still looking a little too friendly. He rushed up the stairs to meet them, desperately trying to keep his cool because he had to be mindful of where they were.
“What happened? Why’s he here?” Orlando asked, glaring right in the fucker’s face.
“They dropped the charges down to a misdemeanor, and they’ll likely be expunging all charges in the next few weeks, thanks to Ted.” Dani reached for Orlando’s arm, squeezing it even as Ted peered at him.
“Why the fuck were you holding his hand?” Orlando asked, still reeling over the whole situation.
“Who are you?” Ted asked, still peering at him.
“I’m her boyfriend, asshole,” he said, getting in his face. “We live together.” Orlando was aware heads were turning, but he didn’t give a fuck. He was livid.
“I can explain,” Dani urged, bringing her body between him and Ted because Orlando felt ready to explode and he didn’t even try to hide it. “Please, calm down.” Infuriatingly, she turned to Ted. “Thank you for everything. I gotta go.”
Orlando turned to Danica, his expression likely as disgusted as he felt. “Thank you?”
“Her boyfriend?” Ted chuckled. “I guess we’re both suckers.”
“What did you say?” Orlando tried to move around Dani, but then some other dude in a suit got between them.
“Let it go, man.”
“Who the fuck are you?”
“My attorney.” Dani put her hands against his chest. “Please, baby, I can explain everything,” she said as officers began to approach them. “It’s okay.” She turned to them as she tried pushing Orlando along. “We’re leaving.” Only because he didn’t feel like spending a day in jail waiting to hear Dani’s explanation, he gave in and started walking away with her.
“Call me, Danica,” her attorney said as they walked away from him. “We’ll talk about your next court date.”
Dani nodded, pushing Orlando away from the crowd that had begun to gather. He stopped before they reached her car. “I’m fucking done. Either you tell me right now why you can’t get rid of this asshole and why the fuck he was holding your hand and had his arm around you in that courtroom, or we’re done.”
As incensed as he felt, his heart ached to think she might actually call his enraged bluff. “My attorney is Ted’s son. I can’t afford an attorney, Orlando. You don’t get the privilege of a public defender when you’re trying to reduce charges you’ve already been convicted of. And Ted had already retained his son to represent me before I broke things off with him. I thought I’d lost even that when I left him, but then Blaine called to tell me he’d signed a contract and he was required to represent me to the end now, regardless of what happened between his father and me.”
“So, this asshole gets to fucking hold your hand and act like you’re still his throughout this shit? Of course, he’d offer to pay for it all.”
She brought her hand to his face her, eyes welling up with tears. “Only reason I didn’t tell you is because I didn’t think he’d be showing up for any of this. He never had before. Blaine’s been completely professional about the attorney-client privileges. He wouldn’t even tell his dad the details of my case except to let him know when I’d be in court again. But after he showed up last time to ask me how it went because he said he still cared and just wanted to know how it was going, I told Blaine he could share with him about my case. I did it so Ted wouldn’t have an excuse to show up and ask me about it again. Only the new district attorney is an old friend of his, and when Blaine told him about it, Ted decided to put in a good word for me to get this going faster. He hadn’t mentioned it until this morning when I got here that he’d told him about me a few months ago when he last talked to him and we were still together then. He thought the guy would be more persuaded to help him out if he thought we still were. It’s why we walked in holding hands and had to pretend to be a couple.”
“That mother fucker!” Orlando spun around, feeling ready to kill again, but spun right back to face her. “You see what he’s doing here, right? He’s using everything in his power to control you. Cut him off. Cut him and his son off now. I’ll pay for your