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“Now, could you tell us a little about the sex act you witnessed between the defendants?”
Just get it over with, she thought.
“I witnessed them kissing,” she said.
“Was there any sort of clothing removal?”
“No.”
“Any sort of extraneous touching during the kiss?”
Unbidden, the kiss she’d seen played through her mind yet again: Julius grabbing Hudson’s shoulder, his fingers digging in, Hudson’s big hand on the back of Julius’s head.
“I believe that Julius — sorry, Mr. Bloom — had his hand on, uh, Mr. Trager’s shoulder,” she said quickly, looking down.
“And do you feel that this public display of affection has caused you any sort of lasting mental trauma, Miss Taylor?”
I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to stop thinking about it, Quinn thought. But not in a traumatic way.
“Not really, Your Honor.”
“Thank you for your honesty, Miss Taylor,” the judge said. “Now, Mr. Bloom, could you describe the circumstances under which you made bodily contact with Miss Taylor?”
“I heard gunshots, and attempted to move her to safety by getting her on the ground,” he said. “If I was rough, it was unintentional.”
“And the sex act?”
As Julius and Hudson answered the judge, the blood rushing through Quinn’s ears drowned them out.
They hate me, she thought. They must hate me, and everything I do, and my parents, and I don’t think I blame them.
Quinn wanted to cry. Four days ago, she wouldn’t have felt this bad. Four days ago, she’d been convinced that all shifters were perverts who did nothing but fuck and fight, and she’d also been convinced that they should all be fenced into their areas and left alone.
But then she’d come here, and it hadn’t been true at all. Not only had her parents lied to her, horribly, but they’d vilified a whole group of people while they were at it, and now they were trying to make these men’s lives miserable.
Sure, their relationships were weird. She did find something deeply unsettling about the thought of a triad, but she was less and less sure that it was any of her business.
We should just let people live, she thought.
“Thank you, Mr. Bloom and Mr. Trager,” the judge said. “After hearing from both sides, I’ve decided to dismiss the case.”
“Your Honor,” her father said, half-standing, but the judge held up a hand, and he sat back down.
“Miss Taylor’s wrist was slightly harmed, it’s true, but as the defendant was removing her from the line of fire, I cannot find him liable for damages,” she said. “As for the sex act, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, I must inform you that it is not illegal to kiss in public, whether or not you agree with someone’s lifestyle.”
Quinn exhaled and closed her eyes, feeling her whole body relax. Humiliated as she was, at least she’d be out of there soon, and then she’d never have to see Julius or Hudson again, or be on the receiving end of their glares.
The judge went through more legal talk, but Quinn wasn’t listening. She was too preoccupied with her relief to understand what was going on.
Finally, the two men rose and walked from the judges’ chambers. Quinn and her parents followed, her father beginning to rant loudly against shifters asking for special rights as they walked through the hall in the courthouse, his ugly voice echoing from the walls.
Julius and Hudson could hear him, she knew, until they turned down a different hallway, still looking perfectly composed.
Then, Quinn had a sudden impulse.
Do one decent thing today, she thought.
“Mom, Dad, I gotta go to the bathroom, I’ll meet you outside,” she said, and then darted down the hall behind Julius and Hudson. She could hear her parents shout something at her, but she ran around a corner before they could stop her.
