Nightfall (Devil's Night 4)

He paused, still looking over my material. “You on drugs?”

“Sometimes,” I replied.

Damon snorted, and Michael cleared his throat to cover up his laugh.

Scott straightened and took a step back, looking down on me. “Step out. I want to look around the truck.”

And I couldn’t stop myself. “Well, my glove compartment is locked, so is the trunk in the back, And I know my rights, so you go’n need a warrant for that,” I sang.

Everyone started laughing, Damon shaking next to me, and Kai hunching over in my rearview mirror, his head in his hands to cover it up.

I always loved that Jay-Z song. At least I was good for a few laughs.

Officer Scott looked down at me, chewing the inside of his lip like he’d just love to have a reason. This was the kind of guy who would discharge his weapon on someone, claiming the cell phone in their hand looked like a gun.

The laughter calmed down, and I turned my eyes on him again.

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “I’m an idiot.”

I bi

d him to come closer, softening my voice.

“I know how you see me,” I said. “Ignorant, arrogant, frivolous… I want to be good. Honestly. Goal-oriented, a hard worker, honest, righteous…” I paused. “Like Emory. Your sister, right?”

He narrowed his eyes on me, and I could see his shoulders tense.

“You know,” I continued, “it’s amazing that given the years your family has been in Thunder Bay, I don’t know her as well as I’d like.” I turned to my friends. “You hear that, guys? A girl I don’t know.”

Some laughter went off inside the truck.

I turned back to him, seeing the threat start to register.

We were starting to understand each other.

“All the hours we walk the halls together at school,” I taunted. “All the hours on that bus to away games and back. All the late nights at basketball practice and her at band practice.”

“Plenty of time to get to know someone,” Kai added. “Turner didn’t even need five minutes to get Evie Lind pregnant.”

“Some of us have better longevity,” I joked over my shoulder.

“We know you do.” Michael patted my shoulder.

Hell yes, I do.

I turned my gaze back on Scott, seeing the corners of his eyes start to crinkle in a glare.

I hooded my own. “I promise you…” I growled low, “however much you don’t like me, there is still so much more to come if you don’t…” I pulled my license and card holder out of his hand, whispering, “stop pulling me over.”

I was normally a happy boy, but his hard-on for me was fucking with my patience. He didn’t pull over Michael, Damon, or Kai constantly. He messed with me because he assumed I didn’t have a brain.

They thought that because I liked being nice, that I didn’t know how to be mean.

And believe me, I was capable.

Snatching my keys from Damon’s hand, I started the truck, cast Scott one last look, and took off, pulling back onto the road and cranking up the music as the wind blew through the cab.

“Be careful,” Michael said after a minute. “That was entertaining and all, but men like him are short-sighted. I don’t think he’s going to have the sense to stop. Watch for his next move.”