Chapter 6
Loving His Demons
David's POV
May 8th
I sit up quickly from my bed breathing heavily. Clutching my head I scream in frustration I feel hands touching me and I scream again "shh shh it's okay David it's just Brayden. It's alright it was just a bad dream" he tells me calming me instantly at his soothing voice.
I take a deep breath in and release it. I slowly get up and get out of bed and head into the bathroom to get ready for work. I brush my teeth and style my hair. Walking out of the bathroom and towards my closet and grab a purple button up. I button it up with shaky fingers I've been having these nightmares for the last 2 days and I don't know how much longer I can take it without breaking.
I grab some briefs and throw them on and then grab my dress pants. I grab my suit jacket and tie and throw those on quickly. I rest my head against the wall and try to fight the depression that's threatening to swallow me. The conflicting thoughts in my head causes me to release a shaky breath.
Arms wrap around my waist and the familiar smell of Brayden fills my nostrils. "You're okay. Just fight it I'm right here you'll be fine" He whispers against my neck.
Some would think we're dating but that's never been the case we've just always been cuddly especially after what happened nearly 15 years ago. He was the only one I could be around without freaking out. He was the only one that I would allow to touch me without going into a full blown panic attack. It took me years to allow other people to touch me and even now I still don't like it.
He steps away and I grab my dress shoes and socks. I put those on quickly and grab my keys and wallet. I head downstairs and grab an energy drink from the fridge.
Brayden hands me my pills making me groan and he heads to his side of the house to get ready and we head to the SUV once he's ready.
"Where to boss?" He asks me
"My office I have work to do." I tell him. He nods his head and starts the 20 minute drive to my law firm.
Once we arrive I head up to my office and I see a younger lawyer looking at me nervously.
"How may I help you Ms. Cooke?" I ask coldly. She swallows nervously. "I have a problem boss" she tells me.
"Obviously or else you wouldn't be standing here now would you?" I say with a raised brow. She gulps nervously while swaying back and forth slightly.
"uhm well. I have a case and we needed a key witness and we had one but now she doesn't want to testify and if she doesn't our whole case is thrown out the window" she says.
"Tsk tsk tsk follow me to my office and we'll discuss it" I tell her she follows me into my office. She looks around awkwardly "You can have seat. Stop looking so scared I'm not going to kill you, or yell at you, or fire you, I know I'm a heartless bastard but I'm not that heartless relax." I tell her. She sighs in relief and takes a seat. She looks around at my walls as I put my things down and get situated. When I am ready to help her I turn towards he with a small smile.
"Do you have the file with you?" I ask her. She nods her head and hands it to me.
I open up the file and look through it. I see its a serial rapist. I carefully assess the information and the pictures before responding.
"Damn" I say "this is a tough case" I whistle and hum under my breath.
They have no evidence for the previous 5 rapes accept for a signature the only thing connecting him is the last rape victims identifying him in a line up and her testimony. There was no blood, saliva, semen. No Trace evidence they could use to back them up whether or not the victim were to testify.
I sigh "Ms. Cooke you're new here fresh out of college. I'm going to give you some advice that I have learned over the last 5 years. Even though eye witness testimonies are for some reason extremely convincing you should always always always have a plan B and plan C hell even a plan D. You should have told the detectives you needed more evidence. If you can't convince your witness to testify you're whole case is out the window as you said. I know how frustrating it is to know who the killer is but being able to do nothing about it. I'm in a similar situation. Serial killer I've been dealing with for 5 years since I started as a newbie here. He's taunting us. Killing people every few months but I can't do anything about it because there is no evidence. I know exactly who he is yet I can't stop him from killing anyone because no evidence that ties him to the crime. I know you want to put this rapist away but it's not going to do any good to go to trial and then him be acquitted because there wasn't any evidence. The point I'm trying to get is make sure you have more than an eye witness alright?" I tell her
She nods her head in understanding "You're right God I'm so stupid" she says hatefully making me frown at the tears in her eyes.
"Hey you're not stupid it's your first year, it's your first big case like this. Don't beat yourself up okay? I'm telling you this so you can become a better lawyer not so you can think low of yourself. You should think highly of yourself because you are one of the few braves souls out there who have come for my help. It's something everyone should do because of my experience and because of the amount of cases I have won and the fact that I'm your boss. I'd love to help you guys but no one comes to me so I sit here and do my own work" I tell her honestly
She smiles "You know your not as bad as you think" she says.
"Shh don't tell anyone I do have a reputation to keep up." I tell her and she laughs.
"Okay on a serious note you're too far in to fix anything but what I would do is try to convince your witness that if she doesn't do this the man that raped her will be on the streets willing to rape other women. Remind her of all the victims he's killed and try to get her to realize she's your only hope. Support her, be there for her. That's all you can do" I tell her
She nods her head "Thank you so much Mr. Picozzi" she says. I hand her the file back and she smiles gratefully and leaves the office.
I look over and Brayden is smirking "So you can be nice?" He says.
I roll my eyes "Yes I can, I can also be a dick if that's what you want" I tell him. He raises his hands in mock surrender.
"You're meeting is in 10 minutes" he tells me.
"What meeting?" I ask him he raises a brow "The one with your brother" he says
I curse under my breath "Fuck I forgot that was today" I say I go to the filing cabinet and search for the file I'm looking for.
When I find it I head out of my office and down to the meeting room. I take a deep death before throwing my mask on and head into the room.
"Good afternoon Mr.Picozzi we are here today to see if your client wants to do a plea bargain"
"Which he doesn't" my brother says. I roll my eyes and continue.
"We are here today because you murdered Levi Cavanagh am I correct?" I say.
"ALLEGEDLY MY CLIENT ALLEGEDLY killed Levi Cavanagh" My brother yells obnoxiously.
"Is that that the only comeback you defense lawyers have? Like come up with some new material I can literally predict what you guys will say" I tell him.
He goes red in the face and I continue "Anyways Mr. Heidenrich, you killed Levi Cavanagh and I am here today to see if we can bargain that way no trial is needed. You do realize that you are being charged with 1st degree murder correct?" I ask and he nods his head. "Alright well if you plead guilty I am willing to drop the charge to 2nd degree murder and you will have 15-20 to life versus 25 to life." I tell him
"I did not kill my best friend" He says.
"Alright. You do realize that if you don't take this deal you will be going to prison because we have enough evidence to prove that you killed Levi Cavanagh."
"I have the best defense lawyer I am confident you won't win" he says.
I smirk. "Alright if that's what you want to believe. Just know I've won over 95% of my cases. I'll see you at trial" I gather the file. I smirk seeing him gulp nervously and I leave the office.
I head back to my office and see that it's 4. I start on the direct examination's for Mr. Heidenrich's case. I look at the evidence and the evidence reports and make a decision about what I'm going to ask.
"Alright boss it's time to go. You've been here for quite awhile." Kanton tells me
I look at the clock and see that it's 9. "Well damn" I mutter.
"Alright let's go" I say and I clean up the file and put it away. I shrug my suit jacket on and we head downstairs to the car.
We drive in the opposite direction of my house. "Uhm Brayden where the hell are we going" I ask.
He looks at me through the mirror "I told you last week we were going to go out and that's what we are going to do we're going to a strip club to loosen you up" I groan and cross my arms over my chest. "I didn't even get to change" I say and he smirked. "You look fine" he says
We arrive at the club and we get out. Once we are inside we head to get some drinks and then walk towards the stage area. I sit in a chair and watch some guy strip. I drink my whiskey and roll my eyes. "I still don't know why I'm here" I tell Brayden.
"Because you need to relax you're too uptight" he yells over the music.
"I am not uptight" I scowl
"You saying you're not uptight makes you uptight" he says and I roll my eyes.
"Alright gentlemen that was just Dylan. Now get ready for the one the only RYAN!" The DJ announces and the crowd goes wild. I cringe at the loud noise and see the most beautiful person walk out on stage.
I'm mesmerized by his beauty, my heart beats faster and my breath catches in my throat. The music starts playing and he dances for us. He's smirking at us but all I can see is pain and sadness in his eyes. I see his eyes are in tears but everyone else is oblivious and my heart aches at the obvious pain he's going through.
He looks around and when he sees this guy he tenses and gulps. I frown and look over to see a fairly attractive guy. Brown hair brown eyes, but the man is looking at him like he's his possession.
I feel an intense possessiveness run through my body and I find myself growling.
"You okay man?" Brayden asks and I nod my head.
I see the beauty look at me and his eyes seem to brighten.
He dances for about 10 more minutes before he walks down stage he seems to be looking for a target. He looks like he's trying stay away from the side of the room where that man is.
He comes over and sits in my lap. I'm shocked and my hands fly up to his hips when he starts grinding on me.
He leans over and whispers "Please come to the back with me."
I nod my head because he seems like he's going to cry.
He grabs my hand and leads me to the back his body shakes when the man screams "You fucking whore"
He drags me along to the room and collapses when we get there.
"Woah woah" I say and I sit next to him. He cries into his hands.
I tentatively put my hand on his back and he flinches but doesn't move away.
I rub his back as he cries. "Are you okay Ryan?" I ask he shakes his head and I frown.
He wipes his face "I'm fine you can leave now I just needed to get away from someone."
"But I don't want to leave" I tell him.
He laughs harshly "Great I picked a pervert. Fine buts it's going to cost you" he says and starts undoing my buckle.
I grab his hands quickly "Woah woah what are you doing?" I ask and he scowls.
"This room is for me to get money for being a whore. So either let me be the ugly disgusting filthy whore I am or get out" He says angrily.
"But you're not ugly, or disgusting, or filthy, or a whore. You're beautiful" I say
He looks like he doesn't believe me. "Can I just pay for your time?" I ask him
He looks over. "My time?"
"I just want your time. I'll pay double, or triple or quadruple. Just... Just give me your time I know it's strange but... I want to get to know you. You caught my attention and that's really hard to do."
He looks like he's debating "Fine but when you realize I'm right don't say I didn't warn you as soon as you get to know me you'll realize how worthless I really am" He says whispering the last part.
"Hey hey none of that okay? I'm gonna prove to you that you're the most beautiful person I have ever met okay Ryan?" He flinches.
"Please don't call me that. It reminds me of the lowest part of my life please just call me Wyatt that's my name." I smile
"Okay Wyatt"
We talk for awhile close to 2 hours I tell him about college and law school and he tells me nothing about him besides his name. But that's okay I'll earn his trust.
"I should get home" he says.
I sigh disappointedly.
"Alright uh. Where's your phone? I ask
He looks around for his bag and finds it. "Right here why?" I grab it and but my number in it. "I saw how scared you got when you looked at that man. He's hurting you or has hurt you if you need anything and I mean ANYTHING. You call me I don't care what time of day it is, call me alright? I won't let you just walk out of my life" I tell him seriously.
You're crazy." He says. I chuckle "Maybe but you've made me smile more times in the last 2 hours than I have in 30 years of my life. All I'm asking is for a friendship. Nothing you're uncomfortable with alright?" I say to him
He smiles "Yeah okay" he says. I reach into my jacket pocket and grab my wallet I hand him $2000 dollars and he looks at me in shock
"W-what's this for?" He asks. "I told you I Would pay quadruple for you time. This should be enough right? Am I too low?" I say and go back into my wallet for my money he stops me
"It's way more than enough take it back it's okay. I don't need it" he says. "Wyatt no offense but you're a stripper for a reason you obviously need money just take it. I'd rather pay you for spending time with me rather than you doing whatever it is you do in here. I see the pain and sadness in your eyes you hate your job just take the money" I say.
He looks at my hands and takes the money. "Thank you" he whispers. I smile and look at him one last time before leaving the room.
I walk to the stage area and see Brayden waiting for me. "I see someone got some action" he smirks
I punch him "Don't you fucking dare" I growl out.
"Let's go" I say and we leave. We head to my house which takes a half hour.
Once we're there I change out of my suit brush my teeth and go lay in my bed.
I think about tonight and I think about Wyatt. "I will become his friend, he looks like he needs someone in his life" I whisper to myself before falling asleep.