Chapter Twenty-Two
Hayes
“Iwatched you disarm a lunatic with a knife, you’d think this would be a walk in the park,” Liv blurts out, shaking her hands in the elevator as we head to the courtroom.
“I had that under control. This is all you.”
“I have it under control.”
“Yes, you do.” I hand her the briefcase I was holding, and she straightens her spine as the doors open to the ground floor.
The scene in front of me glitches, and I’m suddenly experiencing déjà vu. The standard oak woodwork and shitty carpet…
I haven’t been in a courtroom since my day in court 11.5 years ago, but if you’ve been in one, you’ve been in them all.
In front of the bench or behind the bench, the suffocation feels the same.
Liv walks confidently to her place and starts readying her paperwork, but I don’t have the same ease. My collar feels stiff, and I don’t want to sit down just yet.
“Hayes,” Liv whispers. “Jensen,” she whispers again, forcing me out of my claustrophobia. “You don’t have to stay in here if you’re uncomfortable.”
“I’m fine.” I tug at my collar absently, and her eyes clock it.
“There’s a deputy in here. I’ll be okay.”
“Your stalker has been suspiciously quiet. I’d rather stay close.” As if that’s the only reason. “Besides, I’d like to watch the Porter brothers sweat.”
Their actions directly affected my friends and my home. Jeremiah nearly killed Curtis. I can’t wait to see them go down for what they put everyone through.
The judge enters, and I go through the motions on instinct, rising and sitting as if I’m on trial again. It’s a hard feeling to shake when it was your nightmare for a decade.
Liv talks through her evidence exactly as she had practiced with me the other day, delivering her spiel confidently. Judge Fulton looks pleased and doesn’t ask any clarifying questions, which makes Liv’s shoulders relax.
“Alright, Defense, let’s hear your side.”
“We’ll be providing alibis for Randall Porter’s whereabouts and proof that all of his business dealings were done by legal means. This counsel requests a separate trial from Mr. Porter’s brother, Jeremiah–”
“What?” Jeremiah yells, jumping up from his seat. “You said you’d take care of me?” He lunges at his brother, who barely reacts.
The deputy on duty quickly separates them as the judge pounds his gavel. “Order,” he demands. “This is only the pre-trial, Mr. Porter. You have time to obtain your own counsel. If you cannot afford it, counsel will be appointed for you.”
He waits until the room settles before continuing. “Miss Greenwood, is this going to be a problem moving forward?”
“No, your honor. The county is ready and willing to prosecute the defendants separately.”
“Great. Let’s set trial dates for both and move on with our day. Any time constraints or schedule issues coming up?”
“I’ll be out of the office for the next two weeks, but after that, I am available.”
Two weeks.
The rest of the conversation in front of me disappears as I contemplate those words. She’s going to be gone because she’s getting married…
She’s getting married this weekend…
She’s getting married…
I tug at my collar because I’m having trouble breathing again, but it has nothing to do with the stuffy courtroom.
“Hey, you okay?” Liv asks suddenly.
I blink towards her and realize the room has been dismissed. I’m the only one sitting down. “Sure, what’s next?” I croak out.
She looks at me with underlying concern but doesn’t push it. We haven’t talked directly about her wedding day, but we both know it’s happening.
“I need to get my things from my office, but I’m done for the day.”
I nod, and we head back upstairs in silence, but I can’t shake the noose around my neck.
She’s getting married.
And, as if the universe gets off on cruel jokes, there’s a big white box with a big white bow sitting outside her office door.
“Miley, did you see who left this?” She asks her intern.
“No, ma’am. I was out getting a coffee, and left for about ten minutes.”
“Let me just…” She starts to hand me her briefcase as if that’ll make this less awkward.
“It’s okay, I’ll get it.” I bend to grab it, and as soon as my hands are under it, the cardboard saturates my fingers, and I freeze.
“Hayes?” She asks from behind me when I don’t move.
“If I ask you to turn around, would you listen?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.” I spin to face her and hold the box up, watching her eyes go wide. “It’s blood… Isn’t it?”
Her hand covers her mouth, and she nods.
“I guess your stalker knows you’re getting married Saturday.”
* * *
“There are cameras at all the entrances in the building, but it’s a public courthouse; we’ve had over three hundred people in and out today,” Malec says, scanning the security footage at the courthouse.
He pulled a chair up and told me to sit next to him so we could go through the footage. I hate to admit it, but he’s growing on me despite his profession.
“A big white box isn’t normal,” I utter, staring at the split-screens.
“No, it’s not. And, it should have been pulled aside at security.”
“Are you sure it was a deer heart? Not human?” Liv asks, pacing back and forth in front of Malec’s desk.
“I’m positive,” I reassure her. “My dad always made me gut the deer when he forced me on his hunting trips.”
“Didn’t like to hunt?” Malec asks me absently.
“Didn’t like my dad.”
He nods in understanding and leaves it at that.
“He was abusive and horrible. He was a cop,” Liv scoffs. “No offense,” she says directly to Malec, and I look at her in disbelief. She shrugs, “Sorry, I ramble when I’m stressed.”
“No offense taken,” Malec says, completely unbothered. “Right here. The office supplier loads his dolly with four boxes of paper, but when he gets into the building, there are five.”
“The office supplier is my stalker?”
“Doubt it. He probably was just an easy target. No one pays attention to the paper delivery.”
“What happens next?” Liv leans over my shoulder, and I stop paying attention to the screen in front of me.
“We don’t have cameras inside the offices. Our guy must’ve snuck in the public entrance and retrieved his package somewhere.”
Her hair falls over her shoulder, brushing against my ear.
“So, we’ve got nothing?”
“I’ll send the fingerprints to the lab. This guy isn’t in the system, but I’ll at least match them to the other evidence he’s left behind to start building a case.”
She smells like vanilla and green tea.
“What should I do?” They continue to converse over my shoulder, and I can’t untangle myself from her proximity.
“All we can do is wait, but you’ll be out of town for a bit, so that’ll help. Give this guy time to get antsy and slip up.”
Out of town.
Because she’s getting married.
I struggle to come up with anything to say the entire drive back to her cottage. I feel her subtle glances in my direction, but I’m afraid that if I look at her directly, I’ll blurt something out that I’ll regret.
Don’t marry him.
Don’t do this.
I wouldn’t regret it because the thoughts are untrue, I’d regret it because of the position I’d be putting her in. I’ve put her through enough for one lifetime, and I want her to be happy.
Even if it doesn’t include me, killing me inside, that’s my burden to bear.
“I won’t need a ride for a while,” she says once I park.
I squeeze my eyes shut, willing away the nausea I’m experiencing. “About two weeks, right?”
“Yeah.”
I nod stiffly as she shuts her door, and I watch her walk across her porch. “Liv, wait!”
She spins to face me, and I’m already across the driveway. “Can we talk?”
“About what?”
“I don’t know. This.” I motion between us.
“What about this?”
“I finally got you back, Liv. I feel like I’m losing you, again.”
“I’m not a toy, Hayes.”
“You know that isn’t what I mean.”
“What do you want me to say?”
That you won’t marry him. “Are you happy?”
“What? Of course, I am.”
“Have you gotten everything you’ve wanted in life?”
She hesitates. “Almost.”
“Do you think Elliot is your soulmate?”
My question knocks her back a step, and her eyes turn to slits. “We’re not children. That’s a silly notion, and you’re overstepping.”
“Liv,” I stop her before she slams the door in my face. “I just need to know if it was all worth it.”
“If what was worth it?”
“Making you live your life without me.”
Her lips part, and a ghost of agony crosses her face before the door slams closed.
* * *
11.5 years ago…
My court-appointed lawyer keeps telling me to keep my head down, act cool, and not to show them I have a temper.
But all I can think about is his hands on her. A grown man touching my Olive.
I laid awake in my jail cell last night thinking about it.
I think about every conversation I’ve had with Liv the past few months and why she didn’t tell me about her teacher.
I wasn’t able to protect her from it, not until it was too late.
The correction officers told me that she tried to visit me, but she’s a minor and not a relative, so they turned her away.
I couldn’t face her anyway.
I was only brave enough to call her once. To tell her to stay away from me.
“Hayes, I’m here.” Her voice whispers over my shoulder, and my eyes squeeze shut.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I grit through my teeth without turning around. Not here, in this courtroom, with the shame I feel. I can’t stomach looking at her.
The girl I’m about to lose.
“Please, Hayes. I’m so sorry. I messed up. This is all my fault.”
“Don’t. Don’t ever say that. This isn’t your fault. It’s Mr. Arkett’s fault, and mine,” I argue, barely turning my head.
“Nothing happened. Please, you have to believe me.” I hear the tears in her voice, but I still can’t look at her. It’s too painful.
I failed her.
My lawyer silences whatever else she’s about to say with a look, and I fight the urge to punch him.
I’m a fucking mess.
“Go home, Liv,” I dismiss over my shoulder as the judge enters. “Go!”
I know she doesn’t leave. I would feel the air shift if she did. My self-hatred boils to an all-time high as they talk through my charges in front of the entire room.
My juvie record is sealed because I’m an adult, but they know me here. They’re familiar with my reputation, and they know who my father is. The man sitting on the opposite side of the room is ensuring that I get what’s coming to me.
It hurts worse that my mother chose to sit beside him.
“This is a heinous crime. I have it on good faith that Mr. Arkett is a beloved member of the community and wouldn’t harm a fly, let alone provoke such a violent attack.
He won us the conference championship eight years ago.
Everyone loves him. Now, he’ll be recovering from his injuries for months.
What do you have to say for yourself, son?
” The judge asks, acting as if he cares what I have to say.
I don’t speak. I don’t even stand. My lawyer nudges my shoulder, but I don’t move. Fuck him, fuck this place.
“Your honor, I’d like to make a plea deal. My client will plead guilty to aggravated assault and a four-year sentence.” My lawyer adjusts his tie, waiting for the judge’s response, but I don’t get my hopes up
Things never go easy for guys like me.
“This young man has shown no remorse. I recommend updating his charges to attempted homicide and a twenty-year sentence.”
My head snaps up, “What?”
The room buzzes with reactions to the judge’s harsh recommendation, but my ears only focus on Liv’s sobs behind me.
“Prosecutor?” The lawyer on the other side shrugs and nods, clearly as confused by this as the rest of us.
The judge raises his gavel, and I realize the gravity of a single fucking mallet. He’s about to end my life.
“NO!” Liv screams, and the room grows louder with chatter. “You can’t do this!”
Court deputies come barreling towards her to take her out of the room, and my chair tips as I lunge for them. “Don’t touch her!” I yell, shoving my lawyer’s hand off.
“Order! Order!” The judge yells.
“No!” She screams as one of the deputies grabs her arm.
“Get off of her!” I yell again as arms wrap around my shoulders, holding me back. Two deputies strong-arm me as I fight with no sense of reason, no logic.
It’s Liv, nothing else matters.
“Order!” The judge pounds his gavel.
“He was only protecting me! He was protecting me!”
“Liv, no!” I don’t want her to get involved. She doesn’t need to be dragged into this and tarnished by the actions of men.
“Son, stop fighting, or I’ll throw your girlfriend in jail, too!” He yells, and as soon as I process his threat, I go limp. “Now,” he huffs. “I want to hear what she has to say.”
My strong, brave Liv pulls her bicep from the deputy’s grasp and wraps her arms around herself instead. “Jensen is my best friend. Not my boyfriend. He witnessed Mr. Arkett initiating a relationship with me. That’s why he attacked him.”
“That is no grounds for the level of violence displayed.”
“Liv, don’t. That’s enough,” I beg as tears stream down her cheeks.
“I’m only 17. Mr. Arkett is my chemistry teacher.” The room gasps collectively.
“He was behaving inappropriately?” The judge asks.
“Yes, your honor. He liked to drive me home after hours. He would talk to me about boys and college. He complimented my appearance often. The night this event took place, he asked me to attend a study session at his house and hoped we’d be alone.
He was touching me out of sight of the other teachers and rubbing circles on my back.
He was underneath my shirt, touching my bra when Hayes found us. ”
I rock back and forth in my chair, gripping my head in my hands as I hear her speak. He was touching her. He would have done worse.
“It’s my fault, your honor,” she cries. “I should have known better.”
“No,” I mutter. Don’t martyr yourself for me.
“I was too afraid to tell him to stop. If I had told him no, this wouldn’t have happened, but I froze,” she cries.
“Young lady, this is not your fault. I have daughters, and I can appreciate your bravery today, but your friend nearly killed a man.” He taps his fingers against his podium. “I’ll allow the plea deal, but six years instead of four.” He bangs the gavel and seals it.