I nodded quickly, lowering myself down onto the dusty floor, my hands linking together on the back of my head. A weight suddenly pressed between my shoulder blades. I winced, groaning as the guy kneeled on my back, almost crushing my ribs. The gun was pulled from the back of my jeans as I struggled to breathe. “Do you have any other weapons?”

I tried to shake my head but it was impossible where I was pinned to the floor. “No,” I croaked.

Something snapped around my right wrist, the click of the handcuffs made my heart hurt. I closed my eyes and silently cursed everything and everyone. When my hands were pulled behind my back, my other hand was cuffed too and I was hoisted to my feet.

As the guy patted down my body, checking for weapons, I looked in the direction of Brett, watching as a cop went over there too, I could see him crouch down, I assume to put the cuffs on him too. But a few seconds later the cop stood back up and stepped out from behind the cabinet alone.

I frowned, confused, until he shook his head. “This one’s dead.”

“What? No!” I cried, shocked. I immediately thrashed, catching the cop by surprise, causing his hold to loosen. I threw off his hold and my feet moved of their own accord, running the six or so steps forward so I could see for myself if the guy that I always had a fatherly respect for, was dead.

As I made the last step I saw it was the truth. He lay face down, a pool of blood seeping out under him, his eyes that were so familiar to me, were wide and vacant. Grief washed over me. My mouth dropped open in shock as a strangled gargle sounded in the back of my throat. Dead? Brett was dead? That hit me harder than I ever thought it would, my chest tightened as my hands clenched into fists as I stared at him in disbelief.

I barely had time to react before three guys crashed into me from behind, slamming me into the wall harshly. Air rushed out of my lungs quickly as they pinned me there heavily, securing me. A gun pressed into the back of my neck with bruising force as I felt the last of my hope run out of my system. I closed my eyes as one of them gave me the little speech about my rights; I’d heard it all before.

Chapter 26

Numb. That was the only way to describe how I felt at the moment. My whole body just felt cold, like I was slipping into shock or something. I could still hear a faint ringing in my ears, I had a feeling I’d be hearing it for a long time to come. I gulped as I pictured Brett as he lie so still, a pool of blood rapidly growing under his lifeless body, staining the concrete floor. My mind was whirling but no specific thoughts were forming, something would start to formulate and then immediately my brain would skip onto something else. Thoughts of Brett, jail, blood, lights-out, steel bars and other horrifying things appeared every time I closed my eyes. The one thought that was the most prominent was the little redhead cheerleader that I was totally in love with, and how disappointed she was going to be in me. How was I even going to begin to explain this to her?

A cop took hold of my arm and pulled me from the van that I was currently sitting in. I frowned and looked up at the police station, an ominous feeling settled over me as I realised that there was a good chance I wouldn’t get out of here, but instead go straight back to jail. I was still on parole for Ralf’s murder; technically I could be thrown back in jail immediately for another six months as that’s how long the remainder of my sentence was before I was let out on good behaviour.

The other boys were all led out behind me. Six of us were arrested tonight, three had been injured and were taken to hospital with armed guards, and nine people, including Brett, had been killed at the scene.

I was still a little numb inside, not knowing what to think or say. My whole life had just been flushed down the toilet in one night, one night ruined everything for me and I would have to deal with that forever. The guy holding my arm started walking so I let him lead me along towards the blue backdoor of the station. As we walked in I kept my eyes straight ahead as he led me to the check in desk where a bored looking cop was waiting there to book us all in to our holding cells.

The other boys all got filed in behind me and were handcuffed to the benches along the sides to wait for their turn to be processed.

The cop at the desk flicked open a pad, pulling the lid off of his pen. “Please state your name for the records.”

“Jamie Cole,” I muttered, frowning. I tuned out as the guy that was holding me rattled off my charges as the desk clerk scribbled in his pad.

“So, do you have a lawyer, Jamie Cole, or would you like us to provide you with one?” he asked, looking at me curiously.

I sighed. “I don’t have one.”

He nodded, ticking a box on a form before looking up at the guy behind me. “Right, let’s get his pockets emptied.”

I groaned, closing my eyes when I thought about what was in there. The cop behind me shoved me roughly so that I slammed against the desk. One of his arms pressed against my back roughly, pinning me there while he pulled at my wrist, unclasping my watch and throwing it on the desk, before shoving his hands in my pockets one at a time, dumping the contents on the desk for the clerk to process.

“One silver watch. One black leather wallet containing,” the desk clerk flicked it open, looking in it curiously, “forty-seven bucks.” He threw it into a clear plastic bag and scribbled it onto the pad before picking up the next item. “One set of keys. One cellphone. One piece of paper containing what looks like a bank account number, we’d better get that checked out.” The other cop emptied my last pocket and laughed. I chewed on the inside of my cheek so hard that the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. The other cop laughed too as he picked them up, smirking at me. “One blue lacy thong. I’m thinking you have a slutty girlfriend,” he teased.