Total pages in book: 213
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 201920 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1010(@200wpm)___ 808(@250wpm)___ 673(@300wpm)
“Get a long pillow, and hold it at night.” I force a grin when I tell her, “It’s the only thing allowed in your bed until I get out of here. You hear me?”
She barely laughs and the sound is saddened, but she does and presses her hand against the glass again, its warmth coming through to me.
“It’s only you, Dean,” she confesses, her voice lowered and full of sincerity on the line. “You’re the only man I want and love.”
The itch at the back of my throat and the prick at the back of my eyes is hard to hide, but I do it for her. “About time you told me,” I respond and a genuine smile paired with a huff of a laugh from my Allie Cat is my reward. “I love you too, Allison.”
She’s got to know I love her. And that makes this worth it. I would do anything for her.
ALLISON
“We just have a few more questions.” There are two detectives in the room and I can tell the men apart from their voices and picture exactly how their lips move with each word without looking up from the pile of chipped nail polish I picked off in the last hour I’ve been sitting here.
“Explain the altercation again,” the other cop, Detective Massing asks and then the other, Detective Ballinger, adds, “At what point, exactly, did your ex decide to pick up the lamp?”
My mother begged me not to come in at all. She said I legally could decline. She’s afraid I’m going to say something I shouldn’t. Truth be told, right now I’m afraid too. I made a promise to her though, that I wouldn’t tell them. That’s because I’m going to tell them all the truth when I’m on the stand. I have to. My eyes prick with tears. It’s the only way to save Dean. I have to save him. That’s the only reason I’ve been sitting in this chair.
“I told you, he didn’t decide.” My voice cracks and my eyes gloss over remembering the haunted look on his face. “I was screaming before the door burst open and when I looked up, he saw what was happening. He ripped him off of me without thinking at all.” I watch it all unfold again, barely breathing. I see it every night, a memory that will stay with me forever.
“And then?”
“And then he picked up the lamp and I yelled for him to stop from where I was, but he was so fast and …” I trail off and my eyes lift to meet theirs as I continue, “it was over before I could even breathe.”
“And then what did he do? Did he attempt to conceal the weapon?”
“He didn’t even seem to know what he’d done. Dean approached me and tried to reach out for me and there was so much blood on his arms.”
“From bludgeoning his friend to death,” the asshole one says. Ballinger. I ignore him and my response is only a whisper when I say, “It was like he didn’t realize.”
“How is it Dean entered your place of residence?”
I blink at him. “He opened the door.
“So you didn’t have it locked?”
“I …” I have to think back to whether I did or not and Kevin’s eyes stare back at me.
Do you want to come in? Was that what I asked him? My bottom lip quivers with the visions playing in front of me.
“I asked if you had it locked,” Ballinger repeats with a hardened tone. As if reliving the moment just before trauma and tragedy doesn’t take more than a second to get through.
Swallowing thickly, I answer him, I didn’t even close the door. The vision of Kevin kicking it shut as I tried to sway, deliberately appearing drunk takes over.
“So he didn’t need a key to get in.”
“No, anyone could have opened that door to help me.”
They don’t like it when I say help me. They quiet down and share a glance each time I say it. But that’s what Dean was doing. He came in to rescue me because I was screaming and in return, I made him a murderer. I don’t know how he’ll ever forgive me. But so long as he doesn’t pay for my sins, I’ll be able to sleep at night. At least I pray I will.
“You said you were screaming,” Massing starts then takes a long inhale. The air conditioner kicks on in the quiet room with a click. It’s empty except for us, another uncomfortable as fuck chair next to me, and a folder containing Dean’s rap sheet sitting in the middle of the table. “And that’s because Kevin was on top of you?”
“Yes, he was forcing my clothes off.”
“And did you at any time, help him?” Ballinger asks and I peer up at both of them, unflinchingly looking back at me.