She gives me an intersection. “The ambulance is here. Adam was driving. He was…I think he was drinking.”
Fuck.
I watch my words when I hang up. “I have to go.”
Jaw set, I head outside and get into the car.
A ten-minute drive never passed this slowly. My knuckles turn white on the steering wheel.
When I arrive at the scene, they’re loading her car onto a tow truck. Not one but two police cars and an ambulance are there, sirens blinking.
I wrench the car to the side of the road and leap out, leaving the door open.
I spot Olivia first, her hair a mess and eyes round with shock.
“What the hell…” I start.
I want to drag her into my arms but I have to shake myself. I can’t. Not here in front of Madison and Royce, hanging their heads by the curb.
“What’s going on?” I demand of the officer nearby.
“They were street racing,” he replies.
Not drinking and driving.
I see a breathalyzer apparatus in one of his hands. They must have checked Adam and he must have passed. I feel an ounce of relief, but nowhere near enough.
I might be reckless, but this is inexcusable.
“Where is Adam?”
She nods to the ambulance. “He hurt his arm on impact.”
Sure enough, I can see paramedics working on someone in the bright lights of the vehicle.
“Something ran in front of the car. A deer, I think.”
“How fast were you going?”
Olivia turns away but Madison answers.
“Pretty fast. We hit another car. Everyone in it was okay.”
I turn back to the officer.
“They weren’t street racing,” I force myself to say. “It was an engineering event.”
“And you are?”
“Sawyer Redmond. Professor Sawyer Redmond. These are my students.”
“This was a school initiative?”
My throat is tight with disgust. “An unsanctioned one.”
The officer pulls up his belt. “We need to finish our investigation. There may be criminal charges pending.”
“They’re kids. They were stupid and careless.”
In the corner of my eye, Olivia pulls her knees tighter into her chest.
“Just a moment,” the officer says, departing to speak with a colleague standing at the flashing cruiser.
“What were you thinking?” I hiss at all of them, but my gaze is locked on Olivia.
Madison is the one who answers, her voice shaky. “We were going to miss getting back to campus by the deadline.”
I rub a hand over my face, catching sight of Olivia’s wrecked Audi being loaded onto a tow truck bed.
Unbelievable.
They could have been hurt, or worse.
I could have lost her over some idiot prank.
I never got any handouts in my life. These students have had everything they could want—money, opportunity.
This is a lesson they need to learn.
Royce’s face is downcast, his fingers drumming on his knee shakily. Madison rocks back and forth. And Olivia’s got a blanket around her shoulders.
I start to turn away, but see a dark splotch on Madison’s temple in the streetlight.
“Are you hurt?” I grab her chin and tilt her head.
“It’s a scrape.”
“Anyone else? Olivia?” I turn to her.
She shakes her head slowly, but when she moves to re-wrap the blanket around her shoulders, I spot a rip in the side of her shirt—the one I hung onto a few hours ago.
When the officer returns, I wave him over. “They need medical attention.”
“Medics are finishing up with the other kid, said everyone was okay—”
“Then why is there blood on them?” My voice rises.
Adam appears, his arm bound in a sling as he shuffles over. His face has scratches, possibly from the impact of the airbag deploying.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I grit out. “You let them go home—all of them. You need any more statements, you can get them in the morning.”
“We’d rather take them tonight.”
“They’ll sleep in their beds tonight. They’ve had the living shit scared out of them, and by the looks of them, worse than that. You think I’m up your ass, you have no idea what kind of a stink their parents are going to cause.”
We head to my car without waiting for an answer.
We’re halfway there when Royce blows out a breath. “Professor Redmond, that was—”
“Shut up.”
“Wait.” Olivia cranes her neck to see the tow truck starting up. “I need to get stuff from my car.”
“Leave it,” I say, exasperated, but Olivia runs back in that direction, speaking to the driver.
The other students follow her and she passes out the items they borrowed for the event. They pile into my car, along with half a dozen tools, toys, and my dad’s telescope. Olivia shifts into the back between Madison and Royce. Adam takes the front, sliding in gingerly to avoid hitting his arm.
“Doesn’t look like you’ll be playing basketball for a while.”
He doesn’t answer.
We drive in silence. I sneak a look in the rearview mirror; the streetlights run over their faces in the dark.
Olivia looks shaken and guilty and too damn young, her arms wrapped around the telescope.
I focus back on the road. “That rake looks like the one my neighbor Daniel has.”
Madison shifts lower in her seat.
Olivia’s gaze flicks toward her, the first sign of life. Adam coughs and Royce grumbles.
I did all I could by coming down here to get them.
It doesn’t feel like enough.
Why the fuck doesn’t it feel like enough?
My hands clench and relax on the steering wheel.
“When I did Black Build, we came in last, even though we had the tallest tower.”
Someone in the back seat shifts.
“Why?” Royce asks.
“We weren’t allowed to use anything...borrowed.”
“But now you’re encouraged to. There’s no way to get full marks if you don’t.”
Madison this time.
“You could’ve taken the stolen stuff out.”
Olivia’s voice is barely more than a whisper, but the knot in my chest releases a degree.
“That wasn’t the point.”
Streetlights pass, illuminating rows of tidy, expensive houses that line the streets bordering campus.
“Build it anyway,” I hear myself say.
Royce straightens. “It won’t count.”
“You’re engineers. You don’t build things because someone offered you points to do it. Build it anyway.”
They exchange looks.
“We have all the stuff,” Royce concedes.
Olivia nods. “We’d just have to stash it somewhere for the night otherwise. What do you think?” She reaches for the good shoulder of the kid sitting numb and silent in the seat next to me.
He doesn’t acknowledge for a long time.
But finally he nods.
18
Sawyer
“Why is my rake in the middle of a statue?” Daniel demands during our run through campus early Monday morning.