Page 42 of Beauty and the Nerd
“He tagged along with some of the others, and I guess he thought he was untouchable or something, even after what he pled to with you,” Steve added.
“He assaulted at least two girls down there. He had no remorse at all about it when he was arrested, and they wouldn’t let his dad pull any favors down there.
With him on the list and having another case against him before that, he was facing a heftier charge, and he wouldn’t accept a plea.
They wouldn’t give him bail, knew he’d come back up here and hide if they let him out, so he was stuck in jail down there until the trial, which they finally had last month, and he was found guilty on two counts. ”
“Apparently Florida has some serious penalties and because he did it more than once it tacked on extra, so he was sentenced to like thirty years, because both of the girls they had his DNA on, ended up in the hospital,” David told them.
“They brought up all of the former charges against him, even though he somehow got off on the other, and with you pressing charges against him for what he did at New Year’s, there was no doubt in the jury’s mind. ”
“He tried to claim they must have had ‘consensual’ sex before they were attacked, but they also found his DNA under their fingernails and defensive scratches on him so he really should have taken their plea deal for five years of jail time,” Steve said shaking his head a bit and Emma’s heart ached for the girls he hurt, she was relieved he was in jail and couldn’t upset their visit this time.
“I haven’t seen anyone talking about it online,” Emma said as Ben’s hand ran down her arm, calming her a bit more.
“I got rid of all that shit freshman year. I flunked midterms because I was scrolling on shit rather than studying so I figured it had to go,” Steve said shrugging a bit at their surprise.
“I’m either in class, the gym, or playing ball so I don’t got the time for it either,” David added.
“I’d say most likely if no one was saying anything it’s because his dad paid off the guys he went down there with not to say anything, so most people don’t know.
I only do because one of the guys from the team got picked up for a drunk and disorderly and recognized the name of our town when the group in the drunk tank were talking about it. I told Steve and we looked it up.”
“Wow, I mean…definitely not what I was expecting but it’s the best place for him to be,” she said, resting her hand on Ben’s chest and the light bounced off her ring drawing their attention to it. “I’m guessing you didn’t see anything about us getting engaged last year then did you?”
“Definitely not,” David said. “You seriously got engaged during college?”
“Married actually,” she said, laughing at their expressions as Ben dropped a kiss to her temple.
“I proposed last year when we were in Hawaii at the end of May and we got married on September thirteenth,” Ben told them.
“Ben’s been working basically full-time over the summers for Cortland Finance.
Lyle Cort owns it, and he’s married to Emerson who owns Satin Touch.
I met Emerson and between her and Megan, they convinced me to do some modeling for the company.
Lyle stopped by after we were done and this guy knew who he was, so we had dinner with them after the second shoot, which led to him working with Lyle, and us going to Hawaii with them.
The guys had a four-day conference then some extra days to spend with us, and he proposed,” she said with a grin at their continued shock.
“We didn’t start making any plans for the wedding or really talking about until about a year ago, just to get a feeling on it.
The thirteenth is the day that we decided to work together during high school, and it’s where we really started to connect, so it was the perfect day it felt.
We told everyone else the date on New Year’s Day, and our wedding day was perfect.
Lyle was my best man, Emerson was Emma’s matron-of-honor, while Megan was her maid-of-honor, and we had some newer friends fill out the rest of the wedding party,” Ben said smiling when she pulled up her phone to show them the photos of it.
Including the one of the four of them that Emerson posted on the Satin Touch media page congratulating them.
“Damn, how’d your dad take it?” Steve asked as they passed the phone back to them.
“Good, he already knew Ben was going to propose, maybe not exactly when but that he was going it before he did and gave him his blessing.”
“After he’d already given me permission to move into the apartment with Emma that summer before I showed him the ring,” Ben said sending their surprise even higher and she loved how differently her dad reacted to Ben, how much he knew he’d never hurt her, would only love her.
“We’re staying with them for Christmas then taking about a weeklong honeymoon in St. Lucia. ”
“Congrats, I mean, if this what you all want, more power to ya. I can’t imagine working at all plus doing school, let alone being married plus it plus school.
You look happy, so we’re glad it all worked out,” David said letting them finish up their shopping with smiles, and they only grew when they told her parents and Megan about Carter that night at dinner.
“Hopefully he’ll get a little bit of jailhouse justice and learn his lesson,” Megan mused, and she wasn’t going to argue it.
They did a Christmas Eve dinner with Ben’s dad, the twins, his aunt, and uncle, and of course Megan at her parents’ house. It was a nice enjoyable evening, but she enjoyed being lazy on Christmas Day as they had leftovers and did family presents with the four of them even more.
“Have a great trip, just no honeymoon baby got it,” her mom teased as they dropped them off at the airport the next day.
“I promise, we’re not ready for a baby yet and we won’t be taking any chances.
We want to enjoy the next few years together before we even think about expanding our family,” she assured her, and over their week spent in St. Lucia she knew she really wanted extra time with just Ben.
With school and the work they were both doing they wouldn’t have time for a baby, let alone time together to grow into decent parents.
“What are you thinking, baby?” Ben asked as she traced shapes on his bare chest, a sheet barely covering their bottom halves, as the sweat on their skin began to dry.
“That as sweet as having a baby with you would be, we might have some work to do on ourselves and as a couple before we can be the parents they’d deserve,” she admitted as she met his gaze.
“I adore you and how you are with me, how you take care of little things for me I might forget, or remind me of them, but a baby…”
“Has to be taken care of completely, is not only a commitment of the heart but also of time. You can’t just quiet or block them if things get rough,” he said and she gave him a soft kiss, running her hand across the back of his neck.
“You know I don’t think you just gave up with how you handled things with your mom, even if I did suggest giving her more chances before conceding,” she said, and he lifted her face to his for another kiss.
“I know baby, and I know that you were suggesting it because you want me to have that same support you do with your parents. That you support it now, so I know you didn’t mean that you think I’m an awful person that gives up too easily.
I think you’re right that we both have some growing to do before we can be the parents we want to be.
I probably need to get an outside perspective about things that went on in my house and you need to accept that you’re absolutely brilliant on top of so completely gorgeous so you can be a confident mommy for the beautiful little girls we’re sure to have,” he returned, making her laugh because there was probably a lot more she needed to do before having his baby.
“Girls…plural?” she teased instead of arguing over it. They had plenty of time for that.
“If you only will give me one, I really want it to be a little girl, so I can show her the love she deserves every day with you. And, if we have more, I’d take two little girls in a heartbeat, baby.
A boy would be pretty cool, but little girls with you…
yeah, that’s what I’d want most,” he said, before showing her exactly how sweetly he could love her physically.