by J Grayland
“Max Sullivan may have paid his debt to society, but he hasn’t paid it to me. I can never get back what he took. I will never be the same, and where you see a man reformed, I see an evil animal. You only know him by what’s written on the paper in front of you, but I know the real person, and that person is not human and will never be able to be helped or reformed. I see now, by being here today, that each one of you has already made a decision. Me being present here today is just a decent and morally courteous thing to do on behalf of the court. You are absolutely right. To continue this hearing is definitely a waste of my time, and quite frankly, I’m done wasting my time on Max Sullivan. Thank you.”
I saw the somber looks on all three of their faces as I turned, grabbed my purse from the chair next to where Nate sat, and pushed my way out of the door to the outside hall. Nate caught up to me quickly, and I heard Flynn call out.
“Casey!” Stopping, I turned to him. “Please, sweets, wait. I just need to wrap this up.”
I was just about to answer him when I heard the deep rumble of Nate’s voice. “It’s okay, you stay and do what you need to do, we’ll get a taxi.” Flynn nodded and looked at me with sadness in his eyes before Nate grabbed my hand and pulled me down the hall and outside the glass doors. Once outside, I stormed down to the footpath, pulling out my phone on the way to quickly order a taxi to pick us up from our current location. With arms folded and the feeling of Nate standing behind me, we waited in silence for the taxi and continued our silence all the way home.
Once inside, I threw my purse onto the kitchen table, went to the fridge, and pulled out a beer and a bottle of wine. I poured myself a solid, full glass and downed it before refilling it again.
“Casey.” I heard the slight low warning tone of his voice before looking up at him, still standing with the unopened beer in his hand.
“Don’t. I don’t feel like getting a lecture on taking it easy with the wine, Nate. Right now, I just want to drink myself into a coma because that,” I said, pointing at the front door with my full wine glass, “was a fucking load of crap.”
“It wasn’t good,” he said in a low voice.
“And what the fuck? No one said anything about doing a video conference with that fucker, either. I was ready for it, you know, but that I was not ready for at all,” I said taking another gulp of the wine. “You know, I wasn’t kidding myself. I knew that logically, he would get parole, and I resigned myself to that fact. But sitting there, listening to those morons talk about him like he was some kind of saint and that what he did seemed so inconsequential and unimportant made me feel physically sick.” Taking a seat at the dining table and dropping my face into my hands, I felt Nate pull a chair up next to me and start to gently rub a hand over my back.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he said, making me shake my head.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Nate. I need to apologize to you, for dragging you all the way here for nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“Not nothing. Never nothing, Casey. I’m here with you, and there is no place that I would rather be right now. I’m just sorry that you didn’t get the closure that you needed.”
Letting out the pent up breath that I had been holding, I turned and looked at him. He leaned his head down so our foreheads touched, and the anger drained from my body as he said, “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I whispered back to him.
Nate grabbed my chair and turned it easily to face him. His large, strong, warm hands came up to hold my face in his palms, forcing me to look right at him. “Remember, this is not the end. It’s a new beginning, so don’t keep anything from me, okay? And I mean nothing. If you’re stressed, worried, over thinking, pissed off, then do it with me, not at me, okay?” As soon as I nodded to agree, his warm lips were on mine, gently moving with a sweet caress, making me feel every bit of his love for me.
Chapter Ten
Nate
I ran Casey a bath as she got undressed, then helped her into the hot, bubbly water, handing her the rest of her wine. “You going to join me?” she asked.
“No, this is just for you this time, but make the most of it because this is a once only deal,” I said, grinning as she leaned her head against the back of the tub and closed her eyes. “Just relax, okay? I need to call Paxton. He wanted to know how today went as soon we were done.”
“Okay, just tell him it was fucked,” she said as she smiled sardonically.
“I will,” I said as I left her, pulling my phone out of my pocket as I went down the stairs. Paxton answered on the fifth ring with a sleepy voice.
“Hey, sorry I woke you,” I said.
“No, no, it’s cool. I was expecting it. Besides, Emily just went down not long ago,” Paxton said.
“Is she okay?” I asked, concerned that she might be ill.
“No, she’s great, just hungry all the time. I have no idea where the hell she puts it all!” I smiled at the proud tone in his voice.
“If she’s anything like us, she will have a mean appetite,” I chuckled.
“Sooo, how did it go?” Paxton asked, making me pause for a moment to rub a hand over my face.
“Well, Casey told me to tell you it was fucked.”
“And was it?”
“Pretty much. Besides having to listen to everything he had been charged with, the mother fucker was there.”
“What, in the same room with Casey?” Paxton sounded both shocked and angry.
“No, by video conference, but Casey wasn’t expecting it, and it momentarily rocked her concentration.”
“Oh, fuck, is she okay?” he asked with genuine concern.
“She was pissed.”
“I bet she was. And you? How are you doing?”
Sitting down on the couch and taking a minute to compose myself, I scrubbed my hand down my face and blew out a long-held breath, finally feeling my body relax from the tension I had been holding in all day.
“Nate?”
“Fuck, Paxton. I just…damn. Just hearing all the charges they had on him against her, I blanked it out halfway through. Put it this way, I now hate the word multiple.”
“Jesus,” was all Paxton could say.
“And watching that prick’s face on the screen. Fuck, I just tried to concentrate on Casey and block out as much as I could, man. And you, you helped me a lot today.”
“Me? How did I help?” he asked, sounding surprised at my statement.
“Because as I felt my blood pressure rising with every second that passed, I just kept hearing your fucking annoying voice in my head saying, ‘Keep it calm, Nate, just get it done and get out.’”
“Hahaha, I’m glad you have my words of wisdom somewhere in that head of yours,” he chuckled.
“Always, Paxton, you know that.”
After a pause, Paxton continued, “So what now?”
“Now? I’m hoping it’s over for my girl, and I can get her out of here.”
“You leave Saturday, right?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Do you need me to come pick you up?”
“Nah, I left the SUV at PDX. Besides, I’m pretty sure we will both be out of it with that damn time zone shit. I mean, we leave here Saturday morning at 7 a.m., travel for twenty plus hours, and land at PDX around 2 p.m. on the same day we left.”
Paxton laughed as he spoke. “You should be used to that time zone shit with all the world traveling you’ve done in your time.”
“Think I might be feeling my age,” I chuckled.
“You? I doubt that, very much.”
“I think I will be staying close to home from now on.”
“Hey, I am keeping you to that promise. Just let me know if you need anything,” he said.
“There is one thing. Can you contact Mrs. Winters and let her know that I’ll need the pantry and fridge
stocked for Saturday?”
“No problem,” he said.
“Great. Okay, then, we will see you soon, little brother.” I heard him cough at that before saying goodbye and ending the call.
Hearing light footsteps coming down the stairs, I looked up to see Casey dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and a loose fitting white t-shirt that slid off one shoulder. Her hair was still piled up on the top of her head, and a few stray, wet tendrils hung down, sticking to her neck and collarbone.
“You okay?” I asked her as she walked toward where I sat on the couch.
“I’m sure I’ll live,” she said with a forced, weak smile before I pulled her down onto my lap.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my chest, tucking her head under my chin. We stayed that way, just silence between us as though all we needed were the feelings transferring from her body to mine in that moment.
“Thank you for today,” she said, almost in a whisper.
“For you? Any time,” I said, trying to ease her obvious discomfort.
She absently rubbed her fingers over the buttons on the front of my shirt as she snuggled deeper into me, and in that moment, she felt so fucking good.
Later that night, we ordered pizza. The pizzas here were pretty small compared to the ones we had back home, but at least it was tasty. With two full stomachs, we stretched out on the couch and found a movie to watch. This was just how I liked it—nice, calm, relaxed, and getting closer to going home. Just as the credits for the movie started to roll up the screen, the front door opened and Flynn came in, looking pretty disheveled and exhausted. Dropping his briefcase at the front door, he pulled off his jacket before dropping himself down into one of the lounge chairs across from where we were laying on the couch. Casey took the remote from my hand, flipped off the TV, and sat up to face Flynn.
“You look like crap, Flynn,” said Casey. Her voice was light as she spoke, but Flynn’s face showed anything but being light. At this moment, he looked exasperated, like he had been put through the wringer a few times. He also had the distinct odor of scotch on him.
Scrubbing both hands down his face, then looking up at Casey, he said, “I’m so sorry, Casey.” His voice was strained with regret.
“No, Flynn, it’s okay. I know you busted your arse for me in there today, but it was obvious they had already made up their minds,” Casey reassured him.
“That’s a fucking understatement,” Flynn spat out, causing Casey to flinch and me to sit up instantly.
“Please, Flynn, the last thing I want is for you to blame yourself. You did your best.”
Flynn stood up and started to slowly pace the room before he stopped in front of where we were sitting.
“That’s the point, though, I don’t think I did do my best,” Flynn said between gritted teeth.
“What are you talking about? Of course, you did,” Casey said standing and watching as Flynn’s eyes flashed with several different emotions until he came back to anger.
“It was a fucking whitewash, Casey. All of that, that stage show today, was just for you. It was all bullshit!” he yelled, causing me to stand up. I didn’t like his tone of voice, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the frustration of the day or the alcohol.
“What are you talking about, Flynn?” Casey said, obviously confused. “You’re not making any sense. Look, I have no doubt that he will get parole, but I’m done, Flynn. I’m done with this whole thing. It’s over, I will be long gone before he gets out, and I know he won’t ever be able to follow me.”
“That’s the point though, sweets. He will be released on Friday.” Flynn’s words caused Casey’s hand to fly to her mouth with a gasp.
“What?”
“The review board had already made their decision, and his release date had already been set,” Flynn said.
“But how?”
“I have no fucking idea, it all had something to do with the public office wanting to show support for the victim, but in reality, their hands were tied. He’s done his time and completed his re-socialization program. If they took the risk, had a legal parole hearing, and something went wrong, he could sue the government for millions. The whole thing today was fake. It was just for show, and I am so fucking stupid, I didn’t even see any of it.”
“Would they really go to all that trouble for him?” Casey asked, stunned at Flynn’s words.
“To protect the government? To save money? To avoid any scandal in the press? Fuck yeah, for sure. But I’ve been thinking that I might be able to approach this from a different angle…” Flynn started, but was cut off by Casey.
“No, no angles, no nothing. It’s done. Let it go, Flynn.” Her words were hardened with a finality that made Flynn’s head whip up to look at her.
“What? No, sweets. Listen, I can fix this…” he started, but she cut him off with a “NO!”
“But, Casey, we can’t just let it…”
“Yes, we can, Flynn. It’s done.” Hearing the frailness in her tone, I had to intervene.
“Flynn,” I said, my voice warning him to back off, but all it seemed to do was fire him up more. At least it was directed toward me now.
“Hey, mate, I respect you, but this is not the time for your opinion,” he said, angrily pointing at me.
“Good, because it’s not my opinion, it’s a fact. Casey just told you to drop it, and I think you need to respect that,” I said, taking a step closer to him. Flynn slowly shook his head before looking me straight in the eye and taking a step closer to me.
“Look, I know you’re with her, but you don’t own her. I looked out for Casey for a long time before you came on the scene, so I’m pretty sure I know what she needs,” Flynn said through gritted teeth.
Narrowing my stare at him, I could see that he was passionate about his words, but no other man would be telling me what my woman’s needs were. I had a fleeting thought that I really needed to get a hold of the fury that was starting to burn through my veins, but that thought was interrupted by Casey wedging herself in between us.
“Hey, cool it, the pair of you! No one knows what my needs are except me, you got it?” Casey said, her voice strong and determined.
Her head turned to look at me and then back to Flynn. “I appreciate you, Flynn, and everything you’ve done, but I’m tired of fighting. I just want to get on with my life. It’s been screwed up enough, and the last thing that I want is for the two most important men in my life to be locked into a testosterone-fueled pissing competition,” she said, exasperated. My clenched fists loosened, and my body relaxed slightly. I looked at Flynn, and I could see his anger drain away with her words as he took a step back.
“I’m sorry, you’re right,” Flynn said, holding his hand out to me. After a moment’s pause, I acquiesced and took it, giving him a firm shake that allowed Casey to let out a deep sigh.
“Okay, are we done now?” she asked, and Flynn and I both nodded at the same time. “Good, because it’s been a long day, and I want to go to bed,” she said as she grabbed my hand and led me upstairs to our room.
She slipped into bed before I could even get my shirt off. I turned off the light and slid into the bed behind her. She turned into my arms and snuggled into my chest before saying, “Your woman, hey?” making me chuckle as I pulled her in closer.
“Just stating the truth, baby.”
“Okay, caveman.” I could feel her smile against my chest.
“Where you’re concerned, you bet your fucking ass I’m a caveman. Speaking of ass,” I said, as I ran my hand down to grab a handful of a warm, soft, plump cheek, making her jump. “I’ve wanted to squeeze this all day.”
“Really?” she said with a playful wiggle of her eyebrows. I reached over and grabbed her other ass cheek, pulling her up my body until her legs straddled my hips. The quick movement caused the top half of her body to fall forward
. She giggled and lifted her face to mine, so close our noses were touching.
“Really,” I growled and took a light bite of her bottom lip, sucking it into my mouth and causing her to moan into my mouth before her hands came up to cup my face. She kissed me back, slipping that warm tongue of hers into my mouth and over my own. My hand ran behind her head and gripped the back of her neck as I deepened the kiss even more, biting and nipping at her lips and her tongue with a fevered passion. I could never just have a taste of this woman, I had to have everything. I loosened my hold on the back of her neck slightly, giving her room to sit up and pull her t-shirt over her head, giving me an eyeful of her beautiful breasts, heaving with lust. With my hands on either side of her waist, I slid them up until I was cupping her breasts, one in each hand, and ran the pads of my thumbs over her delicious pink nipples, causing them to instantly harden under my touch. A low moan vibrated from deep in her throat as she started to make small circular movements, grinding her pelvis against my hard shaft. I could feel her wetness seeping through the thin material of her panties and soaking the front of my boxers, making my hard-on grow harder if that was even at all possible.
She leaned back down and started kissing me again. I ran my hands down to her panties, and I have no idea how, but I managed to tug them off before escaping the confines of my own underwear without breaking our kiss. What can I say? Where there’s a will, there is definitely a way, and right now that way is up and in.
“I need to be inside you, now,” I growled into her mouth. Casey sat up and lifted her hips up slightly, running a hand to the base of my shaft and rubbing the head between her wet folds. When I gripped her hips harder in protest of her teasing, she slowly eased herself down and took me inside. I was mesmerized as I watched her engulf every last inch until I was fully inside of her. She leaned back, placing her palms on my thighs and slowly started to ride me, a complete symphony of movement, changing in positions and rhythm. With shocks of electricity sparking up and down my spine and hitting my balls like a sledgehammer, I pulled her down harder as I thrust up into her tight, hot heat. She leaned forward with her palms on my chest, giving her more leverage. Her eyes focused on mine, and I watched the pleasure as it spiraled in her eyes as her sex tightened around my shaft and started to spasm. Her lips parted, and she moaned my name over and over, making me explode inside of her with my own orgasm finally released.