Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

Jackson

"Your Honor, given that the evidence presented here was not allowed or presented at the first trial, our appeal is for a resubmission of said evidence. We find that at the time of the trial, since the evidence of the defendant's past abuse with the victim was not taken into account, nor were the circumstances surrounding the inciting incident given proper context and presented to the jury, it directly affected my client's current conviction."

Hearing Nina speaking so eloquently to the judge, and the entire courtroom, gave me the peace of mind that she was going to try her damned hardest to get the case turned over in our favor. She'd been working tirelessly on it while I'd been running around as her errand-boy, gathering whatever evidence I could while she put together a new case file to present to Judge Callahan.

The old one had been a fucking mess and tracking down Ayen's old lawyer even more so. How the hell that man was able to still practice up until last year was beyond me.

Seeing Ayen in his SAC uniform was jarring, to say the least.

My heart had sunk when he'd been walked into the court room, his head tilted down, while two COs were on either side of him, holding onto his arms like he'd bolt at any second if given the chance. The chains between his cuffs had rattled like bells and caused a chill to run down my spine—a sound I'd probably never forget.

But once he'd lifted his head up enough to allow for one of the CO's to unlock his ankle chains in order to allow him to sit properly, his gaze had scanned over the gallery and landed directly on me. Seeing his eyes light up like that had made it all worth it—the running around, the sleepless nights worrying about him, taking a leave from the program in order to help Nina pull all of this together. Every. Single. Minute.

My hands itched to hold him again. My dreams had been filled with his warm body tucked against mine, and waking up to a cold and empty bed every morning was devastating.

I didn't believe in any form of a higher power, but today I was fucking praying as if I regularly dropped to my knees every goddamn Sunday.

"Ms. Cabone, I'm inclined to agree with you." Judge Callahan's arm swept over his desk at the stacks of paperwork from Ayen's case file. "I've been going over the evidence that was previously labeled inadmissible and while I agree that adding it back in would've changed the outcome of the jury's decision to convict Mr. Gonzalez, I'm not sure I agree with a re-trial. I feel it'd just be dragging out the inevitable."

My head was growing fuzzy from not breathing. The entirety of my body was frozen, unable to move to even begin to force myself to pull in some much-needed air.

How could I when in a single second, everything could change?

This was a moment in time that I'd never forget, no matter what the outcome was at the end of it.

My gaze was glued to the back of Ayen's head, his hair shaggy and longer since that last time I'd seen him. I longed to run my fingers through it, to tangle them in the soft lengths and watch his body relax and him begin to fall asleep from the attention.

I was grateful that other than that, he didn't look any worse off than when I'd seen him in person last. Fighting with myself constantly to not show up at SAC's doors and visit him had been the biggest struggle of my life. Letters were getting me through the weeks only so much, and if he was going back to prison again today, I might just jump over the bench and fight one of the officers myself to get thrown in there with him.

"Your Honor," Nina said. "My client's been serving for two and a half years and has been a model inmate. He recently rescued a fellow inmate during a work program incident that saved both of their lives."

Judge Callahan nodded slowly. "Mr. Gonzalez."

Ayen's shoulders visibly tensed. "Yes, Your Honor."

"Reviewing your case file, I found that a lot of the testimonies that you gave were compelling. I'm not sure what caused you to get involved with a man who was almost twice your age, but upon reviewing what you said about your relationship with him, I'm really struggling to make sense of what compelled the previous court's decision with not including that background."

Ayen's head bobbed as he nodded.

"Given that it was pretty clear that you were not in a safe spot at the time of the crime, I'm compelled to dismiss you with time served and a sentencing of probation instead, which I think is what should've happened in the first place." Judge Callahan sat back in his chair. "A minimum of five years probation and a ban on owning and operating firearms. I also want you to undergo a psychiatric eval upon release and have that submitted to the courts as well."

"Thank you, Your Honor," Nina said as the gavel was slammed down on the sound block.

Ayen's head snapped to the side to look at her, clearly just as shocked as I felt.

Holy fuck, she did it.

He's fucking free.

My legs were numb when I finally pushed myself up from the hard wooden bench. Nina reached out to steady Ayen as he climbed to his feet, one of the bailiffs coming around with a key to unlock his cuffs from him.

My baby bird was coming home.

The rest of the courtroom seemed completely unfazed while the next case number was called forward, and Nina and Ayen were quickly ushered out through the same side door Ayen had come through when he'd first been called in.

I followed after them from the public side of the court, pushing through the double doors to the main entryway into the courthouse. The marbled floors echoed softly from jogging in the leather loafers that I'd stuffed myself in to blend in with the rest of the gallery.

I didn't often find myself in a suit and tie, however I wanted to make today special. I'd hoped today would be special.

Fuck, I can't believe he's free.

Coming around to the backside of the private rooms, I stopped short at seeing two officers caging Ayen in while they spoke to him. One of them was giving him a small box of things while the other had the cuffs he'd previously been chained in swinging from his hands.

Nina was nowhere in sight, but that meant she was probably off signing paperwork or something to make it all official or however it worked on cases like this.

Ayen clutched the box in his arms tightly to his chest, turning at the sound of me making my way down the hallway. His eyes went wide again in the same way they had when he'd spotted me in the gallery.

Forcing myself to slow into a casual walk, I raised my hand to both officers as I approached them. "Afternoon, gentlemen."

"He here to pick you up?" one of them asked Ayen.

"That's right," I answered for him.

Smoothing my tie against my chest, I brushed my arm with Ayen's when I stopped just next to him. He vibrated against me, the shaking in his body barely detectable if I wasn't standing so close to him. Thankfully, I was within arm's length if he dropped from the sudden adrenaline crash.

"Is... is that all?" Ayen asked.

One of the officers shrugged. "Just make sure you get your paperwork before leaving."

Subtly, I put a hand on the small of his back, coaxing him to lean into my side just in case he began to waver on his feet. He wasn't worrying me just yet, but as soon as the officers turned around, I was going to sweep him up into my arms so he could fully relax.

The stress of being in court, the anxiety of waiting for a decision. It was a lot to handle even if the outcome was exactly what we'd hoped for.

The box in his hands wasn't filled with much. Just a change of clothes and some personal items, most likely from when he'd first gone into jail over two years ago. Luckily, I'd done up a whole closet for him back at my place that was filled with new clothes and shoes. Some sizes I'd guessed on, but as long as he was comfortable, it didn't matter.

"Have a good day, gentlemen." I forced a warm smile on my face.

As soon as they stepped away, so did Ayen, surprising me. He bent and set his box down carefully by my feet, his SAC uniform bunching around his midsection from how oversized it was.

When he straightened up, his eyes were filled with tears. "You came..."

Oh, my baby bird.

Cupping his face with both of my hands, I brought him back in again. "Of course I did."

"You wore a suit..."

"Had to give us some good luck."

He let out a watery laugh. "A suit is good luck?"

"My tie is. But it felt a little weird wearing one over a plain t-shirt."

Ayen buried his face in my chest, wrapping his arms around my waist to squeeze me tight enough to crack my back.

"Come here," I said, and lifted him clean off his feet.

He laughed in delight, clinging to me while I spun us around a few times. We probably looked absolutely ridiculous celebrating in the middle of a courthouse like that, but I couldn't bring myself to really care.

It wasn't every day that a damn murder charge was appealed to time served and a few years of probation.

What was that in the face of spending another three years behind bars when now, Ayen could actually begin his life over again?

Fucking priceless, in my opinion.

I owed Nina the most luxurious vacation known to man. Hell, I owed her a brand new Mercedes and a newly built house on top of that, too.

"Guys," came Nina's very unimpressed voice. "Seriously. We're in a courthouse. Have some fucking decorum."

Ayen breathed out another laugh when I finally set him down again and he wrapped a hand around my tie to tug me down into a chaste kiss. I wanted to fucking melt against those plush lips of his.

Unfortunately, she was right, though. As usual.

"Sorry," I said, and instead, put a hand on Ayen's back again. "We all set?"

She waved a giant stack of papers at us. "Yup. You're a free man, kid."

"I can't believe it." Ayen rubbed his hands over his face a few times. "You actually did it..."

" We did." Nina nodded to me. "He's been my errand bitch for the past few weeks."

Honestly, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Even if the outcome was different than this, he would always be worth it to me. Doing anything for Ayen would be worth it, no matter what I got in return.

Ayen breathed out slowly, leaning back into my side once more. "I owe you guys so much."

"Just stay out of trouble, that's all I'm asking," she said.

I pressed my lips softly against Ayen's forehead. "I think we can manage that."