by Luke Young
On Saturday, Stanley and his team, along with Brian and Jillian, met to discuss this new breakthrough in the case. They held a conference call with Cindy. She was assured that she would be protected and offered legal services—fully paid for by Jillian Grayson—related to any issue arising from her testimony. She was thoroughly satisfied with the arrangement and proceeded to tell them everything she knew.
First, Cindy supplied the names of eight of Natalie’s previous boyfriends. Two members of Stanley’s team were immediately dispatched to track them down. Next, Natalie’s longtime roommate shared stories of deceit, male manipulation, and unnecessary heartbreak, all caused by the she-devil herself, Natalie Brookhart. After the new witness had shared all that she could, everyone in the conference room smiled brightly and was fully confident that this would turn the trial in their favor, although they stopped short of opening a bottle of champagne.
Afterward, arrangements were made for Cindy and Martin to travel to Miami so they’d be available on Monday to testify.
The legal team spent the rest of the weekend preparing documents and filing briefs in preparation for the firestorm that awaited Miss Brookhart’s case come Monday morning. Jillian thanked Brian publicly at the meeting, and as they drove home she fantasized about how she would really thank him in private. The sun was setting, and as they drove past a store that sold pools and hot tubs, it hit her.
Her mind raced as she went over the details. As she daydreamed, she found herself getting a little worked up. She shook herself out of the fantasy and sent a text message to Victoria. After she received the reply she was looking for, she grinned. “Mind if we stop by Victoria’s for a few minutes before we go home?”
“Sure, why?”
“Oh, I just need to pick something up.”
He nodded, oblivious. They were still thirty minutes from Victoria’s house, and as Brian drove, Victoria was already rushing to put Jillian’s plan in motion.
33
By the time Brian pulled the car into Victoria’s driveway, she was already gone. The front door was unlocked, and Jillian went inside first with Brian right behind her. On the table was a large platter of gourmet seafood from a local restaurant.
Jillian removed her shirt and bra as Brian stared at her, confused. “What are you doing?”
Turning to him, she gave him a sexy smile. “Thanking you.”
“Thanking me?”
She kicked off her shoes, pulled down her shorts and underwear and then made her way to him.
Brian glanced around the room, “Where’s Victoria?”
“Out.”
He asked hesitantly, “A group of our closest friends aren’t going to pop out and make fun of my penis or anything, are they?”
She shook her head slowly. “Who would make fun of it? It’s perfect.”
“Seriously, what are—”
Jillian put her fingers to his lips and said slowly, “I need to thank you properly for saving Rob and for saving me today.” She ran her tongue around her lips as she lowered her hands to the bottom of his shirt and then pulled it up over his head.
Slipping down to her knees, she unbuttoned his shorts then pulled them down, along with his boxer briefs. Jillian placed a tiny kiss on his already growing penis and then stared up at his face. “You see that platter of delicious food over there? It’s from McNulty’s”
Brian glanced at it quickly before returning to her. “Uh-huh”
“We’re going to take it out to the hot tub. There, we’re going to enjoy it, and then… I’m going to enjoy you.” She licked her lips seductively.
Swallowing hard, he craned his neck to look at the platter. “Do I see their famous broiled scallops?”
“You do.”
His excitement was now on full display, and Jillian placed another tiny kiss on it.
“Oh, wow. You really give me great, uh… when you eat scallops.”
“That’s why I requested it special.”
Jillian stood and turned away from him. Reaching back, she gently took hold of his erection and slowly led him outside to the hot tub. At edge of the water, Jillian let go of her ‘leash’ and motioned for him to get into the tub. Brian wore a silly grin as he slipped slowly into the hot bubbling water.
She pointed to the twin bottles of expensive champagne chilling in ice next to the tub. “You pour, and I’ll be right back.”
Jillian rushed to the house and returned with the platter. After placing it on the patio, she slid into the tub next to him. Brian handed her a glass of champagne, and they clinked them together before each taking a sip.
Jillian proceed to feed him shrimp, scallops, lobster and McNulty’s famous fresh baked bread as he lounged back in the tub. As she took her last bite of scallop, and he watched how she savored it in her mouth, he knew what would come next. Blood rushed to where he needed it. After emptying her champagne glass, she directed him up out of the tub. He sat on the edge as she remained in the water.
Grinning, she moved to him, grasping his nearly-hard penis around the base with both hands, and guiding it to her lips. She carefully plunged her mouth over the head, and Brian groaned loudly.
Jillian proceeded to thank Brian for saving both her son and her case in one of the most sensual ways possible. She even explored some of the techniques she and Victoria had come up with for the erotic hot tub story she had tricked Brian into reading. In Victoria’s hot tub, truth just about matched fiction on this happy day, and it was absofuckinglutely out of this world.
34
In Judge Maxwell’s courtroom on Monday, Natalie Brookhart was the first witness called by Stanley Parrish.
Stanley glanced at a legal pad and then up at Natalie. “Miss Brookhart, isn’t it true that you manipulated both Rob Grayson and Brian Nash into some sort of love triangle during the spring of last year in order to pit one against the other?”
“No, that’s not true. Yes, I dated them both, but I did not pit them against each other.”
“Was either Mr. Grayson or Mr. Nash aware that you were dating the other and at the same time?”
“Well, no.”
“So if your intention wasn’t to pit one against the other, then what was your intention?”
Natalie glared at Parrish. “My intention… I was just dating them at the same time. I liked them both.”
“Uh-huh. But you drove down to Miami during Spring Break to see Mr. Grayson, and after Mr. Nash and Mr. Grayson had a fight, you ended up driving back with Mr. Nash to school, where you began seeing him again.”
“Yes.”
“You enjoy having men fight over you, don’t you, Miss Brookhart?”
Folding her arms, she put on an icy stare. “I do not.”
Stanley shook his head skeptically toward the jury, glanced at his legal pad and then took a deep breath. “Let’s back up a little to the winter of 2011. You began dating Mr. Nash in early February, and then things cooled off a bit.”
“That’s correct. He wanted to take our relationship to the next level and get physical, and I wasn’t ready. Back then, I was still a virgin. Brian said we could take it slow.”
“There was a night in February when you left Mr. Nash alone in your room, and he read your diary. Is that correct?”
Turning her head to find Brian, she glared at him before replying with an edge to her voice, “Yes, I remember that.” She returned her gaze to Stanley.
“Isn’t it true that you left him alone in your room, the diary sitting out in plain sight, with the intention for him to read it?”
“No. Those were my private thoughts and—”
“Isn’t it true that this so called diary was not your real diary but a separate fake diary you created just to get Mr. Nash more enamored with you?”
“No, that’s not true.”
“But the diary only had a few entries in it. How do you explain that?”
“It was new,” Natalie shot back. “I had just filled up my old one.”
Stanley shoo
k his head in disbelief, picked up a document and began, “Okay. But you left it open on your bed to a page which read, ‘I think I’m falling in love with him, but I just can’t give myself to him yet because of you know… There’s too much pressure. I need some space now, but I hope he will wait for me because I know I will get there soon.’”
“Yes, it may have been on the bed, but I did not intend for Brian to read that.”
“Wasn’t it your intention that Mr. Nash read this so-called entry in your new diary, since you felt he was slipping out of your grasp, and you wanted to give him some false hope as to your feelings toward him?”
“No, I didn’t. Everything was fine with Brian and me at that point.”
“Isn’t it true that you left him in your room for over forty minutes with the diary sitting right there?”
“Well, yes.”
Stanley narrowed his eyes. “And who were you with while Mr. Nash was waiting?”
Natalie stared back nervously. “Um, just a friend.”
“Isn’t it true that you were out with another one of your many boyfriends while you set this trap for Mr. Nash in your room?”
“That’s not true!” She furrowed her brow and added, “And this was not a trap.”
“The diary was a fake, wasn’t it, Miss Brookhart?”
Shooting up from his seat, Josh Roth yelled, “Objection, Your Honor! He’s badgering the witness. This question has been asked and answered.”
Maxwell said, “Sustained. Move along, Counselor.”
Stanley cleared his throat and then glanced at his legal pad. “A few weeks after the diary incident, you had occasion to attend one of Mr. Nash’s tennis matches. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“And you had never gone to one before, correct?”
“That was my first.”
“And since the diary incident, you two had not seen each other or spoken. Is that correct?”
“I think that’s right.”
“So you show up for his match, and then out of nowhere, you disappeared right in the middle of it. Could you tell us what happened that day?”
Natalie took a deep breath. “Well, an old boyfriend from high school showed up at the match and said he wanted to talk. So we went to talk.”
“How did he find you?”
She folded her arms. “I don’t know, he just did.”
“How would he have known to look for you there?”
“I really have no idea,” Natalie replied smugly.
Sighing, Stanley let his gaze wander to the jury and then back to Natalie. “Isn’t it true that you set up this coincidental meeting with your old boyfriend in order to further manipulate Mr. Nash and to make him jealous?”
“No, I would never—” Natalie began and then covered her face with her hands.
The jury gave her a sympathetic look and then glared at Mr. Parrish. Stanley caught the jurors’ stares, then his eyes moved to the floor before glancing back at Natalie. It almost looked as though he felt sorry for her as well. Shaking off that emotion, he waited, just staring at the witness while wearing an impatient expression.
“Do you need a break, Miss Brookhart?”
Natalie composed herself. “I’m okay… I would never do anything like that to Brian. I liked him a lot back then. I just wanted to watch him play.”
“But you left and didn’t come back to the match, correct?”
“No, I was too upset.”
“Too upset,” Stanley repeated as he looked out over the jury with a skeptical look.
Returning to Natalie, he rubbed his hands together as he appeared to be carefully considering how to ask his next question. After a pause, he plowed ahead, “Okay, Miss Brookhart, are you familiar with the term ‘technical virgin’?”
“I wasn’t before I read Ms. Grayson’s book,” she shot back angrily.
“You weren’t?” Stanley asked, his words dripping with sarcasm.
She sat up straight. “No, I had never heard of it before that day.”
“That term is used for a woman who believes she can remain a virgin by abstaining from vaginal sex while enjoying other types of sex, including oral and anal sex.”
“Yeah, now I know that, but…” Natalie frowned at him. “Before, I’d never heard of it.”
“So you didn’t inform both Mr. Nash and Mr. Grayson that you considered yourself a ‘technical virgin’?”
“I did not.” She stared at him with a disgusted look.
“Did you ever have anal sex with Mr. Grayson?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Didn’t you offer to have anal sex with Mr. Nash, and he turned you down?”
“No, that’s ridiculous.”
“Didn’t you tell Mr. Nash that you had had anal sex with four guys when you two had a conversation about this exact subject during the month of April in 2011?”
She folded her arms and glared at Stanley. “I most certainly did not. I told you, back then, I was a virgin. Not this kind of virgin or that kind of virgin. A virgin… I had never had sex of any kind.”
“And now, are you still a virgin?”
Josh called out, “Objection. Miss Brookhart’s current sex life is not at issue here!”
“Sustained.”
After taking a deep breath, Stanley continued, “So, Miss Brookhart, anyone who would testify that they had sex with you of any kind during the spring of 2011 would be lying?”
“That is correct, they would be lying.”
“And anyone who would claim that you were deliberately trying to manipulate Brian Nash into believing that you had strong feelings for him would also be lying?”
“I’ve never tried to mislead Brian. I was always honest with him. So yes, that person would also be lying, or mistaken, I guess.”
Stanley smiled at her. “Thank you, Miss Brookhart. You’re excused.”
Natalie sat motionless as a confused look slowly spread across her face.
Judge Maxwell said, “Miss Brookhart?”
Natalie glanced at the judge. “Huh?”
“You’re excused.”
“Oh, okay.” Natalie looked back to Josh, who was now staring down at a legal pad. She stood, headed back to her table, and sat down next to Josh.
The judge said, “Call your next witness.”
“The defense calls Miss Cindy Taylor.”
Cindy emerged from the last spectator row in the back of the courtroom and walked toward the witness stand. Natalie watched her in complete shock and then whispered in Josh’s ear.
Josh stood. “Judge, we object to this witness. She isn’t on the defense’s list, and we had no prior knowledge of her—”
Stanley interrupted. “She’s on the plaintiff’s list, Your Honor.”
“Mr. Roth?” Maxwell scolded as he glared at Josh.
“Well, yes, but I still object to—”
“You had no objection when you placed her on your witness list.”
“Yes, but…”
The judge said, “Objection overruled. You are free to cross examine this witness.”
Slumping back in his seat, Josh shook his head and sighed. Natalie leaned to him and again whispered in his ear.
After Cindy was sworn in, Stanley asked, “Miss Taylor, could you tell us your relationship to Miss Brookhart?”
“I was her roommate at G.S.U. for three years until she transferred this past fall.”
“And how close were the two of you?”
“Very close.”
“Are you aware of any instances where Natalie, in your opinion, mistreated any of the men she was dating?”
Cindy scoffed, “I couldn’t name a guy she didn’t treat like crap.”
“Could you give us some examples?”
“Uh, well… with Brian she totally—”
“Brian Nash?” Stanley asked.
“Yes, with Brian Nash, she invited him over to our dorm one night and planted this diary with an entry, designed to make him believe she was in
love with him but just needed more time.”
“How do you know this?”
“Well, she had me help her write the entry. I’m not proud of it, but I was always trying to gain her approval. I, uh… she had me in her spell just like half the male population on campus.”
“Did she tell you anything else about that night?”
“She told me that she was sure Brian had read the diary when she left him in the room for so long. She said he was acting strange when she returned. She set the whole thing up. Natalie actually laughed about it. I’ll never forget that night… we were lying in bed with the light out, and she was joking about how when Brian was in her room alone, she was in the library with some guy and, uh…”
Cindy gave Stanley a hesitant look as everyone in the room sat on the edge of their seats. Even Judge Maxwell leaned in close.
“It’s okay, just tell us what she said,” Stanley encouraged.
“Natalie said that while Brian was reading her diary, she was giving some guy a, uh, blowjob.”
Many in the crowd gasped. Josh leapt up. “Objection! Hearsay.”
Maxwell said, “Overruled. You’ll have your chance to impeach this witness.”
Cindy took a deep breath, and Stanley gave her a sorrowful look. “I know this makes you uncomfortable, but please continue.”
Glancing around the room nervously, Cindy said, “Another time, Natalie told me that she thought her old high school boyfriend wasn’t paying enough attention to her. Brian had been giving her some space, as well, and she didn’t like it. She enjoyed getting calls from lots of guys and telling them no, like, uh, ninety percent of the time. Soros, her old boyfriend, hadn’t called in a few days, so she wanted to make him jealous. Brian was always asking her to go to his tennis matches, but she never would. She hated tennis.”
“She hated tennis?” Stanley asked with a surprised look as if this, in and of itself, were some sort of crime.
“Yeah… she couldn’t stand it.”
“Go on, please.”