Wrongful Conviction

Sweet Freedom

A hulking, beastly man steps out of the car, tall as ever, dark hair pulled back with a rubber band to reveal his beautiful face, marred by a couple scars.

Aisleigh stops breathing, eyes fixed on his amber ones. Her heart thunders in her chest like a thousand horses. His eyes make a once over her body, eyes locked on hers. He reaches a hand out to her, but she only returns a blank stare. Frozen where she stands, she hears her blood pulsing in her ears and hears her breaths ragged and loud enough to block out all the other sounds.

"Aisleigh." He murmurs, gently shaking her shoulder. He drags her from her trance and she feels all the tears well in her eyes, and her heart overflows with love and happiness.

"Petey!" She shrieks, jumping on him and hugging him so tightly her arms start to tingle. Her heart still thunders loudly but it's drown out now by the sobs of pure happiness, the tears falling into his tee shirt.

"Petey?" Jarred asks, giving this guy a good sizing up, and realizes this man is twice his size and seems strong enough to kill him.

"Oh my god, Jarred." She drawls, eyes wide, tears still hanging onto her cheeks; one arm still lingers around Peter's own, afraid to let go. "Uh, he's not my cousin. He's also not in the hospital."

"He also isn't withering away and ninety pounds! I don't mean it rudely, but he's a mammoth of a human being!" Jarred exclaims, eyes wide and a little scared. Peter reaches out a hand to Jarred, only to be quickly declined. "I'd rather keep my hand intact thank you." Jarred growls, turning to go inside.

"Petey." She murmurs, hugging tightly to his chest, tears beginning to fall. "Why wouldn't you let me see you? I stopped and they told me you didn't wanna see me." Anger starts to fill her little crevices where love did not reside, and she felt her blood begin to bubble at the thought that Peter had the nerve to walk up to her and hadn't let her in to see him. Her little fists beat helplessly against his huge chest.

"I didn't want you to see me like that. I figured it'd be better than seeing you through that damned glass again." He murmurs, voice gruff and gentle, but firm.

"You're out. You're here. I can't believe it. I just can't believe it. How did you get out?" Her eyes search his own for an answer. He chuckles, takes her by the arm and leads her inside.

"No more questions, Leigh." He ushers her into the door as she babbles something about all the reasons he should be out, or how he got out. "Hey, stop. We can talk later, kid." He laughs, pressing a hard kiss to her forehead before heading into the kitchen for some real food. Hugging his mama tightly, he whispers to her: "who's that guy with Aisleigh?" And his mama says something that makes his heart skip a beat.

"Sweetheart, that's her fiance." She coos, and gives him this proud smile.

"Fiance? No. She's not old enough." He grumbles, going outside onto the front porch to breathe. He couldn't seem to believe that in three years she had gone from head over heels for him to engaged to someone else entirely. He supposed it made sense. He just didn't want to believe it; that she had turned her love and attention to someone else. Someone else made her as happy or happier than he did.

"Petey?" She asks, peeking out the screen door to find him running his hands through his hair and sighing loudly.

"Hey." He gives her the best smile he can muster, to hide the anger he felt. With a sweet smile, the screen gives a groan as she comes out onto the porch. The dark of night had swallowed the warmth of day, and now there stood a cool chill. She glances quickly in his direction before looking back out over the beach. The moonlight twinkles against the little ripples of the water. "Fiance, huh?" He asks with an awkward cough.

"Yeah, he's pretty great." She stands in front of him, hugging as much of him with the blanket. He chuckles, dragging them both towards the swing, to sit and talk.

"I'll bet. How'd you guys meet? You never told me about him. And from what I saw you didn't tell him about me; did you?" He gives her a little smirk, resting his arm around his shoulder to hold the blanket over her.

"We met about a year and a half ago. And no, I figured he'd probably be a little weirded out if I was like 'Hey! I'm gonna go visit my best friend and ex boyfriend in prison. You don't mind right?' Cause you'd agree. Right? Ha. I didn't think so. You're jealous of him, aren't you?" She asks quietly, as she cuddles against his side. He sighs contently, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"I guess I don't understand why you'd bring him here. I thought this one place in the world was ours. And yet, here you are bringing some guy you've known for like a month here; and I'm not supposed to be jealous?" He asks, raising his voice a few decibels. She swats his chest.

"No. We're not arguing tonight. We argued at every visit. I won't argue with you now." Jarred listens from the screen door as they chat as if they'd known each other forever; like a day hadn't passed between the two of them. Ex boyfriend? Jarred feels the jealousy will itself to be heard, but he stamps it down with calming words. "But to be fair, you are intimidating. You're huge and scary looking. Especially with the scars on your face now. And seriously, fighting in prison seems like the worst idea. Why would you fight? All you have are scars and memories."

"And that's all I'll have once you--" He closes his mouth and stands abruptly and stalks inside, giving Jarred a glare as he passes him on his way to his room. Aisleigh stares out at the ocean, confused and not sure what he would have said after that. Standing with a sigh, she heads in to find Jarred waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

"Everything okay?" He asks as they walk up the stairs.

"Oh yeah. It's fine. Have you had a chance to talk to Petey yet?" She asks as they walk into their shared room.

"I haven't seen either of you since the moment he got here." He chuckles, and grins as she flushes a cherry red.

"I'm so sorry... I just haven't seen him in so long. We were best friends for almost ten years." She smiles, reminiscing about how young they were when they first met, and how they were attached at the hip for those ten years. They had dated for a few months and realized they were better as friends.

"Oh yeah, I heard; and you dated? How long did that last?" He asks softly, giving her a sweet look, one of serene and calmness, that made her so uncomfortable.

"A few months. I got into some trouble, and decided he and I would be better as friends. Our bond has been as strong as ever after we stopped trying so hard to make it more than it was. Now? He's my best friend. I love him, but not romantically. I do love you romantically, though." She grins, giving him a soft kiss and a sweet smile.

"I love you too, my dear." He smiles back, yanking his tee shirt over his head and flopping onto the bed.

"You have a poster of those guys on your wall?" He asks with a dorky look on his face. He tips his up to look at her with a laugh to find her steaming from her ears. She stomps out of her room and right into Ross and Jackson's room. Peter meets her at the door, shirtless in his boxer briefs.

"You bastards!" She shrieks, flinging herself onto the two boys on the bed, and she hears them belly laughing underneath her because they had succeeded. Curious, Peter walks into the room to see what all the commotion is about; and he can't hide the laughing that escapes him.

"What's up?" He nods to Jarred, keeping himself at the door. Jarred gives a stiff nod, anger boiling at the pit of his stomach.