Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Jackson

Leaving Ayen to head to my own cabin after spending the night sleeping with him was its own special brand of torture.

I'd woken up before my alarm had gone off, just for the specific purpose of being able to watch him sleep. He was so peaceful with his head lying on my chest and the gentle noises of him breathing deeply cutting into the silence inside of the cabin.

I'd gotten hardly any sleep myself at all last night. Instead, I spent most of the night lying awake thinking about Ayen's ex, his disaster of a trial, the way he'd been treated before he'd ever been arrested, all of it. I couldn't stand the injustice that my baby bird had faced in his only two decades on this god-forsaken planet.

Where had the people who were supposed to be fighting for him gone?

His parents were out of the picture, but what about his ex's parents?

Where the fuck were they in all of it?

Every new piece of information that he told me had solidified my hatred for the man who'd done this—who'd started it all. Ayen had pulled the trigger, but that man had been the one to place the gun in his hand, even if he hadn't done so physically.

And the fact that the courts completely dismissed that was beyond me.

By the time I got back to my cabin, Roxy was already up and whining for food. After quickly feeding her, I popped into the shower to wash away the residual anger that I still felt. I wasn't even sure if that would ever go away—not when at the end of this program, I'd be forced to let Ayen go back to the one place he absolutely did not belong.

How he'd managed this far to still stay so soft and sweet was beyond me, but I'd be damned if I wasn't going to protect him in the future from further misery.

Once clean and dressed again, I grabbed my phone and scrolled through my contacts, hitting the ‘call' option once I reached the one I'd been looking for. I pressed the receiver to my ear while I headed back into the kitchen, my body restless and needing something to do.

"‘lo?" A groggy voice on the other end answered me.

"Nina? It's Jax."

She groaned loud enough to be insulting. "What the fuck, why are you calling me at… six-fucking-thirty. Are you serious, Jackson?"

"I need a favor."

"Fuck you," she grumbled.

"It's serious, Nina. I wouldn't be calling you like this out of the blue if it wasn't."

There was a long sigh on the other end, followed by some rustling around as she most likely was sitting herself up and getting out of bed. While I waited, I grabbed the box of instant pancake mix and set it down on the counter.

Roxy trotted over to me, curiously poking her nose at my thigh while I grabbed a mixing bowl from the cupboard.

"Okay," Nina finally said, sounding much more alert. "What is it?"

"Can I meet with you? It's probably better if we talk in person."

"Geezus, Jax. You wake me up at six in the fucking morning… to ask me to meet with you later? This couldn't have been a text because…?"

Despite her surly attitude, I knew Nina would go to the ends of the Earth to help me. It was just in her nature, too. She was a bleeding heart like me; the constant desire to help the unhelpable was like a sickness that could only be cured through situations like this.

I'd known Nina for close to my entire life and not once had I ever seen her not rip the shirt off her own back to give it to someone else that needed it more.

"I had to make sure you actually looked at it instead of ignoring it like the other ten messages I've sent you."

There was a pause on the other end before she mumbled, "Touché."

Pouring some mix into the bowl, I measured out the wet ingredients with one hand before tossing my measuring cup into the sink next to me. "It's about an inmate in my rehabbing program. I want to help him and I think you can help me with that."

"Oh, Jackson." She sighed. "If they're already sentenced, there's not much I can do."

"I think his can easily be overturned if we got the paperwork to the right judge."

At least, that was what I was hoping for. I had no fucking clue how the justice system worked outside of what a normal person walking down the street knew. I'd worked with inmates for a long time, sure, but them talking about their charges or what went into them receiving them in the first place was never discussed.

Me getting privy info from the COs had been a miracle and one that I knew would never happen again.

Everything that I learned after this was either going to be through Ayen, or hopefully, Nina.

"You say that like I have a magic wand. I'm not superwoman, you know that, right?"

"Yeah, but you're also the best damn lawyer that I know," I argued, setting my skillet down onto my stove and turning up the heat.

"I'm the only damn lawyer you know."

"I have other friends!"

"Name two. And don't say Mac, you fucking loser."

I rolled my eyes practically to the back of my head. "What's wrong with being friends with my coworkers?"

"Well, for one, what else do you guys talk about besides work?"

"Look, not everyone can dish like we do."

"We're gay, Jackson. No one can."

I huffed out a laugh. "All right, fine. Whatever. Can you please meet me in town later today? He's only got five more weeks here, so I need you to look at his case file, pronto."

"I'll look at it but I can't promise you anything."

"That's fine. I just need another set of eyes on it because it's driving me insane."

"Why?" she asked.

"You'll see." Roxy whined at me again, her big doe eyes reminding me instantly of the man I'd had to leave behind an hour prior. "Text me when you want to meet. I'll take the day off today and meet you whenever."

"Fine. But you're paying for our food."

"Deal."

When the other end of the line dropped, I pulled my phone away from my ear and set it down onto the counter next to me. While I believed in Nina and her skills as a defense lawyer, she had a point. She wasn't a miracle worker and simply thinking that Ayen's case could easily be overturned given the right circumstances didn't mean that those would ever be presented in the first place.

The justice system was already fucked as it was for innocent people. It was downright rigged if you were ever convicted of anything, even if it was false or not. The odds were stacked against you the moment a pair of cuffs was slapped onto your wrists.

Though even with all of that, I still couldn't let Ayen go back without a fight. It'd eat me alive if I did. If there was even a shred of a chance in getting him out of prison and giving him the freedom he so truly deserved, then I'd do whatever I could to see it through.

Even if by the end of it all he chose to stop seeing me.

All I cared about was getting him out of a place where he never should've been. Anyone with half a brain would think the same if they knew the facts. And I was sure once I got a hold of his case file, and saw the dark and horrible truth, that feeling inside of me would only grow.

There was no doubt in my mind that he was wrongfully convicted.

Probation for ten years, sure.

But prison?

No. It was too far for my baby bird.

Roxy whined again, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I reached over and placed a hand on her head, rubbing along her temple toward the back of her skull.

"I know, girl. I miss him, too. But we'll see him soon."

Her big brown eyes didn't look all too convinced.

Actually… since I was going to be taking the day off from here in order to meet up with Nina, I'd need someone to watch Roxy in the meantime.

Who better than the inmate she was whining to see?

"You want to go see Ayen?" I asked her.

Her tail began to wag.

At least while I was gone she could keep him company.

Not to mention it would give me an excuse when coming back here to meet up with him again without the COs catching wind of what was going on between us.

It was the perfect plan.

Roxy let out a soft ‘woof' in what I imagined as stark approval.

"All right, girl. Give me a second and then we'll go see him."