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His complete lack of faith, or at least his lack of support, pulverized me. I was still reeling all the way to the courthouse thirty-three hours later. I didn’t know how a judge or anyone else would be able to support me me if my own father refused to.
When they led me before the bench and I looked into the condemning eyes of the lady in black robes, I knew…there would be no mercy for me today. Just from the way she narrowed her eyes, I knew she was a man-hater.
“Beckett Aaron Hilliard, you have been accused of multiple counts of forcible rape.”
“Multiple?” I croaked, not expecting that part. How the hell many times had Melody said I raped her?
Judge Gudrun stared down her nose at me with a stony expression. “In this case, each instance of penetration serves as a count of rape.”
I gulped, feeling doomed. “Oh.” In my mind, I tried to calculate how many times Melody had bounced on my lap. I’d been pretty drunk; it had felt as if it’d taken me forever to come. How many penetrations did that make? Hundreds? Thousands?
Holy shit, I was going to spend the rest of my life in jail.
“How do you plead?” Her honor’s booming voice startled me.
“I, uh, I didn’t rape her?” I asked more than answered.
Her nose wrinkled with distaste, “Your answer is either guilty, non-guilty, or no contest.”
“Oh, sorry. Not guilty then.” I ducked my head, feeling like a moron. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind for this right now. What kind of idiot bombed his own hearing?
“Then your trial is set to take place on…” She sent the lady sitting in a cubicle next to her a seeking glance, and that woman promptly handed her a sheet of paper, which she glanced at briefly before spitting out a date that left my head as soon as I heard it. “Do you have an attorney or do you need one assigned to you?”
The question came at me so fast I had no idea how to answer. “Uh.” How the hell did I answer? I didn’t have a lawyer, I had no idea how to find one, especially from jail, or how I could afford one. My family likely wasn’t going to help me out. But weren’t court-assigned lawyers the crappy ones? What choice did I have but to go that route?
“I…I… I guess I need one assigned,” I finally said.
Judge Gudrun nodded and made a note on her sheet. “Alright then. Your bail is set for fifty thousand, but I’m going to raise it to seventy-five.”
Seventy-five? Seventy-five thousand dollars? Holy fuck. That was a lot of money. I didn’t have that kind of money. And I already knew no one would be willing to front it for me.
My shoulders slumped low. I was going to be stuck in jail until the trial took place. Oh shit, when had she said that was again? I suddenly felt like hyperventilating.
Before I knew it, the officer who’d escorted me here was telling me to stand, and we were leaving the courthouse.
I sat in the back of the patrol car and stared out the window at freedom all the way back to the jail. Every car we passed, or person I saw walking down the sidewalks, the bicyclists who zipped by, I envied. They had no idea how precious just being able to stand at the crosswalk, waiting for the light to change, was. All it’d take was one spoiled college girl’s lie to take it all away.
Once we returned to the police station, I wasn’t taken back to my old cell, where I’d been stewing all night and through another day by myself alone, waiting for my Monday morning arraignment. No. The officer opened another door, only for me to peer inside and see dozens of other guys. I scuttled backward, away from them, confused.
“This isn’t where I was before,” I said, my heartrate jacking into my throat with a jarring force.
“I know.” The officer nudged me forward. “That was your classification cell until your hearing. Now…” He spread out a hand, inviting me inside. “You’re in general population.”
I gulped. General population. I wasn’t ready for general population. And I certainly wasn’t ready for the jailer to push me through the doorway with enough force to send me stumbling inside. “Got a new rapist for you guys,” He called just as the door banged shut. “Enjoy.”
I spun around and gaped at him with wide eyes through the door as he grinned demonically and waved his fingers at me. Holy shit, he couldn’t do that. Could he?
My skin buzzed with fear as I spun around to take in the convicts surrounding me who’d just heard I was a rapist.
When one huge, burly guy with a beard and long hair came strolling forward, his eyes narrowed, I froze and held my breath.
“A rapist, huh?” he asked quietly as he cracked his knuckles. I was really coming to hate it when people cracked their knuckles. “I don’t like rapists.”
Yeah, well…I didn’t either. Not that anyone in this room cared or even bothered to learn that. They became a bit too preoccupied with beating the crap out of me.
Chapter 6
BAILEY
