by Cee Smith
I tuned out her testimony. I tuned all of it out. That was the only thing to stop me from jumping up and screaming, “It’s all lies!” at the top of my lungs. Jerry sat perfectly poised with his elbows propped up on the table and a pen resting between his fingers as if he weren’t fazed by anything that was being said. I guess he wasn’t because he’d heard it before. Not only that, but it wasn’t like there was anything riding on this for him.
“They’re going to call her witness before you have to testify,” he leaned over and said to me, drawing my attention to something other than the judge.
Ten minutes later, she was climbing down from the stand, and I heard the back door open, drawing my attention to a man wearing brown slacks—a few inches too long—and a simple button-up with a tie slightly askew. His hair was long and wavy, covering the tops of his ears and eyebrows. He was little, probably a little taller than Lara’s 5'4" frame with heels on. I could probably bench-press his weight.
I had no idea what this guy was doing there, but I assumed it was her supposed boyfriend. He could sense me watching him; I could tell by the way he purposely avoided my eyes while he scanned the room—everywhere except the front, left corner where I sat.
Once seated and sworn in, the door opened again. I looked at Jerry, who only raised his shoulders and lifted his eyebrows in an “I don’t know” expression, before turning to see who else would be testifying.
There she was.
The one woman who I left this morning, whose skin still lingered on my suit from the hug I gave her, whose taste still tickled on my tongue.
Blaire.
Our eyes met across the room and everything in my body told me to stand for her, like she was the president deserving a salute. As much as I didn’t want her there, I realized I’d been missing her. I needed her. For the first time since the hearing started, I felt like I could breathe again. That’s what Blaire was—a fresh breath of air after the feeling of drowning.
I’d been drowning before I met Blaire. Not just after my father died, but even before then, when the hardest part of my day was putting clothes on in the morning. I was fucking spoiled, but Blaire brought me down a peg like no other woman could. Most didn’t even try.
I love her. I love Blaire.
The thought pulsed through my body and shocked my heart like a defibrillator, working life back through my limbs.
She sat behind me in the very last row, her face framed with large curls and her clear brown eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and worry. Her eyes flickered between me and the man on the stand, but I didn’t understand. Blaire looked at him with expectation as she worried her lip between her teeth.
“What is the nature of your relationship with the plaintiff?”
“She’s my girlfriend,” he responded almost aggressively. I could tell her lawyer was a bit taken aback by it, but he pressed on.
“You were the one to take her to the hospital, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You sound like a good boyfriend. Can you describe the state you found Lara in after her meeting with Mr. Trevaunt?”
He looked down at his hands, and when he looked up again, his eyes shifted past Lara and landed on Blaire’s in the back.
“I was a good boyfriend, but you were planning on leaving me, weren’t you, Lara? You said we would move away, that we could build a life together, but that was a lie, wasn’t it?”
For the first time, my eyes darted to Lara. I didn’t need to see her reaction to know the anger I would see there in those black eyes of hers.
Her lawyer moved closer to the stand and said, “Excuse me? Uh…” He looked around frantically before trying to put a muzzle on his now unpredictable witness, “I hadn’t asked you a question yet, Paul. Do you need to take a break?”
“I don’t need a break. She’s lying,” he pointed. “She lied about him, and she lied to me.”
“Shut the fuck up, Paul!” Lara called out.
The gavel pounded as the judge yelled “order,” and when I glanced back to Blaire, she had a small smile on her face. It was then I knew why she was there. I didn’t know how she did it—what she did to get this man to betray Lara, but I owed her.
“Lawyer, control your client.” The judge pointed the gavel at Lara who looked like she could spit fire, her alabaster skin was so red.
“Sir, let me remind you, you are under oath. Now, what do you know about the events that happened May 15th,” the judge continued.
“She went to Joel’s house, but he wasn’t the one who did that to her face—
“Paul, don’t do this,” Lara yelled over him.
He stared daggers at her as he continued. “I know Joel didn’t do that to her face because I did. She told me to. She said it would help us. Help her.”
Lara shot up, nearly propelling herself over the table in an attempt to get to him. Her lawyer held her back, and the judge began pounding her gavel again.
“We got this, Mr. Trevaunt. You should hit up the casinos; it looks like today is your lucky day,” Jerry said, shaking my hand.
“This case is dismissed,” was all I heard before the judge disappeared back in her chambers and Blaire came bouncing down the hall. She wrapped her arms around my neck and clutched my head to her neck with joy.
“Oh my god. I did it! We did it!”
I kissed down her neck before I remembered where we were and broke away. She held my hand as we left, and as soon as we were free of the room, I pulled her over to the nearest bench.
“Now, who’s the rule breaker? How did you even do this?”
“I had a talk with Paul. I wasn’t even sure—”
The doors swung open again, and Lara and a couple of Blaire’s colleagues came through the door. Lara flashed me a look full of hatred and loathing, and as much as I wanted to hate her for all she’d put me through, I was just elated to finally be done with her. With this behind me, I could finally get back to some semblance of normalcy.
As I watched Lara storm off, I silently hoped that that would be the last I’d hear of her. That part of my life was over. It was time to get started on something better. More like someone better.
I spent so much time assuming I would lose—not only the case but also Blaire—I hadn’t had time to wrap my head around the idea of her staying with someone like me. Someone new to relationships, to love, to running a company. In spite of all the things that made me wet behind the ears, it was Blaire that I wanted to experience all of those things with. I just had to convince her to stay.
“So, it looks like you have some of your own secrets,” I said as I took Blaire’s hand.
“You gotta admit, that was pretty badass of me.”
“Come on, Magnum P.I.” She practically skipped over to me, a smile plastered from ear to ear and eyes free of all of the stress and tension she’d been holding onto for weeks. It was the first time I’d seen her completely elated. And the whole ride home I couldn’t deny that I wanted her to share all of her smiles with me.
***
The first thing that crossed my mind when I unlocked the doors to my house was sweeping Blaire off her feet and making a swift retreat to the bedroom where I planned to thank her body in every conceivable way my body could.
“I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t unpack anything.” Her voice held a nervous chuckle as she walked inside.
“Joel?” With an arched eyebrow she watched me still standing in the open doorway, letting the cool air of the AC escape into the heated day.
“You…you don’t have to go. You can stay.” I was fumbling for words. I thought I had more time to finesse words, to warm her up to the idea, to show her how easy things could be without the weight of the trial weighing us both down.
“Plus, your stuff’s already here,” I continued. “You wouldn’t have to worry about moving things from here to there, and you know how things break, and tape is so flimsy these days.”
Blaire crossed her arms over her chest as she patiently listen
ed to my laundry list of everything wrong with the moving experience—one she was probably more familiar with than I was, seeing as how she’d only moved to Vegas six months ago and I’d lived there for years.
“And what about my job?”
“What about it?”
“Henderson messaged me. My suspension’s over.”
“So?”
“You don’t see a problem with me working for the one place that was suing you only fifteen minutes ago?”
“Oh, that? Is it too early to say water under the bridge? What do you want to do, Blaire? I have enough money to allow you to start your own firm, or you could come work with my legal team. Or—”
“I’m not Lara. I want to make my own money. I want my successes to be my own. Besides, I don’t even know what this is, and now you’re asking me to live with you?”
“After everything I’ve done to get you to even speak to me, asking you to be my girlfriend in the foyer of my home feels so uninspired. So, I’m not going to, but what I can tell you is I love you, Blaire. I don’t care what you do for a living as long as I’m the one you come home to. I never had a problem with feeling lonely before you, but those weeks without you were the hardest I’ve ever had to endure.”
“Joel…your father just died. You’re griev—”
“Don’t tell me I feel the way I feel about you because I miss my father. What I feel for you has nothing to do with how I feel about my father’s death. I miss him. I love him, but most of all I’m sad because he missed out on meeting you. He would have loved you, and he would have wanted me to settle down with someone as sweet and stubborn, beautiful and smart as you.”
“So then, you like me because your father would’ve liked me?”
“Blaire. Would it make things easier for you to accept this if I tell you there’s a storm outside?”
“But there isn’t,” she dropped her hands, fixing one on her cocked hip as we sparred back and forth. I never imagined it would be this hard to convince her to stay, but like everything else that involved Blaire, it was never as easy as it seemed.
“There will be if you go. Now, shut up and tell me you love me…that’s what all the heroines do in the movies. Oh, and try to make it look convincing.
She seemed to look everywhere but at me, as if my home were now under inspection now that I had asked her to stay. I felt my thumping heart still in my chest in those few moments when her eyes were evasive and she didn’t run into my arms like I’d imagined every girl did when a man said those three magic words.
The click of her heels sounded twice as loud as she stepped closer to me. I watched the slight sway of her hips as she drew nearer. The slow stride of one foot in front of the other mocked me with every step.
She held out a proffered hand, “OK.”
“OK? OK, what?”
“I’ll stay.”
I didn’t know whether to be shocked by what she said or shocked by what she didn’t.
“And…”
“And?”
“Let’s try this again.” I pushed against her shoulders a bit until the weight of my touch forced her to fall back a couple steps. “OK, now run your little ass over here, kiss me like you mean it, and tell me you love me. Come on, Blaire, you’re supposed to be the one guiding me here. Not the other way around.”
“But you’re doing such a good job,” she giggled. She’s laughing at me.
I growled, closing the space between us. Lifting her up in my arms, I stole a kiss from those plump little lips that mocked me. The touch of her teeth bumped against mine as she couldn’t keep from smiling as I licked her bottom lip.
I kissed the smile from her lips, until I found the shell of her ear. I murmured words into her ear, whispered things I planned to do to her for the remainder of the night. There was just one little thing I was waiting on…
“I love you! I love you!” she nearly shouted, bouncing in my arms from her excitement. My teeth closed down around her earlobe, giving a slight nick as I clutched her tighter in my arms and bounded up the stairs. I made it to the top of the staircase with an eager Blaire wriggling in my arms.
“But, we have to go over some rules!”
“I know, pretty bird. Tomorrow.”
The End.
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Titles by Cee Smith
Just This Once Series
Shut In
Shut Out
Shut Off
Stolen Series
Stolen Donor
Stolen & Fractured
About The Author
Cee Smith is a lover of the written word. Since first learning how to string a sentence together, she’s been putting pen to paper and hasn’t looked back. Though she’s no longer obsessed with blood and gore, the dark side still calls to her, often finding refuge in her current writings. Her addiction to reading is what finally inspired her to take a chance at publishing.
A California native, currently residing in North Carolina with her husband. She loves salacious stories, true love and forbidden romances—the more angst the better. Other than reading and writing, some of her other obsessions are peanut butter (don’t get her started), Michael Fassbender, and watching TV.
She loves talking about the creative process and what books she’s reading, so feel free to shoot her a line here. Or if you just want to say hi that’s fine too. She swears she’ll respond.
