Sweet Caroline

#62 Well fuck

When every witness has been heard and every piece of evidence is presented, it is time for the closing statements. It stings that Trevor himself pled the fifth, but we already knew that was a possibility. He hasn't uttered a single word other than the lie at the start that he's not guilty.

Nathan's lawyer does an excellent job at working the jury's emotions and showing them just how condemning the evidence is, bringing up the fact that he's already been convicted for the possession of child pornography last week. The shark mostly talks about how no one actually saw Trevor do anything and he calls me the 'star witness', followed by all the reasons why I'm not to be trusted. Luckily, I'm not the star witness. Rose is, even though she's not here.

The jury leaves to decide on a verdict, so we all file out of the courtroom and into the hallway. All we can do now it wait. The lawyer feels pretty certain that the jury will be back within the hour, so I'm staying. I need to know what will happen to Trevor. Of course, not everyone is happy that I'm still here.

"You conniving little bitch!" Elise hisses the moment she walks up to me in the hallway. "You're such a two-faced slut!" Her hand reaches out to slap me, but Nathan is quick to grab her and pull her away from me before she can do any damage.

"Get a grip," he says quietly, glancing around at the few people waiting for their own trials to start, who are staring at the scene we're throwing. "Not here, Elise. Not now."

She huffs, but storms off anyway. Her parents are here too for moral support and they hurry after her. I've never met Elise's dad before, but her mom and I have spoken on multiple occasions, so I'm not surprised that she's giving me a death glare before leaving the hallway. Elise definitely has her lovely personality.

"Well, fuck," Nathan says, watching his ex slam a door behind her.

I can't help but let out a shaky laugh. "You could say that again. Nathan, I'm sorry that-"

He shakes his head and pulls me into him, stroking my back soothingly. "Don't you dare apologize, Caroline." He presses a kiss to my forehead. "We should have seen this coming. This is not your fault."

"So this is her?" a sharp female voice sounds behind me. "Could you maybe stop kissing her for a minute so I can formally meet her, bro?"

Nathan does as he's told but keeps one arm around my shoulder as he spins us around to face the tall brunette who is looking at us with raised eyebrows. She's got the same messy brown hair that Nathan has and her eyes are just as intense and green.

"Jennifer," I realize out loud. Of course, he told me his sister was going to try to make it to the trial. I've just been too busy with my own shit to pay much attention to who was sitting in the courtroom. "How good to finally meet you."

A smile lights up her rather stern face and she shakes my hand. "That was quite the show in there. Did the two of you seriously think the defense wasn't going to try and find every piece of dirt on the two of you? Honestly, I'm surprised that Nathan's jailtime wasn't more of an issue." She winks at me. "Of course, you already know all about that, don't you? Nathanial here told me that you are basically the most wonderful human being that was ever born, aside from Rose."

"I'm not sure I deserve that kind of praise," I reply, unable to find it in me to have a chipper conversation. "I pretty much single-handedly ruined our chances of getting Trevor convicted."

"Nonsense!" Jennifer says, waving away my concerns. "First of all, this is Nate's relationship as much as it is yours. And apparently, your colleagues knew all along. So... plenty of blame to go around, if you really feel like assigning blame where it doesn't belong. Besides, I've been looking at the jury the whole time and they didn't seem to give a shit about you, honestly. After Rose's testimony and that incriminating Christmas list, they were convinced already. Hell, I'd be putting the asshole away for life if it was up to me." Her lips twitch. "This world has too many guys like that. Far too many."