything she had not to burst into tears while she spoke to him in a shaky voice. "Josh, we need a lawyer. They're accusing me of tampering with the brakes."
"What?"
"They think it's some stupid teenage stunt for attention," she told him.
"Okay, don't say a word, I'll make the call right now and get someone over there."
"Thanks."
"No need for thanks. Love you." He hung up and dialed his father's lawyer. "Mr. Salazar, it's Josh Harrison. Can you send someone to the police station on Brush?"
"Are you in some sort of trouble, Josh, do I need to call your father for you?"
"No, sir, it's my girlfriend Alyssa and her mother. Someone messed with her brakes and they're accusing her of doing it as some sort of teenage stunt for attention."
"Right, I'm leaving now. I'm down the street, I just finished a meeting with another client, it won't take me long to get there."
"Thank you," he told the lawyer before they disconnected. "Let's get down to the station. At the very least we'll be moral support, even if we can't do anything."
"I'm with you, man," West said as they exited the house. "I think you're probably right."
"About what?" he asked as they climbed into his truck.
"That Seth probably has a couple of cops in his pocket, why else would they go after Alyssa so hard? Especially with her mother there and no evidence pointing to her." They pulled out of the driveway and headed for the police station.
"Yeah, it isn't looking good. I bet they thought they could railroad her into confessing."
West laughed. "They don't know her very well then. That girl is as stubborn as hell."
Josh grinned. "She is, but if you think she's stubborn, she's nothing compared to her mother. Those cops won't know what hit them."
"And once the lawyer shows up the entire thing will fall apart around them." West grinned. "If I had a drink I'd make a toast to stubborn women."
Josh laughed. "I'd join you." They pulled into the parking lot at the station, parked, and went inside.
The officer at the desk smiled at them. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, my girlfriend is here," Josh told her.
"Her name?"
"Alyssa Roman, she came in to make a statement about an accident earlier today."
"As, yes, she's currently in interrogation room three, I'm sorry but you can't go in there."
"That's fine, we'll just wait here," he told her, turned away, and took a seat with a smile. West followed and sat beside him.
"How long do you think this will take?" West asked.
"I suppose it depends on when the lawyer got here and what idiocy the cops have decided to pursue."
They sat in the lobby for forty minutes before Mr. Salazar came out with Alyssa and her mother trailing behind him. Alyssa darted around the lawyer and threw herself at Josh as he stood.
"Thank you," she told him, her voice muffled against his chest.
He hugged her tightly and looked at the lawyer. "Sir?"
Angelo sighed. "They have nothing to hold her on, there's no proof she had anything to do with the brakes. The only fingerprints on any part of the car that has something to do with her bakes are from the mechanics who looked at it yesterday. She also doesn't have the knowledge to do it. Those two men are dead set on blaming her and I doubt they're going to look in any other direction." He turned to Alyssa's mother. "Here's my card, if they try and questions either of you again then call me. Do not speak to them alone."
"Yes, thank you." Mrs. Roman took his card.
He nodded, bid them farewell, and left.
"Well, that was an eventful afternoon," Mrs. Roman said.
Josh smiled. "It was. If you'd all like to come to stay at my place for a while, there's plenty of room and a state-of-the-art alarm system."
Mrs. Roman smiled. "I appreciate it, Josh, but I don't think that's a solution."
"The cops think blaming Alyssa is," he replied with a scowl. "If someone wants to hurt her how does that help?"
"You have a point." She looked at Alyssa. "If you want to stay at Josh's that's all right. I want you to feel safe."
She hugged her mother. "Thank you."
Her mother hugged her before she took a step back. "I think it's best if you and your father cancel the camping trip this weekend. All right, let's go home."
Alyssa nodded with a sigh. "I hate this."
"We all do," her mother replied as she slipped an arm around her shoulders. They exited the station, climbed into the cars, and drove back to the Romans' house.
West frowned as they pulled into the driveway beside Mrs. Roman's car. "Isn't that Zay's car parked at the curb?"
"Yeah, it is," Josh replied in a cold voice.
"What's he doing here?"
"Let's find out," Josh told him as they got out of the truck. Alyssa and her mother were already up the walkway and nearly to the door when Zay got out of his car.
"Lyssie?"
She glanced at him before she turned away and allowed her mother to lead her inside.
Josh and West stepped in front of him when he took a step toward the house. Josh sent him a dark look. "Why are you here, Zay? Coming to check on things for your boyfriend, make sure his little scheme worked as planned? A little surprised she's still alive?"
Zay drew back with a horrified look on his face. "What are you talking about? I was on my way to Seth's when I saw the accident, I recognized Alyssa's car. I wanted to make sure she was all right."
Josh took a step closer to him. "Someone emptied the brake fluid from her car. It was no accident. I suggest you leave, you aren't welcome here." He turned away and stalked into the house.
West sighed. "It's probably a good idea if you stay away from Alyssa, not that it matters since you're already managing to do that."
"She's my best friend!"
"She was until you chose Seth over her."
"I shouldn't have to choose between them! I never forced her to choose between Josh and me!"
"No, you didn't, but then again Josh isn't a dick."
"That isn't fair. You can't keep spreading lies about him. I'm sorry the two of you didn't work out but get over it already!"
West snorted. "Trust me, I'm over it. The guy is bad news, Zayden. I made a mistake getting mixed up with him. I wanted to be accepted and he was there to step up and tell me everything was all right. I'm going to have to live the rest of my life with the knowledge that he can pop up whenever he feels like it and threaten me because of the stupidity I allowed him to talk me into." It was time Zayden saw Seth for what he was, he pulled his phone out and held it up so Zay could see the picture. "I will have to worry for the rest of my days that instead of using this image to keep me quiet, he'll decide one day to use it to destroy my life instead. That he'll wait until I have a family, a job, that I'm settled and have forgotten about him and he'll pop up and end everything for me. That is what that bastard has done to my life. He destroyed it with one picture. One image I can never erase. There is nothing for me to get over, Zayden. I'm over that asshole, what I'm not over is his potential to destroy me. If anyone had anything to do with Alyssa's brakes failing, you can bet it was Seth."
"That's bullshit, don't blame him for the mistakes you made, Weston!"
"My mistake was believing the bullshit he fed me." West snorted and turned away. "He's already gotten inside your head. It's too bad because I thought you were smarter than that. Goodbye, Zay, don't come back here I don't think Alyssa wants to see you. I know I don't." He left Zay standing on the sidewalk in front of the house.