Page 35

HOLT

Well, she finally told me her favorite movie.

White Christmas

And she watches it all year long, multiple times a year. And she’s finally sharing it with me. It’s a Sunday afternoon, and I convinced her to stay home from work. She’s been working so many hours I feel like I’ve barely seen her. Now that school’s out for the holidays, I want a little one-on-one time. Christmas and New Year’s will be spent with family and friends, and I want a day to monopolize her all to myself.

“You sure you don’t wanna watch it in the theater room? The quality will be better.”

She cocks her hand on her hip and glares at me, like I just told her blueberry pancakes have been outlawed by Congress. “Holt Hill, there’s no Christmas tree in the theater room. I know you’re not suggesting we watch White Christmas with no Christmas tree next to us.”

She’s so freakin’ funny.

“Mer, you watch this movie in July. There’s no Christmas tree up in July. What’s the difference?”

She shakes her head like I’m a moron and walks into the kitchen, mumbling to herself. “There’s a difference. You know there’s a difference.”

Turning on the TV, I slide in her DVD. The movie is on one of my streaming devices, but she also refuses to watch it on anything but her DVD. I’m about to sit on the couch when my cell phone buzzes, showing the front doorbell camera has picked up movement. It can’t be family. They always use the door by the garage. I don’t even have time to pull up the camera and look before someone’s pounding on the door. In fact, they’re pounding so damn hard, I’m worried they might break the damn thing.

“Holt! Open up!”

Hearing Crutch’s voice, I trot over to the door and throw it open. “Hey!” Glancing behind him, I see his truck in the circular driveway that only one-time guests or strangers use. He didn’t even shut his door. I point to it. “You left your door open. You’re gonna drain your battery.”

I walk back into the living room, and I’m surprised when he follows me instead of heading back out to shut his truck door.

“You’re about to be arrested.”

What did he say? His voice sounds weird. I pick up the remote and turn down the volume of the soundtrack song playing on the DVD title screen. “Huh?”

“You’re about to be arrested.”

My heart drops. “Shit. Are you kidding me?” I flop my hand to the TV. “We’re about to watch a movie.”

This is just freakin’ great. I can’t even erase the sarcasm from the voice in my head.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a good charity arrest. But it’s eight days before Christmas, and I just did an arrest in the spring. Last time, I was locked up until I raised thirty-thousand dollars, and I couldn’t donate it myself. Luckily, I still have a few generous friends in the NFL. It was for a good cause, but it still took me close to twenty-four hours before getting enough money to get released.

“Hey, Crutch!” Merit walks out of the kitchen holding a big bowl of popcorn. She pops a kernel in her mouth and holds the bowl out to him. “Want some? I used real butter.”

Crutch just stares at her. It’s actually kind of unsettling. His face is pale and worried.

“Crutch, can’t you just postpone for me? Tell them I’ll raise double at the next one and I—”

He yells, cutting me off. “Holt! I’m not talking about a fucking charity arrest. You are about to be arrested. For real.”

Okay. This isn’t funny.

My mind feels heavy, and my throat closes up. “What? For what?”

There’s a one-second beat. One second when my life is still normal.

And then my whole world turns upside down.

The doorbell camera buzzes on my cell phone again. This time the person doesn’t even knock on my front door. He does, in fact, break it down.

Merit immediately drops the bowl of popcorn all over the floor.

Suddenly, it feels like hell is raining down in my living room. Everything moves in slow motion, and my vision blurs with adrenaline. Police are everywhere. Police from everywhere—city police, sheriff’s department, state troopers. Men are screaming. They scatter through my house in all directions. A framed picture gets knocked off the wall and shatters.

A city officer is pointing a gun at me. Directly in my face. In my living room. In front of my Christmas tree.

From the corner of my eye, I see Crutch scoop Merit into his arms and pull her out of harm’s way.

“Put your hands in the air! Put your hands in the air!”

“Turn around!”

“Don’t move!”

A thousand different instructions are being hurled at me. I can’t process it. My brain can’t understand a single command. Someone violently grabs my shoulders and shoves me across the room, bouncing me against the wall. The air whooshes from my lungs. Yanking my arms behind my back, I feel the handcuffs close around my wrists.

What’s weird is I can actually hear it.

Despite all the noise echoing in the room, I can hear the rattle of the metal cuffs. It reverberates in my brain. The noise is in my soul. It shatters my existence.

“Holt Hill, you are being arrested under suspicion of having an inappropriate teacher-student relationship. As defined by Alabama law, a felony count is present when a school employee has sexual contact with a student under the age of nineteen.”

“What?” My voice is hoarse and weak.

One of the officers looming over me shouts in my ear. “You heard what he fucking said, you pervert!”

They pull me back from the wall. Merit’s staring at me, wide-eyed, with tears streaming down her face. Crutch is whispering to her, his mouth constantly moving. The pain on her face breaks me even more.

This can’t be happening. Can’t they see they have it wrong? They have the wrong guy.

“You made a mistake. You have the wrong guy.” My feeble protest doesn’t get very far.

A rally of cries come from nearly every person in the room.

“ Shut the fuck up!”

“Give it a fucking rest, man.”

“Asshole millionaires. Laws don’t apply to y’all, right?”

“Having sex with a minor is more than a mistake!”

All of a sudden, a distant and familiar voice can be heard, screaming and screeching. “Don’t say anything! Don’t say anything!” Ella races down the hall from the Children’s Wing, waving her arms in the air. “Don’t say any—” She’s cut off by two state troopers. They flank around her, blocking her movement.

Crutch erupts like a wild animal. Pushing through the crowd, he knocks grown men to the side like they’re nothing more than paper dolls. “Get your fucking hands off my wife!”

Fortunately, the state troopers listen and take a step back. Ella slides between them and rushes into his arms. Their hug is cut short, though, because she catches my eye and immediately runs over to me. Crutch has to grab her waist and physically restrain her from getting in the way of the men holding me captive. “Don’t say anything! Nothing until an attorney is present. Promise me!”

Two men shove me, trying to get me out of her line of sight.

Another person growls at Crutch. “Sergeant Crutchfield, get your family under control before we toss you out. You should be arrested for trying to warn this offender.”

But I’m not an offender.

Someone recites my Miranda Rights, but it just sounds like white noise. Another holds a piece of paper in my face, assuming I have enough brain power to actually digest what’s in front of me. I can barely recall my own name, let alone read a fucking legal document. “As you can see, we have a search warrant. We’ll be going through this place with a fine-tooth comb. Whatever you tried to hide, we will find it.” He yanks his head toward what used to be my front door. “Get him out of here.”

“Holt!” Merit reaches for me, but Ella holds her tight.

“We can’t go with him, Merit. We have to stay here. I need your help. We need to video the search and make note of everything they take. I need your help, okay?” Ella talks to Merit like she’s a child, giving her a job, hoping it calms her down.

It doesn’t.

I shake my head, pleading with Merit, praying she can see the truth written all over my face. “I didn’t do this.”

And then… I’m hauled out of my house and loaded into the back of a police cruiser.