Page 79 of Feel It All

Mr. Williams turns to me and places his hand on my shoulder. “Okay, we will enter the plea. You should be fine to go, Winry.”

“Great, thank you.” I give him a fake smile because I still can’t bring myself to make a real one.

Mr. Williams stands and leaves the room, leaving me and Dad in the room.

“Win, are you okay?” Dad asks, still holding my hand.

“Yeah, I think so. What time is it?” I wonder if I can sneak out of here and not run into Graham.

“It’s a minute before 9, court should be starting. He should already be in the room if that’s what you are really asking.” Dad gives me a sympathetic smile.

“Good, I want to get out of here.” Thankfully only Mom, Wav, and Wyla are left outside. We give out rounds of hugs and get the hell out of there.

“Waverley, can I stay at your place one more day?” I ask as we get in her car.

“Yeah, of course. Do you want to swing by your place now and get some stuff?” Waverley starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot.

“Yeah, best do it now, since I know he isn’t home.” Tomorrow after the open house I will go back home and face this, but I just need one more day.

I pull into Crossroads bright and early at 5:30. Last night, I was finally able to get some sleep. Not that I am feeling great today, but I am feeling slightly rested.

I unlock the back door and start unloading my car with all of the decorations and prizes. I do one load and leave the back door propped open so I can make multiple trips. I set down my first load in the front and start pulling out some of the decorations. I turn around to get round two, and my blood runs cold.

“Hello Winry,” Flynn stands in front of me, sipping on a bottle of vodka.

“Flynn. What are you doing here? You can’t be here.”

“I know, I’m supposed to be turning myself in today. And you know what? I don’t feel like doing that. I have officially lost my job, I am having to do jail time, and I have to pay a $2,500 fine, and it’s all because of you,” he slurs angrily.

I am frozen, completely frozen. What do I do? Ivy won’t be here for another hour. I look around for anything I could use to defend myself, but there is nothing close by besides balloons and tablecloths.

Okay remain calm. “Flynn, please, if you just leave no one has to know about this, okay? We can just let it go.”

“That doesn’t fix any of the damage you have done, Winry. I think it’s time you learned that your decisions also have consequences.” He stalks toward me and I try to back up but trip over one of the boxes on the floor.

Flynn picks me up and throws me like a rag doll toward the front counter. The blow knocks the breath out of me, and before I can recover, Flynn backhands me across the face. I cry out in pain and try to yell for help, but it won’t matter. No one is out in town yet.

“Shut up, bitch,” he picks me up again, and this time I have a shot so I take it and kick him in the balls. He drops me and falls to his knees. I take off to the front door, but Flynn recovers faster than I anticipated and grabs me by my hair, pulling me backward.

He spins me around and punches me in the jaw. “You are going to pay for that.”

I spit a mixture of spit and blood in his face like he did to me last time. The anger on his face grows. He lands one more punch and everything fades to black.

Chapter 24

Graham

Courtstartsandendswith no sign of Winry. I lose all hope of seeing her when they submit a plea for her case. Fucking six months for that prick. He deserves more, but I know Winry wouldn’t want to go to a trial.

Back home, I go back to her apartment knocking and hoping for an answer, but no luck. I hang my head in defeat. I just need to talk to her. I need two minutes to convince her to take me back and forget everything my mom said to her.

I am tempted to drive around looking for her, but I know today was probably hard. So I kick myself the whole way back to my apartment. I work tonight, so I force myself to get some sleep. It’s shitty sleep, but it’s sleep.

I wake up a couple of hours later, my mood just as sour as it was before. I head to the station and go through the motions of the night. Owen has been quiet, knowing I am not in the mood to talk, so we make it through the shift in silence.

Back again in my apartment, I have about had it. I am going to find her and talk to her. I can’t take it any longer. I grab my keys but put them down, deciding I need to take a shower first and change.

It’s probably the quickest shower of my life, but when I get out, I have five missed calls from chief and three missed calls from Ivy. A pit forms in my stomach. I hit the button to call Chief back.

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