Alexxxa (18 page)

Carmella stared at me for a moment before saying anything. “It’s true. No means no. Even a prostitute can be raped…rape is just that…rape.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Did you just imply that Alexa is a prostitute?”

She raised her eyebrows at me in question. “Don’t porn stars get paid to have sex?”

“Alexa isn’t like that. She—“

“Doesn’t get paid to have sex?”

Fuck.
What Carmella was saying was true. Alexa did get paid to have sex, but it was so much more complicated than that. I gnawed on my lower lip while I tried to figure out how to explain it just right to her. “You obviously don’t know Alexa, and you don’t understand.”

“I think I do understand. You have some kind of relationship with Miss James?”

“Yeah.” I breathed.

“Please explain the extent of your involvement with her,” Carmella demanded, her face solemn again.

I ran my hand over the stumble on my face and swore under my breath. “I don’t really know the extent of my relationship with Alexa, but I can tell you that I’m in love with her.”

Carmella sighed. “That may complicate things a bit.”

I smirked at her. “Love always does.”

~Alexa

I just couldn’t seem to process everything emotionally that had gone down in the past forty-eight hours. I’d decided I wanted to keep David for mine; we’d had a marathon sex session, which resulted instead of us being a couple but in me declaring that it’d never work between us. Then I’d discovered that not only was Tara sleeping with Devlin, but she’d helped him completely fuck me over by buying the studio that owned my contract. Oh and let’s not forget about Devlin flipping his wig and almost raping me. If David hadn’t shown up when he did… I shuddered. And I used to think I loved Devlin. David had been right about that too…what did I really know about love? Except now maybe I knew a little something. I knew I loved David. At least I think I did. I obviously was way out of my element—but I was pretty sure the things I was feeling for him were love. And now he was in a fucked up situation of his own—because of me.

Devlin was pressing assault charges against David because of him protecting me with the baseball bat. The media had turned the shit storm into some kind of twisted love triangle. Pictures of Devlin and I from high school were plastered on the front of gossip magazines, next to grainy stills of David and I having sex in the car, all of our naughty bits covered with black boxes. I was being painted as the gold digging, duplicitous, porn star who had sunk her claws into not just one but two rich, successful men. David and Devlin were merely the victims, they couldn’t help it, after all they were just men. I had no idea what I was going to do about my career—hell my life. Would David still want me after all of the crap I’d brought down on him?

I crumpled up the gossip mag in my hand and threw it across the room. I didn’t even know why I’d bought it. I supposed the curiosity was just too much. I was trying to stay away from social media, which I’d been doing pretty successfully, so a small slip up was past due.

I hadn’t seen or talked to David since he’d been arrested. I received a cryptic message from him a few days ago that as soon as things were sorted out with Devlin, he’d be in touch. He’d claimed that it was under advisement of his lawyer. It could be true, or maybe it was the simplest way to give me the brush off. When I’d gone down to the police station to make my statement, the cops on duty had been less than friendly to me. Maybe because I seemed like some kind of troublemaker? After all, it’d only been a few days since I’d visited the same precinct to make my statement about the strip club incident with Devlin. I’d tried to get information on where David was being held, but the cops wouldn’t cooperate and told me nothing.

“I should just go back to L.A.” I muttered to myself. But I couldn’t will myself to leave Pittsburgh while David was still there. Instead, I’d changed hotel rooms, went under an alias, and was paying the hotel staff some pretty large sums to not only keep my presence a secret but to cater to my every need. I hadn’t left the security of my room in days, not since I’d gone down to the gift shop and saw my face plastered on the front of almost every magazine.

I flipped open my laptop and tried to find information about the actual legal stuff, like the trial and such, and not gossip. After about ten minutes I was finally able to find out that the hearing was set for tomorrow. I sucked in a deep breath. My nerves were on edge and I wished I could be there for David, instead of hiding out in my hotel. Unless… I picked up the hotel phone and hit the button to connect me with the concierge. “Yes, Jonathan, I’m going to need for you to get me a few things.”

I crept into the courthouse, skirting past the media flurry, and took a seat in the very back corner in the only chair left. I could see the back of David’s head, and his tense shoulders. He was sitting next to a female lawyer. To the right was Devlin with a team of lawyers beside him. His arm was in a sling and he was trying to play up the part of the victim. There was a buzz of excitement in the air as people waited for the proceedings to start. I was still having trouble wrapping my mind around why everyone seemed so interested in this case. I mean, it wasn’t like it was a murder trial. But David was famous in his own right apparently, something that I had no clue about before. His name was the real draw it seemed.

An older woman, probably in her fifties, nudged me and whispered in a conspiratory tone. “So do you think she’ll show up?”

I tried not to fidget with my wig. “Who?” But I was pretty sure what she was going to say.

“Alexa James.”

I shrugged non-committedly.

“I’d like to see what that gold-digging bitch has to say for herself. You know, it still amazes me that women like her have such power over men in this day an age. I guess men will never change.” She shook her head in disgust.

I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I drew blood. I plastered a fake smile on my face. “You know, it seems to me like Devlin Saint was in the wrong. Why is everyone assuming that Alexa James was with them both?”

The woman tsk-ed at me. “She’s a porn star.” As if that explained everything.

“Yes. And does that mean she doesn’t have feelings? Does that also mean that she couldn’t possibly be the victim? I’m not sure—“

“Order. Order in the court.” I swallowed my words and glanced over my shoulder as the courtroom doors were pulled shut. “Will all please rise for the honorable Judge Matterson.” A hush fell over the court and everyone stood.

A woman who reminded me a lot of Judge Judy from T.V. entered the room. She sat and hit the gavel against a raised piece of wood on her desk. “Court is now in session, please be seated.” Everyone sat in near unison.

I watched intently as things unfolded in front of me. Devlin’s team of lawyers were attempting to paint the picture of a successful business man, in love with a woman who happened to be a porn star. They asserted that Devlin had been with me in the hotel when a jealous David had shown up and attacked with no provocation. Why the hell was I being kept from testifying? Why the hell wasn’t anyone asking me what happened? I didn’t understand what was going on.

David’s lawyer, instead of defending him like I thought she would, offered a plea bargain of some sort—or said they’d accept it. I wasn’t familiar with a lot of the legal terminology but I did know that accepting a plea bargain meant that David was acknowledging guilt on some level. I couldn’t take it anymore. He wasn’t going to be punished for protecting me. No one had even mentioned or suggested that Devlin was going to rape me.

“No! Stop!” I cried out loudly to make sure everyone heard me. “David didn’t do anything wrong, he was protecting me!” I stood and pulled off my wig and hat. Shocked murmurs and exciting chatter erupted from everywhere around me. I met David’s eyes over the crowd, and he shook his head fervently at me, like he didn’t want me to say anything. His lawyer’s eyes narrowed at me  with disgust.

The Judge pounded her gavel. “Order in my court!” she commanded.

“Please let me testify…or something.” I felt slightly cowed as I realized that every pair of eyes in the entire room were focused on me.

Judge Matterson studied me coolly. “State your name.”

My voice trembled slightly. “Alexa James.”

“You are the woman in question in regards to this case?”

“Yes.”

“Come here,” she demanded. I began to sweat as I made my way to the front of the courtroom. I paused a few feet away from where the judge was. She waved me forward. “Approach the bench.” I did on wobbly legs. At least I was wearing flats instead of my normal sky-high heels. She eyed me up and down before speaking again. “Are you sure you want to do this?” She paused seeming to mull over what her next words would be. “You are only going to invite more slander and speculation in regards to your life.”

“I don’t care,” I whispered. “I can’t let Devlin get away with what he did. David was protecting me. It’s my turn to protect him.”

Something akin to respect flashed in her eyes. “Very well. Swear Miss James in, she’ll take the stand next.” More chatter erupted in the room and was quickly silenced by the gavel banging again.

Once I was sworn in and seated I tried not to look at David but I couldn’t seem to help myself. He looked so good in his suit and bowtie. I idly wondered if his clothing choice had been influenced by Doctor 11. That’s right, I’d been on a marathon
Doctor Who
kick in my hotel the last few days. But he was much hotter than any of the Doctors, at least to me. His azure gaze pulled me in with their deep emotions. I wished I could go to him, to crawl into his lap and press my face into his chest and forget about everything but him. Instead I had to sit in front of a roomful of judgmental eyes and plea his case.

~David

Alexa’s steel blue gaze shifted from mine to Devlin’s, and I watched as a change came over her. All nerves seemed to just evaporate from her system. I’d wanted to protect her from the media’s hurtful words, from Devlin’s accusations… It made me feel good to serve as her metaphorical Knight in Shining Armor. I guess maybe I had a little bit of that alpha male bullshit in me after all. The thing was, it didn’t seem like Alexa cared all that much about what people said. I studied her cool expression as the prosecution approached her.

“Miss James, would you like to tell the court in your own words what happened in the Sheraton Hotel the day of the incident, the date of October—“

“Yes.” Alexa interrupted with a shaky breath. She had gone right into victim mode. It looked like she was going to beat Devlin at his own game. I almost pitied the poor bastard…almost. “I’m sorry I interrupted you.” She averted her eyes demurely. “I just feel like if I don’t get this out then I won’t be able to.” A single tear tracked down her face and fell from her chin.
Damn, she’s good
.

Devlin’s head lawyer, Mr. Brown, immediately softened to her. It may not have been apparent to most, but I could read the slight change in him as he cleared his throat. “Go ahead then.” He motioned for her to speak.