Nothing Left to Lose (81 page)

I laughed
nervously and nodded. “Yeah.”

His hands
cupped around my face as he tilted my head slightly. His eyes met
mine. “Let’s try this again then, huh?” he whispered. His lips
brushed mine when he spoke and my skin prickled with excitement. “I
love you,” he repeated, grinning.

I grinned. “I
love you too,” I replied immediately, feeling my heart skip a
beat.

His lips
crashed against mine forcefully; kissing me so fiercely that it was
like he was unleashing all of his passion in one go. My arms looped
around his neck and we fell back into the pillows, not breaking the
kiss. His love for me resonated through every cell in my body,
overwhelming me, consuming me, owning me. When the kiss broke, I
was breathless. His eyes glittered with excitement and joy as he
grinned down at me.

“Sorry, I need
to hear it again,” he stated, looking at me hopefully.

I giggled
wickedly, tangling my hand into the back of his hair. “Wow, you’re
needy.”

He laughed and
kissed me again, making my world spin faster. Little kisses were
planted across my cheek. “I love you, Annabelle Spencer,” he purred
in my ear. My whole body tingled as I gripped his hips between my
knees, pulling him closer, needing him closer. I pressed my hand
against the small of his back, pinning him against me. There was no
way I was letting go now.

“I love you so
much, Ashton,” I promised. If he knew how much, I would be in
serious trouble. I had a feeling he could do anything and I would
still take him back. He had my heart; I just prayed he wouldn’t
break it. He smiled and let out a victorious growl as he crashed
his lips back to mine, kissing me fiercely, setting my whole body
on fire. I needed him. I needed that closeness, that intimacy that
I only ever had with him. “Make love to me,” I begged, running my
hands down his back, clutching him closer to me.

Raw desire was
almost killing me. He moaned and started to peel my clothes off,
slowly, trailing his fingers over my body, making me shiver. I
smiled against his lips, and he pulled back and smiled too, his
green eyes shining with excitement and lust, and most importantly,
love.

Everything was
slow, tender, perfect. Every touch filled with love, need and want.
It wasn’t sex, we were making love, and we both knew it. Everything
was beautiful and all consuming. He completed me, this boy. He was
my life and the very thing I needed. The passion brought tears to
my eyes because it was so perfect. After, I held him close on top
of me as we both struggled to breathe. I was exhausted, not just
from the physical exertion but from the feeling and the emotions
that went into it.

He loves
me…

He was kissing
my neck as I combed my finger through the back of his hair, smiling
contentedly.

He loves
me…He really loves me.
I still couldn’t quite get my head
around it.

After a few
minutes he shifted off me, lying down at my side and brushing my
hair from my sweaty forehead. He kissed me gently, just once, a
soft, chaste kiss, before propping his head up on his elbow and
just smiling down at me. Neither of us spoke, it was just the
perfect moment, and I didn’t ever want it to end.

After an
eternity of comfortable silence, he spoke, “I want to ask you
something,” he whispered.

“Oh yeah,
what’s that?” I asked, smiling, feeling happier than I had ever
felt in my life.

“Will you be my
girlfriend? Like, for real? Be with me, be mine,” he asked, looking
at me hopefully.

Mine. That word
had never had much meaning in it before, but hearing Ashton asking
me to be ‘mine’, I knew I would never hear that word the same
again. “Of course I will.”

“I promise I’ll
be the best boyfriend in the world,” he replied, looking at me
tenderly.

I had no doubt
in my mind about that. “You already are.”

He smiled and
kissed me again. “I love you, Baby Girl.”

My heart
skipped a beat at the sound of those words from his mouth; they
were the sexiest damn words in the history of the world. I could
feel him starting to get aroused again against my thigh, and I felt
the blush creep onto my cheeks. He was like some kind of
machine.

“Well, I love
you back,” I said playfully as I rolled him under me and kissed
him, starting all over again.

For two full
days and nights, I felt like I was walking on air. They describe
being in love like being on cloud nine, but to me, it felt almost
like twelve or thirteen at least. But, of course, something had to
come along and ruin it. It was as if the universe refused to allow
me to be happy. Maybe I didn’t deserve to be happy, just like I
always thought. Ashton and I had barely left the apartment for two
days since we first made the L-word confession. At my request, we’d
skipped school and it wasn’t only because we were too wrapped up in
exploring each other’s bodies, though that certainly was a part of
it, but it was also because of the trial. I didn’t want to go
anywhere in case I was called up suddenly and had to jump on a
flight to go and give my evidence. The trial weighed on us both,
casting a shadow over everything that should be wonderful and full
of roses. It seemed that Carter still had a way of ruining my life,
even without knowing he was doing it.

On the third
morning, we didn’t even bother setting an alarm. It surprised me
when I woke to the sound of Ashton’s cell phone ringing loudly from
the bedside unit. I nudged him with my elbow as I eyed the alarm
clock, seeing that it was half past ten in the morning.

He let out a
loud, sleep-filled groan as he pushed himself up off me and fumbled
for his phone. I rolled over to face him, feeling the smile creep
onto my face because he just looked so mouth-wateringly gorgeous in
the morning. Knowing that the boy was mine literally made my heart
pick up in double-time.

“Hello?” he
muttered into the phone, running a hand through his messed up,
I-had-a-lot-of-mind-blowing-sex-last-night hair. His eyes
immediately widened as the muscles in his shoulders tightened. He
practically jumped out of the bed, pulling on yesterday’s jeans.
“Yes, sir,” he said, zipping them up with one hand. His eyes
flicked to me. “No, she’s right here. Yeah okay, one moment, sir,”
He pulled the phone away from his ear, frowning. “It’s your father,
Anna. He wants me to put the call on speaker so he can talk to both
of us,” Ashton explained, fiddling with his phone.

My mouth popped
open, immediately knowing what this would be about. Somehow, he had
found out that Ashton and I were together. He was probably calling
to express his displeasure and to tell us to cease the relationship
and for Ashton to pack his bags. My back stiffened at the thought.
There was no way I was allowing my father to send him away from
me.

Ashton set the
phone on the bed. “Okay, sir, go ahead.”

I glared down
at the phone challengingly, waiting for him to say the words and
for us to start the almighty argument that I knew would come once
he tried to split us up. My dad cleared his throat. “Okay well, I
have some news, I’ve just heard, it’s literally just happened,” he
said, uncharacteristically stumbling over his words.

“What, Dad?
Spit it out,” I instructed, already exasperated with all of this
pussyfooting around. Yes, it was probably wrong for Ashton and I to
be involved because he was my guard, yes, we had probably gone
about this the wrong way, but hadn’t my parents been telling me to
let go of Jack and be happy for the last three and a half
years?

He sucked in a
ragged breath before he spoke the words that I had never expected
to hear in my life. “I’ve just been informed by the court that
they’ve had to release Carter Thomas.”

My breath
caught in my throat as I registered his words. He was out? He
couldn’t be. He’d killed Jack. I’d watched him do it. How could he
have been released? The trial had only been going for two days.

Ashton gasped.
“What the? They released him? How? Why? When?”

My dad sighed.
“This morning, less than five minutes ago. They overturned his
conviction. He’s been cleared of all charges. Apparently yesterday
was a disaster. His lawyers ripped all the previous evidence to
shreds, had crime scene experts come in and testify against their
own colleagues. Apparently it was ruled that the DNA samples,
fibres and fingerprints that they found on Jack’s body were
collected incorrectly. There was a risk that they were
contaminated, something to do with not using a sterile bag. Because
there was a slight chance that they were contaminated, the Judge
had no choice but to deem them all inadmissible,” my dad
explained.

I closed my
eyes. It was just too much to take in. The man who had killed Jack
and tortured me for months on end, who had raped me repeatedly and
beat me, was free. My husband. He was out. There was no justice.
Jack was dead, and Carter, his murderer, was walking off scot-free.
That wasn’t right; this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Tears
stung my eyes.

“Anna, are you
okay?” Ashton’s hands cupped my face gently, forcing my head up so
I had to look at him. His eyes were flashing with anger, but still
managed to look at me tenderly, like I was the only girl in the
world.

I nodded
awkwardly. “I didn’t even get called. Why didn’t they call me in to
testify again?” I croaked.

My dad answered
that question. “Late yesterday afternoon, Carter’s lawyers also
presented some new evidence. I’ve been told this morning that it
was some kind of CCTV footage that was date stamped from that
night. It showed him half way across town the night it happened.
They even had an expert come in and verify it. Without the fibres
and fingerprints, it would have been your word against his plus the
CCTV footage. That wasn’t enough to continue with the trial. The
Judge had no choice but to rule in his favour.” My dad sounded like
he’d aged ten years in the last couple of minutes.

Ashton made an
angry growling sound in his throat. “What? How the hell can they do
that? How the hell can there be CCTV footage?”

I smiled at him
sadly; he really had no idea who Carter was. “Carter can do
whatever he wants. He has people everywhere; if there’s something
he wants, he won’t stop until it’s his. These experts, they can be
bought. Hell, he probably had someone in the police tamper with the
evidence so it couldn’t be used,” I explained, shrugging.

Ashton looked
at me like I had lost my mind. “You’re saying that he paid someone
to fabricate some CCTV of him across town to give him an alibi?” he
asked, shocked.

“Sure, why not.
Hell, I’m surprised it’s taken him this long to get his conviction
overthrown,” I replied matter-of-factly.

He shook his
head fiercely. “But what about the fact that Anna was there at his
house? Doesn’t that prove what she’s saying is the truth? That he
killed Jack and kidnapped her? How can they just dismiss that?”
Ashton asked, glaring at the phone on the bed.

I gulped. I
knew the answer to that, and it was my fault. I hadn’t wanted to
press charges; I refused to give any statements about what he did
to me because I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. During the
first trial, it was recorded that I refused to make a comment, and
Carter’s lawyers claimed that I was there of my own free will, that
we met, that it was pure coincidence, that I was drunk that night
and confused. They made me out to be some kind of scorned
girlfriend that was trying to pin something on Carter as some sort
of payback for some undisclosed incident. They even had someone
question my sanity. It wasn’t my evidence that secured the
conviction; it was the fibres that they found on Jack’s body that
put him away for murder. My evidence had just helped; it was never
me that made a difference.

“That was ruled
last time as inconsequential. What he did to Annabelle was never
brought into question, the fact that she was there was marked as
coincidence, but it couldn’t be used against him,” my dad
explained, skirting around the issue.

“So that’s it,
after everything he’s done, he gets to walk away?” Ashton growled.
His hands tightened into fists. “You can’t do anything, sir? You’re
the President, for goodness’ sake, you can’t let this happen!”

“Son, you need
to calm down. I hate this situation as much as you do, but just
because I’m in a position of power doesn’t mean that I can break
the law! If I force the issue then I’d be no better than he is. My
whole campaign was based on truth and justice, I can’t very well
force them to hold him if there’s no evidence,” my dad answered,
his voice stern and final.

Ashton sighed
and closed his eyes, running a hand through his hair, his whole
posture agitated and alert. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to suggest…”
he trailed off, his hands still in tight fists, his knuckles
white.

“I know. Let’s
just look to the matter in hand here, shall we?” my dad
suggested.

Ashton plopped
down on the bed next to me and took my hand. “I won’t let him hurt
you, I swear,” he told me fiercely, his jaw tight, his whole body
tense.

I smiled sadly.
“He won’t hurt me, Ashton; he won’t have the slightest interest in
me at all. All he’ll be worried about is getting his power back and
showing people he’s back in charge. I wouldn’t be surprised if some
big deal’s not being arranged as we speak,” I said honestly. If I
knew Carter at all, he’d want to gain his respect back. Respect was
always the most valuable thing to him.

Ashton looked
at me desperately before turning back to the phone. “Sir, surely
it’s time now?”

I raised one
eyebrow in question.

My dad sighed.
“Yes, I guess it is,” he muttered. I looked up at Ashton, confused
about the turn in the conversation. What was it time for? My dad
groaned. “Annabelle, Carter’s been sending you letters every week
since the time he was arrested.”