“It’s your pussy, Sir.” He kissed her again, slanting his lips over hers and crushing her mouth as she fucked her tongue against his.
“Whose clit did I just torture?”
“Your clit, Sir.”
“That’s right. And what is my rule about my clit, my pussy, and my ass?”
“Only Sir’s allowed to make me come.” She felt like she was caught in a delicious free-fall, her swollen clit rubbing against his body as he lay there. Sometimes he could fuck one more out of her, sometimes not, but it was always fun for him to try.
He kissed her again. “That’s right, sweetheart. Such a good girl for me.” He took a short, hard thrust, pulling a gasp out of her and nearly making her come. Realizing that, he took it as challenge accepted and was able to quickly fuck one last, small orgasm out of her before he buried his cock in her and emptied his balls.
Falling still on top of her, he pressed his forehead against hers even as he felt around for the clip and unhooked her wrists.
She immediately wrapped her arms and legs around him, kissing him, knowing that what they’d done tonight would translate into at least two days’ worth of lower pain levels.
“Better, baby?” he whispered against her lips.
“You always make it better, Sir.”
* * * *
Walt unhooked her TENS unit and helped her up and into the bathroom. After cleaning up, they returned to bed. She immediately fell asleep in his arms while he lay there and thought about the secret.
If I tell her, and it doesn’t come back in Louis’ favor, it’ll crush her.
But Kimbra has to tell Louis eventually. She’s obligated as his lawyer.
The longer he waited to tell Holly, the worse it’d be if the tests didn’t come back proving Louis was innocent.
But he didn’t have the heart to tell her and risk undoing all the progress she’d made lately.
Long after she’d fallen asleep, he stared at the ceiling.
Please don’t let me have fucked up the best thing I ever had by not telling her.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Walt had just finished a hearing evaluation on a two-year-old girl when he returned to his office to find his cell phone ringing on his desk. Unfortunately, by the time he reached it, it’d stopped ringing.
Kimbra.
He immediately called her back and got her voice mail.
“Dammit,” he muttered. He walked over to his office door to shut it when the phone rang in his hand. As he closed the door, he thumbed the answer button. “Sorry, I almost grabbed it in time.”
“You gonna wanna to be sittin’ down for this.”
It’d been three weeks since Kimbra had overseen the transfer of the evidence to the lab courier, and the lab confirmed receipt of the pieces. Only certain labs could do that kind of testing, were certified to handle police evidence and not break the chain of custody.
Meaning the results would be accepted as evidence in court.
Walt returned to his office chair and sank into it…his heart sinking, too, at Kimbra’s tone. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong?”
“Yeah. I know that tone of voice.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. Hold on.”
She was gone for a moment, all while Walt’s heart pounded in his throat and he thanked higher powers he didn’t really give a shit about that he hadn’t said anything to Holly about the DNA testing. This would give him time to figure out how to break it to her.
When Kimbra returned to the line, she sounded lighter. “Sorry, my office door was open and I had several people talking out in the hallway.”
“What?”
“Got the test results back.”
“You’re not a sadist, so just tell me, please.”
“We got him.”
He closed his eyes. “Got who?”
“Salazar, that slimy fucking bastard. The DNA on the rings and watch was Sarah and Holly’s, and a tiny bit of Louis’. Combined with the autopsy report findings of the DNA under Sarah’s nails, the samples the ER scraped from under Holly’s nails when she was admitted, and the pictures of the wounds on Jason’s arms and face, there’s no judge in the world who wouldn’t look at this evidence and at the very least grant our motion for a new trial.”
The breath whooshed out of him. “Really?”
“Seriously. I got that son of a bitch nailed to the wall now. On top of them holding back discovery evidence, and ineffective defense, this will set Louis free. I’d bet my house on it.”
“When are you filing? And when can I tell Holly?”
“You can tell her right now. I’m putting a few finishing touches on the motions and walking them down to the clerk’s office myself to file. I don’t know how long it’ll take me to get it on the judge’s docket, though, but that’s my next stop after the clerk’s office. Might take a couple of weeks. Hopefully sooner. I’m going to ask for an emergency hearing. It depends on the judge’s calendar.”
Walt was still stuck on the main bombshell. “I can tell her?”
“Yeah. I’m going to email you a PDF file of the lab findings and the summary sheet. I’m already working on a subpoena for the lab tech. Thank god they’re only up in Tampa and not far.”
“This proves Louis was telling the truth?” he asked, just to make sure he wasn’t hearing what he wanted to hear.
“You goin’ deaf now?” She laughed. “This proves it. They popped stones out of one of the rings and found Sarah’s blood and tissue under the stone. That’s not just transfer DNA. The only way that could have gotten there was if Jason punched her, consistent with her injuries. And there was none of Louis’ DNA under either woman’s nails. Only Jason’s. This is conclusive proof.”
He closed his eyes and fought the urge to cry. Part of him wanted to cancel his appointments for the rest of the day and go tell Holly right that minute, but he knew he could wait another couple of hours.
“You all right?” Kimbra asked.
“How long until we can get him home, then?”
“As soon as we get a hearing would be the earliest. Then it depends if I can get them to vacate the sentence, or at least order a new trial and ROR him, or release him on bond.”
“Okay. Anything else I need to pass on to Holly when I tell her?”
“Yeah.” Kimbra giggled. “Tell her Momma and Papi are gonna want to throw the biggest welcome home party you ever saw.”
* * * *
Holly was glad she’d let Walt talk her into driving her to work today.
Truth be told, she wasn’t feeling that well. A morning full of irate and rude customers had rounded out her stress and she felt like maybe she was on her way to a flare.
Maybe she needed to start blogging about Louis’ case and hope that some news agency would pick it up and follow it. Kimbra was great, but even though Holly was all too familiar with how slow the wheels of justice turned, even this felt…glacial.
If it wasn’t for Walt by her side, she knew she’d be close to a mental breakdown.
In her gut, Holly suspected Kimbra was Louis’ best and last chance at a new trial. If the tenacious woman couldn’t make it happen, likely no one else could, either.
Which would mean…
The thought of giving up nearly made her burst into tears.
How could she enjoy her life if her brother was stuck in prison? It didn’t matter that Louis had given her his blessings to live her life. It wasn’t fair.
And the next person who told her life wasn’t fair, Holly was tempted to cunt-punch them, whether they possessed that particular piece of anatomy or not.
A miscarriage of justice wasn’t the same as your damn ice cream falling off the cone and hitting the ground, or getting picked last for dodgeball.
By the time Holly left work and made her way downstairs, she felt wrung out, defeated, and knew she’d need Walt to use the TENS unit on her tonight. Her shoulders felt like one huge, painful knot on either side of her spine, and her nerves had been
frayed down to the core.
All she wanted to do was soak in a hot tub and then curl up in bed.
Walt was parked there, and got out to open the passenger side door of his truck for her. But when he got back in, even though the truck was running for the AC, he made no move to buckle up or shift it into reverse and leave.
Instead, he turned to face her.
Her heart sank in her chest as he gently cupped her hands in his and held them to his chest. Usually that gesture filled her with love and warm fuzzies, but today there was something different about him.
“I need to talk to you about something,” he quietly said.
“Okay?”
“I had to keep something back from you. I hope when I finish telling you the whole story that you won’t be mad at me.”
A chill filled her despite the heat outside. “What?”
He seemed to need a moment to find the strength to look her in the eyes. “I accidentally let it slip to Terrie about Louis.”
“What?”
“And then she set up a meeting for me and Kimbra with her and Lynn and Ed.”
“What are you saying?” She literally couldn’t process where this was going.
“Kimbra found three rings and a watch in the evidence list that were taken off Jason by the coroner, logged in as evidence, and never tested for DNA. They were still there, in the evidence vault. But to get them tested was going to cost upwards of twenty thousand dollars. We didn’t tell you about that, because we were trying to figure out how to pay for the testing and—”
“And you let it slip to Terrie about Louis,” she numbly finished.
“I didn’t mean to, honestly. It was that night we were over at their house with everyone that Friday. She asked me if we were going to be at Sigalo’s the next night, and I wasn’t thinking and said that we couldn’t because we were going to visit Louis. Of course, then she asked well, who’s that? And…”
He sighed. “I’m sorry. I know I promised not to tell anyone about him and I screwed up. I told her everything, including that I was looking into refinancing my mortgage to pay for the DNA testing. Terrie called me and set up a meeting for us.”
“When did this happen?”
“The next Monday. So nearly four weeks ago.”
“And?”
“I begged them not to say anything to you because if the testing was inconclusive, I was never going to tell you about it. I’m sorry. Kimbra and I kept this all from you, and from Louis. She wanted to say something and I wouldn’t let her. So please don’t be mad at her, be mad at me.”
“So…what happened?”
“Kimbra got the results back today.” He kissed her hands and stared into her eyes. “Baby, they prove Louis was telling the truth. It’s nearly all your DNA and your mom’s DNA on the rings and watch. It proves Jason is the one who beat the two of you.”
Her vision doubled, tripled as tears filled her eyes. He carefully took her glasses off and set them on the dash, then pulled her into his arms.
“Kimbra’s already working on the motions. She’s filing them today and we have to wait for a hearing. She said this should get Louis free on bond, at least, until there’s a new trial.”
Her chest hurt, her mind spun. She couldn’t be hearing him right. “Free?” she whispered.
“Yeah. Free.”
She realized she was sobbing, crying as he rocked her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I knew it’d crush you if we were wrong. I didn’t want to do that to you. But we’re going to get him home, baby.”
Home…
She closed her eyes and tightly clung to him as she cried against his shoulder.
* * * *
Walt nuzzled the top of her head and hoped he hadn’t blown her trust in him. “We can stop by Kimbra’s office on the way home,” he said. “I’m sorry that I kept this from you, but—”
She grabbed his head and kissed him, hard, snot and all.
He didn’t care.
She wouldn’t let go, either, digging her fingers into the back of his head, into his scalp, fucking his mouth with her tongue. After a moment her hands dropped, fisting his shirt, holding him there.
Finally, he took control, one arm slipping around her, his hand buried in her hair and holding on tightly until he could lift his lips from hers.
“So…do you forgive me?” She tried to pull him in for another kiss, but he tipped his head back, just out of reach. “I’m serious, Hol. Are we good?”
“Only if you fucking kiss me again, you jerk.”
He did, this time fully in control of it. “I might have to spank you for calling me a jerk,” he mumbled against her mouth without breaking their kiss.
“Good,” she mumbled back. “Then I’ll call you a bunch of other names and make it completely worth it.”
He started laughing and pulled her in for a hug. “Baby, I’m sorry I kept it from you. I was afraid you’d get your heart broken again and I couldn’t stand to do that to you.”
She finally sat up and stared into his eyes. “How much did the testing cost?”
“Eighteen thousand dollars.”
A gasp escaped her. “What?”
“Exactly why I didn’t want you to know. Because at first I didn’t know how to pay for it, then I didn’t know what the results were going to be.”
She blinked. “What if Lynn hadn’t offered to pay for it?”
“I was going to refinance my house and maybe max out my credit cards. If that didn’t get us everything we needed, I was going to ask Papi for a loan.”
Her tears started again as she let him pull her against him. “This was going to happen, no matter how I had to make it happen. Kimbra thought maybe she could get partial financing, to test at least one of the rings, from the non-profit group she does work for. But we were going to make it happen.”
“Oh, my god,” she whispered. “He’s coming home.”
He nuzzled his face in her hair. “He’s coming home.”
“I love you,” she said. “No man could ever do what you’ve done for me and not be a man worth loving.”
His pulse raced in his veins as he cradled her face in his hands and kissed her, slowly, sweetly. “I love you, too, baby. I’m not going anywhere. We’re going to handle all of this at your speed. If you want me gone, ever, you have to tell me. Otherwise, I’ll be there with you, and with Louis, every step of the way, by your side. Nothing you say or do will scare me off. The good or the bad.”
She closed her eyes, her head pressed against his chest. “I can’t believe he’s coming home!”
“He is, sweetheart. I told you Kimbra is good. She’s tough.”
“I think I’m a little bit in love with her, too.”
He chuckled. “I’m sure she’ll take that as a compliment and not at all creepy.”
That made her laugh. She started rooting around in her purse until she found tissues and was able to blow her nose and clean up a little. “So what do we do now?”
“For now, we have to wait until Kimbra gives us a hearing time and date. You might want to notify your boss tomorrow that you may need last-minute time off.”
“Okay.”
He stroked her cheek. “I don’t suppose I can talk you into quitting and not working, can I?”
“I have bills to pay.”
“We could move in together. I can support you.”
“As tempting as that is, I can’t right now. Especially not if Louis is coming home. I want to be there for him. I need a place for him to live. That’s his house, too. It was our parents’ house, Mom and Dad’s house. Jason moved in with us when they got married.”
“Can’t blame a Dom for trying.”
“No, and I love you for that, too. We can stop by Kimbra’s office and talk to her?”
“Let’s call her.” He dug out his cell and did just that.
“Hello, Fingers. Did you tell her?”
“Yeah, she wants to talk to you.” He handed the phone o
ff to Holly, who started crying again almost immediately.
“Thank you, Kimbra. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you, but thank you…” He couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but after a long moment, Holly let out a teary laugh. “You can damn sure bet I will. Thank you. Should we come by? … Okay. I’ll wait to hear from you.” She ended the call and handed him back the phone.
“She can bet you will what?” he asked.
She was dabbing at her eyes again with a tissue, but now she wore a smile. “She told me I could pay her back by making sure I took good care of you, Sir.”
He caressed her cheek. “You already do.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Holly wasn’t altogether sure that she might not puke the way her stomach had tightly knotted. She was ready to go when Walt pulled into her driveway. She had already locked the front door and started walking toward his truck before he could get out.
“Are you okay?” he asked, stopping in front of her and blocking her progress.
She shook her head. “Just really stressed. Lot of pain.”
He lightly rested his hands on her shoulders. “Did you eat?”
She shook her head.
He let out “that” sigh, turned her around, and marched her back to the front door. Inside, he nuked her a portion of instant Cream of Wheat—made perfectly—and grabbed her a bottle of Gatorade from the fridge.
“Here. Eat in the car.”
She fought the urge to cry. Hell, she hadn’t even bothered with makeup today, knowing how emotional she’d feel. “Thank you, Sir.”
Pressing a kiss against her forehead, he said, “This will be okay, sweetheart.”
“You can’t promise me that.”
“No, but I know Kimbra, and she’s tough. I have faith in her.”
Thus with some semblance of sustenance, he led her back out to his truck and opened the door for her. She managed to force down some of the Cream of Wheat on the way, and though she could tell he wasn’t happy she didn’t finish it, he didn’t hassle her about it, either.
They nervously made their way through security and found Kimbra and her paralegal, Teresa, already sitting on a bench outside the courtroom where the hearing would be held.