Nicole

After being dropped off at the station, two police officers escorted me to the cells where the women were separated from the men. Mumbled conversations were audible as I walked down the hallway, the chains on my wrists and ankles gently rattled behind me as the officers kept a tight grip on both of my arms. Not much was going on in my mind, not a word came out of my lips. I felt nothing but damaged. Physically and mentally... I've gotten Jaden arrested, I've gotten people killed, and I've let Simon down... I did all in my power to get him back but even that wasn't enough to save his life. At this point, Simon's death would be anything but a surprise to me...

One of the officers spoke, putting a crack in the wall of silence between us, "Once you're in your new home, I want you to change out of your regular clothes and get in uniform, alright?"

I didn't answer.

The officer continued, "Your jumpsuit will be sitting on your bed. Just get dressed and don't say a word to the other inmates, understand?"

I kept my silence.

"Understand?" he repeated sternly.

"I heard you the first time, kid," I told him immediately, nearly cutting him off.

He sneered and unlocked my cell as the other officer shoved me inside, "We'll be back to run a few tests on you to make sure you're mentally stable." he pulled out a crumpled trash bag from his pocket, "Put your clothes in this bag when you're done. Officer Jen will keep an eye on ya."

I watched as the male officer walked out of the hall. Officer Jen crossed her arms at me, "Come on, newbie, get suited up."

I eyed her for a moment then caught a glimpse of the other inmates staring at me from the other cells. They looked like they've been here for a long while and they have definitely adapted to the dirty, poor conditions of this place.

That would be me in a few months...

I looked away from them and began to pull my original clothes off to throw on that old orange jumpsuit.

After that, I threw my clothes in the bag and handed it over to Jen. She nodded, "We'll be back in a few. Enjoy your stay."

I rolled my eyes as she snickered at her own joke and walked away.

Bitch.

"Well, well, well..." one of the inmates smiled, exposing her blackish teeth to me. "Looks like we got some fresh meat in the locker." she coughed a laugh.

"Ah, leave her 'lone..." another, easier to look at, inmate sized me, with her hands grabbing the bars, "What are you in here for, Princess? Stealing candy?" She snickered as her short, red hair fell over her eye.

I raised an eyebrow.

Who does she think I am?

"Nah, she's cute. She was probably caught doing some prostitution down at Ivory Drive."

I glared at that, "Who the hell are you calling a hooker?"

The first inmate coughed another laugh, "You, sweet cheeks. Got a problem?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I do actually. I don't appreciate a rejected muppet assuming that I swallow. Considering the fact that you've already swallowed more than half of your own teeth."

The others gasped, some snickered.

"You better be careful who you're talking to like that, sweet stuff." she spat.

I chuckled, "And what are you going to do? Buy me flowers and hand me more compliments?"

"I'll show you exactly what I'mma do, peaches. Better watch your back at lunch break." She flipped me off with her crooked middle finger before she headed to the toilet to pee shamelessly.

I rolled my eyes, not intimidated by her, "Shove that finger up your ass, tinkle bell."

"What's going on in here!" an officer asked as he walked back into our hall.

"Ask little miss Big Mouth over there." the toothless bitch said, pulling her suit back up.

The officer crossed his arms at me, "Didn't I tell you not to speak with the others?" he shook his head and unlocked my cell, "This is going to be a long sentence for you if you choose to act up the whole time... Come on, you've got places to be. "

He grabbed my hands and cuffed them in front of me before leading me out of the hall. I only looked forward, not making eye contact with the other inmates until I left because I knew I was getting dirty looks from each and every one of them.

"You listen here." the cop started as we exited the cell hall. "The nurse is just going to take a few DNA samples, scan you, and analyze what's going on in that clearly unstable noggin of yours... You better behave yourself and respect that nurse, got it?"

I shrugged, "I'll try."

"Good enough." he opened the door to the nurse's room and let me walk in, "Nurse A, your patient is ready."

"Thank you, you can sit in a seat, honey," she said, finishing up a note in her journal.

I did as she said, eyeing her as I sat down. She seemed young but she had bags under her eyes that showed exactly how exhausted she was. I would be too if I had to deal with a bunch of criminals for a living.

"Sasha Nicole Greene, is it?" she read off of her clipboard.

I nodded, "Sure."

"Great. Well, welcome to prison. My name is Ms. Alphonso. You can call me Ms. A if you'd like." she rolled her chair over to me with a kit in her lap. "We're going to start with a few swab tests."

I watched her hands as she placed a pair of gloves on them and pulled out the first swab, "None of those are going up my vagina, are they?" I asked.

She slightly raised her eyebrows as she set her box down on a counter, "Well, not yet. I'm doing your mouth first. Say ah."

I opened my mouth and let her swab the inside of my cheeks as she asked, "I understand that you have a therapist that you are scheduled to see every week, correct?"

I nodded and watched as she placed the wet swab in a plastic bag then pulled out another one, also asking, "Have you been taking any medication for stress or anxiety?"

"Sometimes." I simply answered.

"Alright..." She took note of that. She then put her hand on my thigh, "Okay, now I need you to take off your-"

"You're not going in between my legs."

She stared at me for a moment. I knew she had a long day just by looking at her so she didn't even bother to argue. "Alright... Fine, not a problem." she stood up and pulled three water bottles out of her fridge. "How about we do it the old fashioned way... Just drink these until you have to urinate."

I chuckled and grabbed one of the bottles, "You want me to piss in a cup... Like in a drug test?"

She nodded, "Exactly." she handed me an empty cup.

I suppose that's better than the swab...

* * * * *

2 bottles and a half later, I did my duty in the bathroom and brought back the warm cup which Nurse A. took to the backroom to test for a while.

Aside from when she came out once to give me a short brain scan, I had to wait for more than three hours, taking a nap or trying to occupy myself with the things I found around her room as I waited for her return.

I sat on the silver examining table, listening to my heartbeat as I waited.

B-boom... B-boom... B-boom...

Then I soon heard the door squeak open.

I put her stethoscope down and turned to her, waiting for the results.

"The results are in, Sasha..." she smiled at her clipboard.

"And?" I crossed my arms, wondering why she was smiling from ear to ear.

"It seems like your mental state is generally stable. No brain or nerve damage, no missing brain cells or chromosomes... Everything came back negative as far as diseases and genetic mutations or flaws, so that's something to celebrate. However, it won't help your case... The judge will have less sympathy for you knowing that you were completely aware of what you were doing... Also, I see that you work for the government, is that correct?"

I nodded, "I do... Secret services."

She rubbed her nose, "Hm... I don't think the officials know that yet, I'm sure they'll figure it out during the background checks."

"So are we done here?"

She smiled again, "Well, almost... One test did come back positive."

I raised an eyebrow, "And what's that?"

She moved her eyes up from her clipboard to meet mine with a joyful gleam in her eyes, "You're pregnant..."

WHAT?!

I stared at her with my eyes wide in shock. Stunned.

Did she just say... How the fuck? What?

A living thing is in me?! A human being?!

A little Jaden!!

I'm gonna pass out.

I let out a deep breath and sat back down in the chair, "You're joking." I chuckled, "You're joking!" I laughed. I was really hoping this was a joke, there's just no way!

She frowned and gently grabbed my cuffed hands, "The tests don't lie... Unfortunately, depending on how long your sentence is, we will have to confiscate the child from your possession once it's born until your release... If the state allows you to have it back."

My mouth slightly gaped open and I became speechless. This was just too much for me to process right now. I could only nod and look away from her.

How do I tell this to Jaden?

"Hey Jaden, we're pregnant but they're taking the baby away from us as soon as it's born!"

He would be devastated... Does he even want a baby? Do I even want one? I'm not ready for this!

The nurse opened the door, where the officer was waiting just outside, "She's done for today. Take her back to the cells."

He nodded, "Let's move it." he said, poking my back with his baton to make me walk faster.

I silently did what I was told, still stunned from the news. I needed to sit down and going back to my cell didn't sound so bad right now because I could do just that.

I turned to enter the halls but the officer stopped me, "Keep walking straight ahead."

"My cell is in this block..." I told him.

He pushed his baton to my back to make me walk, "You have a visitor. Investigators want to do a quick interview to straighten some things out for a different case."

I shook my head, "Not today. I have too much already going on to be dealing with something else."

He laughed, "I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that I don't care and you don't have a choice, prisoner. This is something that you have to do."

I rolled my eyes, "And do you have to be a dick about it?"

He chuckled and shoved me forward with his baton, "Call me anything you want because, at the end of the day, I'm not the one sleeping with rats and roaches."

I sighed and watched as he opened the interrogating room. There was a silver table in the center of the room where an officer accompanied the investigator on one side of the table.

The officer that walked me here instructed me to take a seat as he joined sides with the investigator. I did as he said, placing my cuffed hands on my lap as I sat masculine-like across from her and waited for her to speak.

"Hello, Ms. Greene. I'm sure we haven't met before, I'm Charlotte, one of the investigators of this case."

She held her hand out to me but I just stared at her, "What is this about?"

She cleared her throat and tapped her fingers on the desk awkwardly when I didn't shake her hand, drawing her hand back to her as she told me, "I'm sure you're familiar with Jackson's suspected rape charges involving you as the victim."

Dammit, now's not the time!

I nodded, trying my best to show no emotion, "I'm aware of what happened and I don't want to talk about it."

She clasped her hands together, "I understand that something like this is hard to discuss out loud but the suspect says that he never did such a thing. In order to clear this up, we need you to talk."

"I said, I don't want to talk about-"

"I don't care if you want to or not, Ms. Greene." she calmly interrupted. "This isn't going to go anywhere without the information you know. You and the suspect are the only people who truly know what went down behind those closed doors and you're not leaving here until you give us something to work with."

I clenched my jaw and glared at her as she continued with a sigh, "The suspect claims that you work with him in the same facility, is that correct?"

I nodded, "He's my coach... We work for the United Secret Services for Criminal Investigation." I glanced up at the officers and caught them whispering something to each other.

Charlotte wrote a note, "And you two have been friends for more than three years now."

After what he did, I no longer consider him a "friend".

"I don't make friends but yes, I knew him for a while."

She scribbled that down and asked, "So he's not a complete stranger... Okay, tell me about that night. Do you recall exactly what happened?"

I thought for a moment, trying to remember, "Yeah... I woke up in his bed, reeking of alcohol and..." I sighed, "A- and my clothes... They were taken off of my body... Replaced with new ones..."

She nodded, "Did he hurt you in any way?"

I tried to think back but all I could do is shrug, "I don't know... I had a few bruises but I... Don't... I don't know."

She put her pen down and scratched her chin gently, "Do you remember the physical actions? Things he said or did while in the act?"

I shook my head silently.

"So you don't know for sure that he did, in fact, rape you.."

I looked away from her. Now that I was actually thinking about it, I don't remember a damn thing from that night except for when I woke up.

I bit my lip, "I was too drunk... I don't remember it."

"Just as I thought..." she said to herself before turning to the officers and saying, "Bring in her therapist, maybe he could help." she picked up her papers and told me, "You two can talk one on one so you could comfortably give him the information."

I winced, "Miguel is here?"

She nodded, "Yes, ma'am. The police will be close by so don't try anything crazy."

With that, she and the officers headed out of the room leaving me in silence for a few seconds before the door opened again. Miguel gave me a small wave as he walked in, "Nicole... Lovely seeing you again." he grabbed the chair from across the table and pulled it over so he could sit right next to me. "I didn't think we will meet again in such a place like this."

I sighed and tried to relax in my chair but I was still tense. Having Miguel here made me a bit nervous. He's jogged my memory back before, if he manages to do that again, what I'll see might forever haunt me.

He gently grabbed my cuffed hands, "All I want you to do is mentally retrace your steps... We'll start with this."

He moved one of his hands to pull out a piece of folded paper from his back pocket. When he unfolded it, a security camera image of a male's body, wearing a yellow dress shirt was displayed on it. Miguel had covered his face with a small piece of black tape.

"Do you recognize seeing that from that night?" he asked.

As soon as I shook my head, I suddenly remembered, "Oh! Is that Jackson?"

He smiled, "Yes... What a great start. Where do you remember seeing him dressed like this?"

I began to bounce my leg a bit. It was so familiar to me, "He came to my dorm after training, dressed like that."

"Do you know why he was at your dorm?"

I nodded, "I promised that I would have a quick meeting with him while relaxing at a bar. He took me to this jazz joint for a while."

He gently clapped his hands, "You've already remembered much more than you said you did! See what happens when you try?"

I chuckled, "I see."

He grabbed my hands again, "Now. Do you remember what happened after showing up at that bar?"

"Kinda, I mean... We talked a bit and he bought me some water and a light alcoholic drink."

"And..."

I pursed my lips, "I... We... Uh, we talked and... I don't know..."

"C'mon, you can do it, Nicole... Close your eyes and try to remember." he rubbed my knuckles soothingly.

For some reason, I could only picture Jackson and I talking... I couldn't remember anything passed that except for when I wanted to leave the bar. He had convinced me to stay somehow.

That's it!

"We had samples... There were these really delicious beers and he bought me a bottle of some expensive wine... Not too long after that, we played a few games, you know... Gambling."

He nodded, "How much did you drink after that?"

Brain fart.

"I literally don't remember a single detail after that... I only remember waking up in his bed... Terrified."

"You have to remember, love... Think really hard. What did you see yourself doing? What did you hear him say? Any little detail counts. Colors, environment, smells, anything..."

I shut my eyes tightly, really trying hard this time but nothing was coming to me. It all stopped at the gambling for me.

Remember anything!

I kept trying, and trying, and trying but all I got was a headache. The more I thought, the more my mind swirled in different directions. It was focused on more than just this situation now. It moved to:

What would Simon do when he hears about this?

Would he fire Jackson?

Is Simon even alright?

What if he doesn't get to meet his new grandchild?

Oh shit! I'm going to be a mom!

I groaned in frustration, "I can't do this, Miguel! I'm trying, I really am but I don't remember jackshit from that night!" I tried my best to not scream.

He pulled me in for a hug, "It's alright, love... Don't stress too much. This just means we have to turn a corner I did not wish to take."

I let out a deep sigh and listened as he told me exactly what he meant.

"This option is all up to you, okay love?"

I nodded.

"We want to know if it is possible that you can talk face to face with Jackson himself... Seeing him and hearing his words might help stimulate those memory glands. If you want, I could stay right by your side in case you get too uncomfortable."

Chills ran up my spine, almost making me shiver. "Jackson... Is here too? How?"

He smiled, "It was my idea that we both fly out here to come to see you and officials allowed it. We were in the private European hotel when he last spoke with you. We thought it would be beneficial for him to be here for the case."

I rubbed my temples with a small groan. I don't think I could handle looking that man in the eyes again. I wouldn't know how I'd react. I still wanted to kill him but I also wanted to hide from him as well.

But deep down inside, I wanted to know the truth more than anything at this point.

I nodded hesitantly, "Sure... I'll talk to him."

He smiled, "Good choice." he squeezed my shoulder then headed to the door.

He poked his head out and gestured to someone out there, "Bring him in..." he whispered.

Two police officers came in and stood at my sides. I took another deep breath and stood up straight, watching two more officers enter with Jackson walking in between them in handcuffs.

As soon as he walked in, our eye contact instantly grabbed onto each other and refused to let go.

He looked different from when I last saw him. From his fight with Jaden, I mean... His sterling grey eyes twinkled, complimenting his chiseled, less injured looking face. In fact, he didn't look bad at all. He cleaned up nicely and his face seemed back to normal for the most part except for the few stitches he had on his lower lip and the side of his nose making him recognizable enough to bring back the fear I felt in my guts the night I woke up on his bed.

"A rapist?" he chuckled softly, "Come on, Nicole. You know better than that."

I watched, nearly holding my breath as he stopped in front of me at the officer's command as he continued, "You went around telling people I took advantage of you, so confident with that conclusion and thinking you had all the evidence in the world to prove it... But you can't even remember how you ended up in my home in the first place?"

I could only glare at him.

"Nick..." he inched closer but the officer told him to stand still. "I took you home that night because you were sick... Don't you remember? Somebody messed with your drink."

"I'm sure you're going to try and convince me that it wasn't you," I told him, keeping a strong glare into his eyes.

He held onto our gaze, his tongue brushing against the inside of his cheek before he simply told me, "There's no need for convincing. The fact is that I was not the one who did it."

I almost rolled my eyes at that but my eyes remained fixed into his as I couldn't find the strength in me to look away. He continued by telling me, "Before we headed out, I left you alone at the bar for a few minutes... You were the one who told me someone had bought you a drink and you weren't feeling well ever since."

Someone bought me a drink...?

Then a sudden memory of a woman in a hoodie and long, black hair rushing away from the bar flashed back to me.

Someone did buy me a drink... Who the hell was she?

"You had a pretty severe reaction to it." Jackson proceeded to tell me, my heart making a thump in my chest at the sudden memory of the car ride. The way my body heated up, the way I almost passed out in the grass.

"I offered to take you to the hospital... And you refused. Don't you remember any of that?"

I bit my lip, admitting to him, "I do remember... I remember being stupid enough to accept a drink from a stranger." I said, shamefully.

Jackson shook his head, "It's not your fault. We were having a lot of fun, dancing and drinking, it's easy to forget your responsibilities. I did too. But I wasn't irresponsible enough to rape you... I would never do that."

Those words made anger return to my expression, "So if it wasn't you, then who left me half-naked in that bed? Who took advantage of me that night? Who did it?"

"No one." He answered immediately. "It never happened."

"The change of my clothing, the bruise on my leg... They didn't come out of nowhere, Jackson."

"You're right, they didn't come out of nowhere but they didn't happen the way you think." He shook his head with a sigh, "The sweater. Yes, it was mine but I gave it to you because you had gotten vomit on the one you were already wearing. And the bruise on your leg was from a fall... You collapsed smack in the middle of my living room before you hungover."

I slowly moved my eyes away as I attempted to recall that but there was still no memory of that happening. Not the slightest bit.

But I also couldn't deny its possibility.

I kept my voice low, "That explains a lot... But it doesn't explain enough."

He brought his cuffed hands up to his face and slid them upwards, messily pulling his hair back to clearly expose the irritation in his eyes, "What else is needed to be explained?" He asked, trying to keep an unbothered tone.

"I got a phone call," I answered, annoyed by his body language. "A very suspicious one..."

"What call?" He asked after a short,  silent moment.

I opened my mouth to answer but soon shut it when I realized that I still have no clue who exactly called me that night. That low and mysterious tone of hers was anything but recognizable to me but she must've been one of our members since I couldn't imagine anyone outside of headquarters having access to my cell phone number.

I went ahead and just said to him, "I don't know who it was who had called me, probably one of our agents... I was told that she was trying to get a hold of me until one of us accidentally answered the phone." I swallowed uncomfortably as chills ran up my spine at the clear memory of her voice speaking to me as I added, "What she heard sounded violent... Aggressive... It couldn't have possibly been anyone else because... You and I had no other company that night."

He only stared at me. Dumbfounded. "Who the hell told you that." He asked in one breath.

"As I said, I don't know... I was called by someone on an unsaved number..." I kept my eyes on my cuffed hands.

Jackson ruffled his hair stressfully before saying to himself, "This just got really confusing..." He looked at me now, "How could that have happened twice?"

"Twice?" My eyes slightly widened. "What do you mean, twice?"

"I got a similar call..." He replied. "Same scenario only, it was told to me that what happened was consensual."

I slightly shook my head, "I know damn well that I would never agree to... Wait... What?"

I wasn't sure anymore. I couldn't even remember anything, how could I be so sure that I didn't agree to sleeping with him.

"Also, I wasn't called by an unknown number..." He added. "I was called by Rebecca."

Rebecca?!

I shook my head in complete disbelief as he continued to tell me, "She was calling about the mission, they had found new info on the suspects. She tried to tell me about it but I guess I accidentally answered it? I still don't understand that part of the story since I don't recall ever answering my phone..." He gently rubbed his chin with his thumb, lowering his voice to add, "But I do remember when you took it out of my hand. It's possible that you might've answered it instead of declining."

My brain zoned everything out to repeatedly play that dreaded name over and over throughout my mind, "That doesn't matter, knowing that deceiving bitch, the whole thing could've been completely made up. There's no way you and I ever slept together." I tried to look into his eyes, searching for hope of all this being a sick joke. A joke only Rebecca could come up with but Jackson moved his eyes away with something that concerned me.

"What?!" I demanded. "This is all a lie, isn't it? You know Rebecca hates me, that's why she twisted the story, that's why she made all of this up-"

"Nick..." He interrupted calmly. "We were kissing when you took the phone from me..."

I could only stand there speechlessly as I tried to find any hint of uncertainty in his expression but it was clear that he was sure of this happening. He's been sure of everything he's told me and I almost found that insane. Had he even been drinking that night? How could he possibly remember so much...?

"My god..." I whispered. "You really do remember us sleeping together..." A disgusted sneer stretching on my lips as I backed away a bit, "You were never impaired. You knew I wasn't able to say no..."

"No, Nick, I-"

"You were completely aware of what was going on that night. That's why you kept me at your home without telling another damn soul what was going on..." I glared, remembering when I woke up days later from when I had left my dorm.

He drew in a deep breath almost as if he was getting ready to shout at me but instead, he kept his voice at a low, "Listen to me, Nicole... I'm ashamed of it but I had been doing some drinking that night. A lot of it. Enough for my memory to completely disappear too. Unlike you though, my memories came back to me the next morning. The only thing I just cannot remember is us ever having sex."

I sighed hopelessly, "So what does this mean? You don't remember it, I don't remember it... Rebecca has already lied to us about what really went down that night, she could be bullshitting this too."

He simply shrugged, "There's no doubt that she's definitely seen something that night. The accidental call was real and she knew where we were when she saw us together... All I could say is that there is a possibility of us taking things further than it should have but based on everything I remember, I want you to know that there was no violence or any forceful behavior."

"I believe that but what was the point of keeping me in your home for so long?" I asked him.

He let out a deep sigh, "You were still recovering... Remember that remedy I made you back when you were hanging over after that New Year's party?"

I nodded, "I do."

How could I forget? That thing worked in just a few hours.

"Well, I gave you a cup of that more than an hour before you hungover in my home. You were responding well to it too. How do you not remember any of this?"

I remember the taste of that detoxifying drink on new years if that helps. The soothing sounds of crickets chirping as we swung on a hammock were nice too...

Only... That wasn't on new years.

"I do remember that now... You took me out to your hammock." I thought out loud. "I was stressed out that night..." I said softly and looked away, remembering how I felt but not so much why I felt that way.

He gave me a small smile, "Right, you were. You refused to sleep too. More than once actually. Remember why?"

I shook my head.

"You don't remember your own words? My words?"

He took a step closer but I took one back, "I don't."

"You do... I know you do in there somewhere." he searched my eyes, "You were focusing on someone who wanted you for all the wrong reasons... Until you realized that you wanted someone else..."

"You're really good at what you do..." I remember saying to him.

"That was all you, it's called coming to your senses." He replied that night.

"Tell me if I'm having another one of those moments." Was what I told him.

Before I kissed him...

This really was all my fault, wasn't it?

Jackson tilted my chin up so I would look at him, "At least tell me you remember that... Remember how you reacted."

Those dark eyes. It began to feel familiar to me now. It was the same dark look he gave me when he gazed longingly into mine, almost hesitating to give in to me until he ultimately decided to do just that.

What he did was never on him... I'm the one who was willing to cheat just to understand something I could never understand on my own. I'm the one who targeted him in order to achieve that. I made him think that I wanted him until we both unknowingly began to believe that, long enough for us to screw up and now my relationship with Jaden, friendship with Jackson, and overall respect is being jeopardized by all of my lies. I let my emotions get the best of me. I'm such a mess! A disgusting, disgraceful mess!

The worst part of it all, I almost developed a dangerous attraction to him in the process of it... The way he spoke to me, the way he didn't hesitate to help, the way he truly made me feel like the only girl he saw... Something Jaden failed to do in the past.

That was only the past...

I became blind that night. I made myself much too concerned about Jaden's imperfections that I completely ignored what made me love him in the first place.

I only love Jaden.

"Nick... Do you remember?" he asked again.

My eyes moved to his lips, suddenly remembering their taste. Remembering the heat they brought to my body. I nodded silently.

The memory of him hovering over me, half-naked and his alluring muscular body played back in my head. The way he kissed me... The way he felt against me... I enjoyed it.

A lot...

Much more than I ever should have.

My eyes softened and my eyes held onto his as Jackson's thumb began to lightly stroke my chin, "Whatever the judge decides to do with me, whether or not I lose my job... I want you to know that I forgive you. None of this should affect what we have so far. Whether it's friendship or something more, I don't want us to ignore each other after today. I care about you way too much to lose you to any of this."

I nodded silently again, my eyes never leaving his lips as he spoke. He noticed it and he leaned in slowly, giving me a gentle kiss on my lips when I didn't reject. As soon as our lips locked, he didn't hesitate to slowly move in deeper while I could only stand still, frozen.

Those words... "That was all you, it's called coming to your senses..."

Coming to my senses...?

NO! This isn't what I want!

I yanked my face back and turned away from him, refusing to look at him again, "Jackson... Get out."

He was silent for a moment, "Nicole..."

"Get out! Leave!" I demanded.

I didn't want to see him anymore. I want him out!

"Alright, you heard her..." The officer said, leading him away from me.

Jackson opened his mouth to say something then he just let it go with a sigh, walking away in peace.

I'm disgusted with myself... Disgusted!

Miguel placed a hand on my shoulder, "I think I see what happened here... After hearing what Jackson told me back at the hotel compared to what I've heard today, it's clear that this situation is much more complicated than we assumed it to be..."

I silently nodded in agreement.

"From the looks of it, we would have to contact Rebecca for closure. Don't worry, I will take care of everything." He gently told me.

"Thank you," I whispered, keeping my eyes glued to the door Jackson exited through. As my mind began to process the recent events it was now becoming clear that Jackson had already developed real feelings for me. Whether they've always been there or has just now developed will remain a mystery. It wouldn't matter anyway, with Jaden around, I couldn't imagine ever looking at anyone else the same way I do for him.

Miguel soon added, "I'll schedule another visit sometime soon, okay?" He gave me a small smile and rubbed my shoulder but I kept my eyes away from him.

"Do me a favor." I suddenly said.

"Anything." He whispered.

"Request a visit to Jaden, tell him what had happened today. That what Jackson did was not a crime but... Consensual..."

He pursed his lips for a moment before informing, "There is still more evidence needed to be found-"

"There's enough evidence in my intuition to say that I believe him." I quickly told him. "Jackson isn't capable of committing a crime so horrid, what happened that night was not completely his fault. That being said, I want you to let Jaden know that there is no need to seek revenge, that I am responsible for the sense of betrayal I know he'll feel... That I'm sorry."

He watched me silently as I kept a strong composure even though I was crumbling on the inside. He soon confirmed, "I can do that." With a small smile.

I nodded silently and thankfully before a stronger hand grabbed my arm now, "Alright... Back to your cell, missy." the dickhead officer said, pulling me with him.

I kept my head down as he walked me out.

He pushed me with his baton, saying, "Walk faster, my break starts in 5 minutes."

I silently did as he said, quickening my pace a bit.

"That's what I thought, puppet... What? No smart mouth from you?"

I stopped and glared at him, "I don't want to hear your bullshit right now, dickhead. I'm not in the mood."

He pursed his lips, "W- well keep walking then..." he mumbled.