Bennett (On the Line Book 2)(44)

“I’ll never—” Liam started.

The waiting room door opened then and four uniformed police officers walked in. I knew two of them from work.

“Charlotte?” one of them asked, hand on his nightstick. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I wiped furiously at my cheek. “Liam, you will stop now. You’re both getting arrested. This is over.”

“We doing this peacefully?” an officer asked Bennett.

Bennett let go of Liam and raised his hands in the air. “Yeah.”

Liam raised his head, the chair cushion streaked with his blood. He just nodded, stood, and offered his hands up for the cuffs.

“I’m so sorry, Charlotte,” Bennett said, his voice thick with emotion.

I was too numb to even answer. The waiting room was a wreck. I watched Bennett’s and Liam’s backs as they were walked out, then sank down into the nearest chair.

I definitely wasn’t finding out the sex of the baby today. It looked like instead, I’d be going to the police station to bail out Bennett and Liam.





Bennett

I shifted my hands in my lap, trying to stop the handcuffs from digging into my wrists. It didn’t work. Fucking Liam. I glared at him across the police department conference room table.

“Don’t look at me.” He scowled at me.

“Just enjoying the view of your smashed face.”

“Yours isn’t looking so great, either.”

I shook my head. “Couldn’t have picked a worse time and place, man. You scared the shit out of those people in the waiting room.”

“Like hell. They were watching like it was an episode of Springer.”

“Yeah, it kinda felt like one,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “Real classy, douchebag.”

“Classy?” He leaned forward, eyes wide. “You knocked up my sister. I’ll never forgive you.”

“I don’t remember asking you to.”

The door to the conference room opened, and the officer watching us from a chair in the corner stood up. A polished black woman in a business suit walked in, followed by Orion.

Our coach’s expression hardened when he saw our messed-up faces. I looked down at my lap. This wasn’t unusual behavior for Liam, but it was for me. Especially when I was busting my ass on the ice to hopefully move up to a better pay grade.

“You want me to stay, Ms. Amandre?” the officer asked.

She looked at Orion, who shook his head.

“These boys won’t even scratch an itch in here without my permission,” he said.

“You can remove the cuffs,” she said to the officer. He nodded, pulled out a key, and unlocked both of us.

Liam’s expression was murderous.

“Don’t even think about it,” Orion said sharply. “You two destroyed an obstetrician’s waiting room full of pregnant women and children. I definitely wasn’t prepared for that call. Listen to Ms. Amandre and don’t move a muscle.”

“Gentleman, I’m Wren Amandre. Charlotte works for me. Normally, I’d probably refer this case to a special prosecutor to avoid the appearance of a conflict. If we can come to terms right now, I won’t have to.”

I rubbed my sweating palms on my thighs, still in shock over this whole thing. I’d kept my nose clean all these years, and now it was all crumbling around me. It was a hundred times worse with a baby on the way.

“The victim’s wishes are often honored in decisions about charges in assault and battery cases,” Wren said. “Do either of you wish to pursue charges against the other?”

“No, ma’am,” I said quickly.

Liam just shook his head, still staring at me.

“Okay. We also have Dr. Lansing’s wishes to consider. Charlotte appealed to him, and he has agreed not to pursue charges if you’ll make full restitution for the damage done to the office.”

I owed Charlotte big for that. I hated to think about how embarrassing it must’ve been for her to claim us as the father of her child and her brother to anyone who had seen that fight.

“We will,” I said. “Thank you for—”

“Oh, I’m not done.” Wren arched her brows at me. “I also told Dr. Lansing this agreement would be contingent on both of you performing community service.”

Liam exhaled deeply and I kicked his shin under the table.

“Of course,” I said. “We’ll do it.”

She slid a paper across the table at me. “Which of these organizations can I tell to expect your call next week?”

I scanned the list. “I’ll take the suicide prevention one.”

“Good. They always need help. How does forty hours sound? You can have three months to get it in.”

“Sure. I’ll get it done.” I passed the paper to Liam. He looked up at the ceiling rather than down at the paper.

“You’ve got ten seconds,” Orion said to him. “Or I’ll be looking for a new center this evening.”

Liam looked down at the paper. “I’ll do the injured veterans one.”

“Excellent,” Wren said. “Eighty hours.”

Liam furrowed his brow, confused.

“Eyewitnesses told the police you were the instigator and that Mr. Morse repeatedly asked you to stop. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have pressed charges against him, no matter what.”