Unforgivably Broken (The Broken Series Book Two) (33 page)

Kaitlyn gripped my wrist when I tensed
, yet again. Watching Lili flinch from the harsh words of the asshole defense attorney was harder than listening to her retell the story. Lili was pushing into a second hour of questions from him, all of which consisted of him trying to punch holes in her story or discredit her as a witness. She was struggling and it was killing me to sit here when all I wanted to do was hold her.

“Do you deny the claims of some of the other witnesses who said they’d seen you flirt with Mr. Davis?”

Lili pulled in a deep breath. “No.”

“So
, you liked him and you flirted with him.” This wasn’t a question and the condescension in it infuriated me.

“I had a crush! I was fourteen years old and he was almost twenty. He was cute and older and he paid attention to me but that doesn’t mean
—” I saw the prosecutor shaking his head at her, causing her to pause mid-sentence in her outburst. Swallowing hard and pressing the heels of her hands against her forehead, she took a moment to compose herself.

“And what about the gentleman you’re currently seeing?”
Lili’s head snapped up and my breathing stopped altogether. I hadn’t thought for even a second that my presence would make a difference or even be noticed by the attorneys.

“Objection.
Relevance?” The prosecutor stood and I could tell by his posture he already knew where this line of questioning was headed. I didn’t, but I knew what could be found by digging and it wasn’t something I wanted thrown at Lili in a room full of people or used against her in this trial.

The judge called both attorneys to the front and there were whispers from the crowd as they spoke. Several people cast glances in my direction but I did my best to keep my eyes
solely on Lili. She wasn’t looking at me, her eyes were closed as she bit her lip, absently toying with the ring there.

“I’m going to allow the question as long as Mr. Andrews rewords it,” the judge said. I watched the
prosecutor scribbling notes on his tablet and wondered just what the fuck was coming next. How could they use my past against her?

“Miss Camden, are you currently in a relationship?” The defense attorney was smug now, clearly pleased with this small win in the ability to use the information he’d found.

“Yes.” Lili’s response was hesitant.

“And how old is your boyfriend?”
he asked bluntly, causing Lili’s eyes to meet mine.

“Twenty-five,” she answered. I watched the color drain from her face as realization set in.

I shook my head at her slowly, trying to tell her not to panic. This was not the direction I expected the questioning to take, but it wasn’t any better for Lili’s frame of mind.

“So
, he’s about the same age as Mister Davis. Is that correct?”

He was pushing, trying to draw a parallel between my relationship with
Lili and what that piece of shit did to her. When I saw the first tear drop to her cheek, I broke our eye contact, unable to watch her cry without needing to console her. I ran my hands over my hair as I hung my head, letting out a slow breath as I tried to keep my calm. This was such bullshit.

“Yes,”
Lili’s voice cracked on the single word and I felt the echo of that crack in my heart. He’d done his job perfectly. He’d put doubt not only in the jury’s mind but also in Lili’s.

“Did you not realize before now that you had a pattern of going after older men?”

I felt a hand on my back and I knew it was Lili’s aunt. I wanted to shrug away from the touch but I needed something to ground me.

“It shouldn’t matter. I said no to Hunter so
—”

“So you say. But according to Mister Davis’ statement when he was told you were testifying, he said it was you who initiated what happened that evening.”

“I didn’t.” The sound of desperation in Lili’s voice made me look up again. I could see it in her eyes and posture, she was panicking.

“This is turning into a lot of ‘he said, she
said—”

“I have a tape,”
Lili cut him off mid-sentence. There was a beat of silence before several people gasped at once, myself included, as the realization of her words hit. There was an immediate murmur in the small crowd and I could hear the judge calling for order.

The judge finally
recessed the trial, asking to see both attorneys in his chambers. Lili was escorted out of the courtroom and into the back again. I stood with the crowd, antsy as we waited for the jury to file out before we were allowed to leave the room. I paced the hallway outside of the door I knew Lili would exit from, becoming increasingly anxious as the minutes ticked by.

After about half an hour, the bailiff came out to let the jury know they were dismissed for the day. He told us that the judge was still discussing what would come next in light of the new evidence and we would resume in the morning. When I asked about
Lili, the bailiff said she was currently speaking to the prosecutor and it could be a while. When he disappeared back inside, I turned to Lili’s family.

“You should go. I’m sure she’s pretty rattled right now so I’ll get her back to the
room and try to calm her down some. I’ll text you and let you know if she’s up for dinner,” I spoke directly to Kaitlyn and Denni, doing what I’d done since I first met Lili’s parents — ignoring them completely.

“Let us know if she needs anything,”
Denni said, stepping up to give me a hug. “Don’t let it get to you. She’s rattled but she’s smart. She’ll see through it,” she whispered when she was closer. I hugged her back before they all headed out, leaving me to pace the hallway alone.

I was leaning against the wall about halfway down the hall when the door finally opened again and
Lili stepped out. She didn’t raise her eyes to meet mine as she walked toward me but I tried not to let it bother me. She paused, leaving distance between us, and as much as I wanted to cup her cheeks to force her to look at me, I didn’t. Truth be told, I was terrified of what she would do.

“Are you ready?” I asked, knowing it was a stupid question. Of course she was ready or she wouldn’t be out here. She nodded without speaking and the crack in my heart expanded further, threatening to break.

Turning to face the end of the hall, we walked side-by-side to the elevator. I fought the urge to touch her, wrap her in my arms, or even speak as we rode down to the bottom floor. It was torture. All I’d wanted to do when she was on the stand was comfort her and now I couldn’t even do that.

As we exited the elevator, I saw the crowd of
reporters still lingering and interviewing people just outside the main doors of the building. I paused before we headed into the tunnel and she did too, still not looking up to meet my eyes. I swallowed, hating that I felt unsure of what to say. “I need to put my arm around you. I don’t want us to get separated in the crowd. Is that okay?”

She nodded, taking
a step closer but still not meeting my eyes. I tucked her carefully into my side, keeping my arm high on her shoulders to hold her to me. As we stepped out, I turned us, trying to keep my body between her and the reporters but they managed to weasel around in front of us. As we moved toward the middle of the crowd, I heard it.

“She’s nothing but a fucking whore.”

My head whipped in the direction of the voice, just catching the face before he spat directly on Lili. She staggered and seeing red, I pulled her behind me, immediately diving at the guy and tackling him to the ground. I pinned him, landing three solid punches to his face before someone knocked me sideways, kicking me hard under my left arm as I had my hand back for another punch. The blow was perfectly aimed and I curled in to protect my ribs, catching the foot of the second offender before he could kick again. I tugged hard, pulling him off balance and scrambling over, landing a single punch before the first guy was behind me, yanking me by one shoulder and forcing me to my back. My head jerked with the force behind his fist but I couldn’t feel the pain with the amount of adrenaline in my veins. The second hit made me realize my arms were pinned and I lurched to one side, throwing him off as I pulled both feet up, kicking him square in the torso to shove him away. I could feel the concrete on the raw skin of my back and I knew my shirt was ripped somewhere.

The ringing in my ears finally gave way to screaming as several police officers burst through the reporters that were surrounding us, recording every moment of what happened. I barely heard the words being yelled by the officers but I stayed down, allowing the one who approached me to cuff me before sitting up. My brain caught up with me in that moment and I immediately started scanning the crowd for
Lili. My heart dropped when I couldn’t see her through the sea of cameras in my face.

What the fuck did I just do?

As the officer helped me to my feet, I looked again and finally spotted her. “Follow us,” I called over to her. While she was staring right at me, her expression was completely blank and she made no move to show she’d heard me. No acknowledgment at all. I stopped walking, causing the officer to shove me. “Stop. My girlfriend. You can’t leave her back there. It’s dangerous,” I tried to explain but he continued pushing me, leading me around the corner to the police station. I tried to look to see if Lili was following but I couldn’t spot her again once she’d disappeared. Panic slipped through, washing away the adrenaline of the fight as it took over residence in my body, chilling me to the bone.

The officer removed the cuffs once I was placed in the holding cell and I tried again to explain, even beg, for one of them to bring her in or at least check on her and make sure she made it to the
motel. I could feel my eye and jaw swelling as I paced, thankful that my cell was at least empty. The two guys were in the next cell over and once I actually got a good look at them, I realized they were the two guys that had been sitting with Hunter’s parents. His brothers, maybe? They laughed and the sound infuriated me again. I turned, practically sprinting to the bars that separated us.

“You find something funny, motherfuckers?” I spat, my arms shaking with the need to continue pounding the shit out of those two assholes.

“Hey. Back up,” the closest officer yelled and I stepped back, trying to remind myself that I needed to keep my cool in order get out of here and to Lili.

As I paced, my mind was brought back to the
guy I met this afternoon. Was it only a few hours ago that I was wondering what could’ve gone so wrong in his life that he managed to land himself in here? If it weren’t for the fear I felt about Lili being alone right now, I might have actually laughed at the irony. I’d been in Texas all of twenty-four hours before I found myself in a jail cell.

Maybe I wasn’t so different from him after all.

It took almost two hours to finally get cleared and released by the police. All three of us agreed not to press charges and were given a warning to steer clear of each other for the remainder of the trial. Fine by me. Fuck if I wanted to be anywhere near them.

Once I stepped out of the holding area, I hoped
Lili would be in the waiting room. She wasn’t. I tried not to panic as I pulled my phone out the second my belongings were slipped back to me from the officer behind the desk, dialing her while I stepped out into the late afternoon sun. I jogged toward the motel, my heart hammering when her voicemail clicked on. She wouldn’t not answer.