“The prosecution calls Sheridan Sullivan to the stand,” the prosecutor said loudly. The doors opened, and I heard the tapping of her boots on the floor as she passed us. She held her head up high as she passed Neal’s table without giving him one glance.
Good girl.
You’re strong, Sher, you got this.
She took her seat and sat there waiting for the questions to start.
I listened to her tell everyone about what that asshat did to her, and what he tried to do to their daughters. The tears pricking her eyes were real, and I chanced a glance at Neal to see him absolutely seething.
He leaned over to say something to his lawyer.
He knew this was damaging.
I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. It was my time to put my hand on Hawk’s, his fist clenching on his jeans.
“If we knew it was this bad, we would have come home sooner,” he said, softly. I could hear the anguish in his voice, the same that I’d heard in Ace’s when he had found out. We’d all been thick as thieves in school. Ace, Hawk and Bear were my best friends as much as Sheridan was. For a time, I blamed her for them leaving. They followed Ace, and he was heartbroken.
But I knew it wasn’t her fault. It was just my hormonal and broken mind at the time, and yet she hadn’t let me push her away.
“That’s all the questions I have.”
The prosecutor made her way back to her table. She never gave anything away with her expressions. It was both impressive and thoroughly annoying.
“We have just one, your Honour,” the defence lawyer said, standing and buttoning his jacket. My eyes shot to Neal who had looked over at me, a cocky look to his face.
“Oh shit,” I said softly as I looked over at the dickhead making his way over to speak to Sheridan. I saw her body stiffen but she didn’t flinch away, she waited for his question. We were all on needles, including the prosecutor, waiting for this asshole’s question.
“You say you were beaten, raped, verbally abused,” he started. “But while all this was going on…did you ever say no?”
The air left my lungs in an incredulous gasp. “Is he fucking serious?”
“Shh,” Morena tried to hush me. “Don’t give him the reaction he wants.”
“Did I tell him no to hitting and beating me?” Sheridan asked.
“Did you ever tell your husband no when he supposedly raped you?”
“That fucker,” I hissed out. “She was too scared to.”
The prosecutor turned around and held her finger to her lips. “Don’t let him rile you up. The judge will lock you up for disturbing the court. Look at the faces on the jury, they aren’t buying a thing. We expected this, just let it play out.”
I did as she asked, and I looked over at the jury who were horrified that the question was being asked of her.
“To answer your question, no, I didn’t say no to being raped. It’s implied that I don’t want to be raped, hence the negative connotation on the term itself. I also did not ask to be beaten to a bloody pulp, have bones broken, have concussions and to have my daughters subjected to witnessing their mother being beaten by their father.”
“But you never actually told him no, so how can this be anything but a little bit of rough sex?”
“Rough sex does not usually end up-”
“Thank you,” he cut her off before she could finish. “No further questions.”
Hawk was trying to stand, but both Morena and I pulled him back down. “No,” I said. “You can’t do anything. It will only go toward freeing him.”
“You are free to go, Ms. Sullivan,” the judge declared. She got down off the chair and walked past without looking at us, holding her head up high. I didn’t miss the tears tumbling down her cheeks though.
The judge called for a recess before the next witness was called, and I all but ran out the doors to find Sheridan. She was in the bathroom, sobbing in a stall. I opened the door, and she looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy already.
“Come here,” I pulled her up into my arms, just like all the times she couldn’t leave the asshole through the years. “It’s okay. He’s not going to get away with it. I promise.”
