Chapter 287 Aslan

Chapter 287 Aslan
Aslan

By the time the judge finally adjourned court, there was nothing left to tell.

As I stood, I looked around the courtroom and realized how different it was from the one we'd walked into yesterday morning. One by one, after testifying and being released, the people who'd spent those first hours waiting outside had found their way into the benches behind us.

All those voices that had spent years existing separately were finally in the same room.
And in front of them sat Garrett.

My wolf looked so freaking young.
Tired. Red-eyed. Completely exposed… And somehow, still sitting there.

God, I had never cried so much in my life as I had that day. Watching him tell a room full of strangers things he'd barely been able to tell me had broken something inside me over and over again. But underneath all that pain was something else.
Pride.
Because everyone knew now. They knew what that cocky grin had hidden. They knew why he sometimes needed to be the loudest person in the room. Why he fought so hard. Why he pushed people away. Why sometimes loving him meant waiting outside a locked door until he was ready to let you in.

And the people who had known him longest looked different too.
Even James was quiet. He had been exposed too, and he finally understood what Garrett had given up to have him in his life and why what they once shared had ended the way it did. 

Maybe there would always be guilt attached to knowing the truth too late. But at least now they knew it.
We all did.

Joe's mom didn't ask us about court when we got back to the house. I could've kissed her for that.
She simply fed us.

There was music playing softly from somewhere in the kitchen. Someone passed potatoes. Someone else asked Aitor if he wanted more chicken. James complained that Joe had stolen his drink, and Joe informed him he needed to sort that claim with enough evidence and witnesses, which earned him a tired but cheerful chorus of people telling him to shut the hell up.

That was as close as any of us came to discussing legal matters.
We just ate in peace.

I sat beside Garrett and watched him slowly finish more of his dinner than he'd managed the night before. Every once in a while our hands would meet under the table.

Around us sat this completely ridiculous collection of people. People who had known him forever and people who had only recently learned the truth. People who had failed him. People who had fought for him. People who loved him.

And it hit me then that this had stopped being only Garrett's fight a long time ago.
It belonged to Lance too. To every kid who'd walked through those doors and learned that something inside them needed to be fixed. To every parent who had trusted the wrong person. To every person who'd been too afraid or ashamed to say what happened afterward.

Tomorrow, twelve strangers would decide what happened to Graves.
Tonight, Garrett was here. Alive.

I looked at him as he listened to James and Joe argue over something completely stupid, and eventually the corner of his mouth twitched. There he was. My wolf.

After everything those people had done to convince him that loving me would destroy him, he'd still chosen love. After everything they'd done to break him, he'd sat in that courtroom and told the truth.

And looking around that table, I knew I wasn't the only one who finally understood just how remarkable that was. 
God, I loved him so much it really hurt.

Garrett glanced at me, and I smiled. He smiled back.
Whatever happened tomorrow, there wasn't a fucking power on this earth that was taking him away from me again.

Toward the end of dinner, Garrett got pulled into a conversation with Olivia while Joe's mom started collecting plates. I thanked her for dinner, kissed Garrett quickly on the temple as I passed, then caught Aitor's eye across the room.
He understood immediately.

I found Evan near the kitchen and dragged them both toward the quieter end of the living room. “Okay. We've done everything we could in there. Tomorrow, it's up to the jury.”

Aitor studied me. “And?”

“And Graves isn't the whole goddamed problem.” I lowered my voice, glancing toward the dining room. “Whatever happens tomorrow, Spring Creek still exists. People who funded it still exist. People who sent kids there, covered for it, looked away, threatened people into silence, people like Helena... A guilty verdict against one man doesn't magically make all of that disappear.”

Evan slowly nodded. “So we keep talking.”

“Louder.”

Aitor's mouth twitched. “Now that, I can do.”

For the past two days, all three of us had been careful. Olivia had practically threatened our lives if we posted anything that could interfere with the case, so none of us had mentioned anything happening inside that courtroom. We didn't need to. Aitor had written about fear and what happened when powerful people convinced frightened kids there was something wrong with who they were. Evan had talked about money, status, and the way certain people seemed to believe both gave them ownership over everyone beneath them. 

Through Garrett's blog, I had introduced myself and talked about being different. About loving who you loved. About how nobody had the right to beat, frighten, shame, or fucking torture that out of you.

People were listening. Millions of them.

Every post had spread farther than the one before it. People were sharing their own stories. Former patients from places we'd never even heard of were speaking up. Parents were asking questions. Reporters had started quoting posts that hadn't mentioned this trial once. Especially on Garrett's accounts.

God.

We'd spent only a few days before all of this, reconnecting with the enormous audience he'd spent years building and then mostly abandoned. He had been anonymous before, but now he had finally stepped forward to reveal who he really was. 
Everyone had offered their support and encouragement. Now they were waiting too. 

“We will continue to use Garrett's page too. I'll write on it," I said. “Nothing legalistic. Just something from us. Something telling everyone tomorrow matters, but it isn't the end. Whatever happens, we don't stop.”

Aitor nodded immediately, but Evan was already reaching for his phone. “We should coordinate it. Same time tonight. Different messages, same point.”

“And no mob shit,” Aitor added. “No addresses, no going after individuals, no telling anybody to attack anyone.”

“Obviously,” Evan agreed.

He gave me a look. “I was mostly telling you, psycho.”

Despite everything, I laughed.

That was how dinner ended.
Not with predictions about tomorrow or another discussion about Graves. We left that house with a mission. Aitor went to reach his people. Evan went to reach his. I had Garrett's enormous online family waiting for some sign that their wolf was still fighting, and tonight I could give them one without asking Garrett to relive another fucking second of that courtroom.

By the time Garrett and I finally reached our dorm, my phone had been vibrating almost nonstop in my pocket. Aitor's first post had been up less than twenty minutes and was already spreading. Evan's was moving just as fast. 

I unlocked our door and stepped aside to let Garrett in.
“Go take a shower, love. You need to rest.”

“Are you saying I stink?” He smiled.

I kissed him and pretty much directed him toward the bathroom. “Oh yeah…”

He kissed me back with a goofy shrug. “Fair enough.”

The second the door closed behind him, I got to work.
Posts from our friends’ accounts were already appearing as I wrote about everything I was allowed to say. I encouraged people to stand by, to share, to pray.

I wrote about Garrett’s bravery. About speaking up when you were oppressed, abused, or silenced. About everyone still trapped in situations like his, being hurt, locked away, or looked down upon because of their beliefs, their gender, their sexual orientation, or their social status. I wrote about equality, freedom, and those who still didn’t have a voice.

Within seconds, responses began pouring in, and the numbers kept climbing.

People were awake. People were watching.

I closed the computer the moment my wolf came out of the bathroom, tired but beautiful, water dripping from his hair and the scent of his soap filling the room.

Enough fighting for today. Enough of the world.

I walked over and wrapped my arms around him. He pulled me closer as I kissed him, and I rested my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat beneath my ear.

For now, I had everything I needed right there, and all else could wait one more night.