Our silence was only populated by intermitted moans.
“This is so good,” he praised with a full mouth.
I couldn’t even respond as the savory sauce and fresh vegetables danced across my tongue. Jay also took a minute to enjoy the slice he was working on.
When we had both finished our first slice, he looked over at me. “Who orders salads from Gino’s?”
“Exactly!” I threw my hands up. “I had food leftover from a restaurant, and someone threw it away and put my name on a kale smoothie.”
“Wow…kale?”
“Yeah.” I grabbed a breadstick and pointed it at him. “They’re monsters.”
“I don’t understand the whole kale thing. How did it become a thing? Did people everywhere forget about collards?”
I made a face and leaned away from him. “What do you know about collards? You’re from the Bronx. You don’t know collards for real.”
“Did you forget I have family in South Carolina?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You—”
The loud knock at the door interrupted my sentence.
“That was fast,” I murmured as Jay went to get the door. The detour added at least fifteen minutes to Gino’s each way.
He nodded just before swinging the door open.
He froze. I froze.
“Hi…” Jay’s deep voice dragged the word out slowly and carefully.
“Good evening. I’m Officer Sheldon. This is Detective Jane Lynch. Are you Mr. James Williams?”
“Yes, sir.”
My stomach twisted in heavy knots of nerves and fear. It was about me. It had to be.
A youthful looking woman in a blue suit stood stoically behind the bigger, older officer. She didn’t introduce herself or even address Jay. She just stared at me as the uncomfortable exchange between the two men transpired.
“This is a nice apartment. Jade, my daughter, wanted to live here, but it’s expensive. We tried to keep her in the dorms, but she said that if she couldn’t live here, she’d rather live at home. So, she’s at home this semester,” Officer Sheldon chuckled. “I think her bluff backfired on her.”
Jay forced a semblance of a laugh. It was painfully awkward and ordinarily I would’ve laughed at the awkward exchange, but I was caught in a staring match with the detective.
I was losing.
“Is there a Ms. Brooklyn Cage in the apartment?” Officer Sheldon asked, his tone changing.
“What is this about?” Jay’s voice was tentative but firm.
My nerves were shot, and my mouth went dry. While it was sweet of him to do it, I didn’t want Jay to get in trouble for protecting me. In their minds, he probably looks like he’s harboring a fugitive.
“I’m Brooklyn Cage,” I spoke up nervously. Standing slowly, my eyes bounced between the two strangers at the door. “What’s going on?”
Officer Sheldon turned his sights on me. “We’re following up about the incident over on Fraternity Row. Where were you last night between ten o’clock last night and ten o’clock this morning?”
“I was at a party at the Pi Rho Omicron frat house and then I came here.”
“About what time did you leave?”
“My phone died, and a friend put it in her purse. I don’t remember. It was late though. Well after midnight. Close to two, maybe? Like I said, I didn’t have my phone, so I don’t know the exact time,” I rambled, hoping that if I kept talking, they’d never get around to arresting me for a crime I didn’t commit.
“What time did you get here?” the officer asked.
“Five. I had to walk. My ride left me,” I answered nervously.
“What’s your friend’s name?” Detective Lynch asked, her voice softer than her expression. “The one with your phone.”
“Carter Yates,” I answered slowly.
The officer glanced over at the detective who still had her eyes trained on me. “And about what time did you give your phone to Carter?”
I lifted my shoulders slowly. “It died around eleven thirty. And I gave it to her soon after that. Before midnight.”
She nodded. “What do you know about the boat needing to be fished out of the lake?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know anything about that.”
The two cops looked at each other before I could continue.
“I mean, I know the boat was in the lake, but I didn’t have anything to do with that. Dakota just said she wanted to prank Trevor, but I didn’t know what she was going to do. I just figured it out when I saw the boat floating far away from where it was docked.”
The officer looked over at the detective, but she continued to stare at me silently. She slipped a small notepad from her pocket “What’s your phone number?”
My voice shook as I rattled off numbers.
She flipped a couple of pages in her pad. “And you live on Athletics Circle at —”
“She was being harassed so I asked her to stay here,” Jay spoke up.
“Harassed? How?” Detective Lynch inquired.
“They weren’t fond of me and the feeling was mutual,” I answered. “I don’t do the whole sorority clique thing, so I spend most of my time in class, studying, practicing, and hanging out with James. I wasn’t one of them, so they made sure I was reminded of that every chance that they got.”
“And you were staying there anyway?”
I sighed. “I hadn’t been staying there long. Something happened with my housing. While I was waiting for them to figure it out, it seemed like the only option. Carter and I had been close at one point and time. Since she was there and the empty bed in the house was in her room, I thought it would be okay. I never really interacted with the rest of the team outside of practice and games,” I rambled, fully aware that I was doing it again but unable
