Page 99 of An Adventure For Aster

“Then that is better than nothing.”

33

GOT HER POINT ACROSS

One week later, Aster was putting a tie on and trying not to strangle himself with it.

He was back in Beaumont and getting ready to testify at the trial for Carrington’s abductors.

He’d flown into Houston last night, picked up his rental car, and checked into his hotel around ten. He had to be at the courthouse at eight to meet with the DA. He’d been talking to them for weeks while they prepped him.

Today should be the only day he and Carrington took the stand, but he knew it could bleed into tomorrow too, though they were hoping to give closing arguments today. Then he could help his sister pack and they were taking a road trip back home over Saturday and Sunday.

Home wasn’t here anymore. It was back on the East Coast.

Twenty-five hours and that didn’t include stopping for gas and food.

He and Daphne were going to leave before the sun came up and drive until dark if he had his way, then grab a hotel for a few hours of sleep and do it again on Sunday.

He wanted to be in his own bed on Sunday night. Hell, he’d leave on Friday if Daphne was game and he didn’t have court. Even if that meant only driving seven or eight hours after they had her packed up.

Once he was satisfied enough with his tie, he found his shoes and slipped them on, grabbed his phone, fob for the rental, and his wallet. He’d get some breakfast downstairs in the hotel and leave.

When he had his coffee and a muffin, he found a seat out of the way for a few minutes and felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

He pulled it out to see it was Raine wishing him luck today. That she wished she could have come with him.

He would have never wanted her with him for this. He’d even said that. She’d questioned him on why and he’d said he didn’t want her to hear about what he’d been through. He didn’t want to relive it any more than he wanted her to have the details.

She’d tongue in cheek pointed out that was why she didn’t want him to know Colton was back in town.

Were they the same thing? No. Absolutely not.

But she got her point across.

She didn’t want him to feel sorry for her and he sure the hell didn’t want any sympathy either.

He hated to text and decided to call her.

“Morning,” he said.

“How much sleep did you get last night?” she asked.

“More than enough.” He’d gone years only getting a few hours. Six hours was a luxury to him now. Anything more than that felt like a gift.

“Are you nervous about today?” she asked.

“Nothing to be nervous about. I know the questions the DA is going to ask. I don’t know what the defense attorney will, but let’s be honest, it’s on video what happened to me.”

He didn’t expect this to be long. It was pretty cut and dry and once they got the conviction, the judge and the DA could figure out sentencing and anything else.

He just wanted to move on with his life as far away as possible at this point.

“That’s true. I hope it’s all over with today and then you can relax and help Daphne pack and visit with your family tomorrow before you leave.”

He held in the snort. Barely. There would be no visiting with his family. His parents had said they were taking the day off and he was surprised by that. Then he realized it had more to do with the fact that Daphne had told them they might leave Friday and not Saturday and his parents would want the opportunity to hit him up for money.

He could be wrong...he didn’t think he was.

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