Page 176 of Save Room for Us

“I was. I was going to leave him.”

“When Cedric had a contract, what time would he typically get home?” she inquired.

“Depends on the job.”

“Okay. Well what time did he get home when working the job he had around that time?” She gave me a fake smile again.

“Like between seven and seven-thirty usually. But he’d come home earlier on occasion, surprising me.”

“Right. Okay, so if you knew what time he got off, majority of the time, why not plan this escape prior to that?” She locked her hands behind her back, awaiting my answer. “Why wait until he would be getting home to start packing?”

“I was at work.”

“Ms. Chase, I looked you up and talked to some people. You were a very dedicated employee with insurmountable vacation and sick time. You could’ve easily taken a half day for something as important as escaping your abuser.” She used air quotes around abuser.

I hated this bitch but had to commend her at the same time.

“I didn’t?—”

“It’s because you wanted to be there when he got home so you could shoot him. You wanted to goad him into an altercation so you’d have reason to kill him.”

“Objection—”

“Yes, I did!” I cut Bashar off and watched everyone, including his, eyes mushroom in shock. “I planned in advance to shoot his ass because I wanted to be free and get the fuck away from him before he killed me and possibly killed my daughter! Because I knew as long as he was alive, I would never get away from him! I didn’t care about going to jail at that point. All I gave a fuck about was possibly saving my life and making sure my daughter didn’t grow up with an abusive father!

“I was tired of living in fear, hoping he didn’t break a fucking rib, and I would have to act like I wasn’t in pain at work all day. Or hoping he didn’t mistakenly slap me too hard, leaving a mark because then I would have to pretend I was sick or mad with my mother and sister so they wouldn’t invite me anywhere!” Istarted to tear up. “I wanted to be able to go to sleep and wake up in the middle of the night to pee! I wanted to fall asleep instead of being drugged and waking up to realize I’d been violated sexually.

“So yes, I planned it! I went to the gun range, I purposely waited until he got back, and I shot him, hoping to kill his ass because if I didn’t, he would kill me! If I didn’t, he’d be the one you would be prosecuting for killing me and possibly my baby because law enforcement doesn’t give a fuck about women being abused until they’re being lowered into the fucking ground! I hate that I only paralyzed his bitch ass!”

“Alright!” The judge banged his gavel, and I noticed as I talked more, Counselor Emilia’s smug expression faded slowly. I could tell by her eyes that she believed me. “Let’s take a recess now. Ms. Chase, one more outburst like that and you will regret it.”

I nodded curtly, chest still heaving from yelling. I was suddenly regretting my outburst, knowing I had probably disappointed Bashar. He’d worked so hard on this case, and I had just most likely ruined it.

As soon as we got outside, Bashar led me into a private room.

“I’m so sorry, Bashar.” I pleaded with my eyes as I looked up into his. “I know I wasn’t supposed to?—”

“Nah, that was perfect.” He smirked. “They needed to see that because as you may or may not have noticed, the jury is mostly women. And the few niggas on the jury were raised by single mothers, so that explosion is gon’ affect their asses heavily.” He smirked, and I did the same.

Chuckling, I asked, “Did you somehow make sure the jury was comprised of those kinds of people?”

“Maybe.” He shrugged, following it up with a wink before the door came open, Analicia, my mother, and Asif walking in.

“I never wanted any brothers, Bashar, heard too many bad reviews, but if I could pick one, it would be you, hands down.”

He laughed at my statement just as my little sister walked up to hug me, then kissed her husband before nuzzling into his side. My mother hugged me tightly, before moving out the way for my man. He stared down into my eyes once he pulled me in and kissed me slowly.

“You aight?” he asked.

“I wasn’t, but now I am. I think the word vomit helped me a little bit.Youbetter calm down though.” I stared up at him. “I could see you mean mugging him the whole time.”

“I’m trying, love, but the more I hear, the harder that shit gets,” he admitted.

“It’s almost over, bruh. Then you can do you.” Bashar patted his shoulder.

“Let me rap with you real quick,” Asif told his brother before kissing me and walking out.

The door was propped open, so right in my line of vision, I could see Jacinta pushing Cedric’s wheelchair by. Thankfully, they were across the big ass hall, so they didn’t see us.

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