It's Been A Long Time... [Desperate Measures Sequel]

FiftyEight.

Once we were back in the courtroom I didn't feel any better, in fact I felt worse knowing that at least fifteen people in this room had watched those tapes. Skip was supposed to have destroyed them but I guess things didn't turn out as we'd planned. My life was supposed to turn back to normal after I was released from rehab, yet here I was. 

I was sitting back in the witness box and McHillson was poised, ready with more questions. My eyes scanned over the courtroom, my eyes met Dean's as he sat and looked at me. His expression was unreadable as we stared at each other. I looked away first looking at Milton who gave me a nod. 

"Miss Bennett," McHillson brought my attention back to him. "It's not the first time you have been drugged whilst having sex then?"

Opening my mouth to speak I thought about my words carefully, "I fully admit that I had been careless in the past. There is a clear difference between what happened when I was in rehab and what happened on this night."

"And what exactly do you think the difference is?" McHillson asked. 

"I, in no way, gave my consent to that man," I pointed at Smythe-Jones. "I was no longer taking any drugs or any form willingly either."

McHillson looked surprised at my answer, he looked down at his notes before he looked back at me. "So you'd never met my client, Michael Smythe-Jones until you met him in the club that night?"

I shook my head, "No."

His eyes looked down at his notes, "So you had not had sex with him before?"

"Excuse me?" I was surprised this time as I looked at Michael before looking at McHillson. "Absolutely not."

"Maybe during one of your drug induced hazes?" 

"No." I looked at Milton for support but I knew there was nothing he could do right now. 

I didn't believe I had met him before, I was sure I would have remembered him. Maybe my drug problem back then was worse than I thought it was. 

"You claim that you don't remember much of that night," McHillson spoke to me as I looked at him. "Is it possible you gave your consent but you just claim you don't remember?"

"Your client drugged me as I tried to escape my hotel room," I narrowed my eyes at McHillson as I spoke confidently, "He put a cloth over my mouth and the fumes knocked me out. If you have reviewed those tapes as you claim you have, you would know that I had always taken the drugs myself." I leaned forward, "If you check my drugs tests carried out by my old place of work you will find I had been clean since I returned to work, there is no way I would have ruined my career for a high."

"But that is a career you no longer have, a job you quit after you claim this assault happened? Pretty convenient that you quit after the drugs were in your system." McHillson smirked as he put the question to me. 

I leaned back in my seat and crossed one leg over the other, "I quit my job because I couldn't stand the thought of anyone touching me, the looks from everyone who knew my business." I looked at McHillson with confidence as I shook my head, "Try having all your dignity stripped away from you by a complete stranger, having your closest friends finding you in that state and then returning to work, to a physical job where you are in contact with people all the time."

"Your friends found you, after a couple of days after you didn't show up to work, what exactly did you tell them at the time?" McHillson asked me. 

Thinking back to it I started to panic, I didn't even remember what I said to anyone. I mind swirled as I remembered Stephanie and Seth's faces over me, I remembered heading into the bathroom and locking myself in. I was upset and rightly so, Dean, he came to find me, he came to help me, he saved me.