That last image of him haunts me. His retreating form in the dim bar. Walking out of my life. That shouldn’t be the last memory you have of someone.
He’s probably replacing my memory with a pretty blonde right about now. Back to the same old routine of fucking and fighting. Crow probably sends him two girls now, at the end of his fights. And they shouldn’t get to have him.
He was mine.
He still is.
I’m not ready to let him go yet. Not ever.
“It isn’t fair.”
Booker sits down beside me and tries to make me feel better, but it’s a waste of time.
“I don’t blame you for hating me,” he says. “You should hate me.”
“Everyone always has their own agenda,” I tell him. “Everyone always does what’s best for them. That’s the way life works.”
He seems sad at my observation, but he doesn’t deny it either.
“We’re going to meet with the prosecution later today,” he says. “To go over your statement.”
“Can’t fucking wait.”
The men are here.
Men in suits. Attorneys and other people that need to be involved for whatever reason. I don’t care. I just want to get it over with.
Booker is over there too.
He’s arguing with them about something, and he doesn’t look happy.
My gut twists when he looks at me. Something is wrong.
“Tenly.”
There is shuffling as the men move out the door, and this definitely isn’t right, because I was supposed to be making a statement.
That’s what Booker said.
And now he’s looking at me like he’s fucked, and I know I’m fucked too. Fucking fucker.
He tries to get me to sit down, and I shake him off.
“I’m a big girl,” I tell him. “I can handle it. Just tell me.”
“The DA has decided not to move forward with the case.”
It’s a bullet to the gut, but I never should have expected anything different. This is why I didn’t come forward in the first place.
“You told me…”
“I know what I told you,” Booker answers. “Fuck.”
He leans back into his own chair and collapses his head against the cushion. I want to blame him, but I know it isn’t his fault.
“It’s because they think I’m a prostitute,” I say. “Isn’t it?”
“That’s part of it,” he admits. “He didn’t believe you’d make a reliable witness on the stand.”
