He slammed his foot on the accelerator and raced from the car park.
“Easy, Jasper,” Mum said after we’d sped out of there like a bat out of hell. “We want to get back in one piece.”
I double checked my seatbelt was on.
“I just want to get her away from that. Anyway, you were the one who ordered me to go!”
“Well, I meant, go, but go responsibly.”
I laid my head on Cole’s shoulder and smiled at how normal and petty their argument was. Under Mum’s revised instructions, Jasper droveresponsibly, and we arrived home twenty minutes later.
“I’m going to lie down for a bit,” I said as Ali let us inside, arriving in her car with Lizzie at the same time. Lizzie must’ve been told to keep up with us.
No one argued. I think we all needed a bit of time, to go off and do whatever made us feel better.
Miles appeared from the living room and wrapped Mum in a hug. He hadn’t come today at Mum’s request, so Ali had told him he could stay in the house for when we arrived back. It would be better than him spending all day in his hotel room.
I climbed straight into my futon bed and pulled the coverover me, needing to hide from everything for a while. My makeup and smart clothes were still on, but I simply didn’t care.
I rolled into a ball and felt the raw and mixed emotions of the day bubble over. I pressed my face into the pillow and cried.
“Oakley?” Cole said. I felt him lay down beside me, but I couldn’t move. I gripped the pillow harder, my fingers nearly meeting my palm through the stuffing.
The bed dipped, springs creaking, and the covers shifted as he got under.
His warmth and strength poured into me. I rolled over and snuggled into him, clinging to his body rather than the bedding.
I felt his hot breath on the top of my head as he kissed me there. His grip on me was just as needy, both of us holding on for what felt like life.
“Don’t cry,” he pleaded, his voice breaking.
“Do you want to ask me questions?” I whispered a moment later when I was able to.
“Shh, not now. Just let me hold you, baby.”
I closed my eyes, letting myself cry for everything I’d been through, and I eventually fell asleep.
Chapter 17
Cole
The following morning, Jasper and I were standing outside the courtroom.
There was still a fire in my stomach—a burning anger I couldn’t extinguish. I couldn’t stop thinking about everything Oakley described in her testimony. It played in my mind on repeat, my own personal horror film.
All of that had happened to her… and we’d hadnoidea. She must’ve felt so alone and powerless.
“This is a bad idea,” Jasper said, gritting his teeth.
Yeah, probably.
Thinking about Max made me want to go postal, so fuck knows what I was going to be like hearing him lie on the stand.
“Do you think she’s really okay with us being here?” I asked.
“I think so. She would’ve said if she wasn’t,” he replied.
Oakley wouldn’t have, though, because she’d never tell anyone what to do, especially not Jasper when it came totheirdad, but I didn’t want to tell him that.
