39. Molly
“Please put your hand on the Bible. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” the officer of the court asked.
Solemnly, Torus placed his huge hand on the holy book which looked tiny next to his long fingers and nodded.
“I do.”
Molly watched it all, nibbling her lower lip fiercely. She couldn’t believe they were actually here, in court—that this was finally happening. They were in Richmond, Virginia, since Virginia was where Zach’s mansion was located and it was considered “the scene of the crime,” and she was already wishing she and Torus were back in his ship.
It seemed that their time together had flown by and now here they were, testifying at the trial…
The time they had spent together in Torus’s ship had been wonderful—if all too short. They spent the days watching vids and trying cuisines from different worlds—Torus had a lot of interesting meal cubes to choose from in his supply. Their nights were spent making love. Or as close as they could get to it, anyway.
Molly still couldn’t get his enormous shaft inside herself—actually, after a second attempt, Torus had forbidden her to try. He was afraid she might hurt herself and he refused to let her give herself an injury just to try and pleasure him.
So Molly had found other ways to give the big Kindred pleasure. He was too big to fit in her mouth—well, except for the head of his cock, which she loved to suck because his precum and cum and a distinct cinnamon flavor. So she would often suck the head while she worked the long shaft with both hands. Sometimes she pressed it between her full breasts and let him fuck her cleavage—Torus enjoyed that immensely.
But the big Kindred’s favorite sexual activity was still tasting her. After the way Zach had reacted the one and only time he’d tried going down on her, Molly would never have believed that any man would want to put his mouth between her legs. But Torus didn’t just like it—he loved it. He told her that he was addicted to her scent and that he craved her taste. They seldom went a day without him laying her on the bed and giving her pussy a long, loving tongue-bath.
Another favorite position was when he got her to ride his face. Molly had felt insecure and self-conscious at first—afraid she might crush him since she wasn’t exactly skinny. But Torus pointed out their size difference to prove her fears were unfounded. He absolutely loved lying under her with his hands on her hips to steady her as Molly rubbed against his tongue and let him lick her open pussy. It was their favorite way to spend the time and the big Kindred never seemed to get tired of it.
But all good things must come to an end. The day came when Councilor Paige called them on the holo-projector and told them it was time to come down for the trial.
“I’ve never seen a case move this quickly through the court system,” she’d told them. “Your ex has some serious money, Molly.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” Molly had asked, feeling nervous.
Lizabeth Paige had lifted her chin, a spark of determination in her eyes.
“Not at all. The Kindred are not without resources. We have more wealth than the GDP of any country on Earth, so don’t worry about that. What I do worry about is our counter-defense.”
“We spent as much time on Earth as we could showing everyone our love for each other,” Torus had rumbled, frowning. “Until Molly was attacked in the bungalow and I had to bring her up to my ship to keep her safe.”
“Yes, I heard about that.” Councilor Paige frowned. “Mandrew Pate was whining on social media that you ‘ruined his Maserati.’”
“He’s lucky I didn’t ruin his face,” Torus growled, his eyes flashing red. “He came after my Mate! I had every right to kill him for what he did.”
“I’m glad you didn’t—it would make things more complicated,” the lawyer said. “Though I agree he had no right to come after Molly—we’re already suing him for liable and to make him take down the things he’s been posting on-line.” She looked at Molly. “Which brings me to what I’m actually worried about.”
“Oh?” Molly felt a lump in her throat that she couldn’t seem to swallow. “What…what’s that?”
“Well, we’ve been working for weeks to scrub the Internet of the videos your ex put out,” the lawyer told her. “But it’s not easy—especially as this is a high-profile case and it’s getting a lot of attention. They keep popping up. So you might have to deal with people saying some nasty things about you on-line, Molly. I’m sorry.”
Molly lifted her chin.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I’m used to it by now. I don’t spend much time on-line anyway—social media is poison.”
“I agree with you there,” Councilor Paige said. “I just wanted you to be prepared for what you might see when you get down here. There are probably going to be some protestors around the courthouse—followers of your ex. He’s rich and famous so he seems to attract a lot of unhinged fans.”
“He always has, ever since he published his first game and it went viral,” Molly said—her voice sounded much more calm than she felt, she thought.
“The fans and the protestors aren’t going to affect the proceedings in court,” Councilor Paige assured her. “Since Zach Wyndham had sued us for pain and suffering and theft of his property, we’ve counter-sued using some of the anti-revenge porn laws on the books. We’ve also gotten several of your ex-employers to come forward and admit why they fired you. They’ll testify that your ex sent them the videos of you—he didn’t even bother to hide who he was when he sent them,” she added, with a gleam of satisfaction. “By the time I’m done with him, it will be abundantly clear that he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
“But he does have a leg,” Torus rumbled, frowning. “I only broke his right leg—his left should still be functional.”
Molly and the lawyer had looked at each other and shared a rare laugh.
“No, no, honey,” Molly told him. “It’s an Earth expression—it means he doesn’t have any defense for what he did.”
“That’s right—no defense,” Councilor Paige had agreed, wiping her eyes. “He should have been prosecuted long ago under the anti-revenge porn laws already in place. The fact that he hasn’t been—despite Molly trying time and again to advocate for herself to various police departments and government agencies—is deplorable! I have half a mind to sue them once we finished with your ex,” she said to Molly.
“Please, no.” Molly had shaken her head. “I just want to get through this and never have to think about it again.”
And now that she was sitting in the courtroom, she had the same thought—I just want this to be over!
As it turned out, the trial was moving fairly quickly. There had been a few protestors waving signs and shouting ugly things at her around the courthouse steps. But one menacing look from Torus had shut them up. Her big Kindred husband had kept one arm protectively around her shoulders the whole way, shielding her from any possible harm or attacks.
As the plaintiff, Zach had demanded a jury trial and Molly had seen several of the jury members shooting curious glances at herself and Torus as they got seated. She heard one of them whisper to another,
“How do they, uh, fit together? You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I know—shut up, they can probably hear us!” was the whispered reply.
Molly didn’t say a word or let on that she’d heard them but she imagined that particular question was uppermost in a lot of people’s minds as they looked at her and Torus together.
She wished again that they could fit together. As wonderful as the TET link was, she had a feeling that a Soul Bond would be infinitely better. Also, she wouldn’t still be wondering if she should stay with the big Kindred—which was what he insisted he wanted—or dissolve their marriage and go their separate ways.
The very thought of that made her heart hurt, but it didn’t seem fair to deny him sex for the rest of his life. Torus swore he was happy with what they had and what they were able to do, but Molly had grown up in a religious culture that claimed it was a sin for a wife to deny her husband sex. Also, her only other sexual partner had been her ex and Zach had constantly complained about “not getting enough”, despite the fact that he insisted on taking what he wanted every night before rolling over and going to sleep…
No. Molly tried to push that thought aside and concentrate on the trial.
Speaking of her ex, Zach had hobbled into court with a cast on his right leg and another on his left arm. He was also wearing a neck brace and a pitiful “poor-me” expression obviously designed to sway the judge and jury in his favor.
When he took the stand, her ex had painted a picture of a wanton, cruel and unprovoked attack.
“I was just sitting there, working at my desk when he came busting into my house, your honor!” he cried, giving the judge an aggrieved look. “He beat me within an inch of my life and stole all my computer equipment—worth millions of dollars—for no reason!”
The judge, an older woman with short, steel-gray hair and a no-nonsense look on her face had only nodded and pushed up her spectacles.
“Noted, Mr. Wyndham,” she said dryly. “Please go on.”
Zach went on for several minutes about how he couldn’t understand why Torus would beat him up. Molly just stared at him. Had his lawyer not told him they were countersuing under the revenge porn laws?
Maybe he was banking on the fact that she would be too embarrassed to talk about the videos in court. If so, he was wrong. She’d been humiliated so often she was out of fucks to give. It might not be a very nice saying, but it was the truth. She was willing to go through the pain and embarrassment at least one more time to show the world what a bastard her ex truly was.
After Zach’s side had presented their case—with the attorney using various xenophobic slurs and calling the Kindred “alien vermin” and “invading scum”—Councilor Paige had finally gotten the chance to speak.
Molly had watched as the Kindred’s head attorney absolutely tore into her ex’s defense.
“So, Mr. Wyndham, you claim my client had no reason whatsoever to attack you and take your computer equipment—is that correct?” she asked.
Zach nodded his head.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
From the corner of her eye, Molly saw Zach’s attorney—an older man in an expensive looking gray suit—shaking his head. She understood what was happening then—her ex had always been what her Mom called “bullheaded”—meaning he wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s advice. Clearly his attorney had told him it was a bad idea to go with this defense and pretend that he had no idea why Torus would attack him, but Zach had decided to do whatever he wanted.
“So you think the fact that you sent a compromising video of Molly Byrne—who happens to be your ex-wife and my client’s current Mate—had nothing to do with the fact that my client, Commander Torus, came to exact revenge?”
Zach frowned.
“What video?”
“Mr. Wyndham, please don’t play dumb with me,” Councilor Paige had snapped. “I’d like to remind you that lying on the witness stand is perjury. Now I’ll ask you again—did you or did you not send a compromising video of Molly Byrne—which you took without her knowledge—to my client, Commander Torus?”
Zach got a sulky, mulish expression on his face.
“Yeah, so what if I did?” he demanded.
“You sent that video to Molly’s boss—who also happens to be her husband or ‘Mate’ to use the Kindred’s terms,” Councilor Paige said. “You sent it to him just as you sent it to every other employer that Molly has had in the past five years. You did it to hurt and humiliate her and to make her lose her job! Which I will show had happened multiple times in the past,” she went on, speaking to the jury.
“So what?” Zach demanded again. “It’s not like I hurt her or threatened her or anything—he can’t come beat me up just because I sent him a video of her! That’s not a reason to go into that weird berserker state—that ‘Rage’—my lawyer said so!”
Molly thought Councilor Paige was going to contradict him but she only said mysteriously,
“We’ll go into the causes of Rage later in this trial. Right now I’m just trying to establish that you sent a compromising video of Molly Byrne to Commander Torus and to every other employer she’s had in the past five years.”
Zach had gotten that mulish expression on his face again and Molly had been sure he was about to lie. Councilor Paige must have thought so too because she frowned warningly at him and said,
“I want to remind you that I have witnesses that will corroborate what I just said.”
“Okay, yes, fine—I sent it,” Zach had snarled. “But she deserved it! That bitch left me high and dry with no warning! She deserted me when I needed her the most!”
Molly had to fight to keep her face neutral. It was true that she had saved up her money until she had enough to live on her own and afford an attorney for a no-fault divorce and then she had slipped away in the middle of the night. But that was because she was sure that Zach wouldn’t let her go otherwise. He liked controlling her too much to ever let her leave.
As for her leaving him “when he needed her most”, that made no sense. He didn’t need her for anything except as someone he could abuse and hurt on a regular basis. With his money and fame, Molly figured he could find someone else to meet his needs—she’d had enough of his mistreatment.
At Zach’s response, the jury had stirred and murmured among themselves. The Judge reprimanded Zach and told him she wouldn’t tolerate that kind of language in her courtroom. And then Councilor Paige had said,
“No further questions,” and allowed Zach to hobble off the witness stand—which he did, making sure everyone in the courtroom could see how badly he was hurt.
Councilor Paige next called on several of Molly’s ex-employers who admitted, uncomfortably, that they had fired her or “let her go” because of the salacious videos Zach had sent them and their clients.
“So there was no problem with Molly’s performance?” she probed, raising her eyebrows at the principal of the last elementary school Molly had worked for.
“Er, no.” The principal, a balding man by the name of Albert Jenkins, shifted uncomfortably in the hard wooden witness chair. “She was an excellent teacher and the children loved her. But the parents in the school got upset when the video er…got out. They started demanding that we let her go. So…” He shrugged. “We had to. It was unfortunate, but several of the parents said they didn’t want their children being influenced by someone who would make that kind of video.”
“And were you told that Molly didn’t make that video at all—did she explain that she was recorded without her knowledge or consent?” Councilor Paige asked, frowning.
“Well…yes. She did say something like that.” Principal Jenkins cleared his throat. “But there were too many angry parents. I had to make the decision to let her go.”
The story was the same with every employer that Councilor Paige had gotten to testify. They all commented on what a good teacher Molly was and how she was so good with the children in her care. But once they saw the video of her, they decided she had to go.
Molly felt sick as she watched the last five years of her life replayed. It reminded her of every humiliation she had suffered—every job she’d lost and every time she’d had to move to someplace new that nobody knew her. All because Zach was a vindictive son-of-a-bitch.
She knew that Torus must be feeling her emotions because he squeezed her hand comfortingly and put an arm around her shoulders as they watched the parade of witnesses.
Then it had been Molly’s turn on the stand. She had a horrible case of nerves and her stomach felt like it was filled with ice cubes but she lifted her chin and swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Councilor Paige had walked her through her experiences—how she’d had to move again and again and kept losing jobs every time Zach located her and sent out another compromising video to her current employer. Then she’d asked for the details of the latest time he’d sent it.
“How did it make you feel?” she asked Molly. “You thought that you’d finally escaped your ex-husband’s influence and then he somehow found you and sent the video again—this time to the Kindred Mother Ship.”
“I wanted to die,” Molly said honestly. “I thought—if he can reach me even after I’ve left the planet, what hope is there?”
“So you became suicidal. And you told Commander Torus this, correct?” Councilor Paige asked, raising her eyebrows.
Molly nodded.
“I did,” she said in a low voice.
“And it was after admitting this to him that he went into Rage for you and went down to Earth to confront your ex-husband, Zachary Wyndham, correct?” the lawyer asked.
Molly had nodded again.
“Yes,” she answered. She saw the members of the jury looking at her—some with sympathy. But she didn’t want their pity—she wanted justice, damn it! She kept her head high.
After that, Zach’s lawyer got to ask some questions—and that was where things got rough.
“Isn’t it true, Ms. Byrne, that you only married my client for his money?” he demanded.
“What? No. We were both in college when I met Zach,” Molly said. “He didn’t have any money then—we were both just broke college students.”
“Ah, but you could see his potential—you knew he was going to be rich!” Zach’s lawyer exclaimed.
“Objection!” Councilor Paige said, frowning. “Your Honor, I’m not sure if the opposing council is attempting to paint my client as a ‘gold digger’ but I’d like to point out that Molly Byrne asked for nothing when she left Zachary Wyndham. She didn’t get a cent from him in their divorce.”
“So noted.” The judge had frowned at Zach’s lawyer. “Please keep your line of questioning relevant to the case, Councilor.”
Zach’s lawyer had next tried to shame Molly.
“Tell us about these videos that you claim my client took of you,” he said to Molly. “How do we know that you didn’t make them yourself?”
“Because I would never do that!” Molly exclaimed. “Those videos were of private moments. I thought I was alone—I didn’t know that Zach was watching me and recording everything I did!”
“And what were you doing exactly?” the lawyer probed. “Was it self-abuse?”
Molly’s face had gone hot but she’d kept her voice steady.
“I was masturbating,” she said. “I’m not ashamed of that but I didn’t ask to be recorded doing it and I certainly didn’t ask to have videos of me doing it sent out to every single employer at every job I’ve had since my divorce!”
That had been the worst of it—at least as far as Molly was concerned. It was mortifying to have to admit to pleasuring herself on the stand in front of witnesses, but she had known it was going to come up. Once she was finally allowed to go back to her seat, she truly felt like the worst part of the trial was over.
But now it was Torus’s turn to take the stand. After he was sworn in, Councilor Paige started by asking him about his relationship to Molly.
“She’s my Mate—what you humans call my ‘wife,’” he said simply.
“So you feel extremely protective of her, is that right?”
“I would kill or die to protect her,” Torus asserted. “Molly is everything to me.”
Molly felt her heart flutter and she saw several women on the jury sighing. Torus was so big and handsome and the way he stated his love for her was definitely romantic.
“So when you saw the video of her that Zachary Wyndham sent to you and Molly admitted to you that it made her want to kill herself, what did you think?” Councilor Paige asked.
Torus frowned, his face like a thundercloud.
“I didn’t think—I went into Rage. The life of my Mate was threatened—my instinct was to go and punish the one who had threatened her and neutralize the threat so that she could never be hurt again.”
“And that’s why you went to Zachary Wyndham’s home and took his computer equipment?” Councilor Paige asked.
“Exactly.” Torus nodded. “I wanted to be sure he could never send out those compromising videos again. I wanted to protect my Mate.”
“Thank you.” She nodded. “No further questions.”
Zach’s lawyer rose.
“So you wanted to protect your ‘Mate’ did you?” he asked Torus, raising her eyebrows skeptically.
“Yes.” Torus nodded.
“But it’s my understanding that Molly Byrne wasn’t your Mate at the time. In fact, the two of you weren’t even married until after your attack on my client!” he exclaimed.
Molly felt her stomach clench like a fist with nerves but Torus’s stoic expression didn’t change a bit.
“It’s true that our Joining ceremony wasn’t until after the incident with her ex-Mate,” he said. “But I had deep feelings for Molly long before that.”
“Why was that?” the lawyer demanded. “I suppose you’re going to tell me the two of you were ‘Dream Sharing’ as I believe you Kindred call it?” He turned to the jury. “The Kindred claim that before they get married to someone they share dreams with them,” he explained. “Though of course, we have no actual proof that it really happens.”
He sneered as though to discredit the idea, but Molly thought some members of the jury looked interested—especially the women. Dream-Sharing was a part of Kindred life that wasn’t extremely well known, but the big aliens had been on Earth long enough now that many people had heard of it—especially the single women who were signed up for the Kindred Bride Draft.
“Dream-Sharing does happen—as a matter of fact it happened in our case. Or at least, I was dreaming of Molly,” Torus said.
Molly tried to keep her face calm but she was shocked. Was he lying? He’d never said anything about dreaming of her—and she’d certainly never dreamed of him. So what was going on?
She tried to send him a question through their TET link, but the big Kindred had put up his mental wall and there was no getting through to him.
“So you claim you went into ‘Rage,’” the lawyer used air quotes, as though he didn’t believe that Rage was a real thing either, “Because you thought your ‘Mate’ was being threatened.”
“Your client’s actions made my Mate wish to end herself.” Torus’s voice had dropped to a low, angry growl. “So yes, I felt she was being threatened. I knew I had to end his abuse once and for all.”
“End his abuse?” Zach’s lawyer made a sound of derision. “Please, Commander Torus! You’re acting as though he was beating her or hurting her in some way!”
Torus’s eyes sparked red and Molly felt a surge of pure fury coming through their link.
“He did hurt her,” he growled. “I saw it in my dreams of her!”
“You what?” The lawyer made a face of utter disbelief. “You actually expect us to believe that you saw events in your dreams that happened to Molly Byrne back when she was with my client—before she even knew you?”
“That’s exactly right.” Torus bit out each word and Molly could feel him getting angrier and angrier until he was almost ready to explode! “I saw how he treated her! I saw how he shouted at her—cornered her and threw things at her to make her fear him! I saw what he did to her every night! How he forced himself on her?—”
He broke off abruptly but it was too late. Molly felt like her whole body had turned to ice. So he had seen all that? He knew what Zach had done to her?
She felt sick. Her stomach clenched like a slick fist and she was sure she was going to throw up.
She had to get out, right now!