Don't Stand So Close to Me
A novel
By: Whitney Bernard
PROLOGUE:
"Lauren, honey… just tell me what Mr. Hammond did to you? Did he hurt you?" the portly detective Steve Markham asked in a sweet voice.
It was just like on T.V. The police sweep in to 'save the day', haul you into their headquarters making assumptions about something they know nothing about, and talk to you like you're a child. She wasn't a child. Legally, yes she was a minor but on the outside Lauren Snyder was a goddess. Her long strawberry blonde hair hung to the middle of her back, her almost white blue eyes were wide and held you in a trance. Her long limbs were a golden brown from many years of soccer and volleyball training by the ocean and her tall and lean 5 foot 9 inch frame had to have been sculpted by God himself. She was perfect, every man's dream.
She was not only beautiful but smart and not just book smart. She knew just what to say to get what she wanted. She could charm a snake out of his skin then sell it back to him for twice the price. She was volatile. Her temper was something akin to an atomic bomb going off. You didn't stick around for the aftermath and yet everyone loved her even Mr. Hammond. Being as smart as she was, Lauren was in all the advanced courses for her final year at Sacred Heart Catholic School but her favorite course was one that most eighteen year old girls didn't take… shop. Not shop as in shopping but mechanics as in working on cars, oil, grease, and dirt.
"Never. Justin would never hurt me. He loves me and it's about time everyone started getting that through their thick heads." Lauren replied.
"Lauren, you can't possibly believe he loves you. You're only eighteen. He's older than you. He took advantage of you." Det. Markham said.
"Age is just a number. Justin and I are in love. Why can't you understand that? He didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do. I'm an adult and you can't charge him with anything." She shot back at him defiantly.
"We have evidence that puts you two together before your birthday. If something intimate happened between you before you turned eighteen, we can charge him with statutory rape. Lauren, if you love him like you say you do, tell me what happened. Tell me if he hurt you." He replied.
He loved her, she was sure of it. They wouldn't have gone through a year of agony if he didn't. He wouldn't have waited for her.
"Fine, I'll tell you everything. When I'm done you all will feel like idiots." She said after a moment.
