Page 48 of All Out of Love

“And I’ll bet you don’t know if drugs were involved. Do you?”

Toya didn’t even dignify that question with a response.

The shorter cop decided to go a different route. He, too, was suspicious of her. “That Porsche is registered to Grayson Carrington. To Governor Carrington’s son. Why would you be driving Grayson Carrington’s car?”

“He gave me permission,” Toya said in a voice that bespoke her emotional drain.

“Like hell he did!” the shorter cop said.

“Latoya! Latoya!”

When Toya heard her name, and the voice calling her name, she stood up and began looking around frantically. The cops looked too.

Grayson was calling her name because he hadn’t found her yet. It wasn’t until she stood up was he able to see her. And as soon as he saw her, he ran to her.

She tried to run to him, but the taller officer pulled her back. That was when both cops realized that the man running toward them was the very man they’d just been discussing. “Ain’t that Grayson Carrington?” the shorter cop asked.

As soon as Grayson got up to her, he snatched that taller cop’s hand off of her and pulled her into arms.

And she broke down. “Oh Gracie,” she cried. “It was awful!”

Grayson’s heart fell through his shoe. He was relieved. Lord knows he was grateful. But she was shaking in his arms, and the way she said his name broke his heart. And why were those cops holding onto her like she was the criminal?

He pulled back and took a look at her. “Are you hurt at all?” he asked her anxiously.

She shook her head. “No.” Not physically, she wanted to add. She only hoped he didn’t ask if she was okay, because she wasn’t.

“What happened?” he asked her instead.

“They tried to kill me.”

Grayson frowned. “To kill you? Who tried to kill you?” Then he looked at the cops.

“According to witnesses,” said the shorter cop, “one car sped away. We have a description, but that’s all. The other driver, in that car that flipped over there, had driver’s license that identified him as Edward Hudgens.”

“Do you know him?” the taller officer asked Grayson, although he could see that Grayson had no reaction to the name.

That was why he quickly moved on. “And there’s the matter of this lady here,” the taller officer said as if catching Toya in the act of some crime seemed more his concern than if Grayson knew some dead guy. “We caught her driving your Porsche, which we thought was strange. Did she have permission to drive it, sir?”

Grayson frowned. “Of course she had permission! Why are you even asking me a question like that? What does what she was driving have to do with any of this?”

Neither officer had expected that reaction. “We just wanted to make sure,” the smaller cop said. “We needed to know.”

“Well now you know,” Grayson said, his patience gone. Then he looked at Toya, who was his only concern. “Let’s get you home,” he said, and he took her hand.

But the taller cop stopped them. “We still have questions for her, sir.”

“She’ll answer them later.”

“But we need her to answer them now, sir.”

Grayson gave that cop a hard look. “She’s going home. She’s not the criminal here. She’s the victim. She’ll answer your questions later.”

He was so firm, and had such a determined look, that the shorter cop got it. But the taller one still didn’t. “She says they tried to kill her. We need to find out why and what level of involvement did she have.”

Grayson angrily got in that taller cop’s face. “Didn’t I just tell you,” he began saying until the shorter cop pulled his partner back.

“Have a nice day, sir,” he said to Grayson. “Have a nice day, ma’am,” he said to Toya.