Chapter 19

THEA

Thea, I know you wanted me to wake you up, but you looked so peaceful that I just I couldn’t. You’re technically on break, enjoy it. I’ll be back soon to collect my prize. Until then, my place is your place. Breakfast is in the microwave.

Yours, Levi.

Crawling out of bed, I was disappointed that I couldn't be in court with him right now, especially after I had worked so hard on this case. But between all of his associates, and the media, there was simply not enough room inside that courtroom to fit all of us. We were students, so of course they had left us out of it.

Grabbing my shirt up off the ground, I put it on and headed downstairs.

“Levi,” I groaned, noticing that he had cleaned up the mess and made breakfast before going to court.

On the microwave he left another note:

Slightly burned French toast with bacon and no coffee. Still weird, but whatever.

Levi.

He had remembered everything, but then again, I knew how he liked his breakfast too. Hearing my phone ring, I grabbed the glass of orange juice he’d left for me, before heading into the living room.

Reaching under the couch, I grabbed my phone.

“Hello?”

“Are you watching?” Vivian asked me.

“Give me a second.” I searched for the remote.

“How are you not watching this already?” Atticus snapped.

I hadn’t realized they were both on the phone.

“I overslept.”

“You overslept? I’m not buying that—”

“Shh!” Vivian hushed us. “We should so be there, it isn’t fair.”

“How much work did you even do?” Atticus questioned.

“Well, with Thea coming in like a knight on a white horse all the time, who can do anything?”

“Damn, you somehow tricked us into being your backup singers, Thea.”

“I didn’t trick anyone. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch Professor Black kick ass while I eat my breakfast,” I said as I hung up.

As much as I enjoyed their antics, I just didn’t have the energy this morning.

When I saw Mr. Nash’s daughter take the stand, I jumped onto the couch and turned up the volume.

“Ms. Nash, is it true that you left your family home a year ago?”

You son of a bitch, I grinned wildly. He was using my approach.

“Yes,” she answered into the microphone.

“Why?”

“I had a drug problem, and I decided to go to rehab.”

“No you didn’t!” I yelled at the television.

“And how did your father feel it about that?”

“Like any father would, he was angry and disappointed. He cut me off.”

“So then how did you pay for rehab?”

“I stole some of their jewelry. But I called him later about it, and told I him what it was for.”

Damn it, the prosecution was making her go with some version of the truth. Mr. Nash’s daughter was the only person we could serve up as with a solid enough motive to want her father dead.

“And you were you there for the whole year?”

“Yes.”

“Where was the rehab you attended located?”

“West Seneca.”

“And you—”

“Objection your honor; is Ms. Nash on trial here?” the prosecutor asked as he stood up to face the judge.

Levi turned to him and raised his eyebrow. Strangely enough, he looked pleased.

“Your honor, I just want know whether or not Ms. Nash is in the right frame of mind to be on the stand, after years of substance abuse.”

“I’ll allow it.”

“Thank you, your honor. I’m sorry, where did you say your rehab was located Ms. Nash?”

“Seneca Falls.”

Wait.

“Seneca Falls or West Seneca Ms. Nash? Those are two different places, about two hours apart.”

“I mean West Seneca—”

“But the rehabilitation centers in West Seneca are charity owned and run. Where did you spend the two hundred thousand? Are you sure it wasn’t in Seneca Falls?”

“Yes, I meant Seneca Falls, I’m sorry.”

“Ms. Nash, you do know that lying on the stand is a criminal offence right?”

He had her.

“Yes.”

“Ms. Nash, you couldn’t have been in West Seneca, and you couldn’t have been in Seneca Falls, because their program only runs for 160 days. So where were you?”

“I—”

“Did you actually go to rehab?”

She faltered, then went red. “I plead the fifth.”

Levi went on as though she had actually answered, “So, if you weren’t in rehab, then where did the money go?”

“I plead the fifth.”

“If you didn’t go to rehab, then you didn’t get clean. So when you came home to find out your father was going to cut you out of the will as your step mother had asked him to do, were you not upset?”

“Yes,” she said with tears in her eyes. “But he never thought about it, until she put it in his head.”

“Three weeks later, you found out that your father had been murdered, isn’t that right?”

She opened her mouth and then shut again.

“I have no further questions for this witness.”

“YES!” I jumped up and down on his couch. When I heard my phone ring I answer it immediately. “Bomb goes the dynamite! Did you see that? Genius! Pure genius!”

“THEA!”

I stopped finally looking at the ID of the caller on the phone’s screen.“Selene? Sorry, I thought you were someone else.”

“I figured. I’m sorry to bother you, I can call you back later—”

“No, no. It’s okay, I’m good, I just got a little worked up over a case.”

“Grams, said that another one of Dad’s appeals failed today. So I thought I'd write my first letter to him today, and I wanted you to read it. I know you’ve been writing to him since you found out, and I didn’t want him to think that I didn’t care or that we aren’t paying attention to what’s happening to him.”

And just like that, my excitement was gone, and I crumbled back onto the couch. I didn’t even know one of his appeals failed today. Usually the “lawyer,” if I could call him that, spoke to me.

“He won’t write back,” I said to her. “I know he gets them, he just never writes back. Don’t read anything about him on the internet, okay? If you have questions, call me.”

There was nothing but hate on the internet when it came to him. Once you dove in, it became a black hole that shredded you on the way out.

“I know. I just want him to have something of mine. Can you read it over for me?”

I didn’t want to.

“Sure.”

LEVI I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to find when I got back to my place. Half of me figured she would have run home, and the other half of me hoped that she was still in my bed, curled up and naked. However, it was neither of those things.

My living room had been converted into a small office, with files and photos all over the coffee table. She sat with her cat in her lap, and headphones on, flipping through pages upon pages, and highlighting large blocks of text. It reminded me of the night I walked into the conference room to find her still working.

Dropping my things onto the couch, I came up behind her, kissing her neck before taking off her headphones. “I thought I told you to relax. I honestly don’t need that much help with the case anymore.”

“It’s not your case, it’s mine,” she whispered, looking back up at me. “Well really, it’s my dad’s case.”

I looked around the room at all the boxes stacked around her.

“Did you collect all of this?”

“There wasn’t that much to his trial, so I basically started from the bare bones. If I see anything, I send it over to his lawyer, but that’s only happened twice. It was useless. I’m sorry about the mess. I promise I’ll get it cleaned up before I leave. I just couldn’t be at my house right now.”

Jesus.

Sitting down next to her, I pulled off my tie. “It’s fine, really. I have space, but I’m just confused, why are you looking at this now?”

“My sister called me today, to tell me his appeal fell through again, and that she’d written him a letter,” she said, as she handed me her phone to read the hand written note her sister had scanned and emailed to her.

Dear Father, Mr. Walton, Ben, Dad, I’m just going to skip the introduction. I’ve written it so many times that I’m almost out of paper. I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Selene, your other daughter. I wish I remembered you, because from what Thea can recall, you were pretty cool. She’s becoming a lawyer to get you out herself, and believe me, if there is anyone in the world that can do it, it’s Thea. She’s like a mule; once she puts her foot down, she isn’t moving until the jobs done. Believe me, I know this because she’s basically raised me all my life. So what I’m trying to say is, we got your back, and I hope that you’re doing okay… as okay as you can be at least, given the circumstances. I can’t really do anything but cheer Thea on right now, but just know that we haven’t forgotten about you, so just keep holding on for us.

See you soon, Selene.

Putting the phone down on the table, she rested her head into my lap without saying a word. I wasn’t sure what more there was to say.

“I’m working as fast as I can—”

“You’ll kill yourself with this, Thea.” I paused, trying to think about the best way to phrase my next question. “Why haven’t you asked me? You said you hated the lawyer that’s working on it now, so why didn’t you come to me?”

“I did, months ago. When I called about it, the person I spoke to, I think it was Raymond, said that you don’t handle death row convictions. I called dozens of lawyers and they all said the same thing. When I met you in the bar I had no idea who you were, but during our week together you told me your name and I put two and two together but it didn’t matter anymore. I had decided to handle it myself. I would never have thought you were going to be my professor.” she confessed keeping her eyes closed.

I hadn't known. All the cases were brought to me by Tristan or Raymond, and from there, we screened the ones that were either the highest profile, or that we were passionate about.

“I also didn’t want to drop this on your shoulders. If I did and you didn’t believe him, or if we lost, I was scared about what would happen between us. I’m selfish like that. I can’t see anything new here, and neither can his lawyer. I would be setting you up to fail. I feel like I need to undo this myself and… I don’t know.”

“Alright,” I said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it, “when you need me, just call on me and I’ll be there. But for right now, I have your back.”

She sat up, bringing her face close to mine. “You never say, or do, anything that I think you’re going to do.”

“That’s a two way street,” I said touching her face. “I want to go out with you.”

“Aren’t we doing that?”

“No, we aren’t. Going out means going to the movies, dinner, games. We can go outside the city if you’d like.”

Her eyes went back and forth, as if she were scanning my face for some sign of something.

“Hmmm… outside of the city, that sounds really nice,” she said as she tilted her head at me. “And you must already know, but you were amazing today.”

She leaned in and kissed me.

“Does that mean I get my prize now?”

She nodded, and stood up. Taking my hand, she pulled me up off the ground, and I let her drag me upstairs, towards the bedroom, where she pushed me onto the bed. She stripped down right in front of me with ease, and when she was naked, she crawled on top of me and began unbuckling my belt. She slid down between my legs, staring directly at me as her fingers found their purchase, and began their magical work. She licked her lips, and bit her bottom lip, and I twitched in her hand.

“Thea…” I couldn’t look away from her.

“Yes?” she asked politely, as she stroking me with both hands.

Fuck.

Placing my hands behind me, I tried to hold myself up.

“You’re so hard, Mr. Black,” she whispered as she stretched upwards to kiss my neck. “Tell me what you’d like me to do.”

“Uh…What?” I asked, as my brain was no longer communicating with me.

“Tell me what you want me to do, Mr. Black,” she repeated once more with a grin.

She ran her thumb over my head, applying just the right pressure to make any man go insane with pleasure.

I couldn’t speak. It had been too long since we’d been like this, and I had almost forgotten what it felt like.

“I’m sorry, I can’t wait any longer,” I told her, as I grabbed onto her waist and flipped her over. Screw foreplay, I needed her now.

She reached under the pillow, and pulled out a condom. “Then don’t.”

Fuck me.

Pulling off my clothes as quickly as humanly possible, I heard her giggle and it only made want her more.

“Someone’s eager.”

“You have no idea,” I said as I kissed her.

She had been the cause of one too many cold showers, and she was going to pay.

She clung onto me as I slowly entered her.

“Ah...gah,” she moaned, as her nails dug into my back. “More.”

Ignoring her, I took my time to enjoy the feel of her. I savored the way she clenched on to me, the feel of her breasts as they rubbed against me, the way she shook with need, and the sweet taste of her full lips. I loved every moment of it.

Reaching up, she held on to my jaw, forcing me to look at her. “Stop being selfish and fuck me.”

“You're my prize, remember?” I asked, as I gently bit down on the tip of her thumb, before letting her hands go.

Pushing against me with all of her strength, she forced us to roll over until she sat on top of me.

“If you don’t take your prize, someone else will steal it,” she said, as she lifted herself up the length of me, before sliding back down. She did it slowly, teasing me and it was a pleasure that was almost too intense to bear.

“Jesus Christ,” I hissed, holding on to her as she rode me. I couldn’t help it, each time she came down, I’d thrust my hips upwards, driving myself into her with full force, trying to match her pace.

Wrapping my arms around her, I hugged her to me and held onto her tightly… months of teasing, and frustration. We let go of it all, grunting and gripping onto each other like our lives depended on it.

“Levi!” she cried out, as she threw her head back and arched her back.

Her fingers dug into my skin and she clenched her eyes shut. I could feel her spasm around the length of me, and as she reached her peak. The sweat from my hair stung as they dripped into my eyes and turning her back again, I lifted one of her legs onto my shoulder, enabling me to go deeper than I ever thought possible. Biting on to my own lips.

“Oh… my… God,” her voice shook.

“God has nothing to do with this,” I told her, as I grabbed her breasts, and trapped her nipples between my fingers. I applied enough pressure to make her moan and squirm under me, then, I leaned forward and took one of her nipples into my mouth as I flicked its raised head back and forth with my tongue.

“Levi… sooo… good,” she groaned.

I can’t hold back.

Kissing the skin of her neck, I grunted inaudibly, holding her firmly against me as I came.

She held me in her arms as we both gasped and panted.

“Why did I say ‘no’ to you again?” she asked.

“You had a brief moment of insanity, but I forgive you,” I whispered back, as I planted kisses along her breasts.

I rolled off of her and lay at her side.

“If everyone had sex like that, the world would be a much better place,” she sighed happily, and I laughed.

“I couldn’t agree more. We should pray for them or something.”

She laughed, curling up against me, and I couldn’t imagine any other place for her to be than in my arms.

I was in deep, and I was never getting out.

Half asleep, I reached out for her. But there was nothing there. Opening my eyes, I touched her side of the bed, as if doing so would make her magically appear, but she was gone. The spot where she lay was still warm though. I rolled over to look at my clock.

2:23 a.m.

Sitting up, I grabbed my boxers, wincing at the pain in my shoulder. Moving to the mirror, I noticed the black and blue bruises, and the red scratch marks that her nails had made.

“Holy shit,” I whispered, turning around so that I could see the full extent of the damage. I didn’t even remember her scratching at me so much… Regardless, I wore it like a badge of honor as I walked down the stairs.

Sure enough, there she was, packing up all of her work, dressed in nothing but a shirt, my shirt. I smiled.

“Baby, come back to bed.”

She jumped, startled to find me standing there, or maybe her shock was because of the name I’d called her. Baby. It sounded so natural, so easy, so…right.

“Give me a second,” she said, and continued to pack away the files. “If I leave these out, you’re going to wake up before me and clean up everything again. Tomorrow is the closing arguments—”

Picking her up, I threw her over my shoulder.

“Levi!”

“I can’t sleep, and I have a big day in court tomorrow. I need you in bed,” I said with finality, as I carried her back to my room. Placing her on the bed, I slid out of my boxers and crawled in beside her.

“I heard a lot of ‘I’s’ in that sentence,” she whispered, as she pressed her back to my chest and allowed me to wrap my arm around her.

She smelled like wild flowers and her skin felt so warm against my skin.

“You need sleep too,” I muttered, my eyes closing. “When will you get it? I don’t just want you at my side, I need you.”

I love you.