"Get awf of me!" Massie yelled as best as she could in her drunken state, hitting her small hands against Derrick's broad back and shoulders. She was currently being carried over his shoulder, and the humiliation alone was enough to make her puke, not counting the Bacardi currently swishing around in her system.
"No." Derrick replied firmly, managing to open his passenger side door and wrangle her into the seat. He shook his head, brushing his long sleeve henley off and moving to climb into the driver's side of his black Jeep Wrangler.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Massie screeched, clearly upset at the turn of events.
"I'm saving your snarky ass, that's what I'm doing." He retorted, putting the car in drive.
"How did you figure that one out, Captain Genius?"
Derrick looked long and hard at Massie. First, that must've been the worst comeback he's ever heard out of Block's mouth. Second, he left one hell of a house party to get her home safely, and this was her thank you?
"Massie, you're drunk. You're wasted, actually, and you thought going up to his room was going to be a good idea?"
It was their senior year of high school, and although they never dated again, or became friends again, they still traveled in the same social circles. That meant they went to the same parties, they had the same friend group, they knew the same people.
"What do ya mean?" Massie asked, tilting her tousled head to the side. Her amber eyes, normally fiery and sharp, were blurred and glazed over. Her cheeks were a bright flush of pink, her mascara was smudged underneath her eyes, and her outfit (a pair of black slim fit jeans with rips at the knees, a silk camisole and a shrunken olive green military jacket) was all sorts of disheveled
"You can't make a coherent decision right now." He stated matter-of-factly, then reversed out of the long, gravel coated driveway of Ethan Mulligan's home.
"You don't know that! You don't know anything about me." She replied, turning her head out the window and watching as the car began to pull away from the mansion the party was being held at.
"Did you not remember calling for help?"
"I did what?" Massie asked, looking back at Derrick with a shy and glossy gaze. Her hair was currently sticking to her shiny lips. He sighed, leaning over once he hit a red light and moving the pieces away from her mouth. "I heard you yell when he was bringing you up the stairs. It might not have been intended for me, but I wasn't going to let you make a mistake like that."
Massie was quiet the remainder of the drive. She assumed he was taking her home, until he made a left at Oak Street instead of a right and ended up at the Westchester Diner. "Where are we?"
"The diner, duh." He lifted his hand to wave to the sign.
"I can read, Derrington, but why?"
"I'm not bringing you home like this. Let's get you some food, and sober you up first." Massie nodded her head in agreement, climbing out of the car and following her ex-boyfriend into the two story vintage inspired diner, open twenty four hours.
Massie sighed, smoothing out the skirt of her black puff sleeve Karl Lagerfield dress for the third time in the past two minutes. She couldn't help it, she was full of nerves. She was currently sitting in the second row of Honorable Justice McGregor's courtroom, a place she never pictured herself. Her father, William, was to her left and Mr. Rivera was in front of them.
Her father had been coaxing her all morning, trying to help wrestle the nerves out of her, but it was impossible. Even Mr. Rivera tried to shake it off of Massie, but he knew she was afraid and though he repeatedly tried to warn her that this was a routine situation, she refused to do anything besides fidget.
Massie had no idea what he had done. He was able to get on a call with Mr. Rivera late last night to prepare, but that was it. Massie wasn't informed of his charges, or his actions. All she knew was that he had to be incredibly stupid to be putting her and her family in this situation.
Derrick and Josh scurried in before the last call. Derrick was wearing a Boss black and white gingham print button down, tucked into a pair of navy colored Hugo slim fit dress pants. Josh had thrown on a linen Ralph Lauren button down in white with a pair of khaki Ralph Lauren slim fit chinos.
Derrick was going to drive Massie, but the two agreed it'd look better if they showed up separately and like they were here for other reasons than support of each other. Josh and Derrick rode together, he picked Josh up on his way and Alicia was thankful she didn't have to give him the car for the day, as Josh's Bentley was being detailed and Alicia's range rover was the only one able to be used for the day.
Massie could feel Derrick's warm gaze on her, but she refused to turn around. Not for any other reason, though, besides if Tristan had any watchful eyes waiting to see if something was up between the two. They'd done an excellent job at hiding things, but she knew it was always too good to be true when it came to her love life.
The court officer approached the fully stacked stands, calling one last time for all to be seated before the Judge entered the room.
There was paparazzi outside the doors, hoping to hear something of the new scandal of Westchester county. Some were in the parking lots, waiting to catch a picture of Mr. Montgomery-soon-Block in an orange jumpsuit.
At the court officer's call, all rose for the presiding Justice and sat once able to.
The judge cleared his throat, and made a lame joke about all the paparazzi and new faces in front of him, before beginning his calendar.
Tristan's luck had it so he was last to be called. When he was, Mr. Rivera approached the bench as the court officer produced Tristan.
Massie felt her eyes almost bug out of her head when she saw him standing in front of her, his hands handcuffed behind his back, and his normal attire swapped for a neon orange jumpsuit with "Westchester Correctional" written on the back. William rested his hand over his daughter's shoulder, and she moved back against the wooden bench but kept her eyes on the situation in front of her.
"Your honor," Mr. Rivera began. "Due to the lack of privacy this case has brought upon, I feel it is in my client's best interest if we continue this discussion in chambers. There's paparazzi outside the main door, who knows who's been planted in here to observe. I have a severe objection to holding this in the public's eye. "
After discussing this with the District Attorney who agreed, they took the conversation to the back room while Tristan was put back in the holding bench.
His blue eyes felt like they were melting Massie's as he stared at her. She looked back at him, and for once she saw a small smile break out from him before putting his head back down. Massie wasn't even sure how she felt, at this point. She despised him, but seeing him in a jumpsuit like that was a different level than what she was prepared for.
Massie twisted her engagement ring round and round her finger until Mr. Rivera re-emerged. She felt herself breathe out a sigh of relief, then mentally kicked herself for doing so. Seeing Tristan so helpless should make her happy, after how he's treated her for so long. But, all it did was make her depressed and wishing for a do-over in life.
"Mr. Montgomery will serve the rest of this week at the Westchester Penitentiary before he is released on his own recognizance on Friday. He has the next four long days to think about what he did to wind up here. Friday, assuming he follows the rules of the Correctional Facility, he will be released on parole pending his upcoming hearing scheduled for the end of the month. That is fifteen days from now, on October 29th. This case is adjourned further."
"Now, do we all know what we're supposed to be doing?" William asked the circle sitting at his dining room table.
It had been three days since Tristan was arrested, and he was due to be released in two. His eyes scanned the room. Cam Fisher, Chris Plovert, Alicia and Josh Hotz, his own daughter and Derrick Harrington all stared back at him and slowly nodded. Mr. Rivera stood from his seat beside William, taking a sip from his whiskey neat and setting it back on the wooden table top.
"We all have a valuable role to play in the next two days. Without everyone's cooperation, any deference from the plan will affect each of our lives in a separate way. Do you all understand how important this is?"
Every head nodded besides Massie's, who was taking shaky sips of her merlot from the crystal glass and trying to calm her speedy heart.
"Remember - we all are equally as valuable, and equally as much of a target if this doesn't work."
"What happens if it doesn't work?" Alicia asked her father, turning her gaze to every face sitting at the table. One by one, she was analyzing them.
Cam Fisher seemed very on edge, Dylan Marvil and Chris Plovert kept exchanging worrying glances to each other, Josh Hotz was fumbling with the ice in his whiskey glass, Derrick Harrington's eyes were concentrated on Len but darting back and forth to Massie, William Block was stoic, and her father, Len, was wearing a perma-frown.
Alicia understood the gravity of the situation ful-ly, but she also knew her role was of lesser importance at this point. Her being pregnant meant she couldn't do much, but her role as Matron of Honor meant she had to play like nothing was wrong when Tristan stepped out of his orange jumpsuit and into his designer threads again.
"If this doesn't work, then, we have a very limited time frame to carry out phase two. I'd much rather this work, though, sweetheart. I'm sure everyone is in agreement, yes?" Each head nodded like a bobblehead. "Good. Tristan sent me a voicemail earlier today, requesting to tell Massie that he wants to move the wedding to Saturday."
"What?!" Massie shrieked, her face paleing more so than before.
"He said that he recognizes the importance of love, and before anything else happens with this case, he wants to marry you, in case something happens that's unfavorable towards him."
"Meaning?" Derrick responded this time, his voice sounding scathing.
"Personally? I think he's preparing in case the state decides to call you as a witness. You can't testify against your spouse, you have that privilege. So, he's trying to eliminate any chance they have at that advantage. I'm sure he knows you'd put him in jail the second you could."
The dining room felt like it was spinning. This meant that everything was going to be very, very different.
"I'm getting married Sunday, aren't I?" Massie's voice wasn't above a whisper. The room was silent, no one wanting to confirm her biggest nightmare.
"We'll annul it. We'll file with the court, we'll get him re-arrested, we can make him violate his parole."
"Dad, we can't...we can't do anything." Massie Block's voice finally cracked, and her shoulders slumped down into a slouch no one at this table had witnessed before. "It's too soon, we have no time to do anything. We can do whatever we want to end it, but it still means Saturday I'm marrying this man."
The table fell silent.