“I can’t stop Diesel from doing as he pleases.”
“You can break every bone in that fuckhead’s body. That would definitely stop him.”
“He’d never forgive me.”
“We already have theI love himandhe’s gorgeousbroken record, let’s not start a new one, ‘k? Thanks for taking that advice.”
“I-I didn’t agree.”
Rebel smirked. “Progress.”
“But—”
“You don’t have to agree with me or Diesel or anyone ifyoudisagree. It’s your unalienable fucking right to stand up for yourself.”
“That doesn’t apply to relationships, though.”
“That especially applies to relationships. Match that motherfucker pound for fucking pound in whatever he does. Don’t give him the fucking rope to leaveyouhanging. Give him just enough to fuck himself up and then yank that bitch up and beat that motherfucker to a fucking pulp.”
“Diesel would never put his hands on me. I have to respect him the same way.”
“Is Diesel respecting you in any way?”
“He brought me here. He’s marrying me. That’s all the respect I need.” Another devastating prospect hit Jana and she couldn’t stop the tears streaming down her face. “Don’t take him from me. Please, Rebel? You can make love to him, just don’t tell him to send me away.”
“You do know how old I am, don’t you?”
Jana nodded. “I-I was your age when I…” She managed to hold in her sob. “Diesel doesn’t know when I lost my virginity. I-I was almost fourteen and…and…it was my neighbor. His wife was away, and I was babysitting their kids. He gave me beer and wesmoked weed and…and…I’m sorry. Don’t tell him. Please? He’d be so angry with me.”
“He’d be angry, but not with you, Jana,” Rebel told her. “He does care about you. I don’t know if he loves you. I wish I could tell you that he does. How old was the neighbor dude?”
“Th-thirty-three.”
“Handsome?”
“Yes. I had a major crush on him. His wife hated me.”
“I can’t comment on the wrongness or rightness of it. I know how it should be. How I would like it to be. It was only recently that Washington tightened up on the child marriage laws. Before, if you were seventeen, you only needed parental consent. Any younger, a judge could approve the marriage no matter how old you were. If we were in California, Oklahoma, Mississippi, or New Mexico, I could’ve married Diesel and he wouldn’t have gotten in trouble. If we just had sex in those states, it would be a serious crime.”
Jana frowned, unsure why those statistics made her feel so uneasy and creeped out.
“Only sixteen states require all parties to be eighteen with no exceptions. Thirty-four states, you’d need parental consent, judicial approval, emancipation of the minor, pregnancy or proof of birth, or a combination of those conditions.”
“You’ve done your research,” Jana said, even more miserable.
“Diesel’s an attorney. He taught me about due diligence and to always present facts. Provenfactscan stir emotions.” She started ticking off on her manicured fingers. “Poke holes in the opposition’s case. Present actualities with evidence to back up your arguments. Don’t falter. Let the truth speak for itself. I could say, I love Diesel and want to spend the rest of my life with him. He shouldn’t get in trouble for that no matter my age. That’s emotion. Instead, if I said to my parents, he shouldn’tget in trouble because we can go to California and marry if you consent and it’ll be perfectly legal. I could point to a statute or a legal precedent.”
“Meggie and Uncle Christopher could present other arguments. Like, uh, you don’t live in California and he…he would be a-a-arrested before you c-c-could get there,” Jana pushed out, unnerved by Rebel’s study of her.
“So true,” Rebel said with a sigh. “Diesel’s the attorney, not me. If he really wanted us to be together, he would have to do whatever and present the case.”
“Isn’t it illegal to represent yourself?”
“The right to self-representation is in the Sixth Amendment. If a lay person can represent themselves, why can’t an attorney? Theoretically, at least.”
“I’m certain they would miss something and do an injustice to themselves because they would be too close to the case to think of everything.”
Rebel shrugged. “Probably.”
