Exposed

Chapter Thirty-Four

"Is your sister going to be there?" Matteo asks, raising the blue tie to his neckline.

"No. I told her I didn't want her to go, in case..."

I stop myself from going further.

In two hours, we'll be standing in front of a judge. Charles will be sitting in a back room while the judge determines who he will be going home with. If it's not us, if we don't win, we have just minutes to say goodbye before we hand him over to Eddie Castano, a man we don't even know.

He nods, straightening the material. His Armani suit is a crisp indigo color. Freshly shaven, he looks clean-cut and important, exactly what Rory urged him to look like. I pull up the zipper of my black dress, struggling to get it to the top. It snags about halfway.

"Damn it," I mutter frustratedly, zipping it back down and back up again with no luck. My fingers are trembling. I chuckle to myself when I try once more before I feel hysterics coming on.

I give up on the dress, leaving it on the floor as I head back into the closet. I'm not even looking for another dress. I'm simply staring into the abyss, unable to do anything else. I'm losing my cool. I feel like it's been a gradual part of these last five months, that I'm slowly going insane and I don't know how to stop.

Matteo rests his hands on my stiff shoulders.

"Come here," he murmurs calmly, reaching down for one of my hands. He guides me towards the bed. He lets me go to lay down flat on his back.

I stare at him oddly. "What are you doing?"

"Try it out. It's calming."

I laugh tiredly. "You're crazy...We have somewhere to be."

He pats the spot as an answer. I roll my eyes but appease him, lying down beside him in my undergarments.

"You haven't literally breathed since you laid down," he says after a moment. I release the breath I didn't realize I was holding, closing my eyes. Feeling slightly better, I do it again, deeper this time.

We sit like that, both of our legs dangling off the end of the bed for a few minutes.

Finally, I turn my head to look at him, smiling. "You're right. I feel better."

Turning onto my side, I scoot closer to him, curling up to his side. I rest my leg over his, smelling the deep scent of his cologne.

"This is pretty calming too," I admit as he wraps his arms around my shoulders so there's not an inch of space between us and nods into my hair.

"Em, no matter what... we're going to be okay." He grabs my face between his hands, looking down at me seriously. "Alright? We'll be okay."

"We'll be okay," I whisper.

***

"Give me kisses," I whisper to Charles on the ground of the small, blandly-decorated room in the courthouse. Charles leans over, smacking his lips against mine and I have to force myself to smile, taking Matteo's outstretched hand, letting him help me up.

There is a woman who is there to watch him. She has a kind face and immediately holds out a stuffed animal to Charles.

"We'll see you in a bit, buddy," Matteo reassures him. Charles stares us, confused. My feet don't want to work as we make our way out of the room.

"We'll have him back in no time, Emma," Matteo says, rubbing my back gently. I look at him as he looks away and I see the fear he's trying to hide.