ALL THE RAGE (writer: T.M. Frazier)(50)

“We’re aware you were out, Miss. We’re here to inquire about an altercation that took place last night around 11:30 p.m. over on Bunch Beach.”

Fuck.

“What altercation?” Rage asked, innocently. Officer Crest smiled back at her, falling for her easy, albeit fake, charm. He may not have been able to see through her lies, but her acting was laughable to me, at best. It was also kind of adorable.

Officer Towers produced a phone from his pocket and pressed a button. He turned the screen around and, sure enough, it was a video of Rage taking down Griff. The caption over the top read “Samsonita and Goliath.” Whoever shot the video didn’t get the two guys trying to take me down and the only sound captured was the cheers from the crowd. So, thankfully, when it came to the part where I was talking Rage down from killing Griff at the end, none of what I had said to her was audible.

Watching the video again reminded me that even though she’d introduced herself as someone with anger issues, I hadn’t realized how deep they ran until that night.

If the law was planning on arresting Rage, they had another f*cking thing coming if they thought they would even get close enough to my girl to slap a single cuff on her.

“This video, which was taken by a spectator at the truck-pulls at Bunch Beach, was posted on a social network site last night and it seems it’s gone a bit viral. Our department caught wind of it, and several witnesses led us here to you,” Officer Tower stated. “Miss, can you confirm that this is you in this video?”

I was about to demand a lawyer when Rage interjected. “Yeah, of course that’s me. Cool isn’t it?” she asked, reaching for his phone. “Can I see it again? Where do I press play? How many views did it get?” The officers looked as f*cking confused as I was, although I was hiding my confusion well, hoping Rage was actually going somewhere with this act. “Wow, 247,000? That’s awesome. Can you believe it? Look, this came out better than we thought it would,” she said, holding the screen up for me to see the video replaying again. Her fake smile fell slightly. “Oh, but the sound quality sucks. You can’t even hear what we’re saying.” She shrugged and placed the smile back on her face. “That’s okay. We can handle all that in editing.”

“Absolutely,” I agreed, deciding to play along with her game. Rage might not have known how to play the law like I did, having grown up on the other side of it, but she was intelligent, one of the smartest people I’d ever met. As much as I wanted to take control of the situation, I let her lead, trusting her tactics.

“Excuse me?” Officer Crest asked, wrinkling his nose. Rage handed him back his phone.

“Well, I assume you haven’t been able to talk to Griff yet, right?” Rage asked, using Griffin’s nickname like they were best buds, smiling even brighter than before.

“Miss, we aren’t going to disclose any part of our investigation until we find out—” Officer Towers started before Rage interrupted.

“I think you need to go talk to Griff. He’ll set you straight. This is me in the video, I totally admit that. We made it last night and Griff was a total natural. I’m trying to get into film school, but I think it’s him that needs to move to Hollywood. He’s totally believable.”

Both officers looked at each other and then back to Rage, the confusion still marring their every feature. “I made a great vigilante, though, didn’t I? I mean if you guys are here then that means the video is totally believable! NYFA here I come!” She twirled her hair and spun around with her hands in the air.

“Yeah, babe. See? I told you it was good.” I kissed the top of her head. “What?” I asked the officers. “She’s like five three and a hundred pounds.”

“One hundred seventeen,” Rage corrected.

“Sorry, babe,” I apologized, before continuing, “One hundred seventeen pounds and Griff is an elephant of a man.” I pointed out, chuckling. “Do you really think my girl here could take him down? Ya’ll must get real slow down at the department during the summer. You must be real bored to believe this is true.”

“Nolan Archer, right?” Crest asked smugly. I might not have known who he was but obviously he knew me. “Or should I call you Goon?”

Rage continued her celebration dance with a horrible version of the cabbage patch. I watched in wonderment as she hip checked the wall. Laughing when she almost went down on my fuzzy doormat before quickly recovering.

“You can call me whatever you want to call me.”

“Your name, Miss?” Towers asked Rage who finally stilled and came back over to my side.

“Regina. Regina George,” Rage answered without missing a beat. I had to press my lips together to contain my laughter.

The balls on my girl.

“We’ll talk to Griff, and we’ll be back,” Officer Crest said, writing down Rage’s fake name on his little note pad before flipping it shut.

“Don’t be leaving town,” Officer Towers added.

“We’ll be right here!” Rage sang as they got into their vehicle, which was a police golf cart, and drove off at a whopping eight miles per hour. The cart sounded more like a battery-operated child toy than a law enforcement vehicle.

“Regina George?” I asked between my teeth as Rage waved them off.