Rookie Mistake: A Sports Romance Novel (The Beasts of Baseball Book 1)

by Ward,Alice

  Melissa did a beautiful job of not only recounting her version of the rape in Zek’s office, but the subsequent time in his cabin a few days later. The scowl on the judge’s face let me know quickly that she wasn’t buying the shit that was being sold in her court room. Anyone with half a brain would never have gone anywhere with Zek after he raped her the first time.

  I had to hand it to Melissa’s attorney though, he brought out very specific details of the rape, and helped her to not only create a highly emotional narrative, but forced the audience to really consider Zek as a vicious monster.

  My leg tapped under the table, and I let a few soft breaths out between my teeth. I had to bide my time, but my patience was running thin. Finally, Mills’ attorney gave a tight smile and sat down with no further questions.

  It was my turn, and after hearing the bitch lie through her teeth, my blood boiled in my veins. Had we not been in the middle of the court room with my firm’s reputation on the line, I’d have put a few of my own bruises on her. She was vicious, cunning, and about to feel the pressure of my rebuttal to her lies. Nothing would be sweeter than getting her twisted in her thoughts and leave her looking like the liar she very much was.

  I took my time walking up to her as if I were reviewing my notes a little. I wanted her to wiggle in her seat as everyone behind me watched her, wondering.

  The judge spoke up, “Counselor. Please proceed. We only have so much time allotted for this case. If you have no—”

  “I’m sorry, Your Honor. I’m ready. Forgive me.” I pressed my fingers to my lips and lifted my question card in front of me as I approached the pretty blonde. I paused in front of her and let every bit of aggression I had inside of me bleed into my stare.

  “You told Mr. Claybow that you were an intern at Kellington Investments, right?”

  She glanced over at Zek as I asked. “Yes. I was one of Mr. Kellington’s interns.”

  I leaned over in the same direction to get her attention back on me. “Mr. Kellington doesn’t have private interns. We’ve check the corporate records of the company. You were an intern for the company, right? Or did you get a special contract?”

  “Oh. No. I guess I was an intern for the company. I just thought—”

  “Right. You thought you belonged to him.” I nodded as the judge called me out and went on. “Tell the jury about how you had a special project that was assigned by Mr. Kellington. Remember, you told me that it was a job that only you and he were working on. That you visited him all the time because of it.”

  The lead attorney from Mills, Canterbury and Viking stood up behind me and hit the table. “She’s leading the witness.”

  “I am.” I turned to the judge. “But only to establish how the girl might have thought that she belonged to Mr. Kellington. These are all facts from her own lips.”

  The judge looked down at the girl. “Tell us the situation in your own words, please.”

  “Sure.” Melissa’s voice shook as she regurgitated the same thing she’d told me about working directly for Zek. I left the idea sitting open for everyone to contemplate how silly the girl was and moved onto the idea of her being willing to go anywhere with someone who had just raped her.

  She fumbled more than once, and I kept pressing until she did nothing more than mumble. My last point was perhaps my favorite.

  “Am I to understand that you’ve had other cases similar to this one? Other men that you’ve claimed to have raped you only to settle out of court for millions of dollars?” I asked, knowing I would get called out and warned, and I did. But it was well worth it. The jury should have the knowledge that the woman before them wasn’t a sweet and innocent as she appeared. She was a scheming bitch, and striking my comment from the record wouldn’t change a damn thing.

  “I’d like to introduce tapes from Mr. Kellington’s office. They will show that Melissa only stopped by once during the time under review. She didn’t go into Mr. Kellington’s office, and to our knowledge via the records and documents seized from his computer, there was no project.” I turned to her as she paled. “Do you want to change your statement earlier regarding the project you say Mr. Kellington had you working on just for him?”

  “No. Your tapes mean nothing.” She crossed her arms over her chest and gave me what some might consider a warning glare.

  “No? What was the project, Melissa? I mean, it was the reason you were spending so much time with your rapist, right?”

  She ignored my poke and the judge gave me another warning. I’d be on thin ice soon, but I was almost done. Melissa was edging toward the end of her song and dance, and pretty soon the mask would slip. That’s all I needed.

  “It was an ROI project. That’s return on investment.” She shrugged.

  “How long did you work on it?” I clasped my hands in front of me, trying to keep my voice even and calm.

  “Weeks.”

  “Who was the project for? A specific client?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was his name?” I glanced at the judge who was about to interrupt again. “I’m getting to a point.”

  “Make it quick.” The judge turned back to Melissa.

  “I don’t know his name.” She shrugged.

  “A smart girl like you who worked on a client for two weeks doesn’t remember his name? How can that be? I would forever remember the name of the client if the project had me in front of someone who had taken my freedom and violated me in the most heinous of ways.”

  “It was several clients. Besides, there is a confidentiality agreement with us.”

  I turned and tilted my head at Zek. “Mr. Kellington, mind if she tells us who it was?”

  “I’d love to know.” He shrugged.

  “Counselor. No outside influence.” The judged turned to Melissa. “Who was the client? I’m curious.”

  She sat there for a few minutes, looking around the room as her cheeks colored pink. She was losing it, and we were close to having front row tickets to the show.

  Her attorney stood up and spouted some Fifth Amendment shit at us, and the judge shut us down, but the point was made. She had no clue about the project, because there wasn’t one.

  Zek sat stiff beside me, his face a mask of indifference. I couldn’t imagine what he might be feeling. The girl had made him into a monster in front of the crowd, but I would bring them back. I had no doubt. I just needed to pull out a few wild cards, which I worked to do next.

  I proved the truth with camera footage that Jon was involved in something nefarious where Zek was concerned. The ace in the hole was having Celia testify to her relationship with Jon Mills. She was straight forward and told the judge and jury that he’d talked her into helping and she was ashamed of herself. Her testimony did more than anything else could.

  We spent two hours in the court room battling back and forth before Zek got on the stand, grilling not only Mellissa, Celia and Jon, but several other minor players in the intern pool as well. If Zek was nervous, he never showed it. His demeanor remained calm, and he admitted to sleeping with Melissa, but repeated himself over and over that he would never hurt a woman, no matter how much the prosecuting attorney tried to force an admission of guilt.

  “One more thing, Mr. Kellington.” I slid my hand over the railing in front of him as he watched me. Weariness hung on him far more than I’d seen in the last few weeks.

  “Sure. Anything you guys need.” He crossed his hands in his lap.

  “How did you get the scar on your face?” I turned to the jury and ran my finger across my cheek. “This one here. Do you see it?”

  They nodded, and I did as well. “Right. Where is the scar from? It’s new to me.”

  “I was attacked by Melissa a week ago at my home. She was rather upset, and I guess she felt that her only form of revenge would be to harm me. I don’t know.” He shrugged and kept his eyes locked onto me.

  Having him trust me the way he did was heady, powerful. It turned me on, and yet the woman he beckoned me t
o be wouldn’t take advantage of him, but hold him long into the night. He needed a heart to wrap himself around, and I was soon to offer up mine. If the week away from him taught me anything, it was that I didn’t want another one. I wanted him.

  I turned and nodded at Lizzy. “I’d like to introduce to the court evidential article twelve. The recording from the night Mr. Kellington was attacked by Melissa Mills.”

  Melissa shot up from her seat. “You can’t do that! You can’t record me when I don’t know it. This is contempt of court.”

  The judge banged his gavel. “Sit down, Miss Mills. I want to hear this conversation.” She glanced over toward Jon, who was seated next to his daughter looking perfectly ill. “You’d better keep control of your client or you both will be held in contempt.”

  He nodded, and Lizzy stood, walking the phone up to the front. “It’s ready. Just push play.”

  I took it from her and turned to the guy who’d come to help me. We plugged it into the speaker system and hit play. The conversation was interrupted by a lot of shocked sounds, but nothing was quite like when Melissa jumped up and scrambled toward the front, threatening to cut my throat.

  The case was closed with more drama than I’d ever seen in the middle of a court room. The prosecution had very few questions for Zek seeing that my offense had been a defense. We didn’t need to prove the rape. We needed to defame Melissa and the rest would unwind on its own.

  It was a pleasure to say, “The defense rests.”

  The judge calmed everyone down, and Zek and I walked to our seats while the judge gave instructions to the jury and dismissed them for deliberation. This was the hard part, waiting for a decision. But we didn’t have to wait long. The jury took no time at all to come back out. We were called back into the courtroom in less than fifteen minutes.

  As court was called back into order, the judge asked the foreman if a decision had been made. An older gentleman nodded and said, “Yes, Your Honor,” before handing the slip of paper to the clerk for the judge to read.

  My heart thumped in my chest as the judge asked Zek to stand. Lizzy and I stood with him. Then it was time.

  The foreman stood and turned from the judge to face Zek. “We, the jury, find the defendant, Mr. Zek Kellington, not guilty of…”

  The rest of the words were lost as the crowd went wild, but Zek’s shoulders simply slumped as he pressed his hand to his face.

  I leaned over and pressed my lips to his ear. “Good job. One down. One to go. We got this.”

  “We do. Don’t we?” He turned to me, and I could see just how bad he wanted to kiss me. The feeling was mutual, but it would have to wait.

  “We have to celebrate. Let’s go out.” Lizzy turned and pulled Zek into a tight hug.

  “Let’s go back to the house. I’ll ride with Alisa since you guys brought me with you today, and you can grab Mark and bring him with you.” Zek glanced back at me. “You’re good coming over, right?”

  I nodded. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”

  CHAPTER 10

  e

  Zek

  I sank down into the passenger’s side seat of Alisa’s car and let out a long exhale. Relief was mine for the minute. I knew we still had a battle on our hands, but after getting through the rape trial and coming out victorious, I wanted to rule the world. It felt like there might be a fighting chance to get through the next conviction, should it come. If justice ruled supreme, then I wouldn’t find a way out of the trading case, but I had to hope.

  “Thank God the verdict went in our favor.” Alisa got into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the busy parking lot. “I wanted to wrap you up in a hug and kiss you a thousand times when we won, but I’m not so sure that would go over too well with the press.”

  I chuckled and reached for her hand, pulling it into my lap and wrapping my fingers around hers. “Thank you for believing in me. I would never hurt a woman. Not in a million years.”

  “I know that.” She glanced over at me, her blue eyes filled with compassion. “You don’t ever have to say that again. I know the kind of man you are.”

  “Good.” I squeezed her hand and let my head drop back as I closed my eyes. “I should have called you this week. You’ve been the only thing on my mind. I almost went stir-crazy several times.”

  “Same.” She laughed softly. “I thought maybe you were upset about the conversation with Ben. I didn’t plan that, and I’m honestly sorry you had to hear it.”

  “No need to apologize, Alisa.” I turned and opened my eyes, wanting to see her. “You guys had a life together. I was jealous only because I’d love to have those stories to tell.”

  “You will. One day.” She pulled her hand from mine and slid her tight grip around the steering wheel. “I want to talk about us.”

  “Oh yeah? What about us?” I knew she didn’t like me playing coy, but I was done making assumptions. They never worked out too well for me.

  “I think if you’re up for it after we get through the next trial, I’d like to take you out for dinner.” She gave me a cheeky grin.

  “You taking me out? That seems a little backwards.” I let my eyes run down her profile and over her shoulders, catching the large swell of her breasts as my body woke up and need teased me.

  “Yeah, well, I want to take you out. Are you denying me?” She pulled up to the house and parked beside Mark’s old car.

  “No. I’ve decided that if you want it, you get it.” I got out of the car and walked to the front, stopping only to pull her into my arms. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did today. I never once doubted you.”

  She ran her fingers down my face as a cute little frown tugged at her mouth. “I’m going to ask for the maximum bail to be posted for that bitch for cutting you and it shouldn’t be a problem after her little scene today.”

  “It’s all good.” I leaned down and brushed my lips across hers before pulling her in tightly and pressing my face to the side of her neck. “Makes me look more manly. More rugged.”

  “No, it makes you look like someone attacked you.” She pulled back as the door to the house opened and my brother walked out.

  “Hey! I’m looking at a free man, hmm? Ain’t nobody getting you down, right? No sir-re! You’re Zek Kellington. The world can suck it.” Mark patted my back and pulled Alisa into a side hug. “And this kick ass attorney you got here isn’t too bad either.”

  Lizzy walked out and hugged me and shook Alisa’s hand. “I’m so happy for you, Zek, and I’m insanely proud of you, Alisa. You did the firm right, and took care of my family. Thank you.”

  “It was a pleasure.” Alisa nodded to the house. “Now… time to feed the hard-working attorney.”

  “Agreed. The almost criminal is starving too.” I moved in behind Alisa and opened the door wider before following her into the kitchen. Lizzy took over as she always did, and I moved to sit at the breakfast bar with my brother as the two women in my life worked to get something delicious for us to enjoy together.

  I couldn’t have felt more right, more whole. Alisa would be mine eventually. I just had to survive my bad decisions. There was no way I could ask her to wait two to five years for me if I went to prison for the trading charges though. She had too much life in her to ask her to stifle it for that long, and I had started to care far too much about her to even think about taking anything from her.

  My focus was to give her everything she wanted, and anything she needed. That had to start with me being a free man. If I could just figure out a way to circumvent the trial and put in a plea bargain, but what would she think about that? She’d already been pretty clear on the fact that she would feel differently about me if I was, in fact, the criminal the SEC was working to turn me into.

  The scary part was that they wouldn’t have to work too hard at all. I’d done it. Now I was just running from the part where I got caught.

  *

  Lizzy and Mark left after dinner was done, and I was grateful. I wanted some time al
one with Alisa before she ran out on me too. She might be interested in next steps, but she was still holding back a little around me. I understood it, and though I was grateful for her being so responsible, I wanted to beg her to let her hair down just a little.

  I moved in behind her as she washed dishes at the sink, and I slid my hands around her waist. I pressed myself against her and brushed her hair away before pressing my lips to the side of her neck.

  “I want to ask you to stay the night with me, but I know you well enough to know that you won’t. I don’t need the rejection, but know that I want you here.” I kissed her again and pressed my mouth to her throat, sucking softly as she let out a groan.

  “I want to so bad. Maybe I should just let go. Stop being so damn responsible with all of this.” She turned off the water and turned in my arms. “I was miserable this week without you.”

  “Can I ask what happened with Ben after your conversation?” I knew I was pushing a little into her private space, but I needed to know if any part of her still had hope for reconciliation with him.

  “Sure.” She reached over and picked up a hand towel and worked to dry her hands as her eyes moved across my face. “We met that night, talked about our investments. I signed some papers that he had for me, and then I went home. He wanted to talk about us, but I reminded him that there is no us anymore. It’s all good. It’s just been a long week after that.”

  “I should have called.” I slid my hand along her face and rubbed gently at the base of her head. “Forgive me?”

  “Hell, I should have called. You were attacked by some crazy chick, and I wasn’t even here to help.” She pressed her hands to my chest and rubbed softly.

  “If you would have been here, it would have been worse, and I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to record the conversation on my phone that I did. It’s all good. It worked out well, actually. Now the other six days in the week… you were missed.”

  She laughed with me, and I moved back, picking up my beer and nodding toward the living room. “Come on. You don’t have to spend the night if you don’t want, but don’t go just yet. I want some more time with you.”