Broken Silence (Silence, #2)(35)

I smiled against his skin. “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”

“Oakley, you know me. Of course I don’t mind. I want to be here for you.”

“Thank you.” I kissed his neck

Cole kissed me again and held me tighter. “Go to sleep, beautiful.” Hearing him say those words made me smile. He was so sweet. “I love you.”

“I love you more.”

He laughed humourlessly. “Sure you do.”



I woke up to Cole shuffling around in the bed. He was sitting up, pulling his T-shirt on. “Hey,” I whispered. His head snapped around, and he smiled as he looked at me. “You leaving already? Doing the walk of shame?”

“No walk of shame.” He smiled. “I have to get home and get ready for work. Don’t want them to fire me now, do I?”

I laughed and rubbed my eyes.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll come over at lunch.”

I sat up and wrapped my arms around his waist. I hate his job. Cole pulled me onto his lap and kissed my cheek. “I know you’re going to miss me but try keeping it together. I’ll only be gone six hours.”

Narrowing my eyes, I slapped his chest. “I won’t miss you at all.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I won’t miss you either.”

Okay, let him go. I got off his lap and laid back on the bed. Cole tugged his trousers on and pulled up the zip. Gulping hard, I forced my eyes to meet his. Of course, he was smirking. “I’m feeling quite violated right now.”

Heat rushed to my cheeks. “No you’re not. You love it.”

“Maybe,” he said and winked. “I’ll see you in a bit. Call if you need me, okay?”

I saluted and got an eye roll in return. I smiled like an idiot and stared up at the ceiling when he left.

“Morning,” I said as I walked into the kitchen. I yawned and reached for a mug. Ali had already left for work, so it was just Mum and Jasper again.

They both stood up.

“You okay?” Jasper asked.

I turned around. “I’m fine. Please don’t fuss over me all day. I’d rather just carry on as normal. Let’s pretend this is any other normal day.”

Jasper snorted. “Normal.”

Right. Our lives hadn’t been ‘normal’ for so long that dysfunction was normal to us. “Do you guys want to talk about it though?”

Mum shook her head. “Not until we hear from Linda. Fancy a pyjama sofa day?”

“No chick flicks,” Jasper said. “Unless it’s that’s dress one. That chick is fit.”

“27 Dresses, and you know you’re a sucker for chick flicks. You loved Wild Child. Although I think that’s like teen flick or something—”

Jasper threw a tea towel in my face. I managed to grab it right before it made contact.

“Shut up, Oakley!”

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” Mum said, pinching his cheeks. “There’s nothing wrong with being sensitive and in touch with your feminine side.”

“I’m going out.”

“No, don’t!” I grabbed his arm. “We’ll stop now.”

He frowned. “We’re watching Die Hard, and I’m drinking beer.”

Mum, Jasper and I spent all morning watching films and chatting about everything that wasn’t trial related.

“What time is Cole coming, babe? Oh, never mind.”

I watched Mum walk to the door and my heart flipped. He was here already. I jumped up and ran past her. Mum laughed and went back to the sofa. I ripped the door open and pulled him inside.

“Hi!”

“Whoa! Happy to see me?”

“Are you gonna call Linda now?” Jasper asked, not giving us any time to catch breath.

I chewed on my lip. Did I want to do this now? I didn’t have a choice, but I didn’t want to do it in front of Mum and Jasper. The way Mum was staring at the floor told me she wasn’t ready for news yet.

“Yes, but I’m going upstairs to do it.”

“You don’t have to…” Yes, I do, Mum.

“I’ll tell you everything after. I just want some privacy.”

She nodded and smiled half-heartedly. Her body relaxed. “Okay.”

I lead Cole to Lizzie’s room and shut the door behind us. This was definitely what I needed, too. Making the call away from Mum and Jasper was for the best.

“You ready?” Cole asked, gently pulling me down on the bed and rubbing my back.

“Yeah,” I whispered and dialled Linda’s number. Waiting for her to answer the phone was almost painful. I held my breath. Please say he’s changed his plea to guilty.

“Hello, Oakley,” Linda said on the fourth ring.

“Hi, Linda. How’s it going?”

She took a deep breath, which didn’t sound positive.

“He is pleading not guilty. Apparently, he knew nothing of the images and contacts on his email. His internet history was deleted daily, which he is saying he had no knowledge of either.”

“Wait. Everything was deleted? There’s no evidence?”

“Don’t worry. The police retrieved it. There is no arguing it was there, just who put it there. Please don’t panic, the trial has only just begun. I’ve hardly even started, and we have you and the other women to take the stand yet.”