Miss. Matchmaker |✓

Chapter 21

My palms felt as if I had just been sitting in a sauna for over two-hours, meanwhile my hearts raced in my chest faster than a Nascar driver who had been tied and was now on his final lap. In short, I was extremely nervous. Dustin took his right hand off the steering wheel and soothingly, as well as teasingly, rubbed circles on my material-clad thigh.

"I'm not leaving your side the entire time, okay? We got this." Hearing his reassuring words caused my heart to slow down the slightest bit. I stared ahead at the road and merely nodded my head, feeling my curls bounce in agreement with me. I consciously yanked at the hem of my skirt which already sat at below my knees, then turned my attention to the blouse I was wearing suddenly convincing myself that in must be see-through.

"Can you see my bra through this?" The words naturally came out of my mouth, I wasn't even thinking. It was only when Dustin ripped his hand from my leg and nearly swerved into the next lane with the car behind us leaning on their horn did I snap back into reality.

He swallowed hard and then raised his eyes in the direction of the rear-view mirror raising his hand in a wave kind of way and offering a tight smile. "You trying to get us killed, darlin'?" He turned his attention back to me.

"No, I'm sorry, there's just a lot on my mind." While the lawsuit had been one of my main worries I couldn't shake the awful feeling I had in the pit of my stomach from what Mabel had informed me of the previous night. "Does Mabel hate me?" The words had clawed their way up to the top of my throat and fallen out of my mouth, I hadn't had the chance to recover them.

He huffed out a breath, causing his shoulders to sag, "In all honesty I'm not too sure, I gave her the third degree when we got home though." He admitted, his cheeks turning fire-engine red from embarrassment.

"Now, that wasn't necessary." My voice was now as I moved my gaze to my hands and I furiously rubbed them against my cotton skirt in a failed attempt to make them dryer. Sighing I clasped them together and watched the scenery pass us by in a blur of gray and black buildings.

"Her attitude wasn't necessary, you're my girl and she's my little sister, if you two don't get along I don't know what I'll do." He told me and I felt my heart reduce speed and begin to soften at the hint of sadness laced throughout his truthful words.

"Say, you never did ask me to be your girl....Officially." I teased, leaning a bit closer in his direction.

He raised his right eyebrow, "No I didn't, I told you that you were my girl." Dustin's rough laugh filled the car as he brought his hand off the steering wheel and reached for mine, folding them together. The pearl snaps on his purple and blue dress shirt looked like they were fighting to hold together, as they covered his strong chest.

"Mmmm, demanding, I like it." I all but moaned while I gave an over the top wink and offered a laugh of my own. A comfortable silence blanketed us, my palm became red-hot and I couldn't decide if it was the warmth from Dustin's skin our the fact that I was getting closer to our destination. Dustin sensed this and began to move his thumb over the back of my hand as if he were learning it like a road map.

"I'm right here, darlin'." He found a parking spot and we parted for a short moment to scoot out of the truck. We jogged up the steps seeing as we were running a few minutes behind, Dustin's long legs carrying his the slightest bit farther than me, but we hadn't fallen out of sync. Mr. Cruz is standing on the top step and gives us a wide grin as we approach, dropping his briefcase. He stands at a short five foot three, and wears his jet black hair in a slicked back style.

"There you are," He says with his arms stretched wide, I release Dustin's hand to greet him with a hug, where I have to bend at the waist so as not to smash his clean shaven face into my bosom, while Dustin opts for a handshake. "I've been waiting for you, now you have a choice to sit out in the hallway if it'd make you more comfortable not having to come eye to eye with him." He offers me for what must be the fiftieth time.

I smile at his kind gesture, "Now, you now that's not necessary." I remind him, he nods his head tightly and leads us down a long hallway with the door to the courtroom in sight and suddenly I felt something wrap around my bicep.

A gasp escapes my lips, "What're you-," his striking blue eyes cut through me like a hot knife through butter. My eyes squint in at him as I reel my arm back to the side of me. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" I all but spit at him.

"Mr. Thompson," Mr. Cruz nods in his direction as acknowledgment, "I'll meet the two of you in the courtroom."

"We'll be there in a second." My way of hinting to Ace that I'm in a rush.

"Listen, Rae, I just wanna talk." He offers and flashes a smile that would typically make any girl weak in her knees.

"I don't have anything to say to you." Dustin's grip is suddenly tighter on my hand and I look up at him to see him staring a hole into Ace. Ace notices this and shifts from one foot to the other in a clearly uncomfortable manner.

"Can you make him go away?" He's bent his head in closer to me and dropped his voice a few notches lower as he says this all while he jabs his thumb in Dustin's direction. A smirk slithers it's way onto my lips like a snake through a garden.

"Anything you have to say to me you can say to him." Dustin's chest reverberates with laughter and I feel like my heart is soaring.

Ace runs his hand through his hair giving him the look of a rockstar who had just gotten done performing a five minute guitar solo. "You know what, you're not worth it." He decides, I feel myself falter the slightest bit.

Dustin releases a low growl and I have to lasso him back into me while reminding him that we're in a courthouse without words. "Funny, I can say the same about you." I retaliate and with that, I continue on my way to the double doors that hold everything I've been focused on for the past couple of months.

"That was so badass, babygirl." Dustin exclaims like a teenaged boy being handed over the keys to a brand new car on his sixteenth birthday. He yanks open the door for me and I feel the jury turn their eyes on me, the judge has yet to arrive and Mr. Cruz is waving frantically in our direction as if we couldn't see him.

"We have to be prepared for whatever is going to be thrown at us." He opens the gate for me to come around to the floor of the courtroom. Dustin selects a bench seat directly behind my chair and watches as Mr. Cruz pulls it out for me to sit.

"Thank you." I say to him, he takes a seat of his own and I refrain from looking past him, past him would cause me to lock eyes with none other than Mr. Santos.

"All rise." The guards voice is strong and nearly bounces off the walls of the room as the judge makes his way out. "You may be seated." Suddenly one of the doors is swung open, nearly ripped from its hinges as a blur of fire-engine red waves stumbles in, if it weren't for Mr. Cruz sitting next to me, you would think my older sister were about to defend me in court. She was dressed to the nines in a gray pencil skirt and matching blazer along with a purse that could have passed as a briefcase. Harper looks wide eyed to the stands and the judge has narrowed his eyes in on her, she sucks at her teeth as she mouths a 'Sorry' in his direction.

I bit down hard on my lip, "Case 249, Parsons versus Santos," Mr. Cruz stood and I suddenly felt my knees begin to wobble.

"Yes, your honor," Mr. Cruz started, "I'd like to call Mr. Santos to the stand." He states with pure confidence in his voice. This helps my heart rate slow down but, once Mr. Santos stands and those beady brown eyes are staring into me, I can't help it. A tear rolls down my cheek and I quickly swat it away.

"Where were you at the end of the school day on November 17th, 2018?" White noise filled my ears and I sipped at the water on my desk. I felt as if the water had flowed right to my palms as they were sweating like crazy.

"I was with that little lady over there." His voice had managed to slither into my shirt and crawl it's way up the entirety of my body before finally wrapping around my throat. I needed an ibuprofen, very fast.