Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73683 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“What about the murders?” Pete asked quietly.
“Confessed to all of those, too.” Castiel stepped out of the interrogation room, closing the door hard as he moved past the doorway. “The first one, the governor’s kid? Saw Crest coming out of Jubilee’s house. Plus, he hadn’t really liked him because of the way he treated her. That was his first murder. The next four were spur of the moment, he said. People he saw on his way out of town that had pissed her off or hurt her in some way.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose.
“That bastard.”
I looked over to find Jubilee standing there, looking so mutinous that I would’ve feared for Crest’s safety had he not been in a locked room.
“Come here, baby,” I ordered, holding out my hand.
She came, zero hesitation, and buried her face into my pecs.
“I hate him,” she murmured. “Why would he do this?”
“Because he’s a sick motherfucker,” I said, no answer other than that. “I don’t know why. Hell, we might never know why. He’s just not wired right.”
“Which’ll give him a good insanity game,” Castiel murmured. “If this doesn’t end in that, I’ll be surprised.”
***
“Do you think that he’ll get let off?” she asked worriedly.
“He won’t be let off,” I told her. “But he’ll probably spend the rest of his years in a very cushy prison that’s disguised as a psychiatric hospital. He has the money.”
She sighed and buried her face into my chest.
My hand came up automatically and started to shift through her hair. Which caused her to snuggle in deeper.
“Do you think that we could go for a ride tomorrow?” she whispered. “I know we just got back…but I want to get away.” She paused. “And I want to move. I can’t live there anymore. I’ll have to go look for another rental.”
I shook my head. “You’re moving in here.”
She sighed. “I wasn’t looking for a handout.”
“It’s not a handout,” I informed her. “It’s a ‘you’re staying here because I fucking want you here’ thing.”
She snickered. “Whatever.”
Chapter 23
You need to brush your hair.
-things Zee thought he’d never have to say to his woman
Zee
6 months later
Castiel was right.
The insanity plea was the first thing out of the lawyer’s mouth the moment that we got to trial six months later.
All in all, we were prepared for this. We knew that it was coming.
The lawyers all around hadn’t been secretive in how they were going to play this.
In fact, they’d tried to settle it out of court, but Crest DeLoe had refused any and all plea bargains and deals because he ‘needed it to go to court.’
My guess was that he just wanted to see Jubilee again, which pissed me off.
But unfortunately, since she was a large part of the case, she didn’t have the option of not being there. She was subpoenaed and everything.
Even if we wanted to bury our heads in the sand, we couldn’t. Not that she would have, though I might’ve wanted her to.
“If all evidence has been presented, we shall let the jury go to deliberation.” The judge picked up his gavel and slammed it down hard.
The sound was so final that I flinched.
Jubilee’s hand came to mine, and I looked over at the woman that had become such a big part of my heart.
“You okay?” she asked, concern filling her face.
I winced. “I was thinking that I should be asking you the same thing.”
Her grin was small, but it was there.
“I’m ready for it all to be over.” She paused. “And I’m thinking that I need to take a nap when this is all over. A long, drawn out, sleep-way-too-late nap.”
I pulled her into my chest, my chin going to the top of her head.
My beard mingled with her long hairs, and she snorted as she batted it away.
I rubbed it more, causing her to break away with a giggle.
“Stop!” she whispered harshly. “You’re messing up my hair.”
I inspected said messed up hair, and rolled my eyes.
“Your hair is a mess anyway, darlin’. How would you ever know?” I teased.
She pinched me, glaring at me with a death stare as she did.
I flinched away from her, laughing now.
“I’m going to punch you in the junk,” she threatened.
“You wouldn’t dare. You like it too much,” I countered.
And she did. She loved it, in fact.
Over the last six months, there were many times for me to find out just how much she liked it.
“I’d miss it while it was gone…”
“Children.”
We both looked over our shoulders at our parents that were sitting in the row behind us.
“What?” we both asked at the same time.
“Is there ever a time that y’all are going to behave and act like decent human beings?” my mother asked.
“Yes,” I said. “At our funerals.”
My mom rolled her eyes.
“When are y’all going to get married?” my dad asked.
I glared at him. “When I ask her.”