Infuriating

Before

Police lights bathe the back wall in blue and red. And then it's the sirens.
"Shoot!" I mutter, tossing my phone, charger, and spray paints into my book bag. Slinging it over my shoulder, I take off at a run. My combat boots, worn and molded to my feet, slap the metal of the emergency stairs.
Luckily, the police cars haven't rounded the building so the back exit is open. The hinges of the blue door squeal as the night air whips through my tangled dark hair. There's a neighborhood about three blocks away with some foreclosed houses here and there and Aidric and Max's house at the edge of it, but there's no back alleys to hide in.
"Hey, pretty, wanna hang with us?" A man with a cigar perched on his lips glances appreciatively at my body as I jog around the corner.
I roll my grey eyes but slow. "That your house?"
He laughs delightedly, surprised I'm considering him. "Yeah, baby. You wanna come inside?"
"Nah, but if police stop by, don't tell em you saw me," I wink.
"Oh? Have you been a naughty girl?"
"Not like that."
"What's a little white girl doing out in this part of town anyway?" He steps toward me, but I take off, stumbling when I hear the sirens.
My breaths come out in short puffs of grey in the cold air, and my eyes are burning by the time I'm standing in front of the familiar grey house with chipping paint. I knock hard, glancing over my shoulder and fumbling through my bag for the keys. The police are still winding through the neighborhood a street or two away.
Before I can slip the rusted metal into the lock, the door flies open. "Addie?" Mac questions, looking over me in surprise.
"Adrienne to you," I clip, raking a hand through my hair roughly. My eyes flick over my shoulder again, seeing red and blue through the houses across the street. "Listen, I'm in some trouble, and if you don't let me in right now, we're both gonna get arrested."
An easy smirk slides over Mac's features, and he bends his head down to look at me. "You coulda just asked, baby."
Rolling my eyes, I push him away and elbow past him into the narrow foyer. "Aidric home?" The TV is glowing and its flickers are the only thing casting shadows across the walls. A beer bottle sits on the table beside the armchair, but there's no sign of anyone but the muscular boy towering over me.
"Nah, but he'll be back soon. I got him to run and buy me some nachos," Mac says with a grin. "Baby bro's turned out to be good for something after all."
"I'll wait in his room."
"Can we please talk?" he rushes, grabbing my hand before I can disappear. "Listen, we need to get Cassidy back, and it's gonna take us both to..."
I yank my arm away, fleeing the room and slamming the door shut before a string of angry curses escapes. Because as much as it hurts to look at Mac, he's right. I need my Cassie, my baby girl, back.
***************
Sadly, the police show up before Aidric does.
There's the thump of hands against the heavy door, deep voices of Mac and the officers shouting, the sound of a flesh against flesh and a body hitting the ground.
Mac yells for me to run, but his voice is strained and pained through the wall separating Aidric's bedroom and the living room.
I don't have time to do anything but sit, so when the door flies open, I obey. When the officers tell time to put my hands behind my head, get on my knees, I obey. Palms on the ground, like kneeling before a king. My stomach is tight, cheek burning where it's pressed against the hardwood. The room smells like beer and weed, I notice as they tighten the cuffs on my wrists.
"She's a minor. That runaway from Seattle," one officer says when he recognizes me. "We can ID the other one at the station, but it's juvie for her."
I grit my teeth as the female officer helps me too my feet.
"Ms. Odell, I thought we agreed to stop meeting like this," she says quietly.
I don't say anything.
"Let's get them to the car."