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  Copyright © 2017 by Mara Lynne

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  This book is a work of FICTION. It is fiction and not to be confused with reality. Neither the author nor the publisher or its associates assume any responsibility for any loss, injury, death or legal consequences resulting from acting on the contents in this book.The author’s opinions are not to be construed as the opinions of the publisher.The material in this book is for entertainment purposes ONLY. Enjoy.

  Partners in Crime

  Shouldn’t Have Gone

  By: Mara Lynne

  © MaraLynne2017

  Partners in Crime

  It was chaos that summer afternoon. The sun was up in the sky, scorching and burning human flesh that comes out of any shade unprotected. It was the hottest day ever recorded in that year, and Officer Sutton was not pleased at all.

  His office was locked down as a group of curious and greedy reporters swarmed the outside of his building. Every entry point was blocked, every telephone lines ransacked for answers. It was that one day that Officer Sutton wished he did not accept his promotion.

  “Sir, you might want to take this one,” said one skinny officer in washed out uniform.

  Still trying to pacify the situation, Sutton held his mobile phone with his right hand, answering Bruce, “It’s CNN, you fucking idiot!”

  “Sir, you might really need to take this!” he mouthed. “It’s the mayor.”

  He dropped his phone on his desk and jumped at Bruce at once, snatching the phone from his grasp.

  “Everyone, quiet!” he bellowed on top of his lungs.

  Silence broke the commotion.

  His raised eyebrow directed itself to Bruce. “Shut them all up!” He scooted to his office where he would find the peace he needed at that moment.

  Once Sutton was out of sight, Bruce slammed his face on his desk, leaving the others to deal with the piranhas on the phone.

  “Hey, officer,” a lad behind bars, barely on his twenties, shouted. “Will you be a little considerate and pass us a bottle of cold drink? Even water will do.”

  None of Bruce’s colleague cared to come to their feet, so Bruce obliged, literally dragging his legs from his seat. He could hear him chant his name, obviously trying to test his patience. He took five bottles of water out from the fridge and walked past three colleagues who were jotting notes on paper while talking on the phone.

  “Thanks, Bruce,” said one lad who lightly pushed the guy chanting Bruce’s name away from the jail bars. He tossed the bottles to the other three lads inside the cell. “Will’s still a little a hangover.”

  “A little?” his eyebrow arched. “He’s spending the night here again, you know that.”

  “Hey, have you heard from the mayor?” His voice is still a little desperate and sorry.

  “Sutton’s on the phone with him. Your father’s trying to bend the rules once more for you, Hunter. But it won’t be a smooth escape for you, I fear.”

  With the media people surrounding the detention center, Hunter could only wish it wouldn’t be like last summer.

  Will talked, approaching him with that brooding air only he has. “The media mileage we got last time is not as wild as this. We got a fair share of popularity, though. Didn’t we, Eric?”

  A man in a dirty white jacket sitting on the floor replied as he brushed a few hair off his forehead. “Hell, yeah! My dad almost beat me to death. I was lucky he did not castrate me.”

  “You’re lucky you’re still going to med school,” Bruce said.

  “You know what, officer? Remind me to give you a big discount in the future. I really like you!” Eric exclaimed with a grin on his face.

  “Well, I do not like you. And I don’t like you being in my cell!” he said. “Do you think this place is for juveniles like you who are privileged to have a good education but choose to waste their time and effort on petty crimes just so they can get their mommy and daddy’s attention?” Looking at Hunter, he went on. “This is not right, young man.”

  “Officer, please don’t be too meddlesome. Just do your job,” Will said jokingly. “Just get all the paperworks done so my friends here can get away. I won’t go anywhere.”

  “You’ll get three weeks community service, William! Three weeks! And that includes joining the church choir!”

  Eric burst into laughter. “Woah! This might be the first time I’d consider attending Sunday service. I’d be sitting in the front row, Will, to hear you sing!”

  Will, furious, jumped at Eric, and soon, he found himself rolling with him on the floor. Eric had gone so red laughing. The picture of Will in pristine white robe in the balcony of the altar just did not look right.

  “Go and tend to your brother,” Bruce said before he left Hunter and went to back to his desk.

  He turned around the wall and looked at his little brother, Damien, in his junior high school uniform. He took the bottle away from his shaking hands and twisted the cap off the hole. Hunter sat beside him and handed back the bottle of water.

  The little voice in his head was singing a hymn of massive regret. His brother had never been in a prison cell before; and on top of that, being a minor detained was even more ridiculous.

  “It’s not your fault,” Damien said with a quivering voice. “I should have not forced you to let me join. I’m going to tell Dad, Hunter.”

  He was not scared of what James Etheridge would think, nor what Mary Etheridge would do against him. They never held a greater opinion of him, so he’s not bothered he’d lose any respect or any kind of admiration from them. He will always be the problem child.

  “You were really good with Ruby,” Hunter said. “If you keep on practicing, you might eclipse me next time we do this.”

  Damien’s pair of pale gray eyes lightened up, and his face emancipated of some sort of burden. “I really like her, Hunter!”

  “Fine! Here’s the deal.” Hunter went on. “If you get into Princeton, I’m going to give her to you.”

  “Really?”

  “And graduate on top of your class in high school. Only then can you have Ruby.”

  “But that would be like years and years from now.”

  “I know. But you can have another Ruby. She’s going to be old and overused. You might not like her anymore when the time comes.”

  A hint of doubt surfaced on his face.

  “Does that mean I won’t be able to go with you and your friends anymore?”

  Hunter took a deep breath and mustered the courage to break the stinging truth to Damien.

  “I’m not severing our ties, Damien. It’s just that you’ve got a bright future ahead of you.”

  “And so do you,” Damien retorted.

  “But yours is bigger and more important. No one would really care what happens to me except you and my mother. So you have to stay away from trouble.”

  “But I don’t have any other friends. I only have you.” He shifted his gaze from his older brother to Eric and Will who are still wrestling on the floor. “And Will… and Eric…”

  “I’m going to college too, but not here. Not in Princeton…” Somewhere far from the Etheridges and the life he always wished to be not his.

  “You’re leaving?”

  “Only temporarily. A few years in school. I’d still see you between semesters, though. We’d still spend summer and spring breaks together. It’ll all be the same, only you’ll have to keep up with your studies and get that gold medal.”

  Damien nodded.

  “And Damien”—he lowered his voice—“don’t get too close to any of them two.”

  Will and Eric?

  “But I thought they’re my friends now? I thought they’ve accepted me after I drove Ruby, your motorbike, like how the Undertaker would.”

  Hunter shook his head. “No…no…no… They are good people, but they won’t teach you to become a better person. What can Eric do t o you? He only likes girls. And Will? He doesn’t even go to school. He likes to play around with strange people. You’ve met some of them last night, and they’re not the kind you used to know. Don’t trust them so easily.”

  “But you seem chum with them.”

  “Because I’ve known them longer than you. They know me, but they’re not really my friends.”

  Eric and Will lay flat on the floor. Will was on his belly, heaving heavily as Eric started rolling on the floor laughing.

  “I hate to say this, but you should listen to your mom. I don’t like her, and you know why, but it does not mean you should take her for granted,” Hunter said to Damien.

  “Did Mom talk you into this?”

  Hunter rested his back against the wall and softly pounded the back of his head against the concrete wall. It just felt as though his muscles were kneading altogether and his skull breaking. He did not have a graceful fall on Eric’s motorbike. Racing at an abandoned avenue with Damien was a really bad decision—but definitely not the only one. He landed on his back, and the motorbike went flying straight through the bushes that were a couple of feet away from where he dropped himself. A police car chased them down for trespassing a private property, and he could only think of Damien steering Ruby to some place the police could catch him.

  “She did not.” He lied. The day before he got Damien here, Mary paid him a visit in his small run-down apartment in the city. Hunter left Victoria’s house after high school and paid his own dues by working full time for a private accounting company as an errand boy. Pay was good enough for rent and his daily expenses, and Hunter rejected any help from Victoria. “Mary would not even want to be around my presence.”

  “Then why are you saying all this?”

  “It’s because I won’t be anywhere near you when something like this happens again.”

  “Should you really go?”

  Hunter tapped his brother’s shoulder and replied as the side of his mouth curved into a half smile. “You’re not the only heir in this cell, are you?”

  Make sure to read the whole story when you buy Shouldn’t Have Gone available on Amazon!

  About the Author

  Other than reading and writing stories, Mara Lynne loves to daydream. Sometimes she would have a hard time falling asleep because of the many stories going on around her head. Unusual characters and twisted plots keep her company each night, and would only leave her once she had breath life to them. She discovered the passion for writing when she was eleven years old–the time when she met the well-loved red-haired Anne Shirley. She fell in love with the kindred spirit Anne because she sees herself in her. There was a time when she even thought she was Anne of Green Gables! Seriously! It was like a mild case of identification, a defense mechanism for wanting to be somebody you adore or worship but whom you can never be. After Anne Shirley, she fell in love with all of Jane Austen heroines, with Anne Elliot as her most loved. She just loved everyone whose name is Anne!! When she is not writing, Mara Lynne works as a full time registered nurse in England. She hailed from a city in the southern part of the Philippines.

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  Mara Lynne, Partners in Crime: A Shouldn’t Have Gone Bonus Chapter

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