The One After [SHAWN MENDES]

Chapter 93

"You look beautiful today," my boyfriend said as we stood in my kitchen sipping coffee.

It was an outright lie, but I wasn't going to hold it against him. I knew I looked terrible after getting very little sleep. I had bags under my eyes and I'd broken out overnight, which was undoubtedly a result of the stress I was under. I hoped to not take the stand today, but I wore a new dark blue pants suit just in case. Shawn was wearing a black suit and a red tie. He did look beautiful, but it was impossible for him not to.

"Thank you," I said after finishing the last of my mug. "I'm going to brush my teeth."

"You don't want any food? You love croissants!"

"I ate part of one while you showered. Help yourself to some if you're feeling gluten today. The chocolate almond kind is the best." I'd only eaten a bite, but I knew if I told him that, he'd insist that I eat more.

My dad had dropped the pastries off earlier that morning before going to pick up my uncle Sal. He was probably waiting for me out front, so I finished getting ready and grabbed my phone and purse. We then followed the same routine as the day before, riding separately to the court house.

The crowd outside was larger, which I expected after all the media coverage day one of the trial had received. I refused to look at any of the articles, but Shawn's manager, Andrew, filled him in on everything when he woke up and he gave me a quick summary.

An hour later, I was in my seat and the judge called the session to order. Ms. Becker stood and said in a loud clear voice, "The Crown counsel calls Liam Echols to the stand."

I saw him get up out of the corner if my eye. I couldn't look directly at him, though I did listen as he was sworn in. He said he'd tell the truth, but I already knew that wasn't happening.

"Mr. Echols, can you tell the court what happened when you first met Lucy Atwood?" Ms. Becker requested.

I stared at the table as he told a similar recap to what I'd shared the day before. His voice was calm and he stated everything very matter-of-factly. No one would ever think this man was on trial for aggravated assault, based on his demeanor.

"When was the next time you saw Ms. Atwood?"

"I got off the boat and couldn't find my friends right away, so I was standing to the side. That's when she approached me."

"She came up to you?" Ms. Becker probed.

"Yes. She said she was sorry she never got back to me on the cruise and then she was kind of flirty. She's a very pretty girl, so I responded by flirting back. I must have misread her because I asked if she wanted to go out sometime and she flipped out on me. That's when she struck me across the face. I don't know if she was drunk or high, but she started to stumble backwards so I grabbed her arm. Mr. Mendes had the order of events all wrong."

The prosecuting counsel held up a hand. "Let me clarify. You are claiming that she hit you before you laid a hand on her and then you only touched her because you thought she might fall?"

I kept my head down and began wringing my hands nervously because his story contradicted Shawn's drastically. What if the jury actually believed him?

"Yes, ma'am. That's what happened. When I grabbed her by the elbow she got even more crazy, so I let go. Then she took a couple steps backward and fell into the lake. I was about to go in after her when Mr. Mendes rushed past me and dove in, so I took off running to get my friends so that they could help, too. I didn't make it to them because two men tackled me."

"Your account is that Ms. Atwood was the aggressor and that she accidentally fell into Lake Ontario?" Ms. Becker ask incredulously.

For whatever reason, I chose that moment to finally look up at Liam Echols who was staring right at me. His eyes were cold, like a robot or something else that lacked any semblance of humanity, and a feeling of familiar yet forgotten terror filled my soul. As I continued to make eye contact with him, flashes of the attack appeared in my brain like a defective DVD that was jumping from scene to scene. I could feel myself shaking, so I gripped the wooden rail in front of me until my knuckles turned white.