Chapter 65

Tapiwa shifted on the bench for what felt like the fiftieth time in the last ten minutes. She couldn't help it. The bench was hard and narrow. It had obviously been made to ensure maximum discomfort, which she guessed worked well for where they were. A police station wasn't meant to be comfortable. But still, she wondered if it would kill them to get better sitting arrangements.

A minute later, another unavoidable shift had the wood making a scary, creaking sound and she froze, afraid the thing would suddenly break and they would find themselves unceremoniously on the floor that didn't look particularly clean.

Next to Tapiwa, Jadon heard the sound and saw her tense. His lips twitched despite the state they were in, swollen and bleeding from a split on the bottom one. The rest of his face didn't look any better. He had a cut where Asher had hit him with the gun just above his right eyebrow, causing his right eye to be almost swollen shut.

The police officers that had brought them to the station had been considerate enough to offer Jadon an ice pack since he and Tapiwa weren't arrested but had just been brought in to give their statements. Tapiwa would have preferred Jadon had been taken to the hospital for proper care. Unfortunately, Jadon refused to leave her side, which was what would have happened if he had gone to the hospital since Tapiwa was needed at the police station.

Things still wouldn't be so bad if the officers just worked a little faster. Of course, they didn't. Tapiwa and Jadon had been seated on the medieval torture bench for almost an hour already and she was just about ready to scream and Jadon seemed to have picked up on that already.

Not caring where they were, he lifted his free hand, the one not holding the ice pack to his swollen face, and placed it over her thigh. He gave her a gentle squeeze, stilling the agitated tap of her leg she hadn't even realized she was doing. "Just take deep breaths," he said quietly.

Tapiwa huffed. She looked around and took in the buzz of an overcrowded police station with only four uniformed officers in sight to help direct the traffic of people all needing help from the law enforcers in one form or the other. The air reeked of sweat and frustration and it was only eleven in the morning.

She shook her head, resigned to their fate. "At this rate, we will be here all day."

"God, I hope not," Jadon groaned and shifted on the narrow bench, earning them another nerve-wracking creak, which he ignored. "I seriously need something better than this melted ice pack. The pain is not taking a back seat anymore."

Worry immediately gripped Tapiwa's chest. She straightened and turned so she was facing him fully. "How bad is it? Do you want me to get someone to take you to the hospital? You should have gone to the hospital. I told you to go."

To Tapiwa's surprise, a soft chuckle fell from Jadon's lips. A little confused, she narrowed her eyes on him. "What's funny?" she demanded, leaning back enough to see more of the man. "You are in pain. It's hardly anything to laugh about."

Jadon shook his head, then promptly regretted it and winced. But before he could explain what he found so amusing about their current predicament, there was a commotion at the entrance of the police station.

Tapiwa looked up in time to see Angela Paterson bulldoze her way through the crowd, her husband following behind her with a less forceful face. Tapiwa tensed, her heart skipping several beats even as she broke out in a cold sweat. The look in the woman's eyes looked murderous, and suddenly she wondered if the four officers she had seen earlier would be enough to prevent Armageddon from taking place.

"Where is he?" Angela shrieked before she reached them, her hands balled into fists at her sides. But that wasn't the only thing that stood out.

There was none of the usual elegance about her appearance. The woman's attire of brown sweat pants and a simple blouse, and her maroon-dyed hair sticking up in every direction, suggested she had just stormed out of her house and rushed over to the police station without a care for her appearance. Like any good mother would. Except, it seemed, the only person she was desperate to see was her son Asher. The look she gave Jadon almost froze the blood in Tapiwa's veins before the same look landed on her and she nearly shrank in on herself.

"Control yourself, Angela," Mr. Paterson snarled in a low tone behind his wife. He too wasn't dressed in a suit to impress. He wore black pants and a navy blue polo shirt that looked expensive but was obviously part of what he considered informal and relaxed. And strangely enough, unlike his wife, Lewis appeared composed.

Unfortunately, Angela wasn't having any of that. She turned on her husband, her body practically vibrating with fury. "This is your fault!"

Lewis blinked and took a step back from his wife. A few other eyes in the station also looked their way and Tapiwa saw that they would soon have the attention of everyone. But it seemed Angela didn't care about that.

"You ignored my son and pushed him into this!"

"How the hell did I ignore Asher?" Lewis demanded, a perplexed frown creasing his forehead. He looked at Jadon. "I gave both my sons the very best."

"No!" Angela pointed a furious, accusing finger at Jadon. "That one got all your attention, the CEO position your time! You pushed Asher into this!"

"Oh, for the love of God," Jadon muttered in disbelief. He looked at his mother as though she had grown a second head. "You can't honestly believe that, mother? Asher is an adult. He made his decisions, and he has to take responsibility for them."

"What decision? He did nothing wrong!"

Jadon dropped the ice pack and stood up, facing his mother. "He came to my house with a gun ready to kill me!"

Angela sneered. "Can you blame him?"

A harsh silence fell as everyone just stared at Angela. Then a man approached and Tapiwa recognized the detective who had spoken to them earlier. The older gentleman with salt and pepper hair came to stand next to them, his stern gaze fixed on Angela Paterson.

"Madam, maybe you should follow me and we can have this conversation somewhere more private?"

"I don't need to talk in private. I just need you to bring my son out here and we will leave," Angela snapped.