Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Incredible job, Blaise. You all look stunning,” I said, totally taken aback.
Blaise smiled wide, clearly proud of his work. “I wanted to make sure the queens felt like queens.”
I stopped gawking. “You nailed it.”
A crowd began to develop. Bottomless mimosas and hoppy beers were being handed out as music played over two large speakers sitting on either side of the stage. Even our bio TA, Everly, was here… with Professor Sinclair.
Hot.
I looked around at the crowd as I stood next to Maddy, both of us sweating and smiling. “We did it.”
“We did,” Maddy said. She looped an arm through mine and put her head on my shoulder. “You did it. You didn’t have to come to the beach today. We could have handled it, you know?”
“Oh, I know. But this was the right thing to do. I wasn’t about to sashay away from this.”
“I’m really glad you didn’t. I’m sure your exit line would have gone viral though. Like Vanjieeee viral.”
One of the drag queens stepped onto the stage wearing a glistening sky-blue dress, stoned to the gods, a mic getting ready to be handed to her. It was Oceania Trench, a local drag queen who was as big an activist as I was. She didn’t hesitate to host the show when I asked her.
“Want to grab our seats?” I asked Maddy. Ryan walked toward us with Colton at his side.
“Yeah, let’s—” Maddy was cut off by one of the worst noises in the world.
Wee-ooo, wee-ooo.
Police sirens. Extremely close. Maybe they were responding to a call nearby. That had to be it. They couldn’t be… they were. They were coming here. Two—no, three—cop cars pulled into the nearby parking lot, turning off their sirens but leaving the lights on.
My blood pressure dropped to zero. If Ryan and Maddy weren’t on either side of me, I would have collapsed. Instead, I leaned on Ryan, Maddy still with her arm looped around mine. Except it had grown tight.
The cops walked directly toward the crowd, which was now growing silent. Flashbacks to my last experience with the cops hit me like lightning.
Shouting. Smoke. Tasers.
Punches. Blood. Crying.
I couldn’t have that happen again. I had so much more to lose now. I couldn’t let them hurt me like that again.
No, no, no. How was this happening?
That’s when I realized there was another man walking with them, someone who had parked next to them. He wore business clothes, his pressed white shirt neatly tucked into his slacks, wingtips appearing freshly shined and getting covered in sand. He looked so out of place on the beach, where most everyone was in shorts and flip-flops.
Who was that? Why was he walking with the cops? Why were his eyes pinned on Ryan?
Why…. Oh fuck.
Ryan tensed, started to shake. “Dad?”
“Ryan, what the hell are you doing here?”
Chapter Thirty
Ryan
My heart plummeted to the core of the earth.
Blood rushed to my head, my limbs felt weak, and my heart hammered against my ribs with a force that I was sure would bruise them.
It was my father. What the fuck was he even doing here?
The police officer spoke, but I had a difficult time making out his words through the pounding drums that had settled inside my ears. “Illegal. No permits. Everyone, leave.”
Jay shook his head and stepped forward. Maddy had come, too, with Colton at her side. “Respectfully, Officer, that’s not true.” His voice was soft, tense. I could see the panic in his eyes. I immediately reached for his hand, held it tight. My problems would have to hold on a sec. “We pulled the permits to have a peaceful demonstration and gathering here.”
“I have them,” Maddy said, digging into her purse and pulling out the neatly folded papers. The officer grabbed them and looked them over.
My father didn’t seem to care about the papers. His face had grown cherry red. I dropped my gaze, feeling like a six-year-old ready to get a spanking. “Ryan, get in the car. We’re leaving.”
I didn’t answer him. It was like I was beginning to shrink under my father’s fuming gaze, smaller and smaller, until I was as big as a grain of sand underneath my feet.
“This checks out,” the officer said, handing the papers back to Maddy. “I thought you said this was an unplanned protest?” he asked my father.
So it was him who called the police? I no longer trained my gaze down at my feet. I forced my eyes back up to meet my father’s. The shame and fear I felt sizzled away like a puddle on heated concrete. It left behind nothing but a simmering anger. Why? How?
“I was told it was,” my father said, still looking at me with an anger that must have matched mine. “Are you sure those papers are real?”
I stepped forward, sand kicking up at my feet. “Are you saying that my friend’s are lying?”