The Tale of Love & Racing: Sarina's Story

Chapter 45: Court Room

Monday March 5, 2018 – California

"Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Sarina questions, fixing her dress, before Chase pulls her close to him. He had grown used to her repeating the question pointless times over the past 24 hours, but wasn't going to let it annoy him as he understood her nerves. If he was being honest, perhaps he was having some of his own given what had occured.

"I feel totally fine today – as if nothing happened this past weekend," he answers, as she glances up into his brown eyes. She was trying to find any ounce of lie written in them. She had seen it before with him and could feel that possibly happening again. "I'm serious. I haven't felt a single thing."

"And you're not lying to me to make me feel better?" He shakes his head no, as he brings her left hand up to his ribs. He figured if he was more direct in her approach then maybe it'd quiet down the concerns she was having. 

"These, they are a little sore still from those bruises, but they're slowly getting easier to handle every single day. But as far as feeling sick, stomach pain, sore throat – that's all gone." She nods her head, accepting, as she instinctively begins to rub his side. She hated to see him having to deal with any pain at all. 

"For the record, I don't want to ever see them pump out of your stomach again..." He made a disgusted face in reaction, certainly not liking the experience at all either. He had heard horror stories from others, and now understood why that was the perfect description of it. There was no way to say it lightly - it was not a fun experience at all. 

"I don't ever want to experience that again. The after taste of everything, along with my throat being sore, was just a terrible combination." He then leans in, lightly kissing her lips. He hated to ask the next question, but knew it was necessary. It was why they were there after all. "Are you ready to go in there and face him, again?"

"He's my brother, Chase. That's my family. I brought this on myse-"

"It's not your fault that you're related to hi-"

"But I allowed him to open the door and get to you, again." Chase nods his head, this discussion taking him back to Daytona immediately. They had gone over everything that happened, step by step. The feelings and why despite everything that was said led to what happened. Why were they heading back down this road?

"What did I tell you originally? I don't hold it back against you because I understand that want to give him a second chance, rekindle, do what you can. It's the same reason Shelley is pushing this issue again despite everything being wrong with it. You don't need to apologize, okay?" She lets out a sigh as she lays her head against his chest. He may be saying those words, but that didn't seem to erase the pain she seemed to carry with her each day.

"It doesn't make this any better...." He rubs her back, as he takes a deep breath. He was trying to keep his nerves at ease knowing she needed all the comfort he could muster today.

"I know. Let's just go in there, and get this over with, okay?" She nods her head, accepting, as they separate, hands still locked together as they make their way inside, and take their seats accordingly.

As they lead Chris into the room, Chase found himself looking everywhere but towards him, not wanting a single reminder of their past together as there was enough swirling his mind with relation to Alison to even begin to think about him. But he also clutched Sarina's hand tighter, as if he was passing his strength onto her, knowing this was probably tearing her in different directions as it had in the past.

As Chris gets set to sit down, Chase hears his phone go off, silently cursing himself for not putting it on silent as he was supposed to. He quickly reaches into his pocket, putting it on silent, but not before his eyes caught who had sent the text message.

"What would Jordan want?" He questions to himself as he opens the message, reading it in full. He then glances up and over towards Shelley, before glancing towards Chris, followed by his eyes looking back down at his phone. Nothing seemed to surprise him anymore. "Of course..."

"What's wrong?" Sarina asks, catching his unease immediately. It wasn't something that regularly occurred, and she could read him like a book now. If he was bothered by something, it typically wasn't anywhere close to good news.

"Noth-"

"Don't lie to me, Chase Elliott." He takes a deep breath as he shows her the text message. He knew he couldn't lie as that'd just cause her anxiety to peg, and he wouldn't be able to hide the feelings from what happened.

"Alison left a message at Hendrick Motorsports' doorstep after hours with a warning of her own. The secretary picked it up this morning, and it made its way to my office – catching Jordan's attention obviously. He opened it." Sarina lets out a sigh as she takes the phone, reading the photo of the message that Jordan had attached.

"Decisions are made by everybody each day of their life. Your decision today will affect not only the future of one person, but yours and those around you. It's your move." She hands him back his phone, shaking her head immediately. She didn't need to hear or see anything else. It was obvious the game she was trying, and Sarina wasn't ready to fall for it. "She's trying to guilt you into letting the motion go through about Chris by threatening you and those around you."

"Well, she's in for a rude awakening because there's no way Chris is walking down those streets again." He takes a deep breath, thoughts immediately swirling about the re-precautions of that, wondering what Alison's next move would be, as quickly he texts Jordan back in return. "I'm done playing games. I told her that on Saturday. She's going to try and drop a note off, or pull some move, and she's going to get caught. We're going to be okay." He places his phone back in his pocket, wrapping his arm around Sarina as he pulls her close.

The judge came in, instantly reading off the request filed by Shelley. Chase and Sarina's lawyer was asked whether the motion would be accepted, and the answer was simple – no, due to a laundry list of reasons.

"I have records of all the trial hearings from the past two years in relation to Chris' behavior, and eventual guilty verdict with the stipulation in place," the judge begins. "It will take some time, but I plan to read through everything accordingly. I also plan to have it analyzed by three third-party psychologist to get their opinions. Once all that is processed, we will re-join here and discuss my findings. Until that time, nothing changes in regards to Chris' situation. Court adjourned!"

With their fingers crossed as they left the court room, they both hoped that the judge saw everything that they knew already. Chase held those fingers extra tighter, hoping that his thoughts in Alison being found came true sooner than later.