by Queen Pen
Without anther word, I walked out of the room and out of Maddey’s life.
Seventeen
I was sitting in the back of an Uber bouncing my leg up and down. Today was Maddey’s court trial and I was extremely nervous. I had thrown myself into this case the past few weeks and I was fairly confident that I would walk away with a win. Still, the jitters wouldn’t go away and I was on the verge of a panic attack.
I felt a strong hand grasp mine and I relaxed a bit. I leaned into him as I took in his scent. “Thanks for being here, daddy.”
“I’m always here for you, honey. I’m proud of you.”
I’d called my dad a few days ago, in a panic about the pending case. I asked him to come to Vegas because I needed his support and he wasted no time making arrangements. I greeted him at the entrance of the hotel when he arrived. He swooped me into a tight hug, and I clung onto him for dear life.
After I caught Maddey cheating a few weeks ago, I went straight back to his hotel and called August, while I was packing my bags. She made sure I had a comfortable suite in Doc’s hotel and didn’t ask any questions. I appreciated that. I’d been staying there since then, and I hadn’t seen Maddey once. Not that I was there much, anyways. He tried to come by and see me. August even told me that he’d been trying to get a key into my room, but Doc wouldn’t allow it, per my request. I only left the hotel when it pertained to the case, which had actually been quite a bit, and I had been lucky enough not to run into him during those times.
Once my dad was settled into his room which was right next to mine, I went over the case with him. I knew that he still didn’t understand why I was helping Maddey, but by the time I was finished telling him about Jazzy and what we had been working on, he understood fully. He even thought that I had a chance at getting all his charges dropped. He spent the last few days coaching my on what points to make in the courtroom and what I might hear from the prosecutor.
Now that the day was finally here, I was a bundle of nerves. I couldn’t lie and say that most of it was because I would be seeing Maddey again. My feelings were all over the place when it came to him, but that didn’t seem to matter much today. Now, I may not have the chance to talk to him again, unless it’s with him behind bars and that scared me. I shook the thought from my head as we pulled up to the courthouse. I had to win this case for Maddey. He’d broken my heart, but he didn’t deserve to spend the rest of his life in jail.
My dad hopped out of the car and then walked around and opened my door. He took my hand, “I’ll be there with you. You have a strong case, Bel. Don’t forget that. Remember everything I taught you and get in there and win this. Everything else can be figured out later.”
He didn’t know that Maddey and I had a fling or that there were even any feelings between us, but I was sure he had his suspicions. He was right, though. Everything else could be figured out after. I squared my shoulders and walked into the courthouse, with my dad by my side.
Everyone was waiting in the lobby. The only person missing was Maddey. Ms. Keddle was there scolding Jazzy and Chip as they ran around not listening to a word she was saying. Doc and August stood off to the side with Luken and Cornelius. Noella couldn’t come because of school, but she made me promise to call her as soon as I was finished.
I stepped over to August and introduced my dad to everyone. He shook everyone’s hands before Jazzy and Chip were clinging to my side. “Bel! I missed you!” Jazzy squealed.
“Yeah! Me too!” Chip agreed.
I laughed, “I just saw both of you yesterday.”
“So?” Jazzy quipped and I ruffled her hair.
“You two leave Bel alone! She needs to focus,” Ms. Keddle fussed at them.
Chip scurried away, but jazzy clung onto me even tighter. Ms. Keddle gave her the mom eye, but Jazzy kept her arms wrapped tightly around me. “Leave her alone,” I laughed. “She’s fine. Besides, she’s the reason I’m going to win this case today.”
I smoothed down Jazzy’s hair as she looked up to me, with a smile on her face. She was such a special little girl. Tears pricked my eyes as I thought about what might happen after today. I smushed her head into my chest and kissed the top of it.
“Here’s the man of the hour, now,” Ms. Keddle said and the hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.
I could smell him before I even looked his way. His cologne was intoxicating, and my cheeks flushed. “M-Ms. Keddle,” I stammered. “Have you met my dad yet? Daddy, this is Ms. Keddle.”
They shook hands and I noticed they held on a little too long, but before I could process that piece of information, I could feel Maddey standing behind me. He didn’t even have to speak. My body just knew when he was near and it responded without my permission. My palms became sweaty and I was suddenly extremely hot. I tried to act cool, but when I heard his voice, I swayed a bit on the spot. God, I missed him.
“Jazzy, how’s my favorite girl?” He said. Jazzy clung tighter to me as I stared straight forward. I refused to look at him. I needed to focus right now and for me, he was the epitome of not focusing.
“I thought Bel was your favorite girl? You told me so the other day.” Jazzy responded.
“Yeah! You told me that, too!” Chip chimed in.
Everyone remained silent as all eyes were on the two of us. My heartbeat sped up and I felt like I was going to throw up.
“I did say that, didn’t I?” He said.
Jazzy nodded her head and then buried it back into my chest. I rubbed her back, “hey, what’s wrong, sweetie?” I asked. She’d never been this clingy before.
“Where am I going to live after today?” She asked. Everyone started talking amongst themselves, pretending like they weren’t listening, leaving Maddey and I alone to deal with Jazzy.
Still not looking in Maddey’s direction, I pried her arms from around my waist and dropped down to my knees, so I was eye level with her. “What do you mean, sweetie?”
“I heard you and Mr. Marcel talking the other day,” she pointed towards my dad who was talking to Ms. Keddle. “I heard you tell him that you’re leaving with him after this trail.”
“Trial,” I corrected her.
She continued talking, “I don’t want you to go. I want to live with you and Maddey.”
Tears were welling up in her eyes and it took everything in me to not cry with her. Maddey cleared his throat behind me and spoke, “Rebel ain’t going nowhere. We have a lot to figure out after today, but it’ll be together. Isn’t that right, Bel?”
Anger rose up in me. How dare he use Jazzy to keep me here. I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off when someone opened the courtroom door. “Madden Adams? Your case is being called. Please gather your things and proceed to the courtroom.”
I swallowed my anger down and wrapped my arms around Jazzy. She clung to my neck as I whispered in her ear, “I love you, sweetie.”
I stood up and brushed tears from my eyes as I put my game face on. Without looking at Maddey, I marched towards the courtroom, when Jazzy spoke, “I love you too, Rebel. You too, Maddey!”
We both turned towards her and I caught just a glimpse of her holding onto Ms. Keddle’s hand before the door closed. Maddey and I made eye contact for the first time in weeks and in that moment my anger ebbed away. I nodded curtly at him, determined to keep up a strong façade. He nodded back at me and we proceeded further into the courtroom.
“I-I don’t know w-what happened, your honor.” Benjamin Hughes, the prosecuting attorney against Maddey, sputtered.
I held my composure, and kept my game face on as the judge said, “Mr. Hughes, I am sure that you know that without any witnesses your case is futile. Do you have a written or verbally recorded confession from Mr. Adams?”
Benjamin scrambled to look through his papers. I sat back with my heart hammering in my chest. I knew he was looking back through his interrogations with Maddey, trying to find anything that resembled a confession. I also knew that he wouldn’t find one. I really
had no reason to be nervous. My plan was working out perfectly.
As soon as I stopped trying to figure out how to win the case, and instead, get the case dismissed altogether, it was smooth sailing. It was simple, really. With Jazzy by my side, I made a house visit to each and every one of the witnesses, all of which lived out of state. The goal was to convince them not to show up at court and testify against Maddey. I spun this story of how Jazzy was my daughter and once I learned what happened, I took on the case for Maddey to clear his name. I told them how Jazzy was in therapy now for her attempted kidnapping and her therapist wouldn’t allow her to take the stand or have any parts of the trial. I convinced them that Maddey was the hero in this case. He was protecting my little girl from being sold into sex trafficking. It was fascinating how stupid people could really be, but they believed every word. Especially since Jazzy sat next to me, big brown eyes shining with tears.
There were a few that were a bit trickier, droning on and on about how they needed therapy now because of the terrible act of violence they had witnessed. Those were the ones that required a little more from Jazzy. The first time I saw that we were in a losing battle with a tough witness, I was ready to give up, but Jazzy refused. I had explained to her that if these people didn’t agree with us, then Maddey would go to prison. She took it more seriously than I thought. As I got up to leave, she stood up with me and began crying, hard. She was able to reason with the man that was giving us a hard time in a way that I couldn’t. By the end of the visit, she had him wrapped around her little finger.
When we got back in the car, where Luken was waiting, I was surprised to see her tears still going. I’d realized then that she wasn’t faking it. “Are you okay, sweetie?”
She shook her head and it took her a moment to speak. “I don’t want Maddey to go away. I already lost one daddy. I don’t want to lose you guys, too.”
Those words were the reason I was so nervous about today because at the end of it, she would lose one of us. Either Maddey would be locked up for life, or he would be free of all of his charges and I would be going back to Colorado.
I shook my head and focused on Judge Daniels, “Mr. Hughes, I don’t have time to waste today. Now, as my documentation shows, there was no confession from Mr. Adams. Am I correct?” She barked out.
“Your honor I—” Bengamin started to say.
“It’s a yes or no question,” she demanded.
“Yes, your honor.” He hung his head.
Judge Daniels sighed and looked at me. “Since there are no witnesses, do you have your closing remarks?”
I nodded and stood up, “Thank you, your honor. Ladies and gentleman of the jury, this case was forced on to my client for no explainable reason. I daresay, he may have been the only person of color in the vicinity,” I paused and eyed the people of the jury that were of color. “As you can imagine, that day must have been chaotic. Three people died, in the middle of the Las Vegas strip, where there is already so much going on. My client didn’t have the gun recovered from the scene anywhere on him, when the police arrested him. Nor did the gun have his fingerprints on it.”
I paused, silently thanking God that Maddey had enough sense to wear gloves when he shot any gun. I’d found that out from Luken on one of our many road trips around the country tracking down witnesses. We couldn’t fly because Jazzy didn’t have identification, so that car had been our home for the last few weeks.
“So, I ask you,” I continued my chat with the jury who were hanging onto every word I was saying. “Would you convict this man for simply enjoying his day out on the strip? There is no evidence and there are no witnesses. In my opinion, that means that there is no case.”
I sat back down next to Maddey. I could feel his eyes on me, but I refused to look at him. I half listened as Benjamin gave his half assed closing remarks with little enthusiasm. The judge called a recess so the jury could deliberate and I got out of there as fast as I could to avoid Maddey. My dad and Ms. Keddle were already waiting in the lobby when I got out there.
“Honey you were amazing!” Daddy scooped me up in a big hug.
When he set me down, Ms. Keddle gave me a pat on the shoulder, “he was just telling me how you kicked butt in there.”
Jazzy held me around my waist again and Chip mimicked her. I smiled, but before I could respond, I heard Maddey behind me. “Rebel, can I have a word?”
I cringed. I was hoping to avoid him, but I knew that deliberations could take a long time and Maddey wasn’t the person to duck and dodge. I’d already been doing that for weeks, so I knew he wouldn’t allow me to continue if we were in the same room. I pried Jazzy and Chips arms from around me and slowly turned to face him. I nodded my head and he guided me towards the doors that led outside. We passed Doc and August who tried to talk, but Maddey held his hand up and brushed passed them. I mouthed I’m sorry to August who just shook her head and shrugged. Once we got outside, I took a deep breath. I felt like I could finally breathe as the hot sun beat down on me.
I looked straight ahead, once again refusing to look at Maddey. I thought about him day and night. If it wasn’t the case, it was missing the way he held me at night, the way he made love to me, or his thoughtful surprises. It didn’t matter, though. I couldn’t even look at him without the painful memory of the words he’d spoken the last time we had been together.
As if reading my thoughts, he said, “look at me, Rebel.”
Without thinking, I did. His voice held that much authority over me. I obeyed his demands, without even a thought. Tears welled in my eyes as I looked into his. He moved closer to me and I took a step back. He glared at me, “I can’t even touch you now?”
“You lost that right.” I wanted to kick myself, when I heard my voice crack. I willed myself to stay strong. As soon as the verdict was presented, I would be free of Maddey, either way.
He ran his hand down his face in frustration, “if you would have let me see you, then you would have known how sorry I am by now.”
I shrugged so that I would seem indifferent. “I was busy working your case.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it!” He growled. “I knew every fucking time you stepped in and out of that hotel, Rebel. You could have come to me and let me explain.”
Anger rose up in me, “and you think you deserve that right, Maddey? After what you said to me? After what you did to me?”
“I thought we were better than that, man.” He shook his head.
I took another step back and scoffed, “Well I thought we were better than cheating and name calling.”
I crossed my arms in front of me and stared at him. Tears threatened to fall, but I held them back. He stared at me and sighed. “I miss you, ma. Shit isn’t the same without you. I know I fucked up, but I want to make it right with you.”
I shook my head and pulled out my buzzing cellphone, “the thing about me, Maddey, is that I’ve already had a lot of time wasted, when I was younger and I’m not keen to waste any more. You had your chance. There isn’t another one for you.” I looked down at my phone and sighed, “the verdict is in. Let’s go.”
Before he could say anything else, I turned on my heels and walked back into the courthouse. I bypassed everyone in the lobby and made my way back into the courtroom. Before long, Maddey was back by my side staring a hole into the side of my face and Judge Daniels was reading the verdict.
“In the case of Madden Adams, the jury finds you not guilty on all charges. This case is dismissed.”
There was an outburst of reactions from people in the courtroom. I didn’t stay to listen. I got up from my chair and sped out of there as fast as I could. Jazzy jumped up when she saw me. “What happened?”
“We did it, baby. Maddey isn’t going to prison.” I kneeled down and hugged her and she hugged me back tightly. I pulled back and looked her in the eye, “listen, Jazzy. I have to go back home to Colorado now. School starts later this week and I need to be back for that. You can come visit me any time
though, okay?”
Tears were rushing down her face, “I knew it! I knew you were leaving.”
“Sweetie, things are complicated right now, but I promise that I will see you often, okay? Ms. Keddle and Chip are going to be here for you and so will Maddey.”
She nodded her head slowly, “do you promise that I can come see you any time?”
I nodded, “yes, Ms. Keddle is going to be home schooling you, so I’m sure that we can convince her to give you frequent breaks,” I winked at her. “Besides, you can FaceTime me any time now.”
She nodded her head again and pulled the phone out of her pocket that I had bought her last night. “Good girl,” I said and then kissed her on the head.
I stood up and looked at my dad, “let’s go.”
Maddey hadn’t made it out of the courtroom yet, and it was better this way. I gave Ms. Keddle and Chip hugs and then broke away from the crowd just as the tears started to fall. I swiftly walked out of the courtroom without looking back.
Eighteen
“R ebel Marino. It’s been way too long, sweetheart.”
I rolled my eyes as I heard the all too familiar confident tone of Cameron Monsir. “What do you want, Cameron?”
“Damn, I can’t say hi? I haven’t seen you around here in a minute. Where you been?” He sat down next to me in the lecture hall and it took everything in me not to groan out loud.
“I was on vacation,” I said.
“I wish you would let me take you on vacation. You know my father owns an island in Jamaica and—”
“Shh. Class is starting.” I hushed him and focused on the instructor.
Today was the first day of classes and my plan was to stay focused. It was weird being home after the extended vacation that I had unexpectedly. I was back to burying my head in books, smoking a ton, and trying to ignore the void that my life now had. I talked to Jazzy every day, multiple times a day. Ms. Keddle had started home schooling with her, and she raved about how smart Jazzy was.