Page 100 of Starstruck
She nods, resting her head against my chest again. Her breathing evens out, and just when I think she’s fallen asleep, a muffled whisper falls from her lips.
“I don’t want us to end.”
I exhale deeply, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
Neither do I.
[43 ]
BROKEN INSIDE
LENNON
“THEY’LL NEVER KNOW (ACOUSTIC)” BY ROSS COPPERMAN
“Miss Thorne,” the prosecutor begins as he approaches me at the witness stand.
Today is the day we’ve been waiting for since January—the official trial for the man who killed my parents. “First, I would like to offer my sincerest condolences for the loss of your parents. The world is not the same without Thorned Roses.”
I send him a sad smile. “Thank you,” comes out quietly.
“Do you mind taking us through your version of the events that took place on Thursday, October nineteenth, two-thousand-twenty-three?”
I nod slightly, fidgeting with the hem of my dress. “Okay.”
“What was your family doing out that night?”
I clear my throat. “We went to dinner, just like we’d done every year on that day for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it was a long time between visits with each other, so we agreed that on one day a year we would all get together, regardless of where we were at the time. My siblings, Paige and Dylan, and theirspouses had been there, too, but they drove separately.”
“Right. And where were you coming from?”
“Three-sixty. The restaurant in the CN Tower.”
The prosecutor nods, pacing back and forth in front of the stand. “You were heading east on Front Street West when you approached the intersection. Is that correct?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“Walk me through what happened as you approached the lights.”
“Okay,” I start. “I was merging into the left-turn lane on Front Street when the light turned yellow. I came to a stop at the front of the line of cars to turn left onto Bay Street. That light has an advanced green on both sides, and since there were cars waiting opposite me to turn left, too, we both got it. The straight-through light was still red, but no cars were waiting. Just as I started to turn, a car came out of nowhere, gunning it through the red light and into the side of mine.”
I pause for a moment to catch my breath. I haven’t had to fully relive that day since it happened, and doing it now, while it may be for the purpose of putting that asshole away for good, is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
“I don’t remember much after he hit us. I know my car rolled, but I had a concussion, so it took me a minute to wake back up. All I saw after that was my mom with a piece of glass in her chest, and my dad was unconscious in the back, bleeding from his head.”
My voice cracks as I say the last bit, and tears burn the back of my eyes.
The prosecutor gives me a sad look. “Do you remember seeing the other driver?”
I chew on the inside of my cheek, pinching the skin between my thumb and forefinger before exhaling deeply. “Yes. I watched firefighters pull him from his car, which had caught on fire. He was able to stand on his own and looked relatively unscathed from a distance. It wasn’t until I was in the back of the ambulance thatI saw an officer approach and hold something up to his mouth, which I’d assumed then was a breathalyzer. I know now that I was right.”
The prosecutor’s jaw clenches as he says, “Thank you, Miss Thorne.” Looking to the judge, he adds, “No further questions, Your Honour.”
I flinch as the judge bangs her gavel on the desk, my gaze frozen to the man responsible for killing my parents. Tears well in my eyes, but I refuse to let him see me cry. He’s already taken enough from me.
I swallow the tears down, continuing to pinch the skin on my hand to focus on something other than the man currently smirking at me. I wait until I hear the judge say, “This session is adjourned. The jury has what they need to make their decision. We will readjourn tomorrow,” to leave the witness stand. I immediately rush down the aisle, past all the faces in the gallery, past my siblings and Baxter, and make my way into the warm August air.
It’s a stark contrast to the temperatures the last time I was here, but the way I feel right now is eerily similar to the emotions that were coursing through my bloodstream then.
