ReVamped by Lucienne Diver Page A

I had … well, we had Hunky Cop and his partner Crinkly. Hunky Cop had a scar on his chin, very Indiana Jones . Without it, his fine features and long lashes might have hurled him past handsome and into pretty-boy territory. And no one wanted that.
    Really. I swear.
    His partner had the kind of brush-cut blond hair where you almost can’t see the gray. Almost. But you could tell his age from the crinkles—between the brows, up around the eyes, and bracketing the mouth. His face was like a map that had been refolded one too many times. I had supreme sympathy for the collagenically challenged. The old me would have said, “You poor thing, didn’t your mama ever teach you to moisturize,” but I bit down the urge. Hard. Blood flooded my mouth, and it was so, so wrong that it whetted my appetite for more. Seriously, macking on myself ? I was officially a mutant.
    “Well, kids, I guess you know you’re in a lot of trouble,” Crinkly Cop began.
    “See,” said Ulric, slapping me like Lily’d slapped him. “I told you we shouldn’t have skipped fourth period.”
    I rolled my eyes. They were getting quite the work-out.
    Crinkly ignored him, like he hadn’t spoken. “I guess you know we’ve already talked to your friends. They had quite a lot to say.”
    “I doubt it,” Lily mumbled.
    Hunky turned to her. “What was that?”
    “Look, they didn’t see the fight, okay?” she said vehemently.
    “They were there,” Crinkly insisted. “We have witnesses.”
    “No,” I said, drawing his attention. “It was all me. The jocks were beating on Bella, and I stepped in to help her. If the jerky jocks say otherwise, they’re lying.”
    Both cops gave me the body check—up and down. I could see them mentally calculating my height and weight, trying to figure out how in the world I could have caused the damage they’d seen. Clearly, they didn’t want to discount a confession, but—
    “We’d ask them, except one can’t say anything at all with his jaw wired shut. The other can’t remember.”
    “Or so he says,” Hunky murmured to his partner. “Could be selective amnesia.”
    “Why? Because I’m a girl ?” I taunted. It gave away that I could hear him, but he hadn’t truly been whispering. Not effectively, anyway.
    Hunky looked at me. Again, measuring. “No, because he’s got about fifty pounds on you and you’re a girl,” he answered.
    “Sixty at least, but who’s counting?” I said. It just slipped out.
    To his left, I could see Ulric smile … and then something else caught my attention. In the lounge window, which was blurry with fingerprints smudging the cheap glass, was a face, contorted in anger. Rick’s . But why? He stared at me, his glare almost hot enough to melt through the glass and scald me.
    The officers, their backs to the door, blocking us in, couldn’t see him, though Hunky Cop turned to look at my sudden preoccupation.
    Rick had disappeared.
    “I have to pee,” I announced suddenly, thinking that maybe Rick was trying to give me some kind of message. Maybe I could find and talk to him.
    Hunky Cop looked back at me suspiciously. “Right now?”
    “I can probably wait until I get to the bathroom.”
    Somehow, he didn’t appreciate my humor. “Fine. I’ll walk you there.”
    “And they say chivalry is dead.”
    He gestured me ahead of him. I looked right and left as we walked, hoping to catch sight of Rick waving me into one of the rooms, though I had no idea how I’d ditch my escort. I didn’t see him by the time we hit the rest room, and I didn’t see any choice but to go in. No sooner was I through the door than I was slammed up against it, an inch or so of solid wood between me and Hunky Cop outside, who suddenly didn’t seem like the enemy.
    Hunky pounded on the door. “You okay in there?” he called.
    “I just slipped,” I called back. “Sorry! Someone spilt water.”
    I looked into Rick’s eyes, which were far too close and crazed. I wanted to thrust him back