Page 73 of Jackson

My hands itched to hold him again. My dreams had been filled with his warm body tucked against mine, and waking up to a cold and empty bed every morning was devastating.

I didn’t believe in any form of a higher power, but today I was fucking praying as if I regularly dropped to my knees every goddamn Sunday.

“Ms. Cabone, I’m inclined to agree with you.” Judge Callahan’s arm swept over his desk at the stacks of paperwork from Ayen’s case file. “I’ve been going over the evidence that was previously labeled inadmissible and while I agree that adding it back in would’ve changed the outcome of the jury’s decision to convictMr. Gonzalez, I’m not sure I agree with a re-trial. I feel it’d just be dragging out the inevitable.”

My head was growing fuzzy from not breathing. The entirety of my body was frozen, unable to move to even begin to force myself to pull in some much-needed air.

How could I when in a single second, everything could change?

This was a moment in time that I’d never forget, no matter what the outcome was at the end of it.

My gaze was glued to the back of Ayen’s head, his hair shaggy and longer since that last time I’d seen him. I longed to run my fingers through it, to tangle them in the soft lengths and watch his body relax and him begin to fall asleep from the attention.

I was grateful that other than that, he didn’t look any worse off than when I’d seen him in person last. Fighting with myself constantly to not show up at SAC’s doors and visit him had been the biggest struggle of my life. Letters were getting me through the weeks only so much, and if he was going back to prison again today, I might just jump over the bench and fight one of the officers myself to get thrown in there with him.

“Your Honor,” Nina said. “My client’s been serving for two and a half years and has been a model inmate. He recently rescued a fellow inmate during a work program incident that saved both of their lives.”

Judge Callahan nodded slowly. “Mr. Gonzalez.”

Ayen’s shoulders visibly tensed. “Yes, Your Honor.”

“Reviewing your case file, I found that a lot of the testimonies that you gave were compelling. I’m not sure what caused you to get involved with a man who was almost twice your age,but upon reviewing what you said about your relationship with him, I’m really struggling to make sense of what compelled the previous court’s decision with not including that background.”

Ayen’s head bobbed as he nodded.

“Given that it was pretty clear that you were not in a safe spot at the time of the crime, I’m compelled to dismiss you with time served and a sentencing of probation instead, which I think is what should’ve happened in the first place.” Judge Callahan sat back in his chair. “A minimum of five years probation and a ban on owning and operating firearms. I also want you to undergo a psychiatric eval upon release and have that submitted to the courts as well.”

“Thank you, Your Honor,” Nina said as the gavel was slammed down on the sound block.

Ayen’s head snapped to the side to look at her, clearly just as shocked as I felt.

Holy fuck, she did it.

He’s fucking free.

My legs were numb when I finally pushed myself up from the hard wooden bench. Nina reached out to steady Ayen as he climbed to his feet, one of the bailiffs coming around with a key to unlock his cuffs from him.

My baby bird was coming home.

The rest of the courtroom seemed completely unfazed while the next case number was called forward, and Nina and Ayen were quickly ushered out through the same side door Ayen had come through when he’d first been called in.

I followed after them from the public side of the court, pushing through the double doors to the main entryway into the courthouse. The marbled floors echoed softly from jogging in the leather loafers that I’d stuffed myself in to blend in with the rest of the gallery.

I didn’t often find myself in a suit and tie, however I wanted to make today special. I’dhopedtoday would be special.

Fuck, I can’t believe he’s free.

Coming around to the backside of the private rooms, I stopped short at seeing two officers caging Ayen in while they spoke to him. One of them was giving him a small box of things while the other had the cuffs he’d previously been chained in swinging from his hands.

Nina was nowhere in sight, but that meant she was probably off signing paperwork or something to make it all official or however it worked on cases like this.

Ayen clutched the box in his arms tightly to his chest, turning at the sound of me making my way down the hallway. His eyes went wide again in the same way they had when he’d spotted me in the gallery.

Forcing myself to slow into a casual walk, I raised my hand to both officers as I approached them. “Afternoon, gentlemen.”

“He here to pick you up?” one of them asked Ayen.

“That’s right,” I answered for him.

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