Jay continued to stare at the truck, all his options swirling through his mind like a destructive tornado. He still wasn't fully convinced there was a solution to all of this, but he didn't really have a choice - he had to move forward in some way.

"We should get back to the district," Jay announced to Erin as he took off walking back to his vehicle.

Erin paused for a moment, taken off guard, before she quickly stepped into pace with him. "Jay? What are you going to do?"

Jay stared straight ahead, his jaw set firmly. "I have no fucking idea."


The drive was exceptionally quiet except for a few discrete kicks as Alex shoved her foot into the fold of front seats. She was honestly too afraid to speak at this point, because she didn't want to set Jay off or make this any worse for her than it already was, but she wanted to make sure they still knew she was pissed.

Jay was solely focused on getting back to the 21st as he white-knuckled the steering wheel. As he got closer to their destination, his mind started slowly forming his plan. It wasn't one he was proud of, but he didn't have many options at this point.

Finally, they pulled into the district garage, an entrance that Alex had never seen. The garage was large and dirty, and had a door that led inside the precinct and one that led outside to the parking lot.

Jay closed the garage door before jumping out and opening the back door. "Get out," he commanded, his voice firm but not quite as intense as it had been previously.

"Jay, come on, please," Alex practically begged without moving as tears pricked her eyes, threatening to spill. He couldn't go through with this! She couldn't really get arrested and put in jail. The crushing weight of what she'd done was suffocating her, and she was getting even more desperate by the minute. She was wracked with guilt.

Her brother didn't bother speaking again, and reached in and yanked her out of the truck. Erin hopped out of the passenger's side and watched it all unfold, unsure what he was going to do as he'd been completely silent the entire ride. She had hoped that she'd gotten through to Jay, but she was now second guessing everything.

Jay dragged his sister over to the other side of the garage and opened a large fenced door. Seeing that her brother was trying to shove her inside some sort of human-sized cage, Alex immediately shoved her feet into the ground and made her legs stiff to keep from moving.

"I'm not going in there!" she screeched, back in a full panic mode.

"Like hell you're not," Jay seethed, effortlessly lifting her up and dumping her inside.

He pulled out his key as he harshly turned Alex around to face away from him. In one swift movement, he unlocked her right cuff and then immediately re-cuffed it to a piece of the railing along the wall, so she now had nowhere to go but to sit on the bench inside the cage.

Alex instinctively tugged at the cuff, her head swirling with what was going on right now. Was this what jail was like?!

"Don't leave me here!" she yelled, clearly in a heightened panic as her brother stepped outside the cage and shut the door, making sure it locked behind him.

He turned his back and headed toward the door that led into the district. Alex felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach while watching Jay walk away.

"Erin, please!" Alex begged as a last ditch effort to the person now standing closest to her.

Erin's heart went out to the teen - even she hadn't expected Jay to do this, but she was trying to keep her cool right now. She gave Alex a sympathetic smile before she jogged after Jay who was about to open the door to go inside the district.

"I'm sorry!" Alex confessed out of desperation.

Those two words hit Jay's ears like needles. He stopped dead in his tracks and his shoulders tensed up. Quickly turning on his heel, he stormed back over to the cage. "You're sorry?! No, Alexandra. You're not sorry. You're sorry you got caught."

Alex's nostrils flared at his accusation - even though he was spot on, it riled her up. She shoved her vulnerability down, out of sight, and let the dark sarcasm return to the surface to protect her. "Let me out of here."

"You need to realize that your actions have real-life consequences."

She pulled her wrist a few times, sounding the handcuffs against the metal pipe. "I think I get it, officer."

She knew how to continuously get under his skin - her sarcasm and making jokes about a serious situation only fueled the burning fire within. "You're damn lucky I'm not throwing you in an actual jail cell."

"So I should be thanking you now? You and your damn savior complex need to fuck right off."

Jay bit his bottom lip to keep a retort from crossing his lips - one that he knew he'd likely regret later. Since he'd finally got her talking, he switched gears. Crossing his arms, he demanded, "Why were you there - on that corner - today?"

Alex laughed. "You know, for a cop, you suck." Jay's eyes narrowed, not letting her comment truly get to him. She rolled her eyes and spat, "I was making a purchase."

"But why there? There are hundreds of drug corners across the city and you picked that one."

She suddenly realized what he was getting at and her chest tightened, eyes diverting to the ground. "Guess we have the same taste in drug corners."

He stepped closer to the cage door, his eyes narrowed. "How did you know to go there?"

"Ever heard of the internet?" she quipped instantly.

Jay's eyes bore into her like a magnifying glass setting an ant on fire. "FOR ONCE, JUST TELL ME THE DAMN TRUTH!" he bellowed loudly - so loud that it made Alex jump at the sudden tone shift and Erin had to cover her mouth to prevent a gasp from escaping. Erin immediately glanced into the stairwell behind her to see if anyone was lingering, but it was pointless because she was certain his voice just carried through the whole district.

His berating tone sent a shiver down her spine and it showed on her face - it was surfacing some past nightmare that she'd fought so hard to forget. Meanwhile, her mind was untangling conflicting messages - fight with sarcasm or come clean. Her brain was telling her to back down, to give up the fight, because it would only make things worse for her later. That was what she'd learned from her father. But she was too worked up right now and there was no way in hell she'd back down. The guarded sarcasm won out. She raised an eyebrow, doing her best to appear nonchalant after being yelled at. "Why does any of it matter?"

His eyes locked onto hers and he knew deep down what the truth was, hating to admit it out loud. "The case file. You went through the case file on my desk, didn't you?"

She hesitated, a hint of uncertainty flashing across her face, but she quickly masked it with a smirk. "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. Can't remember."

"That's an active investigation! And you thought it was okay to snoop around?"

"Why are you so surprised? You ground me, drag me to that precinct where I'm bored out of my fucking mind, and then you're shocked when I get curious? Please."

"You used police intel to buy drugs, Alexandra! Do you understand the implications? Not just for you, but for the entire investigation?"

She shrugged, a clear attempt to keep her exterior hard, to not let him see just how deeply the situation affected her. "Maybe you shouldn't leave important stuff lying around, Jason."

The use of his real name - now twice in a month - was enough to send him over the edge. He gripped the wired door with his hands, ready to rip it off its hinges and lay into her. It was divine intervention that the door was closed, because otherwise Jay didn't know if he would have been able to stop himself from slapping the smirk off her face.

Erin saw his struggle and quickly jogged over and tugged on his waist. "Jay, let's go," she said quietly, making sure her voice was the one of reason right now. Jay didn't budge as his gaze burned into Alex, his mind letting out a never-ending slur of curse words. Erin tried again, "She's not going anywhere - let's go figure some stuff out."

The older brother didn't remove his gaze from his sister, but he let Erin lead him toward the stairwell. Alex continued to smirk, feeling like she'd won this round, as the two detectives disappeared behind a shut door.

However, the second the door closed, Alex's smirk instantly evaporated, replaced by a sharp pang in her chest. Panic clawed its way up her throat, twisting her stomach into knots

Everything felt like it was slipping - out of her control, out of reach - and she didn't know how to stop it.

What the fuck was she going to do?!


A/N: Things sure are spiraling :) I promise there will be some sort of resolution to this - I've had the final two chapters written since almost the beginning! We're still quite a few chapters away from that, but I'm wondering if there would be any interest in me writing a new book with just one-shot chapters that show a glimpse into their lives at varying points/events after this book took place. I might be able to entertain some request ideas for those as well if they fit into the characters. Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in reading!