Chapter 6
TWO MONTHS LATER, OCTOBER
Six years.
The text from Beth throbbed in his head as he fought the freaking traffic to get home to her. He’d called when his plane landed, but she hadn’t answered. Right after that, his phone showed him an update on an entertainment site:
Justice Cade absent from the sentencing of his girlfriend’s attacker.
Fucking perfect. It made him look like an asshole, or worse, like he didn’t care enough to be there. He’d tried, damn it. Fury and frustration made him want to ram the cars in front of him. Oh wait, let’s not forget guilt too. He’d missed his flight from San Francisco this morning, which meant he didn’t get back in time.
He really was an asshole. Beth had been under tremendous stress for the last month with school, work and the plea bargain that happened suddenly with Hans. The media got wind of it, and they’d started harassing her. Some claimed that the D.A. didn’t want to put Liza on the stand because she was too tainted by her past with Gene Hayes and all the things said about her in the media.
Others claimed she was afraid of Hayes. They weren’t wrong. Her nightmares had escalated in the last month. But she’d have done it—gotten on the stand and testified against Hans. It amazed him that she’d been so willing, even knowing the defense attorneys would bring up Gene Hayes, since he was connected to Hans’s motive, and drag her through the mud.
Beth wasn’t the problem. Nope, it was his dad.
More guilt dumped in his gut. His father wasn’t a reliable witness. And how could the court summon a man who didn’t want to be found? Justice hadn’t seen or heard a word from him since the night his father had gotten out of jail. It was his dad’s pictures that proved Hans had been following Beth. But to get those introduced into evidence, they’d have to bring his dad in. So the D.A. pled it down from attempted murder to attempted voluntary manslaughter.
Six years. That bastard who stabbed and damn near killed Beth would be out in a measly three years with good behavior.
After finally pulling into his driveway, he barely turned the car off before rushing into the house, only pausing to key in the code on the security system.
No Beth. Where was she? Was she so pissed at him for missing the flight she hadn’t come home?
Wait, he heard the shower running. Justice hustled down the hall, into their bedroom. A cold pit opened in his stomach. How upset was she? Oh Christ, she wouldn’t… Could she be cutting?
Justice stared at the closed bathroom door, hating the barrier between them. But if he barged in now, he’d scare the hell out of her. Think, man.
“Beth.” He knocked on the door. “I’m home.”
“Okay.”
That was it. Flat, emotionless. Cold fear pushed at him. Shoving open the door, he strode in. “Beth, tell me you’re not—”
She snapped the shower curtain back, her eyebrows raised. “Not what?”
His brain stuttered. Beth stood there wet and naked, her long hair slicked back, eyes huge, and rivers of water streaming over her breasts, her soft belly to that sweet spot between her legs. The steamy bathroom closed in on him.
“Uh…” Four months he’d lived with her, but his desire had grown bigger. Hotter.
“Cutting?”
That word iced a fraction of his lust. She might be pissed at him, but Justice didn’t lie to her. He looked her dead in the eye. “Yes, cutting. You’ve been under too much pressure.” Her occasional struggle with cutting wasn’t something he’d let fester as a shameful secret between them. He kept it in the sunlight, where he could help her. What he didn’t tell her was the fear that one day he wouldn’t be here if she needed him, that he’d fail her and lose her.
Her defiance softened. “Cutting crossed my mind a time or seventeen in the last few weeks. But not enough to do it. I’m okay, especially now that it’s over. Hans is sentenced, and I just want to move on to concentrate on work and school. I got behind in one of my classes.”
As long as she was telling him her struggles, she was okay. It was when she couldn’t talk, couldn’t find a way to verbalize her terrors, that drove her to cut for relief.
After stripping off his clothes, he got in the warm shower, taking her face in his hands. “I’m so damn sorry I missed my flight.” He’d been there with her when she talked to the D.A. and for the interview with the presentencing probation officer. But this time…he’d screwed up.
“When you missed your flight home this morning, I was upset.”
Guilt squeezed his chest. “I know. We had a chance to meet with a music streaming service. It’s a vital contact. We need them to play our music when we release our album. But I thought I’d make it to the airport in time to catch my flight.” Shut up. That sounded defensive instead of contrite.
Beth tilted her head back, her naked gaze on him. “It’s already starting, isn’t it?”
Justice laid his hands on her cheeks, staring down at her. “What?”
“You being forced to choose between something important for your career or me.”
The water streamed around them, and he had Beth here wearing only her skin sluiced with water and soap. “I don’t give a fuck about my career right now.” It came out a growl of possession.
“But you do care about me. You sent Drake to be with me.”
“Yes.” Drake Vaughn had helped Justice when he was released from juvie, stepping into a mentor-who-will-kick-his-ass role. Beth knew Drake, and liked him. And Drake, as a former MMA fighter, was strong, fast and deadly enough to keep Beth safe.
“Do you know what that felt like? I was in my office, scared to leave and go to the sentencing. I didn’t have to be there, and I was half talking myself out of going.”
“But you wanted to be there.”
“I wanted Hans to see me there, and if he’s watching from whatever rathole he’s in, Gene Hayes too. I wanted to face Hans and send a message to Hayes. I’m not letting him win.”
“There’s my badass.” The one who survived and persevered.
“Drake walked into my office and announced that you sent him to go with me to court and that he was bringing me home too.” She smiled. “It was like having my very own hero.”
That sliced him, and Justice brushed her hair back from her face. “I want to be your hero.”
“I know. But if you couldn’t be there, Drake was the perfect choice. He made me feel safe…and that gave me an idea, one that Drake and I talked about.”
Excitement glittered in her eyes. She clearly wanted to tell him. “Spill it, Glasner. What are you plotting now?”
“We can give victims who are afraid of testifying their very own hero to be there for them in court.”
Oh he got it. “Like Drake was for you today.” And no one really had been when she’d faced Gene Hayes as a young teenager. Her aunt spent too much time blaming Liza to be supportive.
“Exactly like that.” She bounced, her wet hair swinging and luscious boobs jiggling.
Justice swallowed, trying to keep his mind on Beth’s words. This was important to her, and if it mattered to her, it mattered to him.
“The fighters who work for SLAM are perfect. They’re all big and tough, and if the person testifying knows that the fighter is there specifically for them, to make them feel safe, it’ll make testifying a little bit easier for them. I even have a name for the program, SLAM Heroes. Drake said he’d help me develop a pitch, but it’ll take a few months.”
“It’s a great idea,” Justice said. “And exactly the kind of thing you wanted to do with your degree—help other victims feel safe and heard.”
“You think I can do it?”
Easy answer. “I know you can.” He leaned closer. “And you will.”
Joy filled her face. She rose on her toes and kissed him.
Justice locked an arm around her, taking her mouth. Thank fuck he’d had the foresight to send Drake to go with her to court. Not only had she felt safe, but she’d come with an idea she was passionate about. But right now, all he cared about was the sensual feel of wet, naked Beth in his arms.
She wrapped her legs around him, finding his hard cock and rubbing her pussy along his shaft.
He snapped his head back at the feel of her. Gripping her hip, he pressed her against the fiberglass shower wall and eased his cock inside. “I planned to take you to dinner or pick something up, then fuck you.”
Her smile widened. “Plot twist.” She tightened her vaginal walls, ripping a groan of pleasure from him. “I’m going to ravish you, then you can take me to dinner.”
He grinned. Beth looked a little tired, but he could almost feel the pressure of the last few weeks falling off her shoulders, freeing this wild streak he loved so damned much. “I fucking love your plot twists. And you.”