The Other Side

Chapter 3

A noise from the living room woke me, I quickly stood. Heavy footsteps walked into the bathroom in the hall. I crept from my room, the door to the bathroom and a tall figure had his back to me. I quickly swept his legs out from under him, he landed on his back, I seconds I had him straddled and arms pinned above his head.

"Officer de Santa?" His eyes looked wide with surprise. "Why are you in my apartment?" I questioned. "Maria, she called me crying, she said she needed help and when I got here, she told me she had homework due today and needed help" he said. Ugh, he had to be kidding. "You're serious?" I asked and he nodded. He looked down and I did too. I was till in black underwear and a white tank..and straddling him. "As much as I usually enjoy this position, I think now is not a good time" he smirked and my face flushed. I quickly stood and went back into my room, putting shorts on. I went back out into the living room. Maria sat at the kitchen table concentrating hard on the paper in front of her. "Maria you called the police to help with homework? When I said call if you need help, I meant if your life was in danger" I said and she looked up at me. "He is my friend and you said help, I needed help" she said and narrowed her eyes at me. I groaned, "Maria, police protect people, not do homework" I said.
"I don't need protecting, you do. Especially when that bad man hits you and-"
"Maria enough! Put the homework away and go to sleep. Your homework isn't due today cause today is Saturday" I snapped and she huffed. Officer de Santa's eyes narrowed at me. I felt his eyes scan over me and stop at my arm where a bruise was still healing. Maria stomped past me and into her room. A moment later she came back out and over to him. "Sorry i called you, I won't call for homework again" she moped. He smiled, "I didn't mind, call me anytime, even if it's for homework" he said and Maria smiled. She ran back to her room and shut the door. The atmosphere was quiet and a little awkward. "Thanks for coming officer-" I started.

"Call me Luca please" he said and I sighed. "Okay, thank you for coming Luca, I'm sorry she called at 7 in the morning" I said. He stood, he was wearing joggers and a tight spandex t shirt. His muscles frame made it seem like the shirt was too small. He walked over to me and took my arm, looking at it. "Who was she talking about?" He asked quietly and I shook my head. "It's nothing, I can handle myself" I said. "Ally" he said, I looked up to meet his eyes. "I'm a cop, like you said, I protect people. If someone is hurting you, you can tell me".

I opened my mouth to say something when someone pounded on the door. I motioned for him to be quiet, "who is it?" I called,

"Ezekiel"

My stomach dropped, "one second!" I said and quickly pushed Luca down the hall and into the bathroom. "What? Who is it?" He whispered and I guess he could see the panic on my face. "You need to be very quiet and stay here no matter what" I said and he gave me a concerned look. I shut the door and walked to the front door.
I opened it, "Ezekiel, what do you want?" I asked, "your father has everyone downstairs for a meeting for a few hours, he wondered if Maria was still here" he said and I nodded. "She is".
"Can I use your bathroom?" He asked. Shit.
"No, uhm, cockroaches, I have roaches. They are using it" I said and quickly shut the door. Fuck. If my dad has the gang here, that means people will be out talking in the hall. How was Luca gonna get out of here. I walked to the bathroom and opened the door. Luca narrowed his eyes at me. "Was that the man who hits you?" He asked. "Not the time to ask, don't ask questions. Did you drive here?" I asked and he was silent for a moment before nodding. "Where did you park?" I asked. "On the side of the complex" he said and I nodded. Out the window there was a set of ladders that came up to the landing. I grabbed his wrist and led him to the window. We climbed out, the morning sun rising over the city. "Take the ladder, it's safer. If anyone asks why you're here, you say you were visiting your grandma" I said and he nodded. He stepped onto the ladder, we were nose to nose when he stopped. "Put my number into your phone, call me for anything" he said. We stared at each other for a second before I nodded. He climbed down quickly. I climbed back in the window and shut it. That was close.