Chapter 30
THIRTY
I sit behind some guy named Kevin who was arrested for petty theft.
There are about half a dozen of us, waiting to see the judge before lunchtime.
My lawyer said I’d probably be offered a deal, but it wouldn’t be a good one.
Assault with a deadly weapon often gets upped to attempted murder.
If I’m lucky, it would be a year behind bars and a few on probation.
Unfortunately for me, I pissed off some powerful people. They may be willing to settle this outside of the courtroom, but the deal they would offer would be far worse than a year. It might be better than going in front of a jury, but not by much.
I don’t care about any of that right now.
I’ll deal with the punishment later. Now I just need to get out of here and make sure Prue doesn’t do anything stupid.
If I know her half as well as I think I do, the guilt of me sitting in jail is probably getting to her.
It shouldn’t, because it’s my actions that got me here. I did this to myself.
For her, but nonetheless, this is my own fault.
I’m more than happy to explain why I did what I did to a room full of people, but I already did that once and ended up on my knees begging for Prue’s forgiveness. I highly doubt I could pull that off in front of a judge.
So, I sit as patiently as possible, waiting for my chance to plead for bail.
Wes is out there somewhere, with a bunch of money and my passport.
Ready to buy my freedom, much like I was when he got arrested.
His charge was for far less, and everyone knew it was justified. That is not the case for me.
I take some comfort in knowing I’ll be the reason my band breaks up. Or maybe they will just replace me when they finally decide to start touring again. Either way, I do enjoy being the cause of my own ruin.
Well, I used to, now I would much prefer Prue be the cause.
Her cruelty is like a drug to me. That pussy of her is heaven and I would spend forever on my knees praying to it if I could.
The amount of time I’ll have on bail is not going to be enough to feed my craving, but I’ll soak up as many memories of her cunt as possible.
They will be the only thing to get me through my time trapped in the cage. After as well, because freedom will come after a few years, but by then I’ll be a distant memory to her, and she will be a constant reminder that I’m an asshole.
“Benjamin Parker?” a guard by the door calls my name.
Raising to my feet, I walk toward the door leading to the courtroom, preparing myself to grovel for mercy to authority, which I hate. But there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for Prue.
“No. This way,” the guard calls and my head snaps to the back.
“Huh?”
“The charges have been dropped.”
“No,” I say as my stomach drops. What did she do? “I think there is a mistake.”
“Nope. Just got word the charges were dropped. Guess they got the wrong guy, or the price of the lawyers weren’t worth it. Either way, you’re being released.”
“Fuck,” I groan.
“Never seen someone upset about dropped charges before.” The guard laughs.
“That’s because this time it comes with a cost. One I don’t want to pay for.”
Wes is waiting at the top of the stairs outside the courthouse for me.
“Lucky day,” he says with a soft smile. “Let this be a lesson. Play stupid games…”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snap, scanning the area for her short caramel hair. My head whips every direction. I know she is here. I feel it. She never fucking listens.
“Who are you looking for?”
“Who do you think?” I snap, looking at him.
“You told her not to come.”
“Yeah, but clearly she never fucking listens to me.”
“Maybe given how serious the situation is, she finally did. I know it took me getting arrested for Abbey to come to her senses.”
“Unlike your girl, my girl is actually insane,” I reply. “And news-fucking-flash, I’m a free man. You don’t think that just happened by some miracle, do you?”
“What even happened? She barely told me anything,” he says, shoving his hands in his pocket.
“Good,” I say, spotting Prue at the bottom of the stairs.
She is wearing tight blue jeans and s white turtleneck under a long tan coat.
Her hair is clipped up, and she glances around carefully.
An arm wraps around her waist, and I’m about to fucking rip it off.
“Go home, Wes. I’m about to commit far worse crimes. ” I start down the stairs.
“Ben.” He grabs my arm as he follows me down the stairs. “Is that the guy you may or may not have threatened with a deadly weapon?” he asks, pulling me to a stop.
“Wes. I swear to God.” I tug on my arm. “Let me go. Please.”
“No, because whatever you’re thinking about doing is only going to end badly for the both of you.
Think it through for a moment. You go over there right now, not only do you risk her safety, but you will also be assaulting the dude in front of about a dozen or so more cops.
She will pay the price after you are arrested for a second time. ”
“No, she won’t because I won’t stop until he’s dead.”
“Ben. Fuck.” He curses when I yank my hand free.
He grabs me by the shoulder, and I wince from the pain.
“You pulled me off the jerk that hurt Abbey. You kept me from killing him. Why do you get to kill him for her? What did you tell me? Murder is a life sentence. You can’t be with her when you are serving a life sentence. ”
“Yeah, something like that,” I say, staring as a car pulls up and Charles pushes Prue toward it.
“So, the same thing applies here.”
“No. It doesn’t.” I glance at him. “I don’t get her either way, Wes.” When I glance back, she is gone and I’m ready to scream. “God damn it.”
“You need to calm down. You’re making a scene.”
“I don’t give a fuck,” I yell at him. “I really don’t care about any of these fucks.” I wave to the people who are glancing our ways. “The person I care about just sold herself for my freedom and I’m not fucking okay with that.”
“I know.” Wes nods. “She told me to give you this when you weren’t so mad, but I think it may help you more when you are.”
“What?” I glare at him. “You saw her? You knew she was here?”
“She is very good at blackmail and apparently you have a big mouth.”
“Give it to me.” I hold out my hand. He places my phone in it. “My phone?” I groan, ready to toss the thing into the fucking street because I don’t give two shits about my fucking phone right now.
“She said she left you a message in it.” He shrugs. “I don’t know what exactly. She didn’t give me much to go on, but said she hoped it would make you feel better.”
“Nothing is going to make me feel better. No message is going to change the fact she left me.” My voice cracks as the words hit. She left me.
“Yeah, I know.” He sighs. “And I know you well enough to know it’s not going to stop you from doing something stupid, so do whatever you have to do. You know I’ll support you, even if that involves hiding a body, or just talking.”
Wes knows me too well. He cares about me too much. I know he really would help me hide a body or do anything I needed him to. He has proven that time and time again.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m such a piece of shit.”
“You aren’t so bad.”
“Go home. Abbey needs you more than I do right now.”
“She is fine. I’m here for you now.”
“Wes. Go home. Please. I didn’t get it before, you know?
I didn’t understand how you could pick a girl over me, but I do now.
And for Abbey’s sake, I’m not about to drag you into this.
Go fuck that sad girl silly and fix all her wounds, because she needs you and you need her.
Leave me to do what I have to do to save my girl. ”
“Well then.” He sighs. “You know it’s going to kill me to have to replace you.”
“It will hurt me more to be replaced, but for her I’d do anything. Let her pick my replacement, okay?”
“Yeah?” He chuckles. “Sounds good. She must be a good judge of character if she picked your sorry ass.”
“No. She is an awful judge of character, but she at least knows I’m good at guitar.”
“I hope to see you soon, Ben.”
“I make no promises.”
He nods before walking away.
I’m left alone, with no idea how I’m going to fix this. My heart hurts too much to come up with a plan as I stand on the courthouse steps. Once I get home, I’ll think of something. I’ll do whatever it takes to set Prue free, to keep her safe. Even if it lands me in prison for the rest of my life.