Page 80 of Broken Halo

I pull in a breath and admit what’s been eating away at me like a nasty rash, spreading through me and creating an itch I can’t ignore any longer. “Regretting anything up to the day he was born would be wrong. As much as I want to, Trig—for you. You deserve all my regrets. When I saw you at your mother’s funeral, it was the first time since the day you walked out of my hospital room. Regret has nagged its way into my soul but I can’t allow it to settle there. I look at Griffin and I’d put you through it all over again just to have him.”

“Shit,” he mutters and falls back to his ass, pulling me between his legs and into his arms. He puts his lips to my hair and strokes my back. “Stop. Others did this shit to us and it’s my fault I didn’t listen when you tried to come back to me. We can’t rewrite history even if we wanted to. I don’t ever want you to regret anything for me. Never. Especially Griffin.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper into his neck. “I’m sorry for everything.”

He pulls me in tight and exhales what seems to be all his energy. “I am too, baby. More than you know.”

We sit here, Trig stroking my hair and me hanging on to my guilt, regret, and sorrow.

Finally, Trig pulls my head back and kisses me. “We should go to bed. We’ve got to be in court tomorrow and my client can’t look tired and strung out on tears and condoms.”

I pull back and manage a small smile. “It’s possible to be strung out on condoms?”

“It will be after tonight.” He leans in to kiss me one more time and stays there. “We have a queen size bed and I intend to use every square foot of it while we put a dent in that box of condoms.”

“I’ll go check on Griffin.”

His eyes turn dark. “I hope Griffin is a heavy sleeper. I intend to make you loud tonight.”

My stomach drops and wetness pools between my legs as I make another admission I’ve been holding onto much too long. “I’ve missed you.”

He stills before his mouth crushes mine, twisting my hair in his fist while tipping my head. When he finally releases me, he demands, “I’ll meet you in bed. We might not have regrets but we do have a lot of time to make up for. And baby, you’d better be naked when I come to you.”

I lick my lower lip and his eyes drop to my mouth. Having Trig want me again like this is like a dream I never allowed myself. Curled in his arms, I lean up and kiss the corner of his lips. “I will be.”

And we leave the boxes, junk, and who knows what else, in the room that seems to hold all Faye’s memories.

We have time to make up for … ten years of it.

* * *

I hear the heavy door to the courtroom open and when I shift in my seat to glance over my shoulder, my stomach drops. Fuck.

Teresa and Carl walk through, wearing all their arrogance as proudly as they ever have. What the hell are they doing here?

Carl doesn’t give me the satisfaction of even glancing my way. His eyes are on the front of the courtroom on the judge—but not Teresa. She’s glaring at me as if I’m on trial for first-degree murder instead of the misdemeanor someone has tried to frame me for.

Like I need them here. Paula, the bitchy CPS worker, and one of the police officers who read me my rights that day are also sitting in the crowd. But so are Jen, Eli, and my parents.

“Your Honor, three sets of prints were found on the plastic bag containing the drugs that were found in my client’s home and none of them match my client. Multiple people have had access to her home—a cleaning crew, a childcare provider, even her deceased husband who has only been gone for four months. Just because it was found in Ms. Ketteman’s home, does not make it hers. It was not found on her person.” He doesn’t look away from the judge as he points back toward me and the table I’m now sitting at all by myself. “I have a stack of cases citing instances just like my client’s where law enforcement stepped over the line for making arrests such as they did in this case, and they were all dismissed.”

Trig clears his throat and I look up at him. He’s standing in front of our table, commanding the courtroom, and I’m happier than ever that he’s on my team. If he wasn’t, he’d probably convince me the drugs were mine and I put them there.

The judge slides on a pair of reading glasses and looks over the paperwork in front of him. When he peeks up at Trig over his wiry rims, he states with all the authority granted to him, “I agree.” Shifting his eyes to the Assistant DA who was assigned the weak case against me, he raises a brow. “This could’ve been dismissed out of court.”

“Your honor,” the Assistant DA stands and holds out a hand. “This was not the first time CPS was called to the defendant’s home. I do think it would be beneficial to look at the big picture and—”

“This is not family court. We’re here for misdemeanor charges for possession of marijuana. In this case, I use the term possession loosely.” The judge sits back in his seat and picks up his gavel. “Your evidence is circumstantial at best and insufficient at most. All charges are dismissed and the records will be sealed. Y’all are dismissed.”

I stand and take in a quick breath. That’s it? It’s done?

Trig turns and one side of his mouth perks up in a cocky smile that says I told you so and heads straight for me. I don’t get a chance to thank him, admit he was right, or even give him a high-five because he puts one hand to the table and reaches over with the other, tagging me behind the neck. I’m about to scream No! and explain that the in-laws-from-hell are here and to not touch me, but I don’t get the chance. He leans and pulls me the rest of the way, kissing me not-so quick but thank goodness with no tongue—still, it’s a kiss all the same. I’ve never seen an attorney kiss a client after getting the big W from the judge on Law and Order.

He doesn’t let me go when his satisfied blue eyes dance. “Told you so.”

Again, the thank yous should be my first order of business, but instead, I blurt in a whispered panic, “Robert’s parents are here!”

His eyes narrow and he still doesn’t let me go. He puts his lips on mine once again before adding, “Good. I want to meet those assholes for myself.”

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