Imperfectly Beautiful (Jordan Knight Fanfic, Liadan #3)

Kicks and Kisses

-JORDAN-

The roar of sirens and blinding brightness of red and blue flashing lights reached me before the park even came into view and I felt every muscle in my body tense.

"Oh my God, J," Lia sniffled as she unbuckled her seatbelt and gazed out the window at the blood-stained snow and motorcycle helmet sprawled in the middle of the street.

"Wait here," I said and my eyes quickly moved over towards the cop car in search of Natalie as I came to a stop. I didn't even bother to turn off the minivan—I simply shifted the gear to park and climbed out to make my way to my little girl, but the closer I got, the more chaotic things seemed to be as I realized a cop was trying his best to calm down a fuming DJ and another kid who I recognized from the pictures as Heath. Both looked like they'd been in a brawl—brutally banged up with cuts and scratches and ripped clothes, but from the looks of it, they were seconds from starting another fight all over again.

Heath was especially uncooperative as he waved his arms around and shouted something I couldn't quite decipher.

"You've got quite the rap sheet here, Mr. Rivera, you know that? I'd settle down if I were you," the cop said as he pushed Heath to sit back down on the curb. "All I want to do is get to the bottom of why you two are fighting. The neighbors saw you and called in a complaint."

"I told you, I didn't do anything besides defend myself, but he should be arrested! I was coming to get my girlfriend and this fucking psychopath just attacked me out of nowhere!"

"Officer, he's a perv. You guys should check his phone and no telling what you'll find. He's nineteen and Natalie is only fifteen and he's been harassing her for nude pictures," DJ said through gritted teeth. "I didn't attack him, I'll admit I wasn't exactly nice when I told him to leave her alone and stay away from the park, but he started the fight. I was defending myself and then I had to defend Natalie too."

"That aligns with what you told us in your statement right, Miss Knight? You heard yelling and then a mutual fight broke out?" the cop asked.

I finally spotted Natalie standing off to the side wrapped in a police blanket and sniffling. She looked like she was about to fall apart.

"I—," she started.

"No, that isn't right! That's bullshit and she didn't see the start of it anyway," Heath shook his head and scoffed at the officer. "I don't know why you keep asking her shit. Can't you see she's scared?"

"She's not crying because she's scared, she's crying because you fucking hit her!" DJ started to stand up again and the officer held him in place.

"I didn't, she got in the middle of the crossfire that you started."

"That's a lie and you know it. She asked you to stop kicking me and you purposely hit her," DJ's face turned beet red and I thought he might explode.

"What if I did? You gonna attack me again here in front of the cop? Go for it," Heath gave a smug smirk and it took everything in me not to  jump over the police car that blocked my path of access and strangle him myself as I looked back over towards Natalie. This time, I noticed a bright red mark forming along her right cheek.

"Fuck you," DJ sneered.

"You might as well. You can mouth off all you want, but you're so far in the friendzone, you're in the family zone, man. Fucking me would be the closest you're ever going to get to fucking Natalie."

DJ surged up from his spot on the curb and lurched towards Heath before the cop got a better grip on him.

"Hey, hey!" he yelled. "Mr. Wood, Mr. Rivera, stop it right now or I'm going to slap charges on both of you. Enough of this! You over there! You over there!" he pointed them in two different directions as his partner got out the car with a clipboard in hand and glanced over at me.