Trials

chapter 9

"Ms. Cuervo, you were at work when this occurred, correct?"

"Yes I was," Eva did not try to hide her confusion. What the hell kind of question was that?

"And you were speaking to Mr. Kevin Richardson, while on the clock?" Eva looked at Danny and cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah... I was..."

"What were the two of you talking about?"

"Objection!" Jon interrupted.

"Sustained. Mr. Frost, get to the point. This is a criminal case, not divorce court," The Judge replied. Danny Frost had a reputation. Everyone knew he wasn't exactly... good.

"Yes your Honor, I'm sorry," Mr. Frost felt himself break into a sweat. He had no case. He didn't want to have a case, but he really had no choice. Eddie was his nephew. "Ms. Cuervo, you were waiting on AJ, weren't you?" He asked.

"Yes. He called up, while I was speaking to Kevin. He proposed the three of us go out to a restaurant. I agreed and he said he'd be down around nine."

"When he was late, why didn't you check on him?"

"I was going to, but Kevin thought it wasn't necessary. After all, anything could have come up to make him late."

"But both of you knew about the calls, and the letter?" Eva looked down.

"Yeah. We knew." It was like this guy was trying to make it look like her fault. She felt her blood begin to boil.

"How did Mr. McLean receive the threatening letter?" Eva bit her lip and struggled not to cry, or to lash out at the attorney in front of her.

"Howie... he stopped by and gave me AJ's mail. I... I gave it to him."

"Did Mr. McLean tell you about it?"

"No... if I had known..." Eva looked at AJ, who was watching her empathetically. Then she looked to Danny, and despite her tears, her anger finally came to the breaking point. "This is not my fault!" her glare turned to Eddie. "This is YOUR fault! No one else's!" Eva just... snapped. She heard the Judge's gavel but she ignored it. She never took her eyes off the defendant. "Fuck you!" The Deputy grabbed her. "Get off of me! You!" She practically growled at Eddie as she was being restrained. "It's going to be a good day when this happens to you in PRISON! You're going to rot in hell, you basta... get off of me! Put me down!" the Deputy picked Eva up and carried her out of the courtroom.

"Settle down everyone! I want everyone to file out of here calmly. We will recess for an hour. Mr. Frost," the Judge looked at the defense attorney. "The ONLY person on trial in this courtroom is your client. You will restrain yourself from these little conspiracy theories. Mr. Owens," Judge Roberts looked from the attorney to AJ, then back to Jon. "Your witness became angry. I can understand why," he shot a glance at Danny, "but I will NOT have this court in chaos. Ms. Cuervo is not to enter this room again, for an indefinite amount of time. I will let you know how long when we adjourn. Dismissed," the gavel was tapped and the court filed out.

"Hey." AJ was one of the first people out of the courtroom. He sat next to Eva, who had isolated herself in a far corner. Moments passed before she looked at him. "You okay?" He put his arm around her and squeezed slightly.

"I will be. Look, I'm sorry. I just... I..."

"Don't worry about it kiddo," AJ squeezed her again and began moving his hand up and down her arm. She trembled slightly with a laugh.

"I hate it when you call me that," Eva smiled.

"I know. That's why I do it," AJ grinned and kissed the top of her head. Eva leaned against him and sighed. To say they had bonded over the past four months almost seemed like an understatement.

'I busted out that way because of how I feel about you,' she wanted to say it so badly. But it just didn't seen appropriate. She'd wanted to say something for a long time but that was always her excuse. How could she say she was falling for him when he was going through... this?

"Stop thinking about me naked." AJ suddenly said, laughing when Eva jerked away and made a noise of surprise.

"I'm not!"

"Well, you were thinking about something. And why not?" AJ teased.

"Once you get rid of the big clothes, I might not be able to find your skinn..."

"No, no, you mean sexy," AJ covered her mouth for a second to insert his own words. Both laughed.

Kevin had planned to see how Eva was doing until he saw them. There was jealousy, yes, but he caught himself smiling. He and AJ decided - on the same night ... it happened - to cut their short-lived, lusty affair to just that: an affair. He wondered what it was about Eva that was the main attraction.

Oh, sure, she was good-looking. Five-seven, great smile, deep brown eyes, skinny yet... curvy, deep brown eyes, tastefully dyed dark blond hair... everything a guy like AJ liked. Not to mention her tendency to add completely unnatural colors to her long hair, and the whole loving tattoos attitude. She had six of them. She was almost... him.

Kevin missed AJ. Oh sure, he saw him everyday and they talked like old times but he sometimes missed .... the sex. He couldn't deny it.

Kevin watched as Eva said something that made them both laugh. AJ was looking at her so sweetly. Everyone thought he should be the one hurting yet he was there whenever anyone needed him. Kevin guessed it was his way of coping. Kevin wondered why the hell Eva wouldn't tell him how she felt. AJ was all over her. Didn't she notice?

"You know, we never did go out to eat. Been four months, and I haven't taken you out yet," AJ said. He brought his hand down and covered hers with it.

"You've been a little... pre-occupied, don't worry about it," Eva wanted to take his hand. She was so shy when it came to things like this. It was a wonder she ever... got any. But she didn't have to make a move. AJ's hand moved a little and hers ended up being held.

"I'd really like to... you know, reschedule. Like today. We still have forty-five minutes before I have to go back to that hell-hole," AJ let out a little sad chuckle.

"Sounds good," Eva could barely talk. The two stood and walked from the bench. There was a cafe on the bottom floor of the large city hall.

Howie approached Kevin and was about to say something when he noticed Kevin intently watching something. He looked in the same direction and saw AJ walking with Eva... holding hands. "Finally!" Howie exclaimed, elbowing Kevin.

"I know, right?" Kevin chuckled.

"You know what this reminds me of?" Howie laughed. "Those stories on the internet. You know, those boy-meets-fan, fan-likes-boy ones the fans write? The way it's all just..."

"I doubt anyone would ever think of all this, come on," Kevin laughed nervously.

"Yeah well you know what I mean."

"Yeah, D, I do. Come on, let's get something to eat," now just wasn't the time to pick on Howie...

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