Free Fearless (The Story of Samantha Smith #1) by Devon Hartford Page A

“Sir, up against the vehicle and place your hands on the hood.”
    Finally, Adonis moved. He walked up to the cop car and leaned his hands on the hood. Mustache stood behind him and pushed Adonis’ legs apart by bumping them with his knees. He patted Adonis down thoroughly. “Place your hands behind your back, sir. You’re under arrest.”
    I panicked. “Wait! What’re you doing?”  
    “Please step back, ma’am,” the female cop commanded, her palm held up like a stop sign.
    Adonis did as ordered. Mustache pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slapped them on.
    “Is this because of the paper towels?”
    “Paper towels?” The female cop was confused.
    Mustache opened the back door of the cruiser. “Please step into the vehicle, sir.” Adonis complied.
    “We took some paper towels. From one of the dorms.”
    Now the female cop eyed me suspiciously.
    I was making this worse. I took a deep breath and blinked back sudden tears. “I spilled my coffee all over my car this morning. I didn’t have anything to clean it with. We were just trying to clean up the mess. We went into one of the dorms to find some paper towels. We, uh, borrowed a bunch from one of the suites. If that girl hadn’t—” I stopped myself before I said too much.
    The female cop frowned. “What girl?”  
    Shit. Damage control. “The one who’s bathroom we took the paper towels from. To clean up my car. I guess she was mad we were taking so many paper towels. But it was a big cup of coffee.” I hoped that made it sound more innocent.
    She nodded, satisfied. But Adonis was still in the back seat. I tried to catch his eye. He didn’t notice. Like he’d forgotten I was there. “So, um, why are you taking him in again?”
    “There’s a warrant out for his arrest, ma’am.”
    Shell shock. “What?! A warrant? For paper towels?”
    “For assault, ma’am.”
    “He didn’t hit anybody!“ My mouth Oed then clamped shut. This morning. Red Faced fat guy and the Mercedes. But it couldn’t be. That guy swung first, hadn’t he? I wasn’t entirely sure anymore. But Adonis was protecting me. Isn’t that like self defense? Shit, this was my fault.  
    Mustache Cop was already in the car, and the female officer was climbing into the driver’s seat. Before she closed the door I blurted, “Wait! Where are you taking him?”
    “Downtown. To book him.”
    “No! You can’t!”
    “Please, ma’am,” she said. “You should go home. You don’t want to waste your time on a guy like this.”
    What a bitch! I can’t believe she said that! Adonis cleaned my car!
    Adonis brooded in the back seat, leaning forward because of the handcuffs. His head hung between his shoulders. As the police cruiser drove off, he drilled me with his jeweled eyes for a brief second before his thick lashes slid closed. He looked…pained.
    A wave of nausea bloomed in my stomach, overshadowing my sadness. It was obvious that Adonis was trouble with a capital T.  
    The cops showing up had scared the shit out of me. Maybe I was better off with Adonis gone. There was a good chance that after his arrest, I’d never see him again.  
    Why did that suddenly make me feel so damn sad?
    I’d known the guy for less than twelve hours. That wasn’t enough time to get to know anyone.
    The only thing I knew for sure was that I missed him already.

    I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. When I caught my reflection in the rearview mirror, I noticed my mascara had run. When had I been crying? I hadn’t noticed I was.  
    Adonis.
    I wiped the makeup off as best I could before going inside for groceries.  
    When I passed the frozen foods section, it took all of my will power to walk past the ice cream. But I did, even though I swear the chocolate chip cookie dough sang my name like the sirens that tried to pull Odysseus’ ship onto the rocks. I’m pretty sure ice cream was invented by Satan.
    I made it back to my car having only bought the food I needed to eat.
    When I