Page 46 of Savage in the Streets
I want to tell her. I want to scream to the world that this Savage girl is mine, and no one else can have her.
But…I’m scared. She’s so beautiful—so primal. Why would she ever want me?
“Ashton,” she says weakly.
“Yeah?”
“Never let me go.”
I kiss her sweetly on the forehead, and curl her body into mine.
“Never.”
Chapter 12
Bailey
After a weekend full of bliss,Monday comes, ushering with it painful reality.
Today, we meet with the judge, who can quite literally decide at any moment to throw me in a ten-by-ten and leave me to rot until my trial.
Sunday evening, Mabel came to give me a makeover. I apologized to her for how I’d acted, but she brushed it off like it was nothing.
“That’s what friends do,” she said. “They act a fool, and then you get over it.”
Ashton and her had some words privately, both emerging with red-rimmed eyes.
We really need to treat her better. She shouldn’t be so forgiving, but I’m thankful she is.
Ashton didn’t want me to cut off my dreadlocks, but if I want to avoid going to prison, I have to play the role of pristine, trusting, easy to manipulate woman.
My black polish is exchanged for millennial pink. My eyebrows are redrawn. Every visible tattoo I have from head to toe is covered.
I go from sinner to saint. To a woman worthy of forgiveness.
Because justice is a joke.
When the police come to escort me to the courthouse, Ashton says reassuring words meant to comfort me.
But something doesn’t feel right. There’s fear in his eyes. He tries to mask it, but it’s there. Palpable.
If he’s as good as his reputation claims, and he’s worried…I should be terrified.
Now, sitting in the courthouse with a wig on my head, looking like a preschool teacher, it hits me just how serious this is.
This whole time, I knew I could go away for years, but I had assumed that my father would be so sloppy that his web of lies would quickly untangle. Unfortunately, it looks like the threads will hold. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the upcoming months. This is only a pretrial conference, and I feel like my heart is damn near beating out of my chest.
Thankfully, it’s Ashton that does the talking, explaining to them that he’s still gathering evidence and that it will be a while before we are ready to head to court.
“Your Honor, in the interest of full disclosure, I’d also like to point out that my client has a new address she’d been staying at before she was apprehended.”
The judge’s brow lifts. “New address. Why wasn’t this brought up sooner?”
“My client was in shock from the egregious allegations made against her. Since it is the apartment above her business, Savage Beauty, she had assumed you were aware of it.”
Mr. Alvarez, the prosecutor, has some words on the matter, but I tune him out as Ashton had advised me to. Anything that could risk my composure, I’m to ignore. I must maintain complete control.
After more arguing, the wordplea dealcatches my attention.
