Page 14 of Guilty As Charged (Love and Lawyers #3)
Chapter Fourteen
SPENCER
“T here are too many people,” I say to Scout as I watch more fans gather around Abbie.
“Can you see her?” Scout is tall, but not nearly as tall as I am. She’s craning her neck to see over the tops of people's heads. The more that gather around Abbie, the farther we get pushed out and the harder it is for her to see.
“Yeah, but I think it’s time to put an end to this.” I go to take a step in Abbie’s direction, but Scout puts her hand on my arm to stop me.
“Wait, this is a big moment for her. I want her to be safe, but maybe we should let her enjoy this.”
Scout looks at the crowd nervously, and I can see she’s torn between letting Abbie have her moment and keeping her safe. When it comes to Abbie, there’s only one choice for me, and that’s always going to be protecting her.
“It’s okay,” I tell Scout. “I got this.”
“Lead the way, Superman.”
I’m almost seven feet tall, so when I walk through a crowd, people see me coming.
But wearing a Superman costume is a whole new way to get noticed.
As I tell people I’m coming through, the crowd parts, and I have a direct line to Abbie.
When she sees me, she looks relieved, and I know I’ve made the right decision.
“Trust me,” I tell her, and she nods.
“Always.”
I turn around to face the crowd and talk as loud as I can without screaming. “If you want to take a picture with Delphine, she’ll be at table twenty-two where you can form a line that won’t make the fire chief angry.” People in the crowd chuckle as I reach behind me and take Abbie’s hand. “Ready?”
She looks confused for half a second until I grab her by the hips and lift her above my head.
Then she lets out a little squeak as I place her ass on my shoulder so she can perch on it like a goddess.
The crowd starts whooping and whistling as I walk in the direction of her table assignment on the map.
With Abbie sitting on my shoulder, she’s taller than everyone, and people can see her coming from across the convention center.
Hundreds of people form a crowd behind me as I hold her up for all eyes to see.
This is her moment, and she deserves to be in the spotlight. It’s my job to make sure that happens.
People have started cheering and clapping when they see her, and when we round the corner to where her table is located, all eyes turn our way. Including those around Geoff’s table.
It’s the one directly beside where Abbie has been assigned, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone that was waiting to see Geoff has moved away and is coming over to meet the incredible Delphine.
“He’s here,” Abbie says, and I squeeze her hip, letting her know I see him and that I’ve got her.
“And he’s shitting himself.” I almost laugh at the sight of Geoff at his table. He’s gone completely pale, and he’s totally alone.
When I get to the table, I make a show of placing Abbie on top of it for a second.
She waves to the crowd, and their roar of excitement is deafening.
Once I put her back on the ground, Scout is at her side to help control the line so people come up one at a time while I stand by and act as security.
I’ve got my eye on Geoff when I feel my cell phone buzz. It’s hidden in the back pocket of my cape, and I pull it out to see a message from Taylor. I grin to myself as I put my phone back in my cape and go over to Abbie.
Bending low so only she can hear me, I whisper in her ear, “You’re going to want to watch this.”
Just then Taylor appears, but nobody would know it’s him. He’s wearing a Deadpool costume complete with a mask that hides his face. Abbie, Scout, and I watch as Taylor pretends to ask for an autograph, then passes Geoff the papers and informs him he’s been served.
But before Taylor walks away, he directs Geoff's attention to the jumbotron screen that’s high over our heads in the rafters. They must use this place for indoor sporting events because it’s in the middle of everything and huge.
“What’s going on?” Abbie says a second before a video starts.
“I think this is what Scout was talking about,” I say and wrap my arms around her from behind.
A man comes on the video and starts talking about the story he wrote.
The same story Geoff stole from him. He shows images of straight plagiarism before it fades to another person.
A woman is next, and she has almost the same story as the one before, including Geoff stealing from her and passing it off as his own.
The crowd is totally silent as one after another comes forward and unmasks Geoff’s deceit.
Lastly, there’s a video of Abbie dressed as Delphine, then screen shots of the harassment she received online.
People in the crowd start to boo at all the hate but then go silent when the video shows that Geoff is the one that was making the comments.
You could hear a pin drop as the slides keep going, and then there’s a loud gasp.
The next photos are of Geoff stalking us when we were at the house in the country.
I’d called Taylor that night after we got home and told him I had a feeling he was watching us.
He had security do a sweep, and sure enough, he was there, trying to find Abbie and get her alone.
The photos of Geoff in the bushes and sitting in his car watching us are creepy as fuck, and I feel Abbie shiver in my arms.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you.” I kiss her cheek, and she relaxes into me, giving me her trust while I keep her safe. “The world knows what he did to you, and I’m going to make sure he pays for it. He pays for all of it.”
Abbie turns in my arms, and I see unshed tears in her eyes. “Thank you.”
“I love you, Abbie,” I blurt out. This wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to go, but I need her to know.
I need her to understand that there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to make her happy.
“You’re my soul mate, and I knew it from the moment we met.
You were meant to be mine, and if you’ll let me, I swear to love and honor you for the rest of my life. ”
“Spencer,” she gasps before a few tears finally fall. “I love you too.” She hardly gets the words out before I’m pressing my lips to hers.
The sound of the crowd cheering startles both of us, and I don’t know how I could have forgotten we weren’t alone. We laugh as we kiss again, but I force myself to hold back. They can see her get a kiss, but the rest is for my eyes only.
There’s a ruckus at the table beside us, and we look over in time to see the cops cuffing Geoff.
He’s pissed off and yelling that they can’t arrest him, but with all the people that claimed he stole from them, there’s a good chance he’s going to see some jail time.
Not to mention the charges we got against him for breach of contract, online harassment, and now stalking.
“It’s over,” Abbie says as she cups my face. “All thanks to my Superman.”
“You’re the real hero,” I tell her. “I’m just the cute sidekick.”
“You are pretty dang cute.” She pulls me in for another quick kiss, and then Scout clears her throat.
“Um, guys, could you save that for later? We’ve got a few hundred people here that want a selfie.”
“Time to get to work,” I say and straighten behind Abbie. “I’ve got a feeling you’re about to have a lot of new commissions.”