Deep Burn (Burned Duet 2)

“That’s okay,” Mylee said, standing fully. “Tell us what you do remember.”

“I was only inside for a few minutes and then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs.”

“And did you think the footsteps were your boyfriend's?”

“Objection,” a deep voice boomed.

“Sustained,” the judge said from beside me.

“I’ll rephrase,” Mylee countered. “Who did you think was walking up the stairs?”

“Asher,” I answered.

“And who was it?”

I took two breaths, closed my eyes, and whispered, “Knox.” I couldn’t get the image of his face out of my mind. The way his lips had lifted as if he had me exactly where he wanted me: alone and afraid.

“Take your time, Elodie,” Mylee said, her voice closer now. “And tell us what happened next.”

“He…” I opened my eyes back up and kept my gaze fixated on my hands. “He came inside, and I asked what he was doing there.”

“Did he tell you why he was there?”

I nodded and looked up at Mylee. “He said he wanted to check out my new place.”

“It’s normal for friends to want to do that,” she said to the jury. “But why wasn’t this normal, Elodie?”

“We’d broken up weeks beforehand.”

“And was there a reason you broke up?”

“Objection,” the deep voice said again, making me jump. I heard a snigger, the same snigger that had echoed in my mind for months. He thought this was funny. He thought being on trial was a joke. “Relevance.”

“It has to do with the background of their relationship,” Mylee told the judge. “To gain a perspective of what happened previous to the night in question.”

“I’ll allow it,” the judge said, his voice almost bored.

“You may answer the question, Elodie,” Mylee told me.

“It was an abusive relationship,” I murmured, hating the words coming out of my mouth. I’d been stuck inside the hell he’d created for so long that it wasn’t until I was completely out of it I could see how bad it actually was. I’d let him take wh

at he wanted from me. I’d let him use me in any way he saw fit because I’d been scared.

“Could you give me an example of when Knox was abusive?”

I could have listed off several times, but I knew what she wanted me to say. “He beat me up in front of the dance studio where I had lessons.”

“The bitch deserved it,” I heard Knox murmur, and my heart raced in the kind of way it hadn’t since I’d last seen him. It was as if it was trying to escape my body—escape him.

“Counselor, please keep the defendant under control or I’ll hold him in contempt of the court,” the judge ground out, and it was the first time I’d heard any kind of emotion in his voice. Maybe he had to sound bored, so he stayed neutral and didn’t sway the jury, but Knox’s comment didn’t affect me. It was hearing his voice again after so long that messed with my head.

“Your Honor, I’d like to submit evidence of this incident into evidence,” Mylee said, walking back to her table. “This particular incident was witnessed by several people, whose statements I have here. I also have a photo taken a couple of days following the assault.” She passed the judge a stack of papers and he filed through them, nodded his head, then passed them to the guard who gave them to the first person on the jury.

“Back to that night, Elodie.” Mylee halted in front of me again. “What happened when he told you he wanted to check out your new apartment?”

“I told him to leave.”

Mylee nodded and placed her hands in front of her. “And did he?”