Dante
I should have known that the night was just going to get worse. I had a feeling and as I was leaving the bar, the feeling got worse. It was like a cold dread that came over me and the more I thought about it, the more I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to get home as I had planned.
I had drunk a few beers. I wasn’t drunk, but I was certainly feeling no pain. The last thing I saw was this look from Barb as I was leaving. She gave me this little wave and considering the conversation we had, I knew that there was a reason. I don’t know what that reason was, but it set me on edge.
That may have been why I was driving a little faster than I should have to get back to the ranch before her, but none of it mattered. What mattered next was that I was pulled over on the short eight mile drive and I wasn’t but a mile from the ranch when I saw the red and blue lights flashing behind me.
It was one of those moments that I knew I was had and there was really nothing that I could do about it. I had messed up and I should have known that it was going to end badly. When I saw Officer Johnson walking up in the rearview mirror, I knew that it was going to be really bad. The man hated me. I banged his wife, not knowing she was married and he had had a hard on for me ever since. I didn’t blame him of course, but I did blame myself for how I reacted.
“Dante, what are you doing out driving like that so late at night? You got another husband after you because he caught you with his wife?”
I just shook my head and looked forward. There was no winning this fight. I knew it was pointless to hand him anything. It wouldn’t matter. I was going to jail.
“You mind if I make a call first?”
Darryl Johnson just smiled at me and clicked his tongue. It was a slow acting scoff and I sighed as I put my head back on the seat.
It wasn’t long before I was getting out of the car. He could smell liquor on my breath and I was asked to get out. I knew what came next, so I blew in his little machine and he just clicked his tongue again. “You really just don’t learn, do you?”
I hadn’t learned and tonight I wasn’t going to start. I was up to my eyes in crap and the last thing that I needed was for this guy to try to give me hell. It just wasn’t working for me and I proved once again that I was an idiot. I couldn’t blame it on anything else but myself.
“No, I guess not. How is your wife doing? I haven’t seen her around in a while. Did you finally get a leash on her?”
The cop’s face turned red and he was reaching for something on his belt. For a moment I thought I had really done it and he was going to shoot me. But instead I just got hit in the head with his flashlight. At that moment, I had to wonder which would have hurt more. He hit me with dead on accuracy and there was nothing that I could do to stop it.
Everything went black and when I finally came to I was in a jail cell. It wasn’t the end of the world of course. I had been here before and now I didn’t have to worry about a silly fight with Cece. Now I had bigger fish to fry when I found out what they were trying to charge me for. I was being charged with assault on a police officer, even though there was no way that I had done the assaulting. I pissed the wrong guy off. I guess I hadn’t learned and I still hoped that I would be able to one day soon.
I couldn’t see anybody, so I yelled out to a guard or an officer to help me. I wanted my phone call and I knew that there was only one person that I wanted to see. I hadn’t been late for work in over a year and now I was late. It was a shame and besides work, me and Cece had some unfinished business. I was looking for a way to get out, jail didn’t bother me. I was worried about what she was doing and I wanted her to know that I was here and I hadn’t run off on her. Even when I was facing serious charges and I didn’t know how it was all going to play out, I could still only think of Cece.
The officer didn’t want to give me the phone, but I started blasting on about my rights and I was finally given the opportunity to call Cece. She didn’t pick up right away and I hurried up and called her again. This time I was sending up a silent prayer that she would answer. I just wanted to hear her voice more than anything else. It was like a balm to my soul that I needed desperately.
“Hello?”
“Cece.”
“Dante, where are you?”
I looked around the cell and decided that she didn’t need to know everything. Conroe was a small town and I knew that I was going to have to say something, but it was hard to come out with it. It was right now that I felt like a true idiot. I still don’t know how I had gotten myself into this mess. My damn mouth was going to be the death of me.
“I am in jail Cece. I didn’t mean to miss the morning meeting, but they aren’t letting me go for a while.”
“What, what do you mean you are in jail?”
I didn’t want to have to explain it to her, but I knew that I had to. I had to figure out how I was going to tell her what happened. It was embarrassing and I had acted out. It was something that I hadn’t done in a while and I didn’t know what to say about it really.
“I got into it with a police officer on the way home. I was drinking a little too much, so that took me in.”
“Well that’s no big deal. We can get that taken care of in no time. Who was the officer? I know them all over there. I have lived here my whole life.”
It wasn’t that simple, but I had to come clean and tell her the rest. She was asking about bond and at the moment I didn’t have one.
“There is no bond. They won’t have a bond for me until I see the judge on Monday. There are charges that are new and they want to hold me over the weekend.”
“What charges?”
She was getting anxious and I didn’t want to continue. I didn’t want to tell her that I popped off to the police officer. She certainly didn’t need to know the why.
“Let’s just say that they are trying to get me for assault and resisting arrest.”
“Oh, wow Dante. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Hell Cece, I wasn’t thinking.”
She sighed loudly on the phone and I felt bad for adding more to her loaded plate. “Well I can’t have you sitting in jail Dante. I need you here.”
I didn’t know what to tell her because I didn’t see an easy way out of all of this. I don’t know how I was supposed to tell her that I was in here for a while. She didn’t want to hear that. Cece was the type that got what she wanted. I don’t think she knew how to say no to something.
“I will take care of it. Which cop was it?”
She wasn’t going to let it go so I knew that I had to say something. “Johnson.”
“Oh? Really, he is such a nice guy.”
I wasn’t going to argue and I didn’t want to tell her why we don’t get along, just that we didn’t.
“Well not last night. I was being an idiot, I know that now.”
“I will go down there and see what I can do. I know that you don’t think there is anything to do, but you would be surprised what happens if you ask nicely. I have known his wife for years. I think we can work this out.”
I wanted to tell her not to. It would have been easier than if she found out about me and Johnson’s wife. Ashlea was a nice girl and we had fun together, but it felt like everything was going off the rails.
“This isn’t your problem Cece. I will take care of this.”
“I need you here Dante. It is my problem. This is a busy week and I need you here with me. I have been so worried about you…”
Cece stopped and I heard a hitch in her voice.
“I am fine Cece, just did something stupid.”
“Well it could have been worse I guess. I was thinking something really bad had happened. I was…never mind what I was. It is good to know that you are okay. I will be down there in a little while and we will get this all straightened out.”
When she hung up, that feeling of dread was back and I wasn’t sure how this was going to all turn out. Cece would not be happy to find 0ut that I had slept with Ashlea. She may never forgive me, but I couldn’t see a way of getting her to stay away, when I reality if I told her she would know. Either way I went I was screwed and the more I thought about it, the more I wished that I hadn’t called her at all.
Sitting there waiting for what would happen next felt like torture. I kicked myself over and over again about calling Cece at all. I just had to hear her voice. Now I was going to pay for it in more ways than one. I just didn’t know in what way it was going to be.
I finally fell asleep, the hangover and bump on my head was not making it easier to stay awake. Sleep was the only escape from it and when I heard the bars jangling from metal hitting them, I was pulled awake.
“Lunch time.”
I groaned and looked at the smiling officer. They really enjoyed their job a bit too much as far as I was concerned. I knew that I had acted like an idiot, but I didn’t get the animosity. I suppose it was the charge for assaulting an officer.
“I am not really hungry.”
He pushed it through the small opening in the door and told me that I better eat because dinner wasn’t for hours. The food didn’t look too appealing, but once I saw it, my stomach decided that it was hungry after all.
I chewed slowly and waited. This was torture. I wasn’t used to just sitting around and waiting for things to happen. It was hard not to want to get up and fix it. That is what I always did. No, my life was in Cece’s hands and any other circumstance I would have been okay with it, but not with the circumstances around it. Not when I was going to get in trouble for another woman from my past. This was becoming a big mess. Why did my past have to come back and bite me in the butt with her?
Lying back down, I tried to think of nothing and let my mind go back to the blissful state that didn’t think. I didn’t want to worry about it all. My hands were tied and I was just going to have to wait and see what happened next.