Chapter 1

Amelia had always been something of a rule follower. Not quite a goody two shoes girl, but not far from it. Her first year of college was pretty quiet and benign. She focused on her studies and declined invitations to parties and dates from the guys who obviously just wanted to get into her pants. Her sophomore year she began to get out more. She started dating a guy named Joe and often found herself in difficult places places she would not have gone before, but Joe always took care of her.

She did her share of drinking, as all college students do, but she skipped when the joints were passed around and even saw harder things, but declined those, too. One evening she and Joe went to a club that he knew of. They danced and drank, drank and danced. Eventually they moved to the back room of the club, where they could be more relaxed. Amelia saw people around her with what appeared to be cocaine openly on the table. Looking around the room she saw couples making out, and then slowly her eyes focused in the darkness and she could see that people were having sex in the booths. She would have been uncomfortable had she not had quite so much to drink out front. She looked at Joe and he seemed not to be bothered by the things going on. She decided as long as it wasn’t happening to her it was okay, she would just stay by Joe and let him protect her. They drank and danced some more, and were necking on the dance floor when suddenly there was a crashing noise followed by great commotion and people shouting everywhere. Before Amelia knew what was happening Joe had been snatched away from her. As she looked for him and tried to make sense of what was going on, she realized that she was in the middle of a police raid on this illegal club. As her addled mind tried to figure out where to go and what to do, a cop grabbed her by the arm. Let’s go he said as he pulled her arms behind her. She felt the cold steel as the cuffs went on her wrists. “No,” she said. “I’m not part of this! please let me go! I’ve never been here before tonight. I just came to dance with my boyfriend. All I did was drink! I haven’t touched any of these drugs. Please let me go!” she said again. “I don’t want to lose my scholarship. I promise I’ll stay away from clubs in the future. What can I do?” she begged. “If my parents find out, they’ll make me quit and come home. Please,” she said, “I’ll do whatever just let me go. I promise not to come back. I won’t tell!” she said. “Just let me out the side door to the garage, and I’ll go sleep in my car, and you can pretend you never saw me.”

As she said that the cop changed direction and started walking her toward the side door instead of the front. Amelia felt relieved as she realized they were heading to the door to the garage.

“Walk quickly and do what I say” the cop said, “and you can get out of this night without a felony. Be glad I’m feeling generous.”

Amelia did her best to keep her feet under her. She had drank a lot more then she first thought. They went through the side door and down a flight of stairs to the parking garage underneath the building. Her eyes took a moment to adjust as they got into the garage. It was a dark and there didn’t seem to be anyone else here. When they parked, Joe had told her the garage was largely abandoned and not many people knew about it.

“Which car is yours?” the cop asked her. “Over there,” Amelia said, “the grey Honda.” She nodded her head toward the old Accord her parents had bought her when she went to college. It was nothing special but it got her around. Holding her by the arm the cop walked her over to the car. They stopped at the back, with Amelia facing the trunk. “Where are your keys?” he asked.

“Just one” she said.

“Where is it, so I can unlock the door” he asked.

Embarrassed, Amelia said, “it’s in a pocket in my bra cup. If you’ll release me I’ll get it out for you. I promise not to do anything. I won’t fight I promise.”

“Just be still and I’ll get it,” the officer said. Amelia felt her face flush as he reached around her and groped her breasts through her bra. Feeling the key on the left side, he reached into her blouse and felt for the pocket. He seemed to enjoy stroking her bare breasts, then pulled out the key.

“Stay here,” he said. She chuckled softly as she thought ‘where else am I going to go, drunk and handcuffed?’ He walked to the side of the car and unlocked the front door, then pushed the button to unlock the other doors. He reached in and put the key in the console, and then returned to the back where she was standing.

“Thank you, thank you!” Amelia said. “I don’t know how I ever could have explained being there to my parents, or my honor program professors. They certainly would have kicked me out just for being in that kind of environment. I wish there was something I could do to repay you,” she finished.

“Oh there is,” he said. “You don’t think I took this risk for nothing do you? I could get fired for bringing you out here instead of taking you downtown and booking you. But I couldn’t resist such a sweet little tart as you, and it was very dark so we were able to get out without being seen. So you just stay quiet and everything will be good for both of us.”