Indebted to the Dominant

Sixteen

Owen

Waiting for Cale was more nerve-wracking than sitting in the holding cell. Both Mer and I were silent and sitting on opposite sides of the room.

"Owen,"

"Yeah, Mer?"

"Why didn't you tell us that you were seeing someone? I mean we had some suspicions, but I thought you trusted us,"

"Of course I trust you guys. It's just complicated. I wanted to wait until I knew we were in a committed relationship first before showing him off. I suppose it doesn't matter now since we probably won't be getting back together,"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart. Want me to kick his ass for you?"

"Ma!"

Before she could reply, the door opened and Cale came in with a grim expression.

Mer stood up and said, "Oh no. Please, don't say what I think you're going to say,"

"He isn't going to jail. For now,"

"What do you mean for now?" I asked, sitting up. I did not like where this was going.

"Well, despite having the necessary evidence, it would seem the prosecution has their own evidence and I told them we wouldn't take a plea deal and they didn't seem to want to retract the sentence. I'm sorry to have to say, if the pre-trial meetings don't go well, we will be attending court,"

"What's a pre-trial meeting?" I asked and Cale sat down across from me and handed me a folder.

"It's a set of meetings between lawyers, the defendant, the prosecution, and the judge. They determine evidence, plea bargains, court dates, among other things. This is what we have going for you right now. At the first hearing, we will hear and have time with all of the evidence from the prosecution and then the prosecution will have the same time with our evidence,"

"When you say the prosecution, do you mean he will be there?"

Cale looked like he really didn't want to answer that which explained everything.

"No. Tell me he isn't going to be there,"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bales. He is part of the prosecution, so he has to be there. There's another problem,"

"What?"

"Because you now have a history of violence, you may have to be handcuffed,"

"What!" I stood up and backed up a few feet.

"But it will only be if the prosecution asks for it and if the judge thinks it's necessary. Fortunately, I don't think the judge will require it,"

"Why not?" I asked sullenly and he glanced at Mer before replying.

"Ah, well you were defending yourself and often in cases like that, it's a surge of adrenaline that causes someone of your stature to overpower someone of his stature," The way Cale was looking at me made me wonder if Mer hadn't been standing there, he would have phrased that differently.

"So, what happens now?" Mer asked quietly.

"I still need to speak to Mr. Bales about what happened that night. I'll have to record the whole thing for when the prosecution interviews him. Mr. Bales, I'll take you back to my office and Meredith, if you could please move my schedule around to accommodate for this,"

"Oh, I don't want to impose on your schedule, Mr. Jones. I can always come back," Cale flashed me a look that said not likely.

"No trouble at all, Mr. Bales. This is important and the sooner we get it over with, the faster we can solve this whole thing and get you back to your regular life,"