𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐲 ➔ 𝐦𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭.

008. REAL LIFE.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

irena began to step forward so she could let the policemen into their apartment, but again, danny pulled her back.

danny glared at officer smith. "me and irena didn't do anything!"

the other cop, officer james, stepped closer. his tone was gentle as he told danny, "can we come inside? we just want to talk."

mumbling to himself, danny opened the door, and they walked in. officer james gestured for irena to come with him to the opposite side of the apartment.

"hi, ms. ohtani," he said. his voice was continuously gentle, but irena was still nervous.

"it's just irena."

officer james nodded. "okay. i just wanted to ask you some things.. you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

irena nodded.

"well.. for starters, how'd you get that cast on your arm?" she inwardly sighed, she should've known he'd ask about that.

"i fell," she said flatly. it was what danny told her to say to anyone who asked.

officer james shrugged. "alright. it's just.. sometimes people use that kinda excuse when they're afraid of something. or someone."

"i'm not afraid of danny." some days she was. some days she wasn't.

"why do you let him jerk you around, then? just from what i've briefly seen, he pulls you every which way a lot."

"it's how things are," irena answered half-heartedly.

"there's heroin!" officer smith suddenly announced. when his partner turned to him, he began laughing loudly.

irena turned, blinking between officer smith and her boyfriend. she wasn't sure she'd heard him correctly. "heroin?"

officer smith pulled two bags of heroin from a drawer next to danny. "tell me, daniel: are these bags yours or irena's?"

danny didn't even look at her as he lied. "irena's."

irena opened her mouth, shocked. in the blink of an eye, he'd thrown her under the bus. she was frightened that the cops would believe him.

but officer smith laughed again. "right, sure it's hers. this is a violation of your parole, lennon. we're nailing you for this."

it was all happening so fast, and irena didn't know how to interpret it. "hold on.. you're taking danny? for his drugs?"

officer smith slapped a pair of handcuffs on danny and began to push him out of the apartment, reciting his rights.

"i'm clean, baby!" danny called. he struggled against the cop to face her. "and i haven't been dealing! i have no idea how that got there -"

as he disappeared with the cop, irena turned wide-eyed to officer james. he said, "i really hope you don't believe him, irena. we have video footage of him and two witnesses. he's lying out of his ass."

of course she didn't believe danny. she'd been there when he did some of his deals, and there were always drugs lying around the apartment. "how did you know he had drugs here? is he going back to jail?"

officer james sighed. "we got a call from the receptionist. she thinks she's seen repeated signs of domestic abuse where you're the victim. we needed to check him out anyway because he's supposed to be on parole for drug charges, and his parole officer thought he was violating."

she frowned at him, waiting.

"we found the heroin, just as we suspected." he looked at her meaningfully. "and we also see your cast, and you lied to us about how you got it. once we get a confession from him for the abuse, we'll nail him for assault and the violation."

irena was silent, thinking over everything. technically, they couldn't nail him for assault if she didn't press charges.

finally, she shrugged and told him, "danny won't confess."

officer james shook his head. "he will, we'll get it out of him. we'll have a trial, and when we win, he'll be put away for a long time. while he's in prison, you can work on a restraining order for when he gets out."

irena blinked at him, emotionless. and after a moment, she smiled. she thought that every word that came out of this cop's mouth was bullshit. restraining orders and jail time meant nothing to danny.

she pushed past the cop and walked out the door, because danny wasn't there to stop her.