He nods, but still looks doubtful. I flip through the compartments of my wallet, searching for cash.
Dammit. Nachos and parking at the game took most of my cash. I only spy a solitary ten-dollar bill.
I don’t have enough money for a room, and I don’t have enough gas to make it all the way to Mama’s house in Atlanta or to Lotus’s place in New York. If we were speaking, which we aren’t. I don’t even know her new address there.
I can’t just stand here while the attendant decides if he should call the cops or kick me out. I avoid his eyes, shift Sarai in my arms and walk back out to the car. My purse, overnight bag, and Sarai’s diaper bag weigh me down, but not nearly as much as the reality of my situation. Caleb shut down my cards. Knowing I’m out with his daughter in the middle of the night, he shut down my cards. Maybe I should have waited until the morning, but getting away from him was urgent. Something in his eyes told me to escape while I could.
I’m driving somewhat aimlessly, unsure where to go and what I can afford to do, when flashing blue lights and the “blip” of a police siren grab my attention. For a moment, I wonder who they’re pursuing, but I’m the only one on the road.
Dammit. Those blue lights are for me. Fuck my life. Could this night get worse?
With my heart hammering, I pull off to the shoulder. I was distracted, so maybe I was speeding. I roll down my window, already wearing the practiced self-deprecating smile reserved for traffic stops.
“Officer, I’m sorry if I—”
“Out of the car, ma’am.” His clipped words take me aback.
“What . . . was I speeding? A busted taillight? What’s going on?”
I’m still trying to process everything when two more police cars pull in, lights flashing and cops climbing out cautiously as if this is America’s Most Wanted.
“This vehicle and license plate match the description of a car reported stolen.” The officer glances in the back seat. “And reported in a child abduction.”
“Abduction?” The word blasts from my mouth like a rocket. Anger clenches my hands into tight balls. “What the hell is going on? My daughter is safe, sleeping in the back seat.”
“Ma’am, please step out of the vehicle with your hands raised.”
I gape at him for a few more seconds, not even sure if this is legal. Not even sure if I should get out of my car on a dark, deserted road at night. Shaking myself from the stupor, I reach over to the glove compartment.
“Ma’am,” he snaps, eyes sliding to my arm reached across the passenger seat.
“I’m just getting license and registration,” I assure him. I hand over the paperwork, watching as he shines his flashlight on the documents.
“Registration says Caleb Bradley.” He taps the door. “Step out of the vehicle, please.”
This is a nightmare. The other two officers approach, one of them speaking into the intercom on his shoulder. On rubbery legs, I climb out of the SUV, stepping to the ground with my hands raised.
“There has been a terrible misunderstanding.” I will my voice to stop shaking. Fear coats my throat. I’m on a dark road with three men. Cops, yes, but men nonetheless. “Like I said, it’s my daughter in the back seat, and this is my car.”
“But the registration—”
“Caleb Bradly is my boyfriend,” I say hurriedly. “He gave me this car months ago. The baby is our daughter. There are a dozen ways to verify what I’m saying.”
“Ma’am, in cases of suspected child abduction,” one of the other officers says, “we have to protect the child. I’m afraid we’ll need to take you into custody.”
“The hell you will!” I step back, my calves bumping up against the car’s running board. “My daughter—”
“We’ve already contacted her father,” the officer says. “He’s on his way.”
“On his way?” I snarl. “He can be on his way, but he’s not taking my daughter anywhere.”
The cop turns me, and my body flattens to the car as he slips cuffs on my wrists. The click of the cuffs sets off panic in me.
Where will they take Sarai? What’s about to happen to her?
I strain against the iron circlets, twisting my shoulders and kicking my feet back.
“Ouch.” The officer curses under his breath. “Look, lady, you’re this close to adding resisting arrest and assaulting an officer to the grand theft and abduction.”
“I haven’t done anything.” My voice quakes, and tears leak over my cheeks. “Oh my God. You have to listen to me. She’s my baby. I haven’t taken her! She’s mine. Please don’t take her. Please just listen to me.”
Sobs shake my shoulders. Frustration, anger, and fear light a match to my blood and speed my heart. I rest my forehead against the cold metal of the expensive car that I never even thought about leaving behind. The credit cards, the car, the money—each thing he’s given me is simply a bar in my cell, imprisoning me.
Another car door slams, and I jerk my head around. In the darkness, Caleb’s broad shoulders cut through the small circle of men surrounding me.
“Where’s Sarai?” he demands, his voice, his face panicked. “Did she hurt her?”
A growl rumbles in my belly and springs from my throat. I hurl myself at him, even with my arms cuffed behind me.
“You bastard!” Hands trapped behind my back, I head-butt his chest and kick his shins. “What did you do?”
My raised voice bounces off the night sky, echoing around us like a screech in the jungle.
“You see what I mean?” he asks the officer closest to him. “She’s been like this for weeks, ever since she stopped taking the medication the doctor prescribed.”
“Motherfucker!” The word scratches its way out of my chest and scrambles over my lips.
“You don’t believe me?” he asks the officer. “This is my car she’s driving. I’m just going to reach inside for something that will prove what I say is true.”
He steps away for a moment but returns with my purse. My heart stills in my chest when he holds up a bottle of tiny pills.
“See?” He holds them out to one of the officers. “Her name’s right there. Ever since she stopped taking these pills, she—”
“I’m gonna kill you!” The words blast from me with propulsive force. “You lying son of a bitch.” I lunge forward again, but the cop catches me before I can ram Caleb.
“I promise you, officers,” Caleb drawls, “she’s not always like this. When she takes her meds, she’s a different woman, but you can see why I was concerned when she left with my daughter. She’s in an unstable state, and I feared for our baby’s safety.”
“Her safety?” A sob-laugh hefts from my chest. “He hit me!” I look up over my shoulder, pleading with the officer closest to me. “You have to believe me,” I rasp. “I left because he hit me.”
“Oh, I hit you?” Caleb cuts in. “Where? I don’t see a scratch on you.”
My lips, still aching from his blow, tremble. “He hit me in the mouth,” I tell the officer, my voice desperate. “Please don’t let him take my baby. Oh, God. Please listen. I’m begging you.”
A wail cuts through the air.
“Sarai.” My glance darts between the officers. “She’s hungry. I need to feed her.”
Four sets of eyes drop to my breasts, straining against my T-shirt. I hate every creature walking this earth with a dick.
Caleb opens the back door and reaches in to coo over my baby girl.
“No.” My head hangs, and salty tears burn the imperceptible cuts on my mouth. “Don’t let him have her. Oh, God. Please, no.”
“It’s okay. Daddy’s here.” Caleb says, bouncing Sarai in the cradle of his arms, his eyes tender.
"Officers, do you know who I am?” Caleb asks, his winning smile flashing white.
The three officers exchange looks before nodding.
This cannot be happening.
Defeat slumps my shoulders, and I go slack in the officer’s arms.
“Caleb Bradley,” one of them speaks up. “Sorry about the game tonight, man. Tough loss.”
“Hey, you win some, you lose some.” Caleb shrugs. “Then you know it’s my rookie season. I really wanna get us in the playoffs.”
“We barely missed ’em last year,” one officer says, scowling. “I was so glad when we drafted you.”
“It’s been a good season so far.” Caleb bends to kiss Sarai’s nose, glancing up when my maternal growl rumbles in the quiet. “But it’s been hard on me and my fiancée.”
“I’m not your fiancée,” I spit. “I’ll never wear your ring, Caleb.”
His eyes narrow at me, and the rage he’s kept carefully checked slips its chain for a second. It bares its teeth, and I know if he gets his hands on me, I’ll suffer more than a slap across my mouth.
“Like I was saying, it’s been hard on us,” Caleb continues, a modicum of civility. “New baby. Rookie season. It’s been a strain, and I think my fiancée just had a bad night.” He suspends that statement in the tight circle of us and the cops, taking the time to look each of them in the eye. “But I think she and I can work it out at home.”
His hard eyes penetrate mine. “Or you can take her in, and the baby can go home with me.”
“No.” I choke on my tears. I can’t take my eyes off Sarai, whose little mouth is rooting, searching for my breast. She whines, her arms shooting up from the swaddling. Caleb catches her fingers, folding them into his mouth.
“You hungry, baby?” he asks, his voice gentle, yet still managing to grate on my nerves. “Let’s get you out of here so Mommy can feed you.”
“You sure, Mr. Bradley?” the first officer asks. “If we need to—”