Chapter Seventeen
A Farewell
It’s not looking good. No, scratch that, it’s looking horrible. Since they brought me in yesterday I’ve been told that I’m looking at five to ten years in prison. That’s a huge estimate gap considering how much has happened to me in just a year. I can’t say that I won’t do well in prison considering it’s pretty obvious that I would make a great prison inmate. I’m more worried about what might happen to the others there. I’d fight with anyone that tried to push my buttons. I also worried about David, only because of the trail of bad things I’ve left behind. What if vampires somehow found him because of me? What about my sister? I had hoped to get myself together and then help her, even if she didn’t want me to. I was just starting to get my life in order. I was going to help her get off drugs and off the streets. It’s my duty as the older sister. It’s pretty clear that my mom won’t be stepping in to help any of her children.
I draped myself across the thin mattress and stared up at the brown stains on the ceiling. Of course I deserved all of the crap I get, but did it have to be now? Couldn’t it have been after I earned a bunch of money and retired from my most recent job? This was all a bunch of bull. I was about to lose what little I had gained. There went my one shot at an incredibly gorgeous trainer that was single. I think that’s what really stung. Should’ve made out with him at least once.
An idea sprung into my mind, making me leap out of my bed. David couldn’t help me in here for a million reasons, one of which was due to him being poor. Jesse couldn’t help me because I barely knew him and he most likely didn’t have the money. But there was one person I knew who had the money, the power, the influence, and a reason to get me out of jail.
Matthew.
It’d ruin whatever plans he had for killing a bunch of vampires.
“I’d like to make a call!” I called down the hall, my face mashed against two of the cold metal bars.
The officer who had arrested me came down the hall and stood in front of my jail cell. He gave me a look as if I had killed a bunch of babies. “You have five minutes,” he grumbled as he unlocked my cell.
I marched past each cell, receiving several inappropriate looks from some of the men in the other cells. I guess it’s not common to have a nineteen-year-old chick arrested here. I ignored them and took the phone off the wall, dialing his number.
Someone answered after the fourth ring. “Foster residence, this is Jacky, how can I help you?”
“Jacky! This is Joanna. I really need to speak with Matthew.”
There was a pause. “Mr. Foster is busy.”
The clock was ticking. “This is extremely important. Interrupt whatever he’s doing and get him on the phone. I don’t have much time.”
I could hear her breathing pick up. “But…”
“Please.” I was desperate. It was so obvious considering I called Matthew in the first place.
“Fine…”
I stood there for three agonizing minutes. The officer kept checking his watch to make sure I didn’t go over the five minutes. This was my one chance. Tomorrow I might be shipped off somewhere else to be held on trial.
“You better be bleeding out or something,” Matthew said, his tone filled with annoyance.
I had a minute. Just a single minute. “I’m in jail in Cook County. They said I’ll probably go to prison for five or so years for some, err, past things I had done. I need help and you’re the only one that I thought could help me.” I took a breath.
“Why would I care if you’re going to prison?”
I expected an answer like that. “Because I’m an asset that will age in prison and, therefore, can’t do your bidding. I will be sent away, probably tomorrow.”
The phone went dead.
I looked up to see the officer pressing his finger over the hook part of this prehistoric phone. My five minutes were up. I handed him the phone and went back to my cell. Would Matthew even do anything for me? I doubted it. I bet right now he’s sipping his thousand dollar bottle of wine as he laughs with his fellow rich buddies. Gah, I hate him.
I don’t know how long I had slept for. It felt like hours upon hours. My neck was stiff from the crappiest and nastiest pillows known to man. Jesse’s raincoat was used as a blanket because it smelled so lovely. The inside smelled of his cologne. I stared up at the brown ceiling once more, counting each spot until I had counted them all—twenty-nine, in case you’re curious. I was bored out of my mind. I’m an incredibly impatient person who is bored easily. I was tempted just to ask them to send me off to prison for something to do.
“Hey, girly,” a voice said from the other side of the wall.
“If you’re talking to me, don’t call me ‘girly’ okay?” I grumbled.
“Whatcha in for?” The redneck-sounding man asked.
I stretched out on the bed and placed my hands behind my head. “Does it matter? What if I said I was murdering helpless kittens in the lake while drunk, huh?”
There was silence for a few minutes before he replied. “Nah. You couldn’t have been doin’ that. Hot girls don’t pull that shit.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I responded flatly, wishing he’d just shut up.
“Ya should. I saw ya walkin’ down the hall earlier. Mmm, you look sexy in them tight yoga pants. Bet ya go runnin’ often, huh? I like girls who wear yoga pants. You can almost see everything.”
My eyes were wide from his perverted comments. Why did they have to put me next to a creep?
“Joanna Garth, you have a visitor,” said the chubby officer who was at the front desk earlier.
I swung my legs to the ground and sat up, facing the bars. There, next to the officer, was none other than the richest vampire I knew: Matthew. He stood on the other side of the bars in a dark grey suit, no tie, and messy hair that was distracting. His hair had always been neatly kept, but it was wild. I’ll never tell him this, but I liked it much better this way. Maybe it’s because I like guys looking rugged. He also wore a look of annoyance and boredom as he looked me over.
“I can’t believe you’re actually laying on that. Do you know how many people with disease, lice, and bodily fluids leaking have been on that bed? Disgusting,” he said with his nose wrinkled.
He was here. He was actually here! “I’ve been in worst places,” I murmured, mesmerized that he had actually come.
“Come with us.” The officer opened my cell and gestured for me to follow.
I walked beside Matthew with the officer behind us. I had no idea what Matthew was going to do, but I hoped it’d work.
“Stop looking at me that way,” Matthew said to me with his eyes straight ahead.
“Like what?” I waved my arms wildly.
“Like I’m doing something suspicious. It’s giving me the creeps.”
“Sorry. I just never thought you’d pull away from your busy schedule to help poor little me.” I shouldn’t have sounded so harsh. I just didn’t like the guy personally.
Matthew’s lips twitched in amusement. “Don’t consider this free. You will definitely owe me something big. Paperwork will be required.”
I groaned as I pulled on my raincoat because it was getting cold in here. “Sorry for disrupting whatever you were in the middle of. I hope you didn’t hurt Jacky.”
He chuckled. “I was in the middle of something. More specifically, a beautiful woman’s legs. And Jacky is just fine. She may be a little scarred from walking in on us, but she’ll get over it.”
I grimaced. Can you say gross? I couldn’t get the mental image out of my head. Someone, get me some bleach! “Is her name Candy? Maybe Cinnamon or Bunny?”
“Her name is Janine,” he replied dryly.
We entered the interrogation room and took a seat at the metal table in the center of the room. The officer left us there to go get someone, making this pretty awkward. “How much did she charge you?” I loved getting under his skin.
“She wasn’t a prostitute,” he practically growled. “She’s a beautiful young woman that knows when to not upset the person helping her, unlike you.”
I threw my hands up defensively. “Whoa there, buddy. Sorry. I’m sure she’s a lovely, respectable young lady. I bet she’s pacing the floor right now, crying your name out the window.”
“Do you want my help? Otherwise I can just get up and leave you to rot in prison…?”
My teasing expression immediately switched to horror. “I’m sorry. I’m just in a bad mood and exhausted from training.”
He relaxed in his seat.
The door opened and in walked two officers, one of them being the one that arrested me. I glanced at Matthew, wondering how in the heck he was going to get me out of this. He stood up and reached his hand towards one of them. “I’m Matthew Foster, here to represent Miss Joanna Garth.” He shook their hands and took a seat.
What? Represent? Did that mean he was my lawyer?
“I’ll need a few minutes with my client,” he went on, giving my shoulder a squeeze as if to show them that we were besties.
They grumbled and left us to chat. I looked at Matthew curiously, unsure of what he was doing. “Are you a lawyer? I thought you were a businessman!”
“Joanna, I’m a very old vampire. I’ve picked up a few things in my time. Now shut up and let me do the talking.”
I leaned back in my chair and kicked my feet up onto the table. “I wonder if they have coffee… I mean, they offer it in the movies, but they have yet to get me a cup.”
Matthew pulled out a briefcase and began fumbling through some papers. “Where’d you get that jacket? It’s hanging off your shoulders. I thought you’d have enough money to not have to dumpster dive anymore.”
I scowled at him, trying to remind myself to not snap at him. “It’s my trainer, Jesse’s.”
He paused, casting a glance at me. “You stole his jacket? Tsk, tsk.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and resisted the urge to give him the finger. “I’ll have you know that he gave it to me because he didn’t want me to go out in the rain as is. He’s really nice that way,” I defended, my thoughts now swirling around Jesse.
Matthew pulled the papers out of the case and tossed them onto the table. “We should prepare.” He changed the subject, surprising me that he didn’t insult me again.
I sat up and took my feet off the table. “Let’s do this.”
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That’s all I’ve seemed to be able to hear for the past five hours. Matthew’s lawyer talk was awfully boring and completely confusing for me to follow. What was pretty astonishing was the fact that he was able to recite each crime I had committed and the date they happened on without looking at the papers. I had known that he researched me before hiring me, but I didn’t know he had memorized my past. He remained calm the entire time, bringing up the fact that I have been sober for over a year now several times. It was like watching one of my crime shows. I couldn’t keep up with any of it. I just nodded along and sipped my coffee that Matthew managed to get for me. I wondered how much this all would cost me if he got me out of jail.
I was escorted back to my cell after several hours. It was nerve-wracking to wait for a change considering I knew the sun was going to come up soon. Matthew could only help me for so long. He was talking to them as I sat on the crappy bed in the cell, completely out of hearing range. David was surely going to be bombarding me with questions as to where I was. I had several responses prepared, but most of them I decided were terrible ideas. I thought about telling him that I spent the night with a guy. It sounded like me, at least. Well, maybe more like the me from my past. It wasn’t rare for me to meet a guy at a bar and go home with him. But I realized that it was horrible considering the way David feels about me. Also it made me look cheaper than I already was. My second plan was to tell him that my sister had called and that I stayed the night with her. It was a decent plan. And then there was my third one that involved me working late, which is highly suspicious.
“You’re free to go,” the officer said, standing right in front of the door.
“Really?” I questioned, launching to my feet.
He opened the door and led me out. I couldn’t believe it. They’re just letting me go after every crime I had committed? Was that possible? I had been running from the cops for years! I was shoplifting at the age of ten and vandalizing at thirteen. I started fights with other druggies and was involved in a car chase at one point. Letting me go? It was impossible.
Matthew stood out in the waiting room looking warn out and ready to go. I quickly stood beside him as he filled out a few things of paperwork. “The hospital will be receiving the check tomorrow,” he said to the officer as he handed over the clipboard.
“Stay out of trouble, you hear?” said the man behind the counter.
I nodded and followed Matthew outside. It was still dark, but thankfully it had stopped raining. I looked up at him in amazement. “When’s the court date?” I asked as he waited for his driver.
He glanced down at me and ran his fingers through his already wild hair. “Court date? You don’t have one. You’re free.”
I raised an eyebrow out of confusion. “Free? From which crime? Just the hospital one?”
He shook his head. “No. You’re free from every crime committed. I paid the hospital for everything you had stolen as well as a charitable donation in your name. I managed to, err, persuade them to wipe your file clean.”
“Persuade?”
His lips pulled up to one side. “I’m a vampire, Joanna. I have a few tricks up my sleeve that not many know about.”
I used the wall behind us to keep me from falling over. “I’m free?” I breathed, not believing that it could be possibly true.
“You are.”
It was a thousand pounds lifted off my shoulders. So many crimes. I’ve had that weight on my shoulder for so many years that I couldn’t think back to how it was before then. Each day I’d go out and wonder if it’s the day that I’m going to be locked up. But now I’m free? I could walk inside of a hospital, bleeding, and they’d treat me like the other patients? No worrying that I’d be taken away? I could go into the Wal-Mart close to David’s without worrying that they’d arrest me for the vandalism and shoplifting I had done when I was seventeen? I was free.
I was free.
I don’t know if it was the stress, exhaustion, or feeling of relief I had that made me act so strange. But, without thinking, I stepped towards Matthew and wrapped my arms around his narrow frame. I buried my face into his shoulder and gave him a tight hug, feeling tears stinging in my eyes. He couldn’t possibly know how much he had saved me tonight. He couldn’t possibly know what it felt like to not have to worry every second of every day about being arrested while out in the city. “Thank you,” I mumbled into his jacket, slowly pulling away.
His eyes were wide in bewilderment. Neither of us saw that coming. “You’re welcome.”
I took a step back and wiped a tear or two before composing myself again. “I guess we’ll hatch out a deal tomorrow night. I’m assuming mounds of paperwork…?”
He blinked a few times and began smoothing his jacket from where I had wrinkled it. “Paperwork?” His forehead wrinkled in confusion. “Oh, right. We can go over that tomorrow night.”
Wasn’t that what I had just said? “I might be a little late. I have to do some training tomorrow and Jesse said he might be able to extend our session if the client after me cancels again.”
He gave a slow nod. “Fine.” The car pulled up to the curb. “Just make sure to shower before coming. I can’t have you smelling up my house with your sweat and body odor.”
I scowled at him. “You know, I do shower daily. I was going to shower when I got home but, hello, I was arrested.”
“I’m sure you were…” He opened the back door and stepped aside. “Get in and I’ll drop you off at your quant little house.”
Instead of arguing, I got in and slid to the other side. “I hope it doesn’t put you back too far. I bet you’re eager to get back to your virtuous little lady.”
He sat beside me and closed the door. “I never said she was virtuous. But yes, I’m eager to get back to her. After all, I was rather busy before you ruined my entire night with your issues.”
Without missing a beat, I turned to him and said, “Hey, I’d much rather have a night training at the gym with some guys who are more pleasant than my current company, but crap storms happen.”
He looked out the window and tapped his fingers against the door. “You seem to be the maker of these ‘crap storms.’”
I ignored that and wrapped the coat around me tightly. I’d have to face David soon.
We pulled up to David’s house in a matter of minutes thanks to Matthew’s crazy driver. I hopped out and began heading towards the door when I heard the window roll down. “Until tomorrow night, Miss Garth,” Matthew said with a nod.
I turned to him and smiled. “Thanks again for the help.” I quickly went inside.
The house was dark, with the exception of the TV that always seemed to be on. I tossed my sneakers beside the door and gently placed the raincoat over one of the nearby chairs. I was surprisingly awake for not having a ton of sleep. My sleep schedule was so far off that it was a wonder I was still functioning normally.
“Where were you?”
“Gah!” I jumped at the sudden sound of a voice and nearly kicked the wall. “Jeez, turn on a light or something.”
David sat up on the couch and peered over the top of it at me. “I was worried that something had happened. I thought about checking up on you at work, but I didn’t know where you worked. So I thought maybe I’d call your office, but you never left a number or a way to get a hold of you. I thought about calling the police and filing a missing persons report if you didn’t come home soon.”
My shoulders slumped as I saw the worry clear as day in his eyes. He looked exhausted. Did he even sleep while I was gone? I truly don’t deserve his friendship. “I-I’m sorry.” I swallowed hard and made my way to the sofa chair across from him. “I was arrested.”
Oops.
I didn’t mean to say it. It slipped out. I meant to tell him some sort of lie that would get me off the hook. But, looking into his blue and panicked eyes, I just forgot what to say.
He leaned closer, now seeming more alert and panicked than before. “What? What happened? Are you okay?”
I buried my face in my hands, trying to think of a way out of this. “I’m fine. They let me go after a while.”
“What were you arrested for?”
Lie. “Something I had done in my past. It was stupid, really. Very minor. In fact, they dropped the case after the person who reported me had dropped the case.” It all came out so smoothly that it surprised me.
He relaxed in his seat, rubbing his tired eyes with his fingers. “You should have called me. I would have come down there and helped you somehow.”
I forced a smile. “They didn’t allow me to have a call. I called it bullshit considering they always allow it in the shows.” I gave a nervous laugh.
He smiled and reached across the space between us to pat my knee. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Me too.”
The silence between us was awkward and too long. I had to look away from his penetrating eyes to look at the floor. “I should get some sleep. I have a shift at around noon tomorrow.”
“Go get some sleep. You look exhausted.”
He nodded and shuffled off to his bedroom. I stood up and plopped down on the couch, unable to force myself to sleep. I felt a little bad for lying to him. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just tell him that my boss spent who knows how much money to bail me out and saved my ass from prison. I don’t know how much I owed Matthew, but it definitely won’t be something small.