Single Wide Female: The Bucket List Mega Bundle - 24 Books (Books #1-24) (34 page)

“Let’s go. We’re going to have to do a strip search,” he said. He gestured to a female officer who had just walked through the door. “Do you want to take this one, Dawn?”

“I guess,” she replied. “Let’s go.” She grabbed me hard under the arm.

I tried to pull away. “Wait, please,” I said.

“If you resist I have every right to throw you to the ground and cuff you,” Dawn said. Her eyes were full of warning. “I’d rather not have to do that. This doesn’t have to be a horrible experience. Just cooperate and we’ll be done before you know it.”

“No, thank you,” I said.

“No, thank you?” she asked.

“No, thank you to the strip search,” I said.

It wasn’t even so much being stripped down to nothing by a stranger as it was the realization that she would see what I was wearing under my clothes. That might just have an impact on her ability to take me seriously.

“There’s no option to decline, princess,” Dawn said. She started to tug me toward a door.

A man stepped through another door on the opposite side of the hallway. He wasn’t dressed in a uniform, but he was wearing a badge. “Let her go, Dawn,” he said.

“Are you sure, Detective?” Dawn asked. “She’s a little combative.”

“It’s okay. She’s been cleared for release,” he said.

“I have? Oh, I have!” I said. I would have danced for joy if I weren’t worried about Dawn throwing to me the ground and handcuffing me, not to mention the still quite snug corset issue.

“Yes we’ve confirmed that there was a mix-up in the background check,” he said. “We just need to process some paperwork and you’ll be free to go. No big deal.”

“No big deal.” I looked at him incredulously. “I was almost strip searched!”

“Well, after what you did to Officer Barnes…” the detective said.

I stared at him with disbelief. He cracked a half-smile. It seemed to me he was rusty at making jokes.

“Listen, somehow your fingerprints got mixed up with another set we took today. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but the moment you were reprinted we realized the mistake.”

“Okay,” I said.

What I wanted to say probably would have gotten me arrested again.

I knew that although I might be free to go at the moment, that could change at any time.

Dawn released me.

“Sorry about the whole princess thing,” she said. “Sometimes it gets a little rough around here.”

“Sorry for the mix-up,” the man who had fingerprinted me said.

“It happens sometimes,” the detective said. He shrugged and held the door open for me.

“How?” I asked. “How does it happen?”

“Similar names—red flags accidentally placed on the wrong files,” he said. “I do hope you understand that these officers were just doing their job.”

“I do understand,” I said. “However, maybe listening to the person who is begging to be listened to could help in these circumstances.”

“I’ll remember that the next time someone claims to be innocent,” the detective said. He cracked another half-smile.

I shook my head and walked past him. Just when I thought my humiliation was over, I saw Max standing in front of the desk outside the door.

“Hey there, jailbird,” he said.

I stood awkwardly behind the door. There was a buzzing sound, then the door swung open. I rushed out and right into Max’s waiting arms. He hugged me tightly.

“I’m starting to think you’re a bad influence.” He smiled at me teasingly.

“I have no idea how this happened,” I said. “I’ve never done anything illegal in my life.”

“It was just some kind of mix-up,” Max said. “Don’t worry, it’ll all get straightened out.”

“I hope so.”

“Shelly called me after she picked up your Little Sister. She said that you’d been arrested and she had no idea what was going on. So I thought you might like a ride.”

“Max, you’re my hero,” I said. “Do you know they were going to strip search me?”

“Darn, that’s something you hate to miss.” He poked me in the side and laughed.

I gasped at the poke because the corset was digging into me.

“I didn’t mind missing it at all,” I said. “Get me out of here, please!”

“No worries, I’m breaking you out.” He grinned.

Chapter 9

As we drove back to my apartment, I didn’t care that my car was at the mall. I was sure that everything that had happened would mean that I did not qualify as a Big Sister.

“You okay?” Max asked. He parked in front of my apartment. “All joking aside, that must have been pretty scary for you.”

“I’m okay. I just hope I didn’t scar Charlotte for life,” I said.

“Charlotte?” he asked.

“My Little Sister. Well, she was supposed to be my Little Sister. I just wanted a chance to be a mentor—to help someone else,” I said.

“I can’t think of anyone who would be a better mentor than you, Sammy.” He gave my knee a light pat. “Don’t worry. I’m sure Charlotte will be fine. Besides, now you can teach her first-hand how important it is to stay out of jail.”

“Funny, very funny.” I stepped out of the car and began walking toward the apartment.

“We should eat,” he said. “I’ll call for a pizza.”

“Sounds good.”

Max reached in his pocket. “I must have left my phone at home. When I heard you were locked up, I rushed out of there.”

I smiled a little at how quickly he had come to my rescue.

“Here, use mine.” I handed him my phone.

He stared down at it. Then he flicked his thumb across the screen. Then again, and again.

“Don’t you know the number?”

He didn’t answer right away. He just kept flicking his thumb across the screen. All of the sudden it dawned on me that he was making the same gesture that I would if I was looking through pictures on my phone. But why would he be looking through my pictures?

“Max!”

“What?”

He almost dropped the phone. He caught it at the last moment and cleared his throat.

“Give me that.” I snatched my phone back. Sure enough, the pictures that I’d taken in the dressing room were on the screen. “I can explain.”

“No need. I shouldn’t have looked without asking. Did you buy it?” he asked. I noticed a strange gleam in his eyes.

“No, of course not.” I didn’t think my cheeks could get any hotter without erupting in tiny little flames.

“Why not? You look hot.”

I waited for the punch line. Max was always telling me I was beautiful, but he didn’t often comment on my level of hotness. I was stunned by his words. I knew he was probably just trying to be nice, but it meant a lot to me that he would say it.

“Thanks. It’s not exactly my style.”

“You can make anything look good, Sammy.”

“You know how to make an ex-con feel good about herself, Max.”

He grinned at me.

“Someone has to look out for the delinquents of the world,” he said.

“I’m not a delinquent.”

“Let’s see—risqué pictures, a trip to jail, and what was this rumor I heard about fingerprints in inappropriate places?” he asked.

“You heard about that?”

“I did. The receptionist at the desk told me all about it.” He cast a wink in my direction. “Face it, Sammy, you’re not a good girl anymore. You’re a delinquent now.”

“Fine. But you still love me.” I smiled.

He paused and looked into my eyes.

“Always,” he said.

My heart skipped a beat. I considered finally asking Max about the tension that had been growing between us.

“It looks like you have some company.” He nodded his head toward the door of my apartment. Standing in front of it was the not so sweet little redhead that had been assigned to be my Little Sister. I rushed to her side.

“Charlotte, what are you doing here?”

Max gave me a subtle wave and then walked off down the street. I knew that he wanted to give us some time alone to talk.

“I’m sorry,” Charlotte said. When she looked into my eyes, I really believed that she meant it. “You were so nice to me, and then so much went wrong.”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It kind of was,” she said. “I was trying to make you angry. I’ve had all these Big Sisters before and they spend a little time with me, and then they just disappear whenever something more interesting comes along. I thought you would be the same way, so I thought I would just speed things up.”

“I’m sorry that you’ve been hurt like that, Charlotte,” I said. “I know what it’s like to feel lonely.”

“You’re not angry with me?” she asked.

“No. I mean—I think it’s a little funny. So I got stuck in some clothes—it isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last,” I said. “I liked spending time with you Charlotte, and if you want me to, I’d like to spend more time with you. What do you think about that?”

“I think it’s great,” Charlotte said. “But you have to call me Charlie.”

“Alright, Charlie. You can call me Sammy.”

“Nice name.”

“You too. Now we need to get you home before your mother is worried about you. But first, I have to get out of these clothes.”

Chapter 10

I ducked into my room to change. With a little help from some scissors and an interpretative dance wiggle, I was able to finally get out of the clothes that had been imprisoning me.

When I accidentally knocked my lamp off the bedside table, Charlotte called out to me.

“Are you okay in there, Sammy?” she asked. “Should I call an ambulance?”

“I’m fine,” I said. I blew the hair out of my face and finally managed to shrug off the last bit of the clothing. In a pile on the floor it didn’t look so torturous, but I knew the truth. If I didn’t live in an apartment, I might have burned it. I pulled on a loose sundress and walked back out into the living room.

“Better?” Charlie asked.

“Much.” I took the first deep breath I had been able to in quite some time.

Max had come back by that time to drive us to the mall so that I could get my car. Then I drove Charlie back to her house. Shelly was waiting for us there.

“Samantha,” she said. Her expression was one of extreme displeasure.

“I’m so sorry, Shelly. I have no idea how things got so out of control,” I said.

“It’s not her fault,” Charlie said. “She didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t be mad.”

Shelly looked at Charlie. “So you like Samantha?”

“I do,” Charlie said.

“Okay, you go inside, your mother is waiting for you,” Shelly said.

Once Charlie was inside, I said, “I’m so sorry, Shelly.”

“Samantha, it’s not as if you expected this to happen. It’s partially my fault. When they called about the warrants out for your arrest, I told them where you’d be.”

“You had to. You needed to make sure that Charlie was safe.”

“Still, I feel like all of this was such a disaster. I understand if you don’t want to be involved in the program after all of this,” she said.

“Of course I do,” I said. “I can’t wait to see Charlie again. If you’ll let me.”

“Absolutely,” Shelly said.

We discussed a few more things and then I left. I was feeling better than I had an hour before when I was having my mug shot taken.

When I got back to my apartment, my mind was spinning. I felt a strong need to get out my thoughts and feelings. My computer beckoned to me. I sat down with it and began a new entry on my blog.

As I wrote out the post, I thought about leaving out the embarrassing parts, but I’d learned something from my experience with Charlotte. Maybe I spent too much time trying to hide the embarrassing parts. It had helped Charlotte to see that yes, I could make a silly mistake and still be okay. Maybe it was time for me to embrace myself, embarrassing parts and all, instead of trying to downplay things or hide away from attention.

Not long after I published the blog entry, I heard a chime from my computer. It meant that I had a new comment on my blog. Excited to see what it was, I hurried over to my computer and opened it back up.

There was a new message from Blue. I was a little surprised to see it. He hadn’t left a comment in a while. I was looking forward to finding out what he thought of my latest post. Usually he left a few words—sometimes a sentence or two, but tonight he had left quite a long response.

Dearest SWF,

I can’t say how amazed I am by you. Not only are you brave enough to expose yourself, you are willing to give wholly of yourself for the sake of another. What you did for that young girl today might never have happened to her if you didn’t involve yourself in her life. You are kind, you are daring, and you have plenty to be proud of. I can only hope that one day I will get to meet you for myself so I can put a face to the beautiful words I read on your blog.

Blue

I sat back and stared at the screen. I couldn’t ignore the connection I felt with this mysterious man. He seemed to be fascinated by my blog posts. I knew the dangers of the Internet world, but I didn’t sense any danger with him. I typed out a quick response.

Blue,

Thank you for your kind words. They mean a lot to me. I hope one day we will get to have that meeting.

I knew that it was not likely that we would ever actually meet, but it still felt good to entertain the idea. My mind filled with ideas of romance as I imagined us meeting in some fantastical way.

His words left a warm feeling inside of me, as did the memory of the way Max had looked at me when he told me he would always love me. All of it put me in the mood for a good romance. I turned on my television and found a romantic comedy that had to do with crashing weddings.

It reminded me of the next item on my bucket list. I was feeling just bold enough to try it.

Single Wide Female: The Bucket List

#10 Crash a Wedding

By

Lillianna Blake

Copyright © 2015 Lillianna Blake

Cover design by
Beetiful Book Covers

All rights reserved.

LilliannaBlake.com

Chapter 1

Lately I’d been checking off a lot of items on my bucket list. I felt motivated to keep it up. This time I was in the mood for something fun. I’d been scouring local social media for wedding announcements. After watching a movie recently about wedding crashing, I was dying to try it out myself. It seemed very daring and I didn’t think it would cause too much harm. After all, there were always a few no-shows for weddings, and their food and fun would go to waste if I didn’t show up to fill in. At least that’s what I was telling myself as I worked up the nerve to do it.