Chapter Nine #3
I didn’t move or make a sound. She looked up and her gaze found me across the courtroom.
When she found my face, she stayed there, clinging to me as tightly as she did when we rode together.
I held her gaze and didn’t blink. I was right here.
I wasn’t going anywhere. Nothing in this room would get past me for any reason.
She took a deep, shuddering breath before straightening in her chair. Jade lifted her chin, then she started talking again, and this time the words came out steady.
Eric’s attorney cross-examined her for longer than Jade had taken to recount that night.
The brutal way he tried to break her had me paying close attention to the fucker.
Because I would destroy him at some point.
When and how remained to be seen, but this motherfucker would lose his whole entire life.
In one way or another. If Ethan didn’t do or say something soon, he might not make it out unscathed either.
Jade answered his questions as best she could. Tears leaked from her eyes, but she never snapped, no matter how hard he pushed. At one point she even flinched back, which was when Ethan rose to his feet.
“Your Honor!” Ethan snapped.
“I’ve heard all I need to hear,” the judge said.
He scowled at Eric and his lawyer. “Miss Harper, I’m granting your restraining order.
” He went on to specify the parameters and consequences if Eric broke those parameters, and all the other necessary bullshit.
When he’d finished, he took off his glasses.
“Mr. Dennison,” he addressed Eric’s lawyer.
“I would suggest your client prepare for charges to be brought against him. I’m going to send the file to the DA for review.
I expect you’ll hear something in the next couple of days. ”
Eric’s expression changed from composed indifference to a shrewd, unpleasant stare. His gaze moved directly to Jade and stayed there with that expression, his eyes narrowing in displeasure.
Jade saw him. She still faced forward, but I saw the rigid posture she presented as she stood.
I rose to my feet and waited for Jade, even as I watched Eric and his lawyer, Dennison, leave the courtroom. Neither man looked particularly upset, but I had a feeling that would change soon.
In the corridor outside, Lana stayed close. Jade had both hands wrapped around her own elbows and was holding on. Eric’s attorney came around the edge of the gallery’s doorway before we’d made it ten feet.
“Ms. Harper.” He kept his voice low and pleasant. “If you have a moment. My client has authorized me to discuss a resolution that might be mutually beneficial. A formal settlement, in exchange for a non-disclosure agreement regarding --”
“She’s not interested,” Ethan said.
“Ms. Harper, if I may, the financial terms are quite substantial. Given your current situation, it might be worth --”
Jade stopped walking. She closed her eyes for a single breath. “No,” she said. Her voice was flat. Certain.
The attorney started to speak again. But Ethan stepped forward and stopped directly in front of him.
“Let me be clear about what just happened in that courtroom,” he said.
“Your client has a permanent restraining order on his record. A judge characterized his conduct as a pattern of deliberate violence. That follows him everywhere. Every job application, every background check, every time a woman with good sense runs his name through any pay-for-search site.” He paused.
“Do I care that it damages his professional reputation? No. I genuinely do not care. Your client is a predator. The judge agreed. That’s on record.
And if your client approaches my client again, directly or through counsel, I will make sure the next conversation we have is considerably less pleasant than this one.
” Ethan held his ground, putting himself between the women and Dennison.
Lana tucked her portfolio under her arm and looked at me. “Let’s get her out of here.”
I put my hand on Jade’s back and guided her toward the exit. Neither of us looked back. I didn’t need to see Eric’s face a second time, and I knew my brother would take care of him or his lawyer if necessary.
I squinted into the sunlight as we exited the courthouse. Jade had snagged my hand again as I led her down the steps. My brother gave me a curt nod and Lana hugged Jade and said her goodbyes.
Jade walked beside me toward the lot where I’d parked. She hadn’t spoken, and she’d wrapped her free arm around herself, still clinging to my hand. She kept her eyes down. I knew she held on to her composure by a thread.
At the bike, she stopped. “I don’t want to go back to Haven yet.
” Her voice cracked on the last word, and she pressed her trembling lips together.
“I don’t want to go back and have to explain anything or see anyone.
I can’t right now.” She looked up at me and her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“Can we go somewhere else? Anywhere. Just for a little while?”
“Yeah, baby,” I said. “Come on.”
I helped her on the bike again, fixing her dress before I climbed on.
I took the highway south and then turned off it onto a road that climbed the ridge east of the city.
I’d found the overlook six weeks after I got out of prison, on a night when I needed to go somewhere away from everyone where I could breathe.
I’d never brought anyone there until Jade.
We pulled off the road onto a flat gravel turnout with a low guardrail at its edge. The city spread out below and ahead of us in the midmorning haze. The Cumberland River caught light somewhere below us. The rest was rooftops and tree lines and the far-off ribbon of the interstate.
I cut the engine. Jade got off first. She walked straight to the guardrail, stopped just short of it, and wrapped her arms around herself. She was still wearing the navy dress. The sun was full on her. She held herself like she was cold.
I stayed by the bike and watched her as she stared out at the city below. The wind moved her ponytail in the gentle breeze. She stayed like that a full two minutes, not moving other than the occasional shiver.
Then she let loose one small sob and I moved to her. I didn’t touch her. Just stood beside her and looked out at the same view. I didn’t know how long I could stand to let her hurt without pulling her into my arms and trying to comfort her.
“He smirked at me, Rip,” she said. Her voice was shaking badly now, the controlled surface she’d maintained through the hearing gone.
“When the judge said he upheld the restraining order. He smirked. Like it didn’t mean anything.
Like I didn’t --” She stopped. Her breathing had gone ragged.
“I did everything right today. I said all of it. Every awful, humiliating piece of it, out loud, in front of strangers. And he just --” Her voice broke on the last word.
Then she was crying in earnest. Not quietly but a hard, full-body kind of crying she’d probably been holding back for a long Goddamned time.
I put my arms around her, and she pressed her face against my chest and held on.
I held the back of her head and pressed her gently against my chest. Her whole body shook.
The dress was thin cotton, and I could feel the heat of her through it as she broke out in a sweat.
I stood still and held her and just let it happen.
After the worst of her tears finally slowed, she kept her face pressed against my chest, still clinging to me tightly.
When she lifted her head, her eyes were swollen and red. She looked completely wrung out. She looked up into my face, her own face wet with her tears. Whatever she searched for, she must have found because she stilled.
Then she rose up on her toes. Her mouth touched mine.
Soft and tentative. I let it sit there for a few seconds, the light pressure radiating so much warmth she nearly burned me alive.
I felt what she wanted. I also knew this couldn’t happen.
Not in the aftermath of two hours of fear and adrenaline and grief and a courthouse now nearly full of strangers who were hearing about the worst days of her life.
The desperate need to feel something that didn’t hurt.
I lifted my hands to frame her face and ended the kiss gently.
She stilled, her expression hurt and headed toward embarrassment.
“I want to kiss you,” I said. I looked at her directly, making sure she understood that part.
“I want to kiss you and so much more.” She searched my gaze for something she desperately needed.
“Just not today,” I said. “Not when you’ve endured what you just went through.
You deserve better than something that starts when you’re at your most vulnerable.
” I kept my hands framing her face steady, making her hold my gaze so she could see my sincerity.
“When you’re ready. When you’re actually ready and not in an emotionally fragile state, I’ll be here.
I’m not going anywhere. And I’m not ever leaving you on your own.
” I paused. “Right now, I’m here to protect you.
I’ll do whatever it takes to make you feel safe.
” I leaned down closer to her. “This is something you’re going to take your time with, honey.
You’ll know when you’ve made the right choice. ”
She looked at me for a long time without speaking.
The city hummed below us. A car passed on the road behind us and disappeared.
Jade dropped from her tiptoes and settled flat-footed on the gravel.
I couldn’t tell if she believed me or not.
I thought I might have seen a look of hurt, like she thought I’d rejected her outright.
“You promise you won’t leave me?” she said finally.
“You’re stuck with me until you tell me to get lost.”
“What about… Do you have, you know, a girlfriend?” Her eyes got wide. “I didn’t --”
I silenced her with a gentle kiss. I didn’t want to lead her on, but, oh, my God, her lips tasted so fucking sweet, I knew it wouldn’t take much for me to become addicted.
All I wanted to do was cut her off before she could spiral.
I knew where she went with her question.
I would not let her feel bad for kissing me.
When I pulled back again, her eyes were closed and she had a dreamy expression on her face I’d kill to see every day for the rest of my life.
I pressed my forehead to hers. “No, honey. I don’t have a girlfriend.
I’m all yours. But we’re going to take this slow.
And I’m going to protect your body, your mind, and your heart.
I’m going to prove to you I’m worth taking a chance on, then you’re going to choose me without second-guessing yourself.
Once you do that, we’re going to live happily ever after. ”
For the first time since I’d seen her that morning, Jade smiled up at me. A real, true, genuine smile that had her face lighting up. And, my God, the woman was so beautiful I nearly fell to my knees and worshiped at her feet.
“OK. That sounds about perfect.”