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Throwing his head back, Mr. London lets out a sarcastic laugh. "Couldn't. You couldn't come over and say just let me know that Tallahassee PD was building a murder case about my son. We only see each other every other damn day, but you're right. You couldn't."
Mr. Trayland doesn't back down. "If I had told you, you would have put that boy on a flight out of the country within the hour."
"You're damn right I would have," he shouts back.
"And then what? He lives his life on the run?" Mr. Trayland counters. "He has to stay living in another country so that he can avoid the trial for something he claims he didn't even do? He may be your son, but he's just as much my family as he is yours, and that's no kind of life for him."
His words seem to soften Mr. London, but before he can answer, his phone rings. He takes a deep breath before answering the call and bringing it to his ear.
The anticipation of our next steps is weighing so heavily on me that it feels like I can't breathe. It's as if I'm trapped in some horror story, and no matter how many times I try to go back to how things were, I can't. I'm stuck here to deal with this. This is my life now.
Another phone starts to ring, and Mr. Trayland steps into the other room to answer it, but my attention is fully focused on Jace's dad.
"That's great news, Finn," he tells the man on the other side of the line. "I'll see you tomorrow. And thank you. I really owe you one when this is all over."
Hanging up the phone, he tosses it onto the ottoman in front of his seat and sighs. "That was the lawyer. He was able to get Jace an extradition hearing for tomorrow morning."
"And what happens then?" I ask.
"Well, he will go before a judge, and Finn will argue why he should be released on bail and allowed to stay in California until the trial," he explains. "If granted, he should be home by tomorrow afternoon."
"And if it's not?" It's the question everyone is thinking, but Brax is the only one to voice it.
Mr. London looks down. "Then he will be transferred to Florida State Correctional until his next bail hearing."
Jace's mom breaks out into sobs. "You mean my baby could be stuck in prison until the trial?"
"Let's just keep our heads up, okay?" he tells his wife. "We have to think positively."
"I'm not sure how easy that's going to be," Mr. Trayland says, stepping back into the room. "That was just a buddy of mine over at the jail. Jace is in the infirmary with a number of injuries. He said he was jumped tonight by a few guys."
That's all I can handle hearing before the feeling like
I'm going to suffocate is too much to bear. I mutter a quiet “excuse me” and jump up from the couch, leaving the room and the house as fast as possible. The fresh, cold air hits me as soon as I get outside, but it does nothing to help.
Tears stream down my face as the front door opens and closes, but I already know who it is. No one else is stupid enough to follow me out here right now.
"You fucking knew," I sneer.
"I knew," Carter confirms.
Spinning around on my heels, I keep my bloodshot eyes locked with this. "Then why? Why would you fight so damn hard to get me back in his life?"
"Paige."
"No!" I shout. "Tell me why, Carter. Do you just get some kind of twisted pleasure out of seeing people get hurt?"
He runs his fingers through his hair. "Of course not."
"Then why?" I go closer and shove him backward with both hands. "You knew I was going to fall for him all over again. You knew we would get close. And you knew he was going to get taken away from me." Balling up my fists, I punch him in the chest with every word. "Why would you do that?"
He grips my wrists tightly to stop my assault and gets in my face. "I had to! Okay? If I hadn't, he would have killed himself in prison."
I shake my head and pull myself out of his grasp. "You don't know that."
"Please, Paige. Don't be naive." He goes over to sit on the step. "Before you came back into his life, he was all but dead. We're all meant to be afraid of the monsters. To run from the demons that want to pull you underwater and drown you in misery. But Jace embraced them."
Keeping completely quiet, I go take a seat next to Carter and listen.
