An Education for Amy [Men of Kinsey 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (11 page)

“Let’s just say I’ve had the rose-colored glasses ripped off my head, and I’m now, and have been since his trial, seeing my son in a whole different light. He’s sick, and I’m definitely not using that to excuse his behavior because he’s not sick enough to not know the difference between right and wrong. I’m just seeing things way more clearly now.”

The sheriff, who had been amazingly quiet this whole time, said, “I don’t think any of us realized just how bad it was until Amy’s trial.” He smiled.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me, sheriff,” Amy said in a voice that wasn’t too far from a yell.

“I came to see you so many times to get your help, and every time, you just patted me on the head and then called Jasper to come and pick me up. And do you know what he did to me each and every time, sheriff? He would lock me in a cage that he kept in the basement and then bring his friends down to laugh at me and poke at me through the wire. So don’t try and tell me you didn’t fucking realize what Jasper was like because you
saw
the bruises and the broken bones, you
saw
the damage he did to my body, but you chose to ignore it completely and blame me for it.”

* * * *

Amy in a tirade is a sight to behold
. Jordon watched his little woman rip a strip off the big sheriff. He was long overdue for that, and she needed to get everything off her chest, and if that meant she was going to yell and scream at the local law officer then he was right there to cheer her on.

“Now, Amy, it wasn’t as bad as all that.” The sheriff shuffled and looked around at everyone. “I needed to have proof before I could arrest him. It was only your word against his, and he is, after all, the son of the mayor.” He looked to the mayor as if for support but was sadly mistaken.

“Don’t use the fact that he is my son to hide your blatant dereliction of duty, sheriff. I was blind to the extent of my son’s brutality until his trial. That’s not an excuse, mind you, it’s the only reason I can give as to why I didn’t see what my son was earlier. But as the law in this town, it was your responsibility to protect the citizens even against my son. And where the hell did you ever get the idea that I would do anything other than follow the law when it came to Jasper? You told me there was no proof of what any of the women were saying about my son. You told me that they were all just after a quick buck.”

Mayor Collier shook his head.

“I’ll expect your resignation on my desk by no later than tomorrow afternoon, sheriff,” the mayor said, as he stared at the man whom he had appointed as sheriff just after he took office.

“What…? You can’t fire me without a good reason. I’ll sue your pants off, do you hear me? I have a contract until the end of next year, and you’ll have to pay me my full wages.”

“If you read your contract, then you know that one of the reasons for firing is dereliction of duty, and trust me, sheriff, any judge in his right mind would come down real hard on your ass for what you’ve allowed to go on around here, so pack up your things at the office, and get out. Oh, and just so we can make sure that the evidence locker is secured, these two gentlemen will accompany you to the station.”

“Who the hell are these two? I don’t need an escort, Collier. I can pack my things up myself,” the sheriff eyed the two very large, quiet men standing off to the side.

“Oh, I’m sure you can, but these two are state troopers, and until such time as I find a new sheriff, they will be taking over for you.”

Both men started at the mayor’s statement.

“Mayor Collier, we only came over as a favor to Ryder, our superiors—” Raph was cut off before he could finish.

“I’ve already spoken to your superiors and have asked for their help in this, and they have graciously agreed to loan me the two of you until further notice.”

Raph and Torrin just smiled and led the sheriff out of the club.

“Well, now, that’s one problem solved. Now the big one…my son, I was hoping that I could talk him into leaving town and going to spend some time with relatives back east, I even tried to get him to let me admit him into a hospital for a while to get him the help he needs, but to no avail, and because of that, there is only one place where we can send him that ensures Amy’s safety, and that’s prison.”

Tia Kinsey had been sitting quietly listening to everybody, and it finally dawned on her who she needed as her right hand at Daphne’s House.

Daphne’s House was a secured house. Actually, it had become a group of secured houses which were specifically run for, and by, survivors of domestic abuse. Simone, her husbands’ sister, had hired her to run it after her abysmal marriage and divorce. Because it had become so successful, they were able to help people from all over the country rebuild and recover from the violence that had been inflicted on them.

They didn’t just take in woman and children, either. More and more men were coming forward with horror stories of abuse at the hands of their wives or live-in partner. Domestic violence wasn’t just prevalent in the heterosexual community but also the gay community. Family violence was just that,
family
violence. It made no distinction between gay and straight, black or white, or whether it was a husband, wife, lover, or child that was doing the abusing. She had had older men and woman who had come through the house that had been severely abused by their own children because they had intruded on their lives by becoming unable to care for themselves. It was truly a sad thing to see sometimes, but at Daphne’s House, they got all the help they needed, in whatever capacity they needed it. Some only needed to find a new place to live while others needed therapy and financial help as well. It didn’t matter what they needed, it could be found there. And Tia was extremely proud of all the people who worked there to help others get on with their lives just as someone had helped them move forward in theirs.

But things had picked up so quickly at Daphne’s House that Tia was becoming swamped in office work. She’d rather be out drumming up more donations for the program than sitting in her office for hours on end going over paperwork.

Maybe she could talk Amy into coming aboard as her assistant.

She knew that Amy liked to work at the club, so maybe she could arrange for her to work at least part-time with her. She’d be great with the residents, and she would be an example to them of what could be accomplished once you were free from the abuse.

* * * *

“I don’t know what his plan is, Amy, but I am sure that he will come after you, so you need to find a safe place to hide until he either leaves town or does something stupid and gets himself thrown back into jail. You’re not the only woman that he has abused, but you are the only one that ever dared to stand up to him, and that has pushed him off the deep end. He honestly sees you as his woman and will stop at nothing until he makes you pay for embarrassing him,” the mayor told her.

Just as Amy was about to speak, Kane, one of the part owners and a well-respected Dom, and Turk, another respected Dom that worked at the club, came into the room with concerned looks on their faces. Noticing that the mayor was there, Kane asked, “Is Jasper coming here to pick you up?”

“No, he doesn’t even know I’m here, why?” Mayor Collier asked in a bit of a panicked voice.

“He’s on his way in here with a couple of really nasty looking guys. Turk overheard them talking at the diner, and they plan on grabbing Amy and taking her to some secluded cabin that Jasper has rented up north.”

“Fuck…” Ryder was the first to move. “Tia, you and Amy head into your room upstairs and stay there until one of us comes and gets you.”

“Sorry, honey, but I don’t think so. Amy has every right to face Jasper, and I’m going to stand right beside her while she does it. If she doesn’t do it now, she may never get the chance.” Tia stood beside her friend and put her hand out. Amy smiled and placed her hand in Tia’s and waited, along with the men, for Jasper to come through the door.

They didn’t have a very long wait because not five minutes after Tia had decided they would stand together to face him, Jasper walked through the doors of Club Kinsey.

* * * *

Since they had left the ranch without letting any of the hands know where they were going, there was only one way that Jasper knew where to find her, and that was the sheriff. Amy was pretty sure that the mayor wouldn’t have let his son know that he was meeting with her, and the only other person who knew, besides the people in the room, were two state troopers and a very pissed off sheriff.

“Well, isn’t this just a lovely sight to see.” Jasper walked into the center of the room with his arms wide open as if expecting Amy to go running into his arms.

“Amy, Amy, Amy…you’ve been a bad little girl, haven’t you?” he said, leaning down to as if to brush something off his pant leg.

“Why not save me the trouble of getting rid of everybody and just come with me now? I only want to have a little talk with you, sweetheart. It’s been such a long time since you and I have spent any quality time together.”

“Jasper, you need to turn around and head out of here right now,” Mayor Collier said. “Just being this close to Amy can get you thrown back into jail, son.”

“Don’t…don’t you call me that ever again, you traitor. She’s mine, and you want to help these fuckers keep her away from me. If everyone would just leave us alone, Amy and I would be able to work out our problems, and then we could get married.”

Jasper had obviously completely lost his mind if he thought for even a second that she would go anywhere with him.

“I’m not yours, Jasper. I never was, and I never will be.” Squeezing Tia’s hand for support, she went on, “My life is with Adam, Ethan, and Jordon, now. They love me, and I love them and nothing you say or do can ever change that.”

“Are you sure about that, Amy, my sweet?” Jasper asked her with a look of pure malice on his face.

“Absolutely,” she told him.

“Hmm…I wonder how they’d feel about you if I told them how much you liked being my whore. How you begged me to let you fuck my friends.”

“You’re so full of shit, Jasper. They would never believe that of me. They know how you treated me. How you beat me over and over again. One of your threats was exactly that, to whore me out to your friends, but that never would have happened because I would have rather been dead than to do that.”

Amy couldn’t believe the depths that Jasper was stooping to try to make her look bad in the eyes of her men. But she knew, without even looking at them, they would never believe that of her, and if something like that had happened to her, they would never judge her for it.

Jasper put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small caliber pistol and pointed it directly at her. She heard Tia gasp at her side and try to pull her to safety, but she wasn’t having it.

Adam, Ethan, and Jordon were in front of her before she could stop them, and Dan pulled Tia back behind him to cover her.

“I don’t care how many people I have to go through to get to you, Amy. It makes no never mind to me,” he said to her as if he was telling her the time of day.

Just when she was about to step around Ethan, the doors burst open, and Raph and Torrin came in, guns at the ready.

The distraction was enough for Kane and Turk, who were closest to Jasper, to grab the gun and stop him from pulling the trigger.

As much as Jasper fought, he was no match for one of the big men, let alone two of them.

The other men that had come in with Jasper all raised their hands in surrender.

Amy walked past her men and went to stand in front of Jasper so that she could look him in the eye when she said, “This time, asshole, you’re going to prison for a very long time, and I will be more than happy to sit on that witness stand once again and cry my heart out to make sure the jury or judge, or whomever presides over your case, sees what a monster you are.” With that said, she turned and started to head back to the waiting arms of her men but then looked at Tia, who smiled proudly at her. Amy then turned around and gave Jasper a right hook across his face, breaking his nose.

Damn that felt good, but now her hand hurt like a son of a bitch.

Amy was good to her word. When Jasper refused to take the plea deal of fifteen years, she walked up to the witness box and showed the jury all her pain. She didn’t have to fake the tears. They came just from the memories.

It took only one hour for the jury to reach a verdict of guilty on all counts.

Three days later, they were back in the same court room for Jasper’s sentencing. They were all allowed to give a victim’s impact statement then but decided that Amy would be given the opportunity to have her say in open court. She needed closure, and that was a way for her to get it.

Standing up in front on the judge was harder than she thought it would be. She could feel Jasper glaring at her, but she knew she needed to face him again.

Turning to look him directly in the eye, she began her statement.

“When I look at you now, Jasper, all I feel is pity and revulsion. You came from a good family who spoiled you rotten and maybe that was part of the problem. You think the world owes you, Jasper, simply because of your family’s standing in the community. But that standing was earned, and you have now tarnished it. Your father may have helped you in the past, but that was only out of a sense of loyalty to his son. He couldn’t believe that you could have done all the things you had been accused of. Had he not had information hidden from him, I think that he would have had you in jail long ago.