Page 74 of Jackson

Smoothing my tie against my chest, I brushed my arm with Ayen’s when I stopped just next to him. He vibrated against me, the shaking in his body barely detectable if I wasn’t standing soclose to him. Thankfully, I was within arm’s length if he dropped from the sudden adrenaline crash.

“Is... is that all?” Ayen asked.

One of the officers shrugged. “Just make sure you get your paperwork before leaving.”

Subtly, I put a hand on the small of his back, coaxing him to lean into my side just in case he began to waver on his feet. He wasn’t worrying me just yet, but as soon as the officers turned around, I was going to sweep him up into my arms so he could fully relax.

The stress of being in court, the anxiety of waiting for a decision. It was a lot to handle even if the outcome was exactly what we’d hoped for.

The box in his hands wasn’t filled with much. Just a change of clothes and some personal items, most likely from when he’d first gone into jail over two years ago. Luckily, I’d done up a whole closet for him back at my place that was filled with new clothes and shoes. Some sizes I’d guessed on, but as long as he was comfortable, it didn’t matter.

“Have a good day, gentlemen.” I forced a warm smile on my face.

As soon as they stepped away, so did Ayen, surprising me. He bent and set his box down carefully by my feet, his SAC uniform bunching around his midsection from how oversized it was.

When he straightened up, his eyes were filled with tears. “You came...”

Oh, my baby bird.

Cupping his face with both of my hands, I brought him back in again. “Of course I did.”

“You wore a suit...”

“Had to give us some good luck.”

He let out a watery laugh. “A suit is good luck?”

“My tie is. But it felt a little weird wearing one over a plain t-shirt.”

Ayen buried his face in my chest, wrapping his arms around my waist to squeeze me tight enough to crack my back.

“Come here,” I said, and lifted him clean off his feet.

He laughed in delight, clinging to me while I spun us around a few times. We probably looked absolutely ridiculous celebrating in the middle of a courthouse like that, but I couldn’t bring myself to really care.

It wasn’t every day that a damn murder charge was appealed to time served and a few years of probation.

What was that in the face of spending another three years behind bars when now, Ayen couldactuallybegin his life over again?

Fucking priceless, in my opinion.

I owed Nina the most luxurious vacation known to man. Hell, I owed her a brand new Mercedes and a newly built house on top of that, too.

“Guys,” came Nina’s very unimpressed voice. “Seriously. We’re in a courthouse. Have some fucking decorum.”

Ayen breathed out another laugh when I finally set him down again and he wrapped a hand around my tie to tug me down intoa chaste kiss. I wanted to fucking melt against those plush lips of his.

Unfortunately, she was right, though. As usual.

“Sorry,” I said, and instead, put a hand on Ayen’s back again. “We all set?”

She waved a giant stack of papers at us. “Yup. You’re a free man, kid.”

“I can’t believe it.” Ayen rubbed his hands over his face a few times. “You actually did it...”

“Wedid.” Nina nodded to me. “He’s been my errand bitch for the past few weeks.”

Honestly, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat. Even if the outcome was different than this, he would always be worth it to me. Doinganythingfor Ayen would be worth it, no matter what I got in return.

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