Flames Between Us (bxb) | ✔

Chapter One

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WESTON LOCKE

Hearing the jury come to a decision in front of Micah and various other victims that had come forward was a nerve wracking experience, they had spent so much time and effort making sure that they would win with their lawyers.

Proving the truth whilst the defendant's lawyer tries to cover up Ryan's wrong doings, watching Micah try not to get upset was the hardest part. I knew how strong he was deep down but watching him be questioned by the defendant was heartbreaking. Blaming him for going out, insinuating that Micah made up his story because he was jealous of other people Ryan had been with.

It got messy, that was for sure. But I didn't want to believe that the jury were buying into his bullshit when they had hard evidence of Ryan drugging Micah and then guiding him out onto the street and into a taxi.

I remember watching Micah walk down from the stand, catching eyes with me for a brief moment. My head nods towards him once and he smiles back, his lips curving slightly.

The trial took a couple of days but I knew when this was all over, Micah could finally let this go and move forward with the correct closure.

And when the jury found the defendant guilty, I almost cried myself.

Micah's body buckled into his hands, his lawyer gripping onto his shoulder with a tight squeeze. The judge excuses everyone as Ryan is escorted out of the room, Micah not looking his way once.

A sense of relief washed over my body, looking at Micah breakdown in front of me hurt like I'd never experienced before. Desperate to jump over the barrier and cuddle him but I knew this was his time to accept what was happening. This was his time to know that he won, the survivors won and Ryan was going to pay for what he did.

Ryan was sentenced to five years in prison, he would be on the sex offenders list for the rest of his life.

And Micah's was finally resuming again.

The closure he was sorting after, enough to help him heal and come to terms with his trauma. He had been offered support from the police, various charities that had witnessed the trial had offered their services to him. He had all the help and care he could possibly need, he was overwhelmed but grateful for everyone's support. Including mine.

The trial had exhausted Micah to the core, a whole month of prepping, interviews, constant trips to the station to be questioned.

When he told me he was excited to go back to work completely, I believed him. He needed a sense of normality in his life, get him back into a schedule and carry on with his life. Without anything holding him back.

My eyes were currently laid on him as he sung Beyonce's old music whilst attempting to make an apple pie in my kitchen. The worktop was covered in splatters of ingredients, pots, pans and utensils absolutely everywhere. But I didn't care, all I wanted was for Micah to feel safe and comfortable here.

Since our trip to New York and a crazy few days over Christmas, work was slowly creeping up on me. Which meant working on weekends and late evenings until I had finally caught up.

Micah didn't seem to mind, he knew how much time I had taken off work for the trial and going away that he understood. We still spent weekends together, I'd work in my private office and Micah would try and keep himself entertained at my apartment.

This week it was apple pies.

"Hey," he grins as he drops the wooden spoon into the bowl at the sight of me.