Chapter 219
"Asmodeus," she breathed out, looking over my bloodied appearance. I kept my eyes locked with hers as she sat down and held onto the bars in between us. Her kind blue eyes were the only thing currently keeping me from falling apart. She could probably tell this much as I held her gaze intently.
"Where's Milo?" She asked, noticing my empty cell.
"Hospital," my voice was low and broken.
"Good," she replied, tears lining her eyes.
"Jake?" Was all I could say without getting at all emotional.
"Layla's on her way to get him, I just checked in on him.. he's a bit shaken up," she told me, and I sighed, breaking her gaze to look down and shake my head at myself.
"I had no self control," I told her. "I fucked up."
"No you didn't, I would have done the same thing to someone who hurt you that bad- well, I'd try to at least.. I don't know if I could put someone in the hospital so quickly. That's pretty impressive," she smiled a little, but I didn't. "Aren't you happy I tied you to a chair now? Jessica can easily pay your bail, so you're good. You're fine."
"Carla," I cut her off, looking back up at her with inevitable tears in my eyes. "I might lose custody of Layla and Jake, and there's no way you would win a court case now," I told her, and her eyes widened, her grin falling. "My bail is going to be expensive as shit because I have a pretty colorful record, and that's not even the worst price I might have to pay," I fought to keep myself from choking up, but my already unstable, disoriented state didn't help.
"Oh," was all she said. I could tell she was looking for something to say, but couldn't find anything.
"When I saw him, I knew immediately that I wanted to put him in the hospital at the very least. I told Jake to go back to the car and didn't even think for a second about the repercussions. I never fking do," I rubbed my eyes, getting some blood on my fingers from where it was still oozing down from my temple.
She reached through the bars and grabbed my left hand, despite there being some cuts and dried blood. I couldn't look up to meet her eyes, though.
"I won't let any of that happen," she told me, with so much intent that some tiny part of me believed it. The rest of me was logical, though, and knew how impossible that was.
"Don't make promises you can't keep," I said softly, half to her and half to myself.
"I didn't promise," she responded, and I finally let myself close my fingers around her hand, our fingers entwined.
"I'm so sorry," I rasped, still focusing everything on not getting emotional.
"Don't be sorry, Asmodeus. I doubt I would have won any case anyway," she replied sincerely, sad at the truth.
Our attention snapped up as the door opened to the room, the same officer as before waltzing in and holding the door open for Layla to walk through. Jake was glued to her, holding her hand. When she saw me, her jaw dropped.
"Keep outside the bars, miss," the officer glared at Carla, and she muttered an apology as she took her hand back from mine.
I finally stood up, wincing in pain as Layla came closer to the bars. I rested my hands against the cold metal as she swallowed her shock. I knelt down to Jake's level and looked to him, but he stayed behind Layla, tight to her. Like he was scared of me.
My eyes teared up a bit as he stared at me frightened. He was looking at me like he had no idea who I was.
"You sure love getting yourself beaten up, huh?" Layla tried to joke, but I could tell she was a bit unsettled as Jake continued to hold onto her hand.
"Now that the kid is handled, we can talk about bail," the officer approached us, and Jake hid slightly from him, too. Layla looked down and noticed how scared he seemed, and frowned. She knelt down to hug him as he continued. "Given your record and the severity of the crime, we're looking at a $4,500 bail. And that's generous."
4,500 fking dollars?! Any blood still in my face drained.
"Well damn," Layla looked concerned, "for being broke you sure are expensive company to keep," she tried again to lighten the mood, failing again.
She must not have realized yet. A $4,500 bail certainly didn't look good for custody. She wouldn't be 18 for a little while, didn't have a stable job, and still lived with me. I doubt she'd be able to gain custody of Jake like I had.
Layla and Carla started talking to each other about the bail money, but my focus remained on Jake and the fact that he couldn't hold my eye contact like usual. I held out my hand for him to come cloister, but he just tucked himself a little further into Layla, who didn't notice.
"I'm gonna take Jake back to the house and Jessica will get money for the bail, then we'll come back here," Layla told me, having just made that plan with Carla apparently. I finally stopped staring at Jake and wiped the saddened expression off my face as I stood back up.
The officer walked Layla and Jake back out, and then it was just me and Carla. She came right in front of me, holding yet again onto the bars between us.
"I love you." She told me, and I gave her a sad smile. "Would you like me to make a cheesy comment or try to lighten the mood?" She asked, clearly trying to cover the fact that she was shaken up herself.