“Why do you have Gemma’s name written in the victim field?” I query, my words as uneasy as the swirling of mystomach.
Christopher smirks. “The victim’s name is generally placed in the victim section.” The pompousness in his tone fuels myannoyance.
“Gemma is not my victim. I didn’t hurt her; I protected her,” Iretort.
Christopher’s eyes turn to Madden’s father in the corner of the room. The shrewd look that crosses Mr. McGee’s face is only there for the tiniest second, but I didn’t miss it. It was cunning andjudicious.
The churning of my stomach ramps up when my eyes return to the document and I speed-read the chargesagainstme.
“I want a lawyer,” I request, my eyes floating from the document accusing me of the sexual assault and battery of Gemma back to Christopher. “I’m not speaking another word until I have a lawyerpresent.”
Madden’s father pushes off the wall, reaching the edge of the table in three lengthy strides. “Even the best lawyer in the state won’t help you,” he says, his tone a deep rumble that bounces off the stark white walls and bellows into my ears. “They have your DNA and skin fibers in Gemma’s rape kit. Your blood was even discovered under herfingernails.”
“Because I protected her!” I roar, standing from my chair. My abrupt movement causes the wooden chair to topple over and scrape against the tiledfloor.
“You’re not pinning your son’s crime on me because I taught him a lesson. Maybe if you’d spent more time with him as a child instead of hobnobbing with golf buddies, he would have learned the difference between right and wrong. But I guess lining your expensive threads with money was more important than raising your son withmorals.”
Before I have the chance to react, Mr. McGee grabs my shirt and pulls me to within an inch of his face. I stare into the eyes of a snake. My nostrils are flaring as my body shudders with fury, but I don’t back down. He raised a monster, and I’m not scared to tell himofthat.
“Your son is arapist,” I sneer, staring into his bleak, desolate eyes. “And a fuckingcoward.”
* * *
Iturnmy eyes to Ava, who is watching me sympathetically. “I pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of Gemma three weeks later,” Iconfess.
Ava’s eyes widen before darting between mine. “What! Why, Hugo? Gemma would have never testified against you. You saved her; she would have done the sameforyou.”
I shake my head. “She tried, but Madden’s father offered to chair with the DA. Everything Gemma said during her testimony was twisted by him. He even made out to the jury that the time I walked in on Gemma showering in the male latrine was what started my ‘obsession’withher.”
I run my hand down the front of my tired face, rubbing away the tiredness from my eyes while wishing I could erase the memories that haunt my dreams just aseasily.
Exhaling a deep breath, I turn my eyes to Ava. “I’ve always had a knack for readingpeople.”
An edgy smile stretches across her face before she nodsherhead.
“I could tell the jury was believing the lies the DA was telling them. Even with Gemma testifying on my behalf, they were going to find me guilty. To save my family name being tarnished, I requested a plea,” Iexplain.
Ava’s smile becomes a tight grin as she wraps her hand around mine. She doesn’t speak. She doesn’t need to. The compassion in her eyes is all the comfortIneed.
“On the agreement that the nature of my charges were to remain undisclosed, I pleaded guilty to the sexual assault on Gemma and for battery in the second degree on Madden. I was issued with a criminal record, stripped of my ranking, and dishonorably discharged from my position within twenty-four hours of signing the pleabargain.”
After wiping a tear off her cheek, Ava crawls across the minimal space left between us. A whizz of air parts my lips when she straddles my hips, wraps her arms around my torso, and presses her ear over the top of my heart. I’m not going to lie, even with a morose mood suffocating my usual persona, I'm smiling, relishing having her in my armsagain.
A length of quiet crosses between us. It isn’t awkward, but rathercomforting.
“What happened to Gemma?” Ava queries a short time later, her voice low and filled withconcern.
I run my hand down Ava’s waves of hair hanging halfway down her back. “She never returned to her position after the incident in the alleyway. We stayed in contact sporadically six months after I was dishonorably discharged, then I met you, and everything went a littlecrazy.”
Ava’s head pops off my chest, and her eyes bounce between mine. A grin tugs on my lips when the corners of her mouth droopdownward.
“A good type of crazy,” I say, pinching her chin and angling her head up. “Those weeks we had together are the only thing that kept me going the past five years. Without them, I don’t know how I would have survived.IfI would havesurvived.”
Ava chews on her bottom lip, battling hard to keep her tears from flowing. “Me too,” she whispers. “Our memories, then finding out I was expecting Joel were the only things forcing me to get out of bed everymorning.”
I run a finger across her cheek, capturing a tear rolling down her ashen face. “Please don’t cry,” I quietly plead. I’ve seen enough tears seep from her eyes to last me a lifetime. “I’m so sorry, Ava. For everything I did, for everything Iputyou--”
My words stop when a salivating pair of lips press up against mine, stealing my words and my ability to think. When Ava runs her tongue along the crest of my lips, I open my mouth. She slips her tongue inside, entangling it with mine and controlling the pace of our kiss.She tastes even better than Iremember.
