17 Kimber #2
His brows furrow as he stares down at the page. Immediately I feel the shame creeping in, and my cheeks burn with embarrassment. He quickly flips from the first page to the next before he stops, rifling through the whole stack instead of reading slowly.
His voice is low when he speaks. “They’re wanting to charge you with murder for a domestic violence case?”
“That should be dismissed,” I say, but my voice sounds small. Too small, and the shame eats at me. “My attorney-”
“James Donaldson,” he says, glancing at the papers. “Ugh, that explains it. He’s a piece of work.”
Blinking, I glance up at David, but he’s focused on the papers. James’ name had zero meaning when I met him, but David seems familiar. “Is he bad?”
“You can do much better,” he says, continuing to flip through. “I fucking swear, some of this shouldn’t ever even make it into the courts. Some things are literally just following the fucking law.”
“But I shot him,” I say quietly, and it’s strange to say out loud. It’s a little reminiscent of talking to James, but he drilled me a lot harder about what happened that night than David currently is. “So that makes it my fault.”
David hisses a breath, dropping his arms as he grips the pages with one hand and pinches the bridge of his nose with the other.
“Don’t. For god’s sake don’t do that. Someone’s in your head telling you that shit.
I hate when people victim blame and convince survivors they are wrong.
Myla’s ex tried that shit and I can’t fucking stand it. ”
I never knew that about Myla, but I guess I’ve never really thought about it either.
She seemed timid when she first joined Sins, but I just thought it was due to being new to BDSM.
I kind of remember some marks on her neck, but I assumed she just liked it rough since she was there with David of all people. He’s not mean.
“I can’t tell you what to do Kimber,” he continues, and I glance up again.
“But I can tell you what I see and what I think is wrong. You’re being treated like trash by a legal system that hates on victims like you because you didn’t stand for it, and that’s wrong.
Your current attorney is doing a shit job ensuring you are treated well, and it looks like someone is harassing you. ”
He holds up the annotated pages for good measure and I blush. “They won’t hurt me. It’s just anger.”
David raises a brow. “They?”
I swallow and nod, refusing to say more.
He sighs. “People can turn violent in an instant, Kimber. You never know what’ll be the trigger. I always recommend to anyone being threatened to go somewhere they feel safe until the matter is resolved.”
“I can handle myself,” I say, lifting my chin. My voice doesn’t match the confidence of those words.
He looks unconvinced. “This whole case is about you killing someone. From skimming through, it looks like you were attacked. You had a reason to shoot. Are you okay taking the chance of doing that again if you are threatened? If it’s all anger and nothing else, the threats typically stop when the target is less accessible.
Just be sure that if someone is threatening you, you can live with shooting to kill for a second time. ”
A chill shoots down my spine and I swallow again. I’m not sure that I can.
David gives me a moment to think before he speaks again, digging his wallet out of his pocket.
“This is my office card. Call me if you want to do something. I’ll put my cell on here too because, honestly, I hope you change your mind and call me to get this resolved.
Stick with James if you really want to, but you should have someone on your side who can get this matter closed.
There’s absolutely no reason an appeal should even be considered if there’s enough evidence that you shot him in self defense. ”
“And if there isn’t?” I ask carefully.
“Don’t talk like that. I’m sure there’s enough to prove it. Look at all these damn papers. There’s a lot of evidence, and from the hate notes I’m guessing it mostly supports your side of the case.”
“It does.”
“Good. Then a competent attorney should be able to help you resolve this quickly. I’m serious, Kimber. Call me if you want to hire. I won’t charge you, I just think it’s BS that you got threatened and attacked and you’re the one being charged.”
I can only nod, because that’s exactly what I thought too.
David holds up the pages. “Do you want to keep these? I can take them to the office and shred them if you don’t need these copies.
It’s your case, you can always request physical clean copies of your case.
They might charge a bit for duplicates but there’s no reason you have to stare down at the hate. ”
I hadn’t even considered printing the pages because I didn’t want to look at them. “Oh, yeah. That’s a good idea. Thanks.”
He nods, pushing off the wall. “You should talk to someone too about this. Give them all your options so you can make the best choice for you. Not me, but someone else who cares about your safety.”
Safe. Nodding my head, David walks me back to the door like the gentleman he is and takes the hateful pages with him once he leaves. His words linger in my head, and I know that there’s only one place that makes me feel safe like he suggested.
~~~
A few hours later, sans a note or even a phone call, I knock on the door. It takes a minute before he appears, his hair wild when he opens up. “Kim?”
I force a grin, nodding. There’s a bag slung over my shoulder, but his eyes dart to the cat carrier. “Hi.”
“Did you bring your cat?” Rich asks me, rubbing his temple. He seems to be reacting slowly, and reaches out to steal the bag off my shoulder before I can respond.
“I didn’t want to leave Brutus all alone,” I say, my conversation with David earlier replaying in my head.
Something about a guy that does this for a living looking into my eyes and basically telling me I’m fucked if I don’t do something hit home.
As much as I might be careless with my life, I’m not careless with Brutus’.
“The last time something happened at my apartment Brutus almost got hurt. I can’t risk that again.
David suggested I should go somewhere I feel safe. ”
He shakes his head quickly, blinking a couple times like he’s deciding if he’s dreaming or not. “You spoke to David.”
“Yeah. Um, can I come in?”
“Of course,” he says, backing up. He’s still eyeing my car carrier like he’s not entirely sure this is real. “We can order some food. Did something happen to make you do this all of a sudden?”
I shrug, pointing behind me. His eyes follow to the white, pristine Lexus parked in the driveway. “No. Nothing besides my talk with David, and he seems like he’d be a competent attorney. He just suggested going somewhere I feel safe, and my safe place is you.”
His eyes soften, and he reaches out to brush his thumb over my cheek. “As I told you before, I will always keep you safe.”
Offering him a smile, I point over my shoulder again. “Thank you. I think, maybe, you should go help Laci before she loses her shit.”
Now he’s thoroughly confused. I glance over my shoulder to follow his gaze, seeing Laci stand up on the driver’s side of the car, propping her elbow up on the top as she stares at us.
She’s missing her sunglasses since it’s a cloudy day, but the pink cowboy hat she’s wearing is pretty fucking memorable.
She cups the side of her face so she can yell over without having to officially get out of the car.
“Hey Rich? Yeah, I’m trying this whole friend bonding thing you suggested. I now transport self cleaning litter boxes. Can you get this thing out of my car? There is absolutely no way I am picking that up again.”