Chapter 22
Cole
Four days later, and all I’d managed to do was show her a gym she loved, and another look around a house I wanted her to also call her own.
Would it be enough?
Fuck, would I be enough?
She wanted a break from everything to do with Max and Frank, which meant I couldn’t bring up her staying, either. It was killing me, consuming me. We were against the clock.
I made sure she had fun. Dates, nights out, endless paint chart sessions, and showing her how much she meant to me in bed.
She’d laughed and smiled.
Now we were back in court, awaiting the sentence. This time, she seemed stronger. That, or she was pretending. I didn’t think so, though. I could feel her pulse as I stroked the inside of her wrist. Her breathing was normal, pulse steady.
She was fucking amazing.
Sarah sat on the other side of Oakley, and Jasper was beside me. He muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like expressing his desire to murder.
Something we shared.
There were a few reporters in the room, but their attention was mostly on Frank. The case was all over the papers, but the locals were more respectful, not staring and whispering. At least not about Oakley.
“It’s almost over,” she muttered to herself.
I squeezed her hand.
Yes, baby, you did it.
This was the only part that would ever be over, though. We could all try to forget, but it would never happen—especially not for her.
I looked to my side, knowing where Frank was standing. As my eyes locked on his face, I felt my stomach burn. Who the hell could abuse a child? What the hell was wrong with him?
Oakley had once referred to his eyes as beady, and I saw what she meant. Looking at him, I saw her as a child, scared and confused, and I could see how cold he might have looked as he stared back at her.
Dead gaze like everything else about him.
Disgusting prick.
My jaw ached. My muscles ached. Everything ached. I wanted to jump over there and end him.
Oakley kept her head forward, watching the judge. Her breathing shallowed. I wanted to do something to help her… but what could help?
I didn’t have a damn clue what to say. There weren’t any words that would make it okay. I could never take back the years of pain and betrayal she’d suffered.
I pulled her against my side and kissed her temple. “Are you okay?”
Was she going to pass out again? I didn’t think so, but she was definitely struggling.
“Do you want to leave?” I whispered.
She shook her head. “Not a chance.”
Leaning heavily against me, she watched on, leaving me to wonder what was going on in her head. I couldn’t begin to imagine what this was like for her.
The room was full, and there was a strong smell of someone’s perfume nearby that stung the back of my throat. She wiped her cheek. I had no idea who she was. No one else had come forward to accuse Frank, though there were other photos of children on his phone.
None could be linked directly to him because he kept himself out of shot. Oakley was the only one who’d spoken up.
I was aware that the judge had started to speak, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than Oakley. The way her face paled, turning a shade of grey. That fluttering pulse under my finger quickened.
“I’m here,” I whispered, hoping I was enough to keep her calm.
I wasn’t sure she heard me until she reached across with her other hand and held onto my arm.
“Fifteen years imprisonment.”
Wait, fifteen. That was it?
He could spend the last ten or twenty years of his life in a cosy retirement home. He didn’t deserve shit.
“What?” Jasper roared, leaping out of his seat. “How the fuck is that justice? That sick bastard needs to rot—”
Oakley’s jaw dropped at Jasper’s outburst. She reared back, letting go of me. Jasper was to my side, so I yanked his arm and made his arse hit the seat.
“Enough,” I snapped. “Not here. Don’t do that to her!”
This was not good. There were no cameras allowed in the room, so thankfully, no one could take pictures, but the press were going to love this. It would be on the front page tomorrow. Online in a matter of hours.
“Let go!” he shouted, snatching his arm out of my hand, and turning to Frank. “Just wait until you get out, you sick bastard.” Jasper’s face was red in anger. His eyes looked so dark; rage had completely taken him over. “I’ll be waiting.”
Oakley stood shakily, but she managed to push past me, grabbing her brother and shoving him towards the door. Yes, the sentence was shit, but she didn’t need this. I was right behind them, glad I wasn’t him because she was not happy.
“What’s wrong with you?” Oakley hissed at him, throwing her arms up.
Jasper spun around and faced her. His tortured face was the only thing stopping me from laying into him.
“Do you really want to go to jail for that? He’s not worth it, Jasper. Damn it!” She pushed his chest again.
He frowned. “I don’t care about me. I want to kill him. I want to fucking kill him.”
“Stop it, Jasper. Just stop. You can’t change a thing.
It’s over. It’s done. Do you really think that, even if you did kill him, it would make anything better?
Do you think throwing your life away and going to prison will magically make this go away?
The justice system isn’t always fair, but there’s nothing we can do about that!
” she shouted at him. “I don’t want to lose you, so just stop. ”
His face softened, and I knew she’d gotten through to him.
Linda appeared next to us, as if she could bloody teleport, her face stern but not surprised. “Jasper, there will be no action taken for your outburst, but I suggest that you leave immediately. Go home and cool down.”
Sarah pushed Jasper towards the door. “I’m so sorry, Linda. Out, Jasper. Come on, Oakley.”
“One minute, Mum.”
Sarah looked between Linda and Oakley and then walked through the door, her hand firmly on Jasper’s shoulder.
Oakley turned to Linda. “Thank you so much. For everything.”
Linda smiled. “You’re welcome. You take care of yourself.”
“Thank you,” I said to her. It seemed too weak for what Linda had done for Oakley, but it was all we had.
I took Oakley’s hand, and we walked to the exit, leaving court behind us. “How do you feel about the sentence?”
She shrugged. “I wanted it to be longer, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m not going to dwell on it. He’ll be on the sex offenders’ register for life and, hopefully, closely monitored when he gets out.”
Hopefully, he’ll be murdered in prison.
“It’s officially over. No more court. God, I feel like I’ve aged about a hundred years this month.”
“Nah, you still look perfect to me.”
She nudged me. “Biased. Again.”
“Never going to change. You did it. You put them behind bars.”
“Yeah, I guess.” She shook her head. “Well, the cops and lawyers did. Whatever. It’s done. I’m tired of being that poor little girl. I just want to move on now.”
I was so happy to hear her say that. No more making herself sick, worrying about whether people would believe her or not. It was time for all of us to put it behind us and think about the future.
Okay, it wasn’t going to be that easy, but at least we could move on from this part.
“What do you want to do now?” I asked.
“Lunch at yours, remember?”
“We don’t have to. We can do something else if you want?”
“I want to. Normal stuff now, okay? I want to do it all. I think I might even take up knitting. Or collect something.”
Laughing, I kissed the side of her head. Normal felt good. I wasn’t sure about knitting or collecting, it didn’t seem very her. But whatever made her happy.
“Sounds great to me.”
“Oakley! Oakley.” A chorus of her name was shouted the second we were out of the building. Reporters thrust mics out in front of them, followed by camera men.
Oh, fuck off.
Our plan of getting out with as little attention on her as possible was—well, impossible now.
I pulled her close against my side, and she pressed her face into my shoulder to shield herself. They had a job to do, but I wished they would leave her alone. She didn’t need this to be any harder than it already was.
“Oakley, do you feel justice was served?”
“What are you going to do now?”
“How do you feel about the sentence?”
“Give her some privacy!” I snapped and then whispered in her ear, “Ignore them.”
Jasper held the back door of the car open for her, and I pushed us both through the crowd to get her in.
I slammed the door shut once we were in the back. Sarah had started the car by the time Jasper hopped in the passenger seat.
“Okay?” Sarah asked as we sped off, leaving reporters disappointed behind us.
“Yeah. I’m looking forward to this dying down,” Oakley mumbled.
She wouldn’t need to worry about that if she was going back to Australia.
Sarah reached to the back of the car and took Oakley’s hand. “It’ll be fine, sweetheart. There will be another big story soon enough, and they’ll leave us all alone.”
“I’m sure once they realise that you don’t want to tell your story or give a statement, they’ll get bored,” Jasper added.
“Yeah,” Oakley replied. “I hope so.”
“If you want to go back to Ali’s, that’s fine,” I told her.
She raised her eyebrow, and I knew I was about to be in trouble. She didn’t want to be babied, especially after just telling me she wanted a normal day.
I held my hand up. “Just checking.”
Sarah dared to strike up a conversation about Abby, so Jasper got defensive. I stopped listening when he said they were friends with benefits. That was never going to work, he’d loved her.
Oakley rolled her eyes and tilted her head towards her brother in the front.
I shrugged, letting her know that I was on the same page as he. Jasper was chatting shit.
It was kind of nice to know that we could still have silent conversations. I was now back in the fold.
Sarah parked at mine. “I’ll meet you in there, I’m just going to call Miles.”
“Tell him to come over,” I replied and got out.
“Untle Ole!” Leona screamed, running out the front door at me.