Chapter 68

They arrived at the courthouse the next morning and took their seats. It wasn’t long before they put Jimmy on the stand to question him.

“Mr. Peters, is it true you broke into Miss Somers’ hotel room?”

“Yes, I was hoping to surprise her.” He said with an evil grin. Lauren could feel the knots building in her stomach.

“Is it true you tied Miss LaRosee to a chair and proceeded to assault Miss Somers?”

“I couldn’t have her interfering with what was meant to be.” Jimmy said, pointing at Vero. “And then Lauren and I proceeded to make love.” He continued. Lauren’s breath caught in her throat and Vero grabbed her hand. Was he seriously saying this? Seriously?

“So you believe the sexual intercourse was consensual?”

“Of course it was. We were meant to be together.”

“Miss Somers sustained multiple stab wounds and severe bruising and was hospitalized for her injuries. If it was really consensual, why did you tie them up and assault them?”

“Sidney Crosby ruined my life. He ruined my career before it even began. It was only right that I should have something of his. I can’t play hockey anymore, so I couldn’t take that from him. So I took the one thing that means the most to him.”

“So that is why you assaulted them and raped Miss Somers?”

“We will forever be a part of one another.”

Lauren couldn’t have felt more relieved when they finally broke for lunch. She couldn’t stand to listen to Jimmy’s crap anymore. When they got outside, she immediately called Sidney.

“Hey beautiful.” He answered cheerfully.

“Hey.” Lauren responded in a very annoyed tone.

“Uh oh. That doesn’t sound good. What happened?” Sidney asked, his voice suddenly taking on a concerned tone.

“Jimmy just pissed me off. He told such stupid lies this morning – it was making me sick.” Lauren said, disgusted.

Sidney was a little taken aback by her frankness – he hadn’t seen this fiery side of Lauren in a long time. “What did he say?” Lauren filled Sidney in on what Jimmy had said. “He said WHAT?!” Sidney asked furiously.

“Yeah. Exactly. Sidney, do you think he’s really that delusional?”

“Apparently. Lauren, I’m sorry you had to listen to that scumbag. I wish I was there with you so badly.”

“I wish you were here too. But I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there late morning. I gotta go – I’ll talk to you later, okay? I love you, Lauren.”

“Love you too. Bye.”

They returned for the afternoon session of court, and luckily, they were done questioning Jimmy so Lauren didn’t have to listen to him anymore.

They broke around 4:30 and everyone headed back to the hotel. They had made a reservation in the hotel restaurant and the staff was gracious enough to set up a private room for all of them to eat in, so they had no disruptions, and nobody staring at them while they ate their food. After dinner, Vero and her parents headed home and everyone else headed to their hotel rooms. Lauren wanted to take a bubble bath, but she wasn’t allowed to submerse her body in water yet, so she had to settle for a long, hot shower instead.

After she got out of the shower, she put on her pajamas and pulled her hair back into a clip. She spent some time reading emails and reading all the messages people had left her on Facebook. She was amazed at the outpouring of positive thoughts and well wishes and support that she got from not only her friends, but from thousands of people she had never met. She responded to emails for a while, but then she got tired, so she shut her computer down and curled up in bed to watch TV. For whatever reason, they weren’t televising the Penguins game, so Lauren couldn’t watch it. After a little while, Leanna came in and crawled into her own bed. Lauren could feel herself getting more and more tired, so she called Sidney to say goodnight. She wasn’t all that surprised that she got his voicemail.

“Hey baby. I just wanted to call and say goodnight before I fell asleep. I just got the text saying you guys won tonight – I’m very proud of you. I’m always proud of you, though. I love you – call me when your plane lands here tomorrow. I miss you a lot and I can’t wait to see you.”

Lauren fell asleep and a few hours later, she was awoken by the sound of Leanna’s phone ringing. She could hear Leanna get out of bed and leave the room. A few minutes later, Lauren saw Leanna come back into the room and then she saw a familiar shadow in the doorway behind her.

“Sidney?” she asked, confused and trying to figure out if she was really awake.

“Yeah, babe, it’s me.” He said quietly, putting his bag down and shedding his jacket.

“What are you doing here?” she said, still confused.

Sidney smiled. “I’m here to see you, silly girl. I just came a little earlier than you thought.”

“How did you get in here? Wait, he was who called you just now?” she asked, turning towards Leanna.

“Yep. He called me this afternoon to tell me he was flying out right after the game.”

“You two are so sneaky.” Lauren said, grinning. Sidney leaned down and kissed her briefly on the lips before retreating to the bathroom to change. A moment later, he emerged in a t-shirt and shorts and Lauren pulled back the blanket so he could crawl into bed next to her.

He pulled the blankets up around them and she settled into his arms, resting her head against his chest. He kissed her forehead and ran his fingers through her hair. “See? Isn’t this better than waiting until tomorrow?”

“Of course it is. This was a great surprise.” She turned her head to face him and his lips met hers in a sweet kiss.

“I love you.” He whispered against her lips.

“I love you more.” She whispered back, before settling back down against his chest.

Meanwhile, Marc was quietly letting himself into Vero’s parents’ house. They had given him a key many years ago and he was glad he wouldn’t have to wake them up. He had told them he was coming, but Vero wasn’t expecting him until late the next morning. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard her screaming when he entered the house through the kitchen. She had been sitting at the table, nursing a cup of tea, and wasn’t expecting anyone to come into the house, especially in the middle of the night.

“It’s me.” He said, quickly taking her in his arms and trying to calm her down. “I’m sorry – I didn’t mean to frighten you. What are you doing up, anyways?”

Vero rested her head against his chest, happy to see him but still quite shaken up by his surprise entrance. “I couldn’t sleep. I seem to have too many thoughts running through my head these days. I thought you weren’t going to be here until tomorrow morning.”

“Sid and I decided to fly out as soon as the game was over. And why didn’t you call and talk to me if you couldn’t sleep?”

Vero looked at him with a guilty expression. “I thought you’d be sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Don’t you know that you can always call me, no matter what time it is? Trust me, I will never mind being woken up by the sound of your voice.” Marc said, running his hand gently over her cheek.

Vero smiled and leaned into his palm. “I’m glad you’re here.” She whispered.

“Come on, let’s go to bed.” Marc said, picking up his bag and taking her hand as they went upstairs.

They slipped quietly into her bedroom and Vero pulled the sheets back on the bed as Marc quickly shed his clothes, leaving on only his boxers. Vero couldn’t help but laugh when she saw them. She had bought those boxers for him for his birthday, kind of as a joke. They were white and had a Lucky Charms print all over them. “What?” he asked innocently. “My real lucky charm gave these to me, and she said that whenever she couldn’t be there, I should wear these as a substitute.”

“This lucky charm of yours sounds like a crazy woman.” Vero said through her laughter.

Marc crawled into bed and pulled her into his arms. “Maybe. But I kind of like her. In fact, I’m sort of in love with her.” He said, kissing her forehead.

“Sort of?” Vero snorted.

“By ‘sort of,’ I mean she’s the one thing that keeps my world turning.”

“I love you, Marc. Thanks for coming tonight.”

“I love you too, angel.” He said, tucking the blanket under her chin before they both fell asleep.