24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

ALEX

O f all the dumb things he could’ve said or done. That was by far the worst. I’ve already lost one person to drunk driving— I can’t lose another. That would be too much for me. We’ve only been together for a short, yet tumultuous, time and to have it taken away so soon by something that stupid would be too much for me to handle at this point.

I woke up right before the alarm went off and left him sleeping in the bed. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him, so I went to the gym alone. I can’t believe I slapped him like that. It was an uncontrolled response and maybe it was really something I wanted to do to my mother and no longer could. This would be a good conversation for Dr. King. I couldn’t just go around slapping people when they say or do things I disagree with.

I worked out hard this morning, swam some laps and lounged in the sauna, letting the sweat drip down my body taking all these negative emotions with me, hopefully. Roman quietly entered the sauna, sitting carefully on the lower bench as he slid his arms around my waist gently, before pressing his forehead to my chest. He looked like he came straight from bed, and I couldn’t help running my hands through his hair to try and alleviate his guilt in some way.

“I’m so sorry about last night.” He mumbled. “I was drunk. It won’t happen again.”

“I’m not going to excuse your behavior. I’m sorry for slapping you though. I can’t believe I did that.” He tightened his grip around my waist and groaned.

“You should’ve hit me harder.” I almost laughed but it still wasn’t sitting right with me. I was just glad nothing happened, and I still had him to hold.

***

This morning was the deposition, and I was already fraught with anxiety, so I really didn’t need all this extra drama. It was quiet in the house as we got ready with each of us thinking about the events of last night and what’s going to happen next Tuesday at the court hearing when things get real.

“Alex, this is just you going to tell your side of the story to the officers. No one else is going to be there. This is not at all like court.” I smiled and nodded, knowing he was trying to make me feel better, but I hated the thought of telling this story again and then reliving it on Tuesday.

He pulled me to him placing his hands on my shoulders holding me in place as he looked deeply into my eyes and smiled, bringing my attention back to the present.

“I know. You’re right. I just need to relax and get this over with.” My mind was telling me that was the right thing to do and say but my heart was not following suit.

Roman held my hand all the way to the police station as I stared out of the window contemplating telling my attorneys what I had planned since they were bound by attorney client privilege and wouldn’t be able to tell anyone else. If only to find out if they thought, it was a good idea or if they thought I was out of my mind. I didn’t notice we stopped until Roman gave my hand a gentle squeeze and said, “Alex, we’re here baby.”

I released his hand before we entered the police station and shoved them in my pockets to hide the shaking. I had no idea what to expect here and the anxiety had me glancing sharply from left to right trying to see if maybe Tanner was here giving his side of the story as well. I can’t imagine they would do such a thing, but you never know with all the crazy shit that’s happened in my life. The station was just as I pictured it in my mind, stale and monotone. The clicking of keyboards, the smell of bad coffee and no one taking a real interest in anything going on around them. I can hear a few people talking and laughing probably at the expense of some poor soul who made a bad decision.

I closed my eyes trying to will away the negativity. I had no idea what they were laughing at and my recent interactions with CPD’s not so finest has left a bad taste in my mouth. Two deep breaths later and I was able to open my eyes and concentrate on the person in front of me at the desk.

“Hi, I’m Roman King and this is Alex Kennedy. We have an appointment with DA Martin and Detective Lewis for a deposition.” Roman took the initiative to introduce us, knowing how hard this was going to be for me and any other time I may have condemned such an action but today I welcomed it and was grateful.

The officer nodded and punched our names into the computer to pull up our appointment as he pointed to a bench next to the desk. “Please have a seat and I’ll let them know you’re here.”

I managed to grumble out a thank you and Roman guided us over to the bench with his arm possessively placed around me, not letting go of me after we sat down. He leaned in placing a kiss on my temple and whispered, “I’m right here baby, it’s going to be fine, I promise.” How can he promise that? He has no idea what’s going to happen, not here and not in the courtroom. I know he means well, but this is out of his control, but hopefully within a realm of control that I can convey in other terms at a, to be determined, date.

“Thank you for being here with me. I truly love you for that.” I melted into him taking a deep breath of his scent to calm and soothe my broken soul. Oh, how I wish he knew how much I needed him for that, but I don’t even want to admit that to myself most of the time. The thought of needing someone so desperately is scary as hell and it makes me want to run away with the same desperation .

“Mr. King, Ms. Kennedy? Come with me please.” The officer took us into a room with a big mirror and a long table with chairs all around us. It looked like an interrogation room, and I felt a sense of dread wondering if this was the room they brought Tanner to after he attacked me. The officer left us alone after asking if we would like anything to drink. We both declined and I sat staring at my hands, wringing relentlessly in my lap.

Roman wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I shrugged him off when I heard the door handle jiggle, and my guard went up. He nodded, knowingly, pulling his arm away then rested them both on the table clasping his hands in front of him. I needed some space to get my mind wrapped around what I really wanted to do. Do I tell the officers or my attorneys about my plan or do I keep it all to myself and carry this burden on my own? It’s heavy and it’s consuming, and I don’t know if I can do it alone but it’s something that has to be done and the one person that can’t know and would try to stop me with everything he had, is Roman.

“Alex, Roman. Good to see you both.” Matt reached out his hand keeping the whole thing professional. Jack as well, followed by the DA and the Detective.

“Alex, the first thing we are going to do is put the two of you in different rooms. Is there anyone in particular you would feel more comfortable doing the interview with?” DA Martin asked. I didn’t know what to expect but I guess it was to make sure no one tainted the story or the evidence having us in separate rooms and not having Roman in the room would help me make my decision about telling someone what I was up to.

“I’d like Matt and Detective Lewis if that’s ok?” Jack always tried to bring the temperature of the room down and Matt would be more likely to let me get it all out. I’ve known both of them since college and being like brothers to me, I knew which of my own brothers I felt more comfortable talking to as well.

“Ok, Roman, DA Martin and Jack will be interviewing you, so if you’d please follow them so we can get started.” Matt gestured with his hand to the door and Roman looked at me a little apprehensive but nodded and followed them out of the room without complaint. I smiled at him as he turned to look at me before he left the room, but I could tell it never hit my eyes, and he didn’t reciprocate a smile in return.

“Alex, this is a deposition, and we want to hear again what happened, as much as you can remember, but we also need to prep you for the courtroom. It’s coming up fast and we need to be prepared. We have to know what we’re dealing with going in there. I know you enough to know that if they push the right buttons, you’re going to lose your shit, and we can’t have that.” This is why I chose Matt over Jack. He doesn’t hold back and says it like it is, no beating around the bush. Maybe I will be able to tell the officer and Matt my seriously deranged plan floating around nonstop in my head. In fact, the closer we get to the court date the more concrete the plan becomes and the more palatable it seems.

“I’m ready for whatever you need.” I said, wondering if I honestly meant that or if I’m running on some sort of autopilot and only saying what I think everyone wants to hear.

“Ms. Kennedy, could you please tell us what you remember about that night.” Detective Lewis asked. My mind started to scramble as it tried to go back to the worst memories it’s ever had to experience, never wanting to actually go back there again. The thought of drinking a glass of wine to suppress them was battling for supremacy and my hands started to tremble. I clenched them into fits, releasing them a couple of times before I could get the urges under control. I took a deep breath closing my eyes, opening them when I felt ready and monotonously reliving the events of that night the best I could, which wasn’t much since the drugs took most of the memories from me. At the end of my rendition of that night I let out a long exhale, feeling much better, like I’d be safe telling my plan to the two of them. Just as I was about to let them in on my secret, Matt asked a question so formal and cold I wasn’t really sure what he was doing, so I hesitated long enough to rethink that decision.

“Ms. Kennedy. What were you really drinking that night?” Excuse me? What? Really drinking? I said I was drinking water, what the fuck is he doing?

“Water, I already told you that.” I snapped.

“I don’t need any more than a straight answer Alex. When I ask you a question, I don’t want you to give me anymore than a yes or no or a one-word answer to the best of your ability, alright? No explanations.” What is he talking about?

“Now, let’s try this again. Are you sure you didn’t have one drink, not even one at your house for happy hour?”

“No…I specifically…” Matt cut me off with the sharpest tongue I’ve ever heard him use.

“I thought I just said do not answer anything other than yes or no.” My eyes went wide, and I nodded feeling a tightness in my chest trying to figure out if he’s ever spoken to me like this before and if so, did he really mean it or was he kidding.

“Who made your drink?” I thought about how to answer this with as little words as possible, scanning my memory for who actually made the drink for me, and did I notice since it was only water.

“Umm, I don’t know…” Matt looked to the detective and back at me .

“What do you mean, you don’t know? Didn’t you order it from someone?” Is this part of the questions he wants me to be vague about or is this something he really needs to know. I cautiously gave a more informative answer.

“The barback handed it to me, I didn’t actually see who made it. It was just water, I wasn’t too concerned with how it was made, I guess.” Tears started welling in my eyes as I realized it didn’t matter what my drink was, someone wanted to hurt me, and they did it with water. I looked at Matt who was looking to the detective, and she was writing notes in her notebook that she always had with her.

“What are you writing, is that important?”

“It’s fine, it’s just information that we didn’t have before. Let’s continue.”

“Ms. Kennedy. What were you doing that you didn’t notice who made your drink?”

“What do you mean? I just told you I didn’t think water needed eyes on it.” However, clearly it did, and I felt a tear glide down my cheek.

“Alex, just answer the question, do not ask questions back.”

“Then let me know when we’re pretending to be in court and when you’re asking me a legit question, damn it.” Matt snapped his head up and glared at me as the detective reached over and calmed him with a hand on his forearm.

“Would you like me to continue the questions, Mr. Stevens?” Detective Lewis calmly tried to defuse the situation between Matt and myself, but I knew he wouldn’t allow her to take his place.

“No, detective, she doesn’t need coddling right now.” Matt said through gritted teeth not taking his eyes off me. The detective didn’t seem phased by the interaction, so I let it go and didn’t give Matt the piece of my mind that was right there on the tip of my tongue .

“Texting. That’s what I was doing?” I moved on from the tension in the room and back to the task at hand so I could get the hell out of here. The anxiety building in my chest was raging to the surface and I sure as hell didn’t want to take out this uncontrollable anger on the two of them and possibly get myself thrown in jail.

“Who were you texting?”

“Roman.” Now I’m starting to see the importance of short answers and the need to not bring up the plan with Matt or Detective Lewis.

“Roman who and who is he to you?” I smirked and huffed out a breath of air thinking this is so weird pretending when I know they know the answers to these questions already.

“Roman King and he is…was my boyfriend.” Is he my boyfriend again? I don’t even know the answer to a question as simple as that at the moment.

“Was? Why is he not now? Aren’t you living with him? Do you make it a habit of cohabitating with men you’re not dating?” Matt shot each question right out of the cannon as if I were the one on trial and I lost my senses about why I was here.

“Excuse me? I think you of all people know why the fuck I’m living with him.” Something snapped and I didn’t know how to rein it back in. I stood up and slammed my hands on the table, frustration replaced by anger.

“Alex, I’m not asking as your friend, I’m asking as if I were his attorney.” Matt’s face was unsettled, and he stood up towering over me, placing his hands on the table to lean in, bringing him down to my height. The urge to reach out and slap him was almost more than I could bear. I flopped down in the chair wrapping my arms around me, digging my nails into my biceps to control my temper and keep my hands to myself .

“You can’t behave this way in the courtroom, Alex. No matter what they ask you, you have to be in control and just answer the fucking question.” His nostrils were flared, and I knew I’d pushed too far this time. Definitely not exposing the plan to either of them now.

***

ROMAN

I followed the DA and Jack to another room just a few doors down the hall from where I left Alex. I sat down in the chair they directed me to, as they sat across from me.

“Roman, we’ve been getting some rather strange messages from the defendant’s attorneys about them filing charges against Alex for assault. This court room drama is going to be a lot on her. Can you tell us anything that could help us keep her under control in there?”

“Like what? Maybe if you could keep it out of court that would help immensely.” They looked at each other and smiled, probably thinking the same thing.

“Don’t think we haven’t been pushing for that but he’s really playing this bullshit up. Has she said anything about that night that we can use to help her case? The whole not knowing what happened and thinking it was you, isn’t really the nail in the coffin we need.”

“She hasn’t talked about that night with me other than to tell me she has nightmares about it. She said something recently that has me worried, but she said it was just because she had too much to drink. She said I wasn’t going to like it. I still don’t know what, if anything, she was talking about.”

“Well, we can’t use what we don’t know, so let’s not worry about it now.” I pushed it to the back of my mind hoping it was nothing .

We finished talking about the case and thinking about ways to help Alex remain calm in the courtroom and we concluded that it would all be in Alex’s hands once we were in that room. I shook both of their hands and thanked them for their time and what they were doing for Alex and led the way out of the room.

“Fuck off Matt. You should’ve warned me about what you were going to do here today. That was bullshit.” Alex sounded pissed as she came charging out of the room, they were in, with Matt hot on her heels and the detective trying to grab Matt’s arms while he jerked them away. I started towards Alex when Matt yelled back at her in a tone, I’ve never heard from him. It was alarming to say the least.

“Sure Alex, it’s me that needs to fuck off, right! I’ve been trying to help you. To make sure you don’t lose it in there. If you do…if you behave like that, out of control, they won’t take you seriously and he’ll win. Do you fucking understand me?” I started over towards them to get him away from her and Jack shoved me out of the way, getting right in between Alex and Matt.

“What’s going on here? Both of you back down right now.” Jack’s tone was more level but still on the verge of aggressive. Alex sure does know how to rile up the crowd, doesn’t she? Alex swatted Jack’s hand away from her and I took a few steps in her direction trying to gage how contemptuous she was and at the same time not wanting to become a target myself.

“I’m fine.” She said as she put her hands up, taking a step back into the wall, closing her eyes tight.

“Baby, it’s me. Let’s go home.” I gently took her hand, feeling the tension in her grip, watching as her face went from red to a more natural tan again. Her eyes opened slowly— I could tell she’d been crying. She nodded then threw a nasty glare at Matt and I got her out of there as swiftly as I could. I’ll have to talk to Matt later and find out what happened. Right now, I just want to forget about what I just saw.