“So they’re holding her for assault and battery?”

“Just battery. Shit, she could’ve been charged with Mayhem after I heard what she did to that mothafucka’s arm. He’s lucky it’ll work after they do some surgery on it. Still, I’m thinkin they wanna charge her with a felony and thats around three years in jail maximum.”

“But she was acting in self defense! The guy came rushing at her with a knife!”

“Yeah but she picked him up and startin knockin him about even after he was through didn’t she?”

Carmen fell silent. She desperately wished Shane was with her right now because she could use someone to hold her at that moment.

“But hey now, she could get off with self-defense and a few months in jail. Let’s just hope her record won’t work against her. As for you, you need to go home and get some sleep, ya look like hell.”

She nodded in agreement and got up to say goodbye to Daren and the children, promising to visit soon and stay in touch.

Shane sat in her living room with a grimace on her face as she endured Alice’s ‘I-told-you-that-you-should’ve-listened-to-me’ rant. She had only received it once before and had made a conscience effort not to have to go through with it again. But Alice and her infinite amount of resources had managed to grab the gist of what went down the night before and immediately made a B-line for Shane’s house. Her greeting at the door consisted of “Oh my God are you alright? Is Carmen okay? Are you hurt? Where was Mark? What happened to this Casey woman?”

“Why don’t you come in.” Shane grumbled . She wasn’t in the mood to have to deal with anyone, especially if that someone was an Alice on the information-warpath. She had tuned out much of the lecture and managed to focus in again at the conclusion.

“…Therefore, the world ends when you don’t listen to me. Now will you please tell me what happened?”

“Because you don’t already know right?” Shane responded sarcastically.

“Well things tend to get mixed up sometimes, gossip is just an adult version of broken telephone and I’d rather hear it from you and get the facts straight. Besides, it’s good to talk about traumatic experiences.”

Shane couldn’t help but smile slightly at her friends display of concern. Alice might not always say the right things at the most appropriate times but she had a big heart that Shane found endearing.

Once again Shane recounted what happened as Alice sat on the edge of her seat, completely immersed in every word. By the time he had finished, Alice’s eyes were wide open with shock and awe.

“Wow, that’s one hell of a story you can tell when passing the joint.”

Shane rolled her eyes playfully but felt that she needed to at least have a cigarette to alleviate some of this stress. She asked Alice for a smoke and the boisterous blond produced a Marlboro and lighter to which Shane gratefully accepted.

After inhaling the toxic substances into her lungs, she gave a relieved sigh and sunk lower into the sofa. “Yeah well Casey is in the slammer and Carmen is over at one of her relatives house’s.”

“What’s their name?” Alice asked a little too innocently but Shane was to exhausted to notice the mirage.

“Daren I think.”

“You mean Daren “Scruffy” Young? Her brother and former member of one of the most notorious street gangs in Los Angeles?”

Shane looked at Alice like she was crazy, “Gang? Are you fucking kidding me? Carmen would never be around something like that.”

“I don’t remember saying that Casey was, but she has her own shit list the size of Toxic Tonya’s hair.” Both women cringed at the sound of that name even a year later.

Shane contemplated this information as she took another drag from her cigarette. ‘Maybe that’s why she held back about Casey and her. Maybe she’s ashamed of what happened between them.’ These thoughts started to make her feel distant from Carmen and also slightly frustrated. She knew that her love would eventually tell her in the end but the thought of gangs, rap-sheets, and the potential for more harm to be done made her paranoid. She needed to know, she needed to know it all so that she could be prepared and could keep Carmen safe.

“Tell me everything.”