Wait in the Truck
Chapter Two
Marieorsomething
The police had taken thirty minutes to arrive – that was the problem with living in the middle of nowhere. But as he sat there and let it sink in that he had killed a man - she had been busy running around the house. She did exactly what he had wanted her to do and packed her belongings in trash bags. She kept it simple just her clothing – after all it was just for appearances sake.
She was the daughter of a member of law enforcement and once she realized that this stranger had become her savior, she realized she was going to have to try her best to keep him out of jail. It may not work but she would damn sure try. She had given up on believing that the cops would save her, that the law would save her. Instead, her savior had come in the form of a rugged man in a pickup truck. He had saved her life and kept her from looking over her shoulder for the rest of it. She was free and he needed to be freed now.
When the cops arrived, they had put him in handcuffs and shoved him in the back of a patrol car. They asked her questions first. Out of his ear shot and he hung his head in defeat. He knew he would be going to jail for this, and it was okay. If this was what he had been put on this earth to do, then he was glad to have done it.
What he didn't know because she was out of his ear shot was that she was giving the police a changed version of events – although only slightly. According to her they had come back to her house and her husband had started to yell at them and when she had trusted the man she had come with to have her back and started towards the bedroom to pack her things – her husband had grabbed his gun and made to shoot her. Only before her husband could pull the trigger, the kind man who had rescued her from the side of the road had whipped out his gun and shot him first.
The police had recognized the address when the dispatch had come through. Being Sherriff's of a county with a small population had its perks. There wasn't much crime, they knew the residents well, and the only had to deal with low level things for the most part. However, when they got this call the deputies responding felt their stomachs drop. The call came in for a murder with no details and all the dispatcher was able to tell them was that a man had called. They had failed her. The woman who lived out at that address had called them multiple times over the past few years to report her husband hitting her. A few times she had dropped the charges and once it had ended with them both in jail when she had defended herself from his fists and the stupid bastard had pressed charges right back on her.
There was only so much they could do if she wouldn't let them help but they could see how terrified she was of him. Even more so after she had spent a few days in jail because of him. The deputy driving remembered the day they had let her out clearly. It was two years ago, and he saw that she had lost the fight burning inside of her that day. She was a cold, empty shell when she left, and the police had never been called to that address again. The deputy had been waiting for this call for two years. The proof that the organization he had pledged his life to serve had failed and weren't always the good guys. That they couldn't always help those who needed it.
He stomped on the gas after letting dispatch know they were en route and prayed that he was wrong. When he came upon the scene and found her alive and her husband dead at the hands of a man who had apparently protected her, he let loose a sigh of relief. After hearing her interview, he could tell she was fibbing about something, but the scene could plausibly reflect her version of events. So, he and his partner decided to finally do the only thing they could for this woman.
A deputy slid into the front seat of the patrol car and began speaking. The man in the back kept his head down as he answered the questions, but his head lifted quickly when the deputy began asking about what had happened once, they arrived at the woman's home. They were leading questions and he quickly realized she had presented a slightly different version of events. A version of events meant to keep out of jail for saving her.
So, he played along. The police still had to take him to jail, and they booked him. He sat in jail for three months until one morning his attorney came to let him know that the state had decided that there was no case as all the evidence at hand agreed and they would be dropping the murder charges.
When he got out and finally breathed in the fresh air, he pulled out his phone to figure out who to call to come pick him up but a throat clearing softly caught his attention.
There she was. He hadn't seen her since that night three months ago but here she was greeting him as he got out of jail. She was standing in front of the gates, and she was clean and healed and he realized she was a beautiful woman. But he couldn't believe she was really here. She took a few steps towards him and reached with an outstretched hand.
He took her hand in his – marveling at the first human contact he'd had in a little over three months.
"I realize we were never properly introduced; my name is Isabella Swan. Bella for short. I never got to thank you for saving my life." Her voice was smooth and tinkled like bells. It was beautiful.
"No need to thank me ma'am, it was the right thing to do. I'm – "
This was a little rough to write because I had to make decisions about how I wanted this to play out and whether or not I wanted this to be a central part to the story and I decided that I did not. I grew up watching a crap ton of cop procedurals on TV and I still do and I've seen many a show where the state attorney decides that the case is one that the state will lose and they decide there is no case and let the charges drop. I don't know if that actually happens in real life but since this isn't real life – we're going for it. Now for the important part. I still can't decide who I want our mystery man to be! Jacob and Edward are out of the question – I don't write them as love interests, and I don't read them as love interests. When I used to write fanfiction years ago, I always used to write Paul/Bella stories but somehow, he's not the right fit here. I love both Jasper and Emmett with Bella stories -although admittedly there aren't enough good Emmett/Bella stories out there – so I think it comes down to those two. Vote for whether you want it to be our Texas born southern gentleman Jasper or our Tennessee born equally southern gentle giant Emmett in the reviews and help me out here! - Marieorsomething