Page 14 of Saving Trinity
I laughed and smacked his stomach, making him grunt. “Woooow.”
He chuckled and dropped a kiss to the top of my head. “Too much?”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Just a bit, yeah.”
He hummed and tightened his arm around me. “It got you to smile.”
Yeah… it did. Fuck, I should have never friend-zoned this man. He was the only man capable of making me smile when it felt like my entire life was falling apart. How had I ever once thought we weren’t fucking inevitable?
Chapter Thirteen
Trinity
My hand shook as I did a Google search for the police department back home. Or back where Zac lived. I couldn’t really consider that city home any longer. Zac had ruined it for me. Now, it was a place tainted by what he’d done to me, and I wasn’t sure if I could ever return. At least, not willingly.
I’d probably have to return to testify against Zac in court, but I didn’t want to focus on that right then. At that moment, I just needed to focus on getting through this phone call with the officer in charge of my case to get the ball rolling on pressing charges.
“You’ve got this, baby,” Jimmie soothed, his hand smoothing down my spine. “I’m right here. All you have to do is tell the officer you want to press charges. That’s it.”
“That’s a lot easier said than done,” I croaked. Because making this phone call somehow felt like I was putting Zac right there in the room with us, and it was making me sick to my stomach. “I might puke,” I confessed.
“If you do, I’ll clean it up,” Jimmie promised, not a hint of teasing in his tone. But still, my lips tilted up just the tiniest bit at the corners. He clearly hadn’t meant to be funny, but it was amusing anyway. And it was the little bit of lifting up I needed for me to press the green icon on my screen that would set this whole thing into motion.
Jimmie grabbed my hand in his, lacing our fingers together as the phone began to ring. Then suddenly, the ringing stopped, and a female answered, “Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office. This is Tansy speaking. How can I help you?”
“Um, hi,” I croaked, hating how rough my voice sounded. But there wasn’t anything I could do about it. “I need to speak with Officer Wilcox. He’s in charge of my case.”
“Sure, honey. Hold one moment. You caught him just as he was getting ready to head out.”
My hand was sweating inside of Jimmie’s, but he didn’t seem to care. When my hand began to tremble, he just tightened his hold and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles, soothing me in a way only he’d ever been capable of doing.
“This is Officer Wilcox,” the officer who’d taken my statement the other night answered, ending the music that’d been playing over the line.
“Officer Wilcox, this is Trinity Lennon.” I roughly cleared my throat. “I spoke to you a couple of nights ago about my ex-fiancé r-r—” I couldn’t get the fucking word out— “sexually assaulting me,” I finally managed to spit out instead.
“Oh, Miss Lennon, hello. I hope you’re doing okay. Are you safe?”
“I’m safe,” I assured him. “My son’s father came and got me and my son and brought us home with him.”
“Good, good. What can I do for you?” I heard a chair creak in the background and a drawer shut.
“I…” I blew out a harsh breath, and my knee began to bounce. I was definitely going to throw up once this phone call was over. I’d never dealt with anything so stressful in my fucking life. Even telling my parents I was pregnant was easier than this, and they’d fucking kicked me out, leaving me homeless and afraid for my future. “I’d like to press charges against Zachary Vale.”
Officer Wilcox blew out a breath, sounding relieved. “I was hoping you would, Miss Lennon. A warrant will be issued for his arrest before the end of the day. I’ll give you a call when he’s locked up. Mind you, he may be released on bail, but I’ll push to get you and your son a restraining order against him, okay?”
A shiver of fear raced down my spine at his words. “Thank you.”
“Have a good day, Miss Wilcox. I’ll keep you up to date.”
As soon as the call was over, I lurched from the couch and rushed for the kitchen, vomiting into the trashcan. Jimmie was right behind me, and as soon as I bent over, gripping the sides of the white trashcan, he was holding my hair back for me, his other hand rubbing my back in soothing circles.
As soon as my stomach was empty, I collapsed to my knees and burst into tears. Jimmie sank to his knees with me and wrapped his arms around me, crushing me to his chest. I clung to him, sobs wracking my chest. My shoulders shook, and it fucking hurt to breathe.
“You’re so brave,” Jimmie whispered as he tucked my head beneath his chin. “My brave fucking girl. I’m so goddamn proud of you.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jimmie
