I imagined how it looked from Officer Miller’s perspective. Aside from the tiny diamond stud in her nose, Tenley projected a girl-next-door vibe. With her outfit tonight, that was magnified. Someone like her hanging out with someone like me would be an immediate red flag for a lot of people.

Cross frisked me, searching for weapons or contraband I didn’t have.

“Come with me, please.”

“What about Tenley?”

“Officer Miller will stay with her.”

I didn’t ask any more questions because I wasn’t going to get answers. Cross went through the standard tests to check for drunkenness, making me repeat them twice because he wanted to piss me off.

Cross led me to a cruiser and opened the rear door. “Get in.”

“What for?”

“I want you to take a Breathalyzer test.”

“Why do I need to get in a cruiser for that?”

“You’re trying my patience, boy. Get. In. I won’t ask again.”

I dropped into the seat and folded my legs in the cramped space. Cross closed the door and claustrophobia set in immediately. Panic hit me like a sledgehammer, taking me back seven years to the night my parents were murdered. It was the only other time I ended up in the back of a police car. The interrogation followed.

I couldn’t separate that situation from this one, and the bad place in my head got worse, dragging me down into the past I kept buried. There was no way out of the backseat unless Cross let me out. Logically, I knew nothing could happen to me, but it didn’t stop my throat from closing up.

Behind the driver’s seat was a panel of bulletproof glass, with a thick, black mesh barrier of metal on the passenger side. Cross sat in front of the bulletproof panel and took his time setting up the Breathalyzer machine. He fed the tube through a gap in the mesh, forcing me to lean forward until my nose hit the divider. I exhaled into the little mouthpiece.

It registered a zero blood-alcohol level.

“Do it again.”

“I blew under.”

“Do. It. Again.”

I shook my head but complied. Again, it came back clean. “Satisfied? Can I take my girlfriend home now?”

She was standing beside the Camaro; shoeless with her arms wrapped around herself as the wind blew her hair around her face. She glanced over her shoulder ever few seconds, her eyes on the car that formed my prison. Miller put a hand on her shoulder and Tenley jumped, her attention moving back to the officer. There were questions and some gesturing aimed at Tenley’s feet. Miller was frowning; whatever excuse Tenley had come up with probably wasn’t very good.

She was helped back into the Camaro. The door stayed open, though, and Miller crouched down in front of her, her expression somber. A Breathalyzer test was administered once, a second time.

Cross relaxed in his seat and stared at me through the rearview mirror. “Would you like to tell me what happened to your car?”

“Last I heard, you can’t detain someone for a dent.”

“I can if you fled the scene of an accident.”

“I already told you, we weren’t in an accident.”

He sneered. “It’s obvious something happened to your car recently, though. Would I be right?”

I stayed silent.

“What time did you leave your aunt’s tonight?”

“Around nine thirty.”

“That’s more than an hour and a half ago.”

“We made a stop on the way home.” I shifted on the hard plastic seat.

“You don’t say. Is that when the damage to your car happened?”

I sighed. “Is there a point to this?”

Cross inspected his stubby fingers. “Most people would take good care of a ride like that. The last time I saw it, it was in pristine condition. Now, it kind of looks like someone had a throwdown on the hood.”

When I didn’t respond, he took a different approach. “You know, Tenley’s not looking so good these days.”

“The past few weeks have been hard for her. You know, what with her entire family being dead and it being the holidays and all.” I shot him a condescending look.

He returned the glare with a hateful one of his own. “Maybe she should find someone who can take better care of her.”

“I can take care of Tenley just fine.”

“Judging by her condition tonight, I’m going to disagree.”

“You need to back off.”

“Or what?”

“Fuck you,” I spat.

He turned around, sneer firmly in place. “Go ahead, Stryker. Threaten me. It would be my pleasure to take you down to the precinct so you can get what’s coming to you.”

“What’s coming to me? I’m taking my girlfriend home from a family dinner. I don’t see that as a criminal offense.”

“What the hell do you do at family dinners that would make her look the way she does?”

“She’s had an emotional day.”

“And you thought you’d make it better for her by using her as a hood ornament?”

“That’s not—”

Cross slammed his palm against the divider, making it rattle. “Shut your fucking mouth, you little prick. You think I don’t know what happened? You think I can’t see what’s right in front of me? She’s a fucking disaster. You won’t be happy until you’ve dragged that girl down into your bottomless pit of shit.”

“You don’t know a damn thing about my relationship with Tenley.”

“Relationship? Is that what lowlifes like you call what you’re doing with her?”

His words were like an acid bomb going off in my brain; corrosive, destructive. “You’re a cocksucker, you know that.”

He made a tsking sound. “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth? Oh, wait, that’s not possible.”

I exploded, a string of vile profanities spewing forth. I shut down the reaction quickly, realizing that he was riling me up on purpose.

When I was under control again, Cross smiled. “You done? ’Cause if you keep it up, I might just have to take you in. You and me, we’ve been there before, haven’t we? I’m not so sure you’ll like that option the second time around, any better than you did the first.”

“Fuck that. You can’t hold me.”

“I think this time I’ll put you in a holding cell with all the other losers until someone can come pick up your sorry ass. Then I’ll be a Good Samaritan and drive Tenley home. How does that sound?”

I nearly bit off my tongue to keep from telling him what I thought. He was goading me, looking for a reaction that would give him the reason he wanted to put me in a cell. At least for the rest of the night. There was no way I wanted Tenley in a car with him. Especially when he seemed to have it out for me.

“Decided to keep your mouth shut for once, huh?” He opened the door and got out, leaving me locked inside.

I knocked on the window, shouting after him. The threats to take me in had to be empty; he had nothing on me. He wanted to make me sweat, and he’d succeeded. My inability to protect Tenley made me feel powerless as he crossed the pavement to where she sat inside my car. The door was still open; she had to be freezing.

He leaned against the side of the car when he reached her, blocking my view.

Tenley shot up out of the seat and peered around him, her hands flailing wildly as she gestured toward the cruiser I was locked inside. Officer Miller put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in close; whatever she said calmed Tenley down. She glared at Cross and swiped at her cheeks while Miller helped settle her back in the car. Cross braced himself on the doorframe, looking the part of the concerned police officer as Miller headed for me.

It was the divide and conquer. Cross had done the same thing in the interrogation room after the murders. One of them would leave on the premise of getting coffee or taking a break. While the other was gone, they’d change tactics to see if the story would change.

Miller got into the driver’s seat and turned so she could see me head-on. “We don’t seem to run into each other on your good days.”

“Looks that way.” I sagged against the seat. Letting my head fall back, I closed my eyes. If I had to justify myself one more goddamn time, I was going lose it.

“First impressions tell you a lot about a person.”

I cracked a lid. “Guess I’m screwed on that front, huh?”

Her mouth twitched, but she remained serious. “Take your girlfriend, for instance. The first time I met her, she seemed like she had it together. This time? Not so much.”

“She’s had a rough day.”

“You want to tell me why that is?”

“You spent the last fifteen minutes with her. Are you saying she didn’t offer any details?”

“She did. But I’m asking you.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, sharp pain slicing between my eyes. I’d be lucky if I didn’t end up with a migraine. “She was in an accident around this time last year. Her whole family died. Everyone she loved is gone. Holidays are difficult.”

“That must be hard.”

“Like I said, today’s been very emotional for her.”

“I meant for you.”

I frowned. “It sucks. I can’t do anything to make her pain go away.”

“You could start by getting a handle on that temper of yours. That’s the second time you’ve gone off on a police officer in a very public place. Gotta tell ya, it doesn’t reflect well on you.”

“I don’t get heated often, and never with Tenley.”

“And how do I know that? Because you told me? Because your girlfriend will tell me the same thing to protect you? Have you ever considered where the collateral damage lies when you pull something like that?”

I looked out the windshield. Tenley was still huddled inside the car, her stocking feet curled around the edge of the doorframe. Cross was kneeling down in front of her, looking up. She leaned forward, chin jutting out in defiance. Any other time, she’d back down in the face of authority. I was the only reason she would do otherwise. It unnerved me.