Page 21 of Katie 3 (Desires #6)

Chapter nineteen

I ’m going to be sick. I thought this all happened before my mother, before I was in the picture. But… but they did it… fuck…

“No further questions.”

Carter rises again, buttons up his jacket, and steps away from the table.

“Miss Bardin, were there any other reasons for the split?” Carter asks, and my brows furrow as hers drop, an angry glint flowing through her eyes.

“As I can’t speak about the sealed files, no.”

“Let me fill it in for you then. You signed a contract, didn’t you?”

“Yes, it—”

Carter holds up his hand to shush her. “It said what was expected of you in this consensual relationship, right?”

“Yes.” She nods, her jaw set.

“And who broke this contract?”

“I did,” she mutters.

“Why and how did you do that?”

Her lips remain sealed, pressed tightly together as her stare breaks and flits to Brad.

“Look at me, Brandy,” Carter says, his voice dropping low and sending a trail of goosebumps over my arms. “Answer my question.”

She swallows. “I wanted… Brad for myself. And I… went about it the wrong way.”

Carter hums. “How?”

“I filed a report, that he… raped me.”

Murmurs erupt again and the judge’s hammer slams down to force them to silence.

“And did he?” Carter asks.

Her eyes narrow and snap to Brad just briefly. “No, he didn’t.”

The nausea hasn’t dropped as I do the math. They went from her, to… me. The same rules, the same games.

I’m nothing special.

And that thought digs its way into my soul, forcing the doubt to spread.

“No further questions,” Carter says, and as he turns to walk to his side, his eyes meet mine. There’s a smile there, a nod, probably to ease away the hurt. But it doesn’t work.

I’m too much away from it all, I don’t even notice that they call my name until a slight tap on my shoulder zaps me out of the dark.

I’m called again, forced to swear in, then sat there. Where she just sat. Fitting maybe… I don’t know anymore.

My eyes find my mother again. Her face is hard, set in anger. Did she know? She warned me about Brad’s troubles—she must have meant with Brandy. But did she also know her husband was fucking her?

I blink my stare away and find Brad. I take in his bruises and cut lip as he shuffles in his seat. He smiles very slightly and mouths “ I love you .”

Rather than answer, I look at Henry as he approaches.

Here we go, right?

He asks the questions he prepared me for, asking about my relationship with Brad, bringing up that it started when we were still stepsiblings, which I agree with.

I talk about being a student, about Dan constantly getting closer to me and ignoring my soft rejections until I didn’t feel safe around him and told Brad, leading to the punch.

“Objection, speculation,” the prosecutor calls.

“I can’t say that?” I ask the judge. “It’s what happened.”

The judge speaks up. “Overruled.”

Then the questions get harder.

Henry steps closer and makes his voice gentle. “Is there anything else relating to this case that you’d like to share before it can come up?”

I nibble my bottom lip. This is it. There’s no hiding, no escape.

“I’m also seeing Carter and um… I’m really…

happy with both of them. My mom found out and divorced…

y-you. We’ve been living together and Brad’s been working so hard on managing his temper.

I know it can flare up, but only when he…

loves someone.” There’s weight and truth.

With all I heard, he never did something like this for her, for Brandy.

I peek over Henry’s shoulder and my realization is noticed by Brad as he winks at me.

I clear my throat and finish. “When he cares and wants to protect someone. I know that doesn’t always make it okay, but he’s been working so hard to control it. He wouldn’t do this.”

“Objection!”

Any time I try to speak to Brad’s innocence, it’s an objection, that I’m biased, slander, speculation. By the time we finish with the questions, I’m exhausted. I look at the judge. “Can I have a break please? This is… a lot.”

The judge notices me touch my belly and nods once. “Ten-minute recess.”

“Katie!” Brad calls.

I look at him. I hate seeing him so beaten up, but it proves what I know. He’s trying to be better. The past isn’t something I can change, but Brad is proving the future will be different.

Brad

The prosecution is ruthless. They try to get her to say that she wanted Dan hurt, that she saw him in the woods, try to trip her up with questions that sound the same, but are different. I see her nervousness getting to her. And Brandy’s words haven’t helped one bit for her.

“So you would say your boyfriend is violent, that’s what you’re saying?”

Her brow furrows. “I didn’t say that, and you have to be more specific. I mean, I’m dating Carter too and he’s—”

“Only Carter? We’ve heard Brandy’s story; are you fucking their dad too—”

“Objection, relevance,” Carter speaks up.

“It gives us the whole story, the power dynamics in their relationship,” the prosecutor says and the judge nods to continue.

“Is it true you’re also in a romantic relationship with your stepfather?”

Fuck.

“He’s not my stepfather,” she answers, but it says enough.

“So you weren’t intimate with him while he was married to your mother?”

“Objection, relevance, Your Honor,” Carter calls out again.

“I only want to get the full picture, Your Honor,” the prosecutor says.

“Your Honor, this has nothing to do with this case,” Carter says.

“Focus back on the case, prosecutor,” the judge says.

The prosecutor smiles and tosses me the next question. “You said that Brad can lose his temper, that he can get violent. That he’s having to work to control it, right?”

My fists curl under the table. I hate seeing her like this. I hate how he drives her into a corner.

“I didn’t say that he’s violent. Boys fight all the time. A punch is the beginning and end of a fight for them.”

“That’s violent, isn’t it? If someone had a reputation for punching people over problems, you’d call them violent,” the prosecutor pushes.

“You’re simplifying and it’s—”

They go back and forth, wanting her to give one-word answers and she won’t.

She’s strong even though she’s shaking and terrified.

She takes every opportunity to gush over me.

She asks questions right back to the prosecutor, asking if a violent man would hold her while she cries.

She asks if a violent man would regularly make date nights and get worried if he’s too rough even when that’s what she wants.

The more she talks me up, the more my heart leaps into my throat and reminds me I’m not worthy of her.

My dad traces his hand over the table, his shoulders low. “She’s doing well, right?” I whisper to him.

“Not good enough,” he whispers back and slips out. My brows furrow together and Katie’s eyes track him too.

“Did you hear me?” the prosecutor asks, snapping me back.

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Where were you on the night in question—when you were supposedly in the woods with Brad, apparently having sex while seeing Dan strung up. Or perhaps I should say while your boyfriend was rapin—”

“Objection!” Carter yells. “Your Honor, if this isn’t leading the witness and creating a story, I don’t know what is.”

“Sustained,” the judge says with a nod. “The jury will disregard the leading and, prosecutor, you’re on thin ice.”

He nods and focuses back on Katie. “Where were you on the night in question?”

Katie thinks about it and I can tell it makes the prosecutor sure he has an easy win. “Well, it was a weeknight, right? It’s been a while, so it’s hard to remember with school and keeping up with everything.”

The prosecutor reads the date, then Katie nods and ducks her head slightly, looking sheepish. “It was date night. Brad went to the gym for a bit, then he came home. We left the house together and um… well…”

“Where did you go? Where are the receipts? Where are the witnesses?” he pushes.

Katie’s blush deepens. “There wouldn’t have been witnesses.

We drove out into the country and laid in the grass under the stars.

He apologized for being so stressed out lately, spending so much time at the gym and not seeing me so often.

He pointed out some constellations, but he was wrong.

Orion’s belt only shows in winter. We kissed and… more happened.”

“We need specifics, can you please elaborate?” the prosecutor insists.

“We had sex,” Katie meets his eyes with barely hidden defiance that turns me on so much I’m thankful for sitting behind a desk.

“Consensually. It was rough, it was exciting, I yelled his name over and over again. I’m surprised no one heard.

We’re… exhibitionists, but Brad would never let anyone else see or hear me.

When we’re in that mood, I’m his and only his. ”

“You’re aware perjury is punishable by law,” the prosecutor warns.

“Yes,” Katie answers, then looks to the judge. “I have proof.”

He blinks at her. “What?”

“Yeah. I mean… sometimes we take pictures or videos. I don’t really want to share that. I think it’s porn. But I also know where we went. The farmer there yelled at us once,” she says.

She’s not lying. We enjoyed plenty of places but there’s this one spot we’ve come back multiple times. And the farmer there doesn’t have the best memory. She gives the name of the farm, pulls up the map of the property, and shows where we’d always park.

I hear a scoff in the audience and I’m sure it’s her mother.

The prosecutor snorts, then smirks. “Well, I think there’s a very easy way to prove this. Dan is certain he heard you say something specific and if it’s not true, it will clear everything up.”

The color drains from my face. She said she was pregnant. She said it loudly. If he knows when we haven’t told anyone… then that’s the end of it. It’s not like Katie can deny it. Her body won’t back that lie.

Katie doesn’t give me a panicked look—she just looks confused. This is the end. That’s why Dad left. He knew it was going to come to this no matter how good on the stand Katie was.

Just as the prosecutor is about to demand her answer, the speakers crackle across the courtroom. The prosecutor looks around just as Dan’s voice fills the space. No. Not this. Please not this. Katie doesn’t need to hear—

“She’s a whore and I’m sure a few drinks, maybe a little… relaxing, and she can take all of us,” Dan’s voice comes in loud and clear

“If she’s got a boyfriend, hell no,” someone else says. “Plus, I don’t want to see all your dicks.”

“I bet you’d like to tape it. Imagine the money we could make pushing that around.

The real Girls Gone Wild. Seeing her take dick after dick.

We could run a train on her, use her all night, see what else we can fit inside her.

I bet we could do a whole lot with a whore like her, ” Dan continues over the speakers while the prosecutor starts yelling to turn that off as the courtroom erupts.

“Imagine all seven of us taking turns with her. I bet we could try plenty of things she hasn’t done, use her until we deliver her back to her boyfriend all stretched out, covered in our marks, with new internet fame. ”

“Order! Order,” the judge says and slams his hammer down, again and again. The speakers die down and the judge shakes his head.

“Both of you.” He curls his finger and Carter and the prosecution step up. And it seems the jurors have forgotten all about what was going to be asked and are staring daggers at Dan.

The whispers and murmurs won’t stop and no matter how much the judge calls order, there’s no way to regain the calm in the room. The jurors are furious with Dan, accuse him of perjury, others demand to put him on trial, while Katie’s eyes water and she sinks between her shoulders.

A sly smile tugs on my lips, I know Dad did it.

I know he didn’t tell me or Carter because we would have argued against it.

I know he didn’t tell the prosecution. It’s a dirty fucking trick, but I know it’s going to work based on Dan’s horror, his father snarling behind him, and the way the prosecutor is pleading.

“In my chambers!” the judge finally yells. “Remove the jury!”