Page 120 of Rebel Summer

He leaned forward, straightening a handful of papers on his desk. “However, you were also hiding an illegal car in your garage. How did you even get it here without being seen?”

Dax cleared his throat. “I brought it over in parts, Your Honor.”

Judge Baylor stared at him, slightly dumbfounded. “In parts? You pieced together an entire car from parts?”

“Yes, sir.”

The judge blinked before chuckling and shaking his head slightly. “Well, whatever this town pays you for your services, it’s probably not enough. That’s impressive, son.”

Dax flushed slightly at these words while a feeling of pride on his behalf filled my entire body.

He pointed at Dax with his big paw. “However…illegal.”

He shifted his judicious eyes back to mine. “And you, Ms. Brooks. This is the second time in less than two months you’ve been in to see me. Before that, you were a perfect student, graduated college with honors, and went and made yourself into a doctor of mathematics.” He darted a glance to the fake tattoo peeking out from the bottom of my sleeve. “Since your time back on Sunset Harbor, you’ve been avoiding your service hours, if the empty window display in Mr. Miller’s shop tells me anything, and you willingly drove an illegal car on this island. Your father seems to think your time here hasn’t been a good influence on you.”

It took some work to school my expression at the mention of my dad.

“But let me tell you what I’ve observed.” This man, and his low Southern drawl, was beginning to give me whiplash. I wasn’t sure what to think or where any of this was going.

Dax’s leg bumped lightly into mine.

“You’re causing public disturbances now, but you feel more like a real person than you ever did before. There is a stiffness in perfection that’s difficult for people to relate to. There’s a loudness about you now and a spark of life in your eyes that wasn’t there before.”

I sensed more was coming, so I sucked in a breath while my heart pumped wildly.

“However, you also recklessly drove an illegal car on my island in the middle of the night.”

Reckless was debatable when our top speed was forty miles an hour, but there was no need to bring that up.

Judge Baylor sighed, his hand covering his mouth as he stared thoughtfully between the two of us.

“I still have one question, Ms. Brooks. I recall giving my permission to let you transfer the rest of your service hours to Nashville so your career wouldn’t have to suffer for your accidental DUI. You are set to leave in two days. You’re still on probation. My only question for you is, why?”

Dax sat up in his seat. “Your Honor, I told her she could bargain her hours down if she did it. I forced her hand.”

Judge Baylor raised his eyebrows. “Is that true, Ms. Brooks? Did he make you do it?”

I glanced at Dax before looking back to the judge. “No.”

Dax scoffed. “I gave her a list of bogus things to do to lessen her hours. It was my fault for putting the idea in her head.”

He looked interested at this. “What was on the list?”

A hint of a smile crossed Dax’s face. “Get a tattoo, tag a building, and drive a car on the island.”

Judge Baylor’s face grew serious as he looked back and forth from Dax to me. “Did either of you spray paint a building?”

“No,” I said at the same time Dax said, “She is much too chicken for something like that.”

His stare grew cold. “You had both better be too chicken for that.”

“We are,” I assured him, kicking Dax with my foot while he hid a smile behind his hand.

“I’ve never been one for convention,” Judge Baylor began. “In my courtroom, I want to serve the people how I see fit more than be someone’s executioner.”

Executioner. What a word.

I willed my hands to not fidget.

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