Chapter 13
Summer
“What do you think, darling?” Zander asks me.
“I’m okay with everything as long as she actually spends time in a mental facility, not one of those spas I’ve heard about.”
“I have the names of three legitimate facilities for the family to choose from and will add that they must choose from one of the three.”
“That works,” I nod.
Mr. MacLeod will seek the harshest possible penalty for Ben, and he’s confident he will get a long sentence for all his crimes. He has a good public defender, but the evidence is overwhelming against him.
Tuesday morning, Holly shows up at my locker while I’m switching books. “Hey Holly,” I smile.
“Hi Summer. Hey guys. I’ve decided to go to the trial on Wednesday. I need to face Ana one last time.”
“You do whatever you need to do. Did you talk to Mr. MacLeod?”
“He called last night to fill us in. I agreed to the terms, too. Jaxon and Mom are both going with me to the courthouse.”
“Okay. You have a plan. You know where I’ll be if you need me.”
“I do. See you in AP English,” she waves and walks away.
As Alex and I take our seats in AP Bio, I ask how we ended up financially with the tournament.
“Between the sponsors and entrance fees, we are short ten grand.”
“That’s not bad considering we did it in one month,” I say, pulling out my phone to transfer five grand to Alex.
“I can cover the cost, Summer.”
“I know, but we had an agreement, so I’m paying you,” I tell him with a smile.
I ask him to tell me about the high school in North Charleston where the track meet is this weekend.
It’s an older school, and a bit run down, but has the basics.
The guys are diving at a school west of Charleston on Friday.
I sit with Holly in AP English today. We are getting our reports back for the preliminary group project outline we presented on Friday.
Since we lost Cara from our group, the teacher allowed us to downsize the scope, and our final presentation is next week.
It looks like Miss Miller likes what we did on Friday, so we can finish our work.
After school, I drive with Nick to Finn Enterprises. “What happened with the text from Seb’s phone?” I ask him.
“It was a payphone in Nevada. I’ll monitor it.”
“Okay,” I nod. I wave to Zander when we arrive before I run for an hour on the treadmill beside Nick, then he drives us to martial arts class.
Ceres is waiting inside when we get there with a pretty woman.
They nod at each other and follow us into the room we use for class.
Nick and Ceres head across the room, leaving the girl standing by me.
“I see your guy is as talkative as mine,” she says. “Hi, I’m Neve.”
“Hi, I’m Summer. Nice to meet you. Um, Nick is just a friend.”
“Oh sorry. I shouldn’t assume. So, do you teach here?”
“Heck no,” I chuckle. “I’m a total beginner. Nick teaches my class.”
“Oh. Ceres has been trying to get me into MMA for years, but it’s not my thing. I’m a lover, not a fighter,” she smiles as her phone dings. She looks at it and mutters something about overprotective men as she types. “Sorry. So, how old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“I thought you were out of high school already. Damn. I’m just guessing everything wrong today. Hey, are you the girl who held the MMA tournament over the weekend?”
“That's me. Ceres is an awesome fighter.”
“He loves it, and I’m glad he met Nick. He’s the only Aikido fighter he’s met so far in the area. Ceres is going to split his time between here and the training center in Charleston.”
“That’s great. Nick will be happy about that,” I say as two guys come into the room.
One guy comes up behind Neve and wraps his arms around her. “Hey baby. I missed you.”
“You saw me a few hours ago,” she says, kissing his cheek. “Summer, this is Ezra, and Levi is the other one.”
“Hi,” I wave to both of them.
“Nice to meet you,” Ezra says, while Levi waves back with a closed smile. “Ready to go?”
“Yes. It was nice talking to you, Summer.” Neve smiles. “Ceres, I’m leaving,” she yells.
Ceres looks over and sees the two guys with Neve.
He nods and waves, then they leave. That was interesting.
I let Nick know I’m going to the Jeep to call Jake since Ceres is here, so he tosses me the keys.
I lock myself inside and call Mal and Jake.
I tell him about the tournament and all my fears regarding the trials tomorrow and Thursday.
I rejoin Nick when I’m done and hand him back his keys.
A few people are trickling in for class, so I take my usual spot.
This is a no-contact class Nick graciously offered to teach.
He’s adamant that I be able to defend myself, and I’m not arguing after what happened.
We still practice on Sundays one on one too.
Nick introduces Ceres as an observer as we get underway.
At the end of class, I notice Zander at the back, so I walk over to him. “Hi.”
“Hi Summer. How was your day?”
“Good. I take it you’re done at work?”
“Yes. I thought you could drive home today?”
“Sure. Let me tell Nick.” I walk over to the front of the class to let him know I’m leaving with Zander. I get a nod, so I say goodbye to Ceres, and Nick follows us out to the Jeep so I can get my bag.
“I’m training with Ceres for another hour since Z is here.”
“Have fun,” I smile as Zander passes me his keys. I’ve been driving as much as I can this past month, mostly between school, here, and home. I go straight for the shower when we get home, then join Zander for cold pizza on the couch. “What time are you leaving in the morning for court?” I ask.
“At 8am. I’ll be back after Ana’s case is done, then drive to the courthouse again after lunch for Cara’s appearance. I’m guessing the guys will follow me home in the morning,” he smiles.
“Probably. We’ve got plenty of food, so I can make lunch for everyone.”
“What are you and Seb going to do all day?”
“I will probably go running in the morning, then do homework. In the afternoon, I want to garden or finish the AP English novel I’m reading. I need to keep busy.”
“Understandable darling. It should be straightforward with the girls, though.”
“I hope so.” I’ve been doubting my agreement to settle with Cara and Ana, despite it being the easier choice. I really hope the ruling goes as planned.
After dinner, Zander has a phone call to make, so I go to my room and call Seb. “Sunshine! What’cha doing?”
“Nothing. Finished dinner with Zander and now I don’t know what to do.”
“How was class?”
“Good. Ceres watched the class today. I met his friend, or sister, or girlfriend? I’m not sure, but her name is Neve. Nick was gonna spar with Ceres after class.”
“Oh, I just assumed he was out with a girl. Huh. Anyway, I was thinking I could spend the night at your house tomorrow since I’ll be there all day Thursday again. What do you say?”
“I’d like that, but you have to clear it with Zander first,” I tell him.
Maybe we can sleep on the couch tomorrow night.
I have a feeling the nightmares are going to be bad, and we can see if Seb helps me sleep peacefully like Nick does.
We talk for an hour before I get texts from Bay and E, so I let him go.
The first text from Bay is a picture of Olivia holding a handmade sign.
It says, “You got this, love, Olivia” on it.
It brings a smile to my face. I tell him to thank her, which results in Olivia video calling me and talking my ear off until David takes her to bed.
It’s a great distraction. E and I watch a cooking channel together via phone until it’s time for me to take my sleeping pill.