Dumped!

Dumped (19)

19

I headed off to the Santa Barbara county jail and got there in about a half hour. I wondered what he could possibly have done to get himself locked up, but I had an inkling.

There was no one at the front desk, so I rang the tiny bell nailed tight to the wall. After a few incessant rings, a white haired man finally popped out of a corridor.

“Hi, I’m here for Jeremy Harrington”, I said.

He shook his head, chuckling. “That guy is one sicko.”

I forced a smile and went through the entire cash bond process. I was wondering why he’d even called me of all people. I was fairly certain Savannah would have arrived in the blink of an eye.

The  man – Stan Grayson – led me down the dimly lit corridor and past the barred metal doors. I heard a few whistles, which I ignored; I was getting goose bumps from a mixture of fear and disgust.

Jeremy was playing cards with some really scary-looking fully tattooed and pierced biker men, with extremely long beards. He didn’t even realize I was there.

Stan cleared his throat. “Harrington! Your lady’s here.”

I tried not to take any notice at the fact that he didn’t correct Stan, for calling me ‘his lady’.

I saw the other men, looking at me hungrily. I turned away and moved out of their line of sight.

Jeremy got up and Stan let him out, heading back to do whatever he was doing before I interrupted.

Jeremy gave me a small smile.

“You kind of look like an angel right now”, he said, scanning my outfit, tripling my goose bumps and speeding up my heartbeats.

“Excuse- me?” I asked, unsure of whether it was supposed to be a compliment.

“You know, with your white dress and all, contrasting with the dark, dingy jail”, he said, as we walked down the steps, leading outside.

“Oh. Well, thanks. I guess”, I mumbled, as the wind flapped around my ankles.

He smiled, “No problem.”

“So, you going to explain to me why you were driving 200 in a 65 mile speed limit area?” I asked, stopping and crossing my arms, defiantly. Stan had explained to me that the arresting officer had stopped Jeremy on the highway, and had arrested him instantly, because he was being extremely reckless, and endangering the lives of many other people.

“Um . . . There really isn’t an explanation”, he answered, shrugging.

“Jeremy, I just bailed you out of jail. The least you could do would be to give me a simple explanation”, I said.

I really wasn’t in the mood for his blank nonchalance.

He sighed. “I’m sorry; I never even thanked you. Thank you for getting me out. Really”, he said, sincerely.

“Why did you call me anyway?” I asked. The question hadn’t left my mind for one second.

“Well, Sav would have ranted on and on; Brad would have scolded me; and Greg, well, he wouldn’t even have come. There was really no one else to call and I knew you’d come”, he answered, as we got to my car.

I sighed. If he wasn’t Jeremy Harrington.

“So, I guess your car was impounded then”, I said, unlocking my car.