Fighting for Freedom

| TWENTY FOUR |

"W-what?" I stutter out. My mom's boyfriend used to sell drugs to Declan. "They were best friends in high school and would smoke weed together after their football games. Then after losing the state final, Patrick fucked up and wanted to try cocaine and told Declan to try too."

Clay stops to take a deep breath through his nose before continuing. "Cocaine lead to heroine which lead to meth. He then started selling and Declan was addicted and Patrick would let him take the drugs and not pay. But then he started demanding payments and sent some people to beat him up a few times."

I tighten my arms around Clay when I hear his voice breaking at the end of his sentence. "Then in the summer he threatened to kill Declan if he didn't pay. He actually stabbed him as a warning." He whispers moving his chin off my head and resting his cheek on it instead. "I'm so sorry." I whisper new tears falling down my cheeks.

"If you didn't stop me I probably wouldn't have stopped."

"You were scared of me." Clay adds in barely a whisper. I sit up and grab his face between my hands making him look in my eye. "I was not scared of you. I was caught off guard. You don't scare me. I love you." I blurt out.

I widen my eyes at what I just said. I quickly let go of his face and make a jump for the passenger seat but Clay grips my hips keeping me from moving. I put my head down avoiding his gaze. I swear he's going to open the door and throw me out in the dirt.

Clay releases one of hands confirming that he's going to throw me out. I brace myself for the impact and screw my eyes shut. But instead his hand pushes my chin up to look at him making my eyes fly open. "I'm sorry." I whisper not breaking eye contact. "I love you." He answers pushing his lips against mine roughly. I kiss him back just as hard.

Our kiss turns slower as we run out of breathe. "Do you really love me?" I whisper resting my forehead against his. "I really do." He whispers back as I play with the hair on the back of his neck. Before I can answer someone knocks on the drivers window. I jump at the noise and realise all the windows are fogged up.

I quickly scramble off Clays lap as he winds the window down. I internally groan when I see the same cop that pulled us over weeks ago after the fight. "What are you two doing?" He grunts bending down and pointing his flash light in my eyes.

"You alright miss?" He asks taking in my puffy eyes. "We're good." I nod. "I asked if you were okay." He says eyeing Clay, when he see his fist his eyes narrow. "Can you step out of the car sir." He barks at Clay. And he obeys without an argument.

I crawl over to the driver's side and lean out the window. "Can you please ring Captain Scott?" I ask making both their heads snap to me. "Excuse me?" The cop snaps. "Fine. I will." I sass rolling my eyes. I pull my phone out and ring my dad.

"Is everything okay?" He answers on the first ring sounding panicked. "Something happened with mom and Clay took me out to the lookout to let me cry and talk about what happened and now there's a cop here. I think he wants to arrest him." I explain as quickly as I can.

"What happened?" Dad asks still panicked. "I'll tell you in the morning." I answer hoping he picks up what I'm trying to say. "Okay. Who's the officer?" Dad sighs. "What's your name?" I ask the cop leaning out the window. "Excuse me?" He spits out at me as he cuffs Clays hands behind his back. "He won't tell me his name. He's grumpy, has a porn moustache and glasses." I say into my phone.

"You can't speak to me like that!" The police officer yells stepping forward reaching for my wrist that's holding my phone. "Don't you dare touch me." I spit out. As he opens his mouth his walkie talkie beeps and my dad's voice comes through.

"Dale! Don't you dare lay a hand on my daughter."

Dale pales and drops his hand. "Your Jacks daughter?" He swallows. "Yup that's why I asked you to call him." I smirk. "Dale do you copy?" Dad voice says again.