I raised my hand to my sore cheek, cringing at the wave of pain that moved all the way to the back of my head. "It was an accident. He fell down and I leaned in to help him when he raised his head and POW," I said, telling Butch half the story. "Boy, I never knew you were such a brawler," I added, trying to change the subject as Buttercup appeared at the door and rushed to my side. She almost lost it, taking in my sore cheek. "What happened? I heard Butch holler so I called the cops."
"No, you didn't," I groaned.
"Of course I did. I hear a commotion coming from my daughter's detached bedroom, I call the cops," she said, leading me into the house. The bright light in the kitchen seared a path through my head as my rapidly swelling eye throbbed in pain. Buttercup gently helped me into one of the kitchen chairs. In seconds, she was back at my side with a bag of frozen peas, placing it carefully against my eye.
The cold stung at first, but quickly began to soothe the fire burning across my cheek. The backdoor opened and I pulled the bag of peas away long enough to glare at Butch. "You didn't have to jump on him like that," I chastised him. "Now he's out there somewhere all by himself."
"Who are we talking about?" Buttercup asked, sounding freaked. "I hope you kicked his ass," she added, which nearly made me pass out in shock. Buttercup, the lover, not a fighter, looked deadly serious. My entire life she had preached a motto of "fight conflict with love, not fists." To hear her asking Butch if he kicked someone's butt was earth-shattering.
"I tried, but Rainbow stopped me before I could get one fist on him." They turned to me for an explanation.
"It was Evan," I said, placing the bag of peas back on my eye.
"Evan? The kid from the party, Evan?" Butch asked.
I launched into a full explanation rather than sit there answering one question after another.
"In spite of the whole mess, his father sent him here by himself?" Buttercup asked incredulously.
"Well, except for a housekeeper apparently. Real winner, right?" I pulled the peas from my face so I could gently probe the damage with my fingertip. It was far too sore to touch.
Buttercup's facial expression looked as bad as my face felt as she surveyed the damage. "Do you think we should take her to the hospital?"
"Absolutely not," I stated, standing up abruptly. Call me crazy, but I was not a fan of hospitals. Never had been and never would be. Buttercup claimed it was because of the asinine ER doctor I had when I was three and needed stitches. She said the dummy forgot to numb the entire cut, so I could feel some of the stitches. Whatever the reason, I avoided hospitals at all costs.
"The bones in your face could be fractured," Butch stated, studying me critically.
"I have a hard face. Trust me, I'm fine," I said as someone rapped briskly on the front door.
Butch left to answer the door and Buttercup and I could hear several voices before he returned to the kitchen with two police officers. One of which I recognized as the same female officer from the night of my arrest.
"Rain, they'd like to ask you a few questions," Butch said. I nodded in agreement. I figured if I at least told them what kind of shape Evan had been in they might go to his house to check on him.
"First of all, I'm Officer Dunn, but you can call me Karen. This big bear there is Officer Mackey. We call him Tank for good reason," she said, pointing at the burly officer who smiled at me. "We'll take your statement, and then I'd like to talk to you alone, okay?" she asked, smiling reassuringly. I couldn't tell if she recognized me from the party, but her smile helped ease some of my tension.
"You don't have to talk to me alone, nothing happened." The two officers exchanged a look as if they doubted my statement.
Their questions were direct and only seemed to focus on how my face became injured rather than why Evan had been there in the first place.
"You don't have to cover up for him," the burly cop stated gruffly.
"I'm not. You have to believe me. Evan is just in a bad place. His parents are total douches. You have to at least go check on him. He's all alone." Sudden tears filled my eyes. I hardly knew Evan and didn't owe him anything, but the way he acted out reminded me of myself in Huntsville. Our reasons for looking for trouble may have been different, but maybe we both needed to be heard.
"So you're telling us that you invited an intoxicated gentleman into your room willingly?" asked Karen, the female officer. Her tone was harsh, but I knew she was trying to press a point.
I nodded. "I know what you're saying, but I was just trying to get him to stay put. I was going to go inside and get coffee to sober him up. Maybe it wasn't the safest thing, but I felt safe."
"Then why did you leave your door open?" she drilled.
"I'm not th
at stupid," I said with an edge in my voice. I felt like we were revisiting the party mess once again. I did nothing wrong and yet they were trying to drag me across the coals.
"We'll check things out. See if the perp's story matches yours," Tank said.
"And from now on I'd think twice about inviting someone who is intoxicated into your room," Karen advised, snapping her notepad closed.
Butch cleared his throat. "We'll be setting some new rules around here."