Let Me Love You | A.G

XV

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"Thank you for coming," I hug Alexa as everyone I know was standing in the courthouse. We were currently waiting to go in.

If I get convicted, I'm going straight to prison, no exceptions.

"It was the least I could do if this was the last time I was gonna be seeing you," We pull away from the hug as she looks me in the eyes, "We're here for you, okay?"

I nod and take a deep breath. This was harder than I thought.

I already knew I was going to prison, that was no question. The only thing bothering me is how much I was going to miss out on.

"Hey Jayce, they're ready for you," My lawyer informs me. I give her a thumbs up, signaling I would be there in a minute.

"Whatever happens, don't forget about me," Alexa tells me, giving me one last hug before I stepped inside the court room. Here we go.

I met up with my lawyer to go over everything regarding the case, occasionally stealing glances at my family behind me.

"All rise," The courtroom officer instructs us. Everyone in the room stands up and watches as the judge walks in.

"You may be seated," The judge flips through some paperwork before continuing, "We're here with the case of Jayce Garcia on the charge of possession of narcotics. Prosecution, you may start."

"Thank you your honor. Today we are putting a criminal behind bars and if I might be honest, this was long overdue," The prosecutor starts. I look over at my lawyer with wide eyes as he calls me a criminal, she simply just shrugs and whispers for me to ignore it.

He continues his speech, "This delinquent has quite the wrap sheet of petty crimes with the biggest one on here being assault of a police officer before she even turned the age of thirteen."

I put my head down in defeat. This man is going at my fucking neck. There's no way I'm getting out of here alive.

"If I had to ask the jury of anything in this moment, I ask that we consider not to let someone as dangerous as this person roam the streets," He concludes. I rub a hand over my face in frustration. This was gonna be a long day.

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"Jury, have you reached your verdict?" The judge asks. This is it. Life or death.

Someone stands up from the jury section, "We have, your honor."

I hold my breath as he speaks, "We hereby find the defendant, Jayce Garcia..."

I mentally prepare myself for prison. With the evidence, my record, and the fact that they found the evidence on me at the time of my arrest, there was no way I was gonna get out of this without serving prison time.

Turning my head, I try to find Ariana in the audience with my eyes to see her already looking at me. I give her a small smile, letting her know that everything was gonna be okay.

"Guilty for the possession of narcotics," He finishes. I put my head in my hands, tears streaming down my face.

"Given the verdict and your history with law enforcement, I have no choice but to sentence the defendant to three years in prison," She pauses, taking a deep breath, "It breaks my heart to do this to you when I can tell you're a good person who just made a mistake but unfortunately, I can't let you off easily. You have to learn from the consequences of your actions."

"Can I at least say my goodbyes to my family before I leave?" I ask the judge, wiping my tears from my eyes. She nods and I almost run to Phil and Malcolm.

"I'm sorry Phil, I never meant to disappoint you," I hug him tightly as my face floods with new tears.

"You didn't disappoint me kid. Nothing you ever do could disappoint me. You've been trying to survive for years and got a little carried away. I just pray that you learn from this mistake and spend your time bettering yourself," He pulls back, holding my face in his hands and wiping my tears.

I don't respond, just giving him a simple nod before turning to dap Malcolm up, "Be careful in there man."

"Will do," I told him. I then hugged Majorie and Joan as they cried in my arms. Next was Ariana.

"This can't be real," She cries, pulling me by the collar of my shirt into a bear hug, "You can't leave me."

"I'll be out before you know it love, don't worry about me. Focus on your career," I tell her, holding her face in my hands and wiping her face. Eventually she let me go which left Alexa to go last.

"Can't believe you're going to jail within weeks of us meeting," She jokes. I let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, it's kinda crazy what's been happening lately," She smiles before taking my hand and intertwining our fingers. I go to look up at her but see Ariana standing behind her with a frown.

I pull my eyes away from her feeling guilty but then reminding myself that we can't be a thing for a while.

Alexa then speaks up, "Call me as soon as you get there okay?"

"Will do," I smile but quickly get caught off guard as she grabs my face to smash our lips together. After a while, I pull back with a grin from ear to ear.

"Let's go, Garcia," The officer tells me and I walk over to him. He puts the handcuffs on me and then escorts me out of the room and into the back of a police car.

"Welcome to Death Row," I mumble, shaking my head at my own joke. This was gonna be a long three years and at this point, I'm ready for it.

"You ever been to prison before?" The officer asks me as he gets in the car and drives off.

"Nope but there's a first for everything, I guess," I respond, looking out the window and trying see as much as I could of the outside life before I go in.

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A/N: Dude it's been a long two weeks I swear. Hope y'all are doing great tho.