friends //cody bellinger

thirty eight

 Chase's lawyer slowly paces the ground in front of Cody. "So Mr. Bellinger, you're saying that you didn't know Ms. Chatswell was a minor at the time of your first sexual encounter with her," The lawyer, Roberto Ruiz, says with confidence in his voice.

Cody nods and leans down to the microphone, "Yes, that's correct."

"But after you found out Ms. Chatswell wasn't of age, how come you kept the relationship going? Was it because you knew she'd be an easy target because of her vulnerability?"

You could see Cody's blatant eye roll, "No, I kept the relationship going because I cared for her and because I wanted to make sure she kept herself safe. She didn't live in the best part of town."

"Or was it because you wanted sex?"

"Objection! Irrelevance," Cody's lawyer shouts from his perch at the desk directly across from the witness stand.

"I'll change the topic, but you're going to wish I hadn't. You're going to love this one, Mr. Bellinger." His threat sends chills down my spine. "Is it true that you proposed to Ms. Chatswell?"

I look at Cody, his eyebrows furrow down and his fist clenches. "How do you know that?" he demands with a stern voice. It does nothing to phase Roberto though.

"We have your phone records; all of your guy's. We know so many things about yours and Ms. Chatswell's relationship. Which brings me to my next question; have you ever suspected a relationship developing between your teammate Chris Taylor or your brother Cole?"

I look at both Cole and Chris who I was sitting in between. "What is he talking about?" Chris mutters in my ear.

I shake my head; I have no clue.

"No, that's ridiculous!" Cody defends me, but Roberto shoots right back.

"Then what are these texts between your brother and Ms. Chatswell?" He hands a piece of paper to both the judge and Cody with me and Cole's text messages on them.

"In this picture, you can clearly see that your brother Cole asked Ms. Chatswell which pregnancy test he should buy her. Is this because your brother - who mind you, is also older Ms. Chatswell - got her pregnant and not you?"

"How is any of this relevant?" Cody's lawyer shouts.

But Roberto's smart. "I'm just trying to set the scene revolving Ms. Chatswell and her character so everyone can see that she and Mr. Bellinger are not the perfect couple that they're pretending to be."

I look up at my fiance. His eyebrows were lowered, and his lips were pursed shut into a tight line. Both of his fists were now clenched, and his left one had that slight tremble he gets when he can't control his emotions.

"He's going to blow," Chris whispers in my ear, and I nod. This won't be good.

"Mr. Bellinger, let me word this differently; were you ever Emberly Chatswell's lover, or were you just her bitch?"

That sent Cody over his edge. Both fists slam on the front of the stand. He shoots up to his feet and leans forward as if it will shorten the ten-foot gap between him and Roberto.

"Emberly is the love of my life, and if you want proof, just ask anybody that seen how much I've changed for this better since I've been with her," Cody starts, clearing his throat as if he was warning us that he has more.

"I proposed to her because I know that she's the woman I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, so why not get a head start on our future. Cole was buying her tests because we had a pregnancy scare a couple of days ago, and I was too busy being locked up in here for some bullshit crime Chase the fucking rapist Utley is trying to accuse me of to go out and by her some myself. Emberly's not hiding anything, and neither am I. What you see is what you get with us."