I had never been to court before. I had ridden to the court house on the back of Hap's bike with Kozik following behind us. We met with the club lawyer outside. He was a short, stern looking man, his hair receding and more gray than black. His thick framed glasses were half way down his nose and made him look more like an angry librarian than a bulldog defense attorney, but from the high end suit he wore I had to assume he was good at his job.
The lawyer had been looking down at a stack of files in his hand as we approached but looked up before we made it to the sidewalk. Just standing outside the building was making me anxious, the building was tall and imposing with massive ornate concrete steps that lead to large heavy looking ornate doors with the words 'Tacoma City Court House' in gold against the brick above the doors.
"Mr. Lowman." The lawyer greeted sticking out his hand.
"Mr. Kozik, good to see you." He said and shook Kozik's hand as well before his eyes found me.
"And you are?" He asked, his eyes taken in every inch of me with judging eyes that made me want to fidget.
"Jade Banks." I said and held my hand out. He shook my hand gently, his eyes flicking to Happy and then Kozik before meeting my gaze again.
"George Rothman. Pleasure to meet you Miss. Banks." I could see it in his eyes, judgment and curiosity but he seemed to dismiss whatever he was thinking and turned his attention back to Happy.
"I just have a couple things that I wanted to go over with you Mr. Lowman before we went into the court room." Hap nodded and the lawyer began rambling about statistics and clarifying Happy's statement. All the legal jargon was making my head spin and my anxiousness grew as I started to understand less and less. My emotions must have been showing on my face since Kozik gently nudged me with his shoulder to get my attention.
When I looked up at Koz he looked concerned and nodded his head away from Hap and the attorney, taking a few steps away to put some distance between them and us.
"You alright?" He asked softly. I looked back at Hap and lawyer and shrugged.
"I feel like I'm going to puke." I whispered. Koz glanced toward Hap and Rothman before he leaned down.
"You need to get over it. You being worried makes it look like you think Hap's guilty of something. He needs you to be an actress right now. Straighten your back, dry your eyes and make your face a mask. This isn't going to be like you've seen on tv, there isn't going to be a jury, this isn't a trial." Kozik said sternly and I nodded. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I unwrapped my arms from around my stomach and pulled my shoulders back. I blinked back the tears that I hadn't realized had been threatening to spill and did my best to compose myself. I knew it worked as I watched Kozik's face. The sternness left his face and he smiled, patting me on the back before walking back to Hap and the lawyer.
This time I tuned out what they were talking about, not wanting to give my anxiety another foothold. I saw Hap's eyes flicker to me, I could see he was trying to figure out what Kozik and I had talked about. I gave a smile, a real smile as I thought about the way Hap had goofed around with Ace on the floor earlier this morning. Some of the tension left his shoulders and I felt grateful that Kozik had done what he had. I didn't need Hap stressing about me while he was the one going in front of the judge.
The lawyer finished what he wanted to go over and lead us into the courthouse. Hap walked with Rothman while Kozik stuck by my side. The four of us walked through security and took a seat on the benches outside of the courtroom. We sat for a while before an officer came out of the court room and took a role of everyone that had a case on the docket, after he let us all into the courtroom. The room was big with the large desk at the front of the room where the judge would sit and two tables with a couple chairs each sat in the middle part of the room. Behind the tables was an ornate wooden hip high barricade with two doors that resembled those you'd see at the entrance of a saloon in an old western. Behind the barricade there were several rows of benches on either side of an aisle way, Kozik caught my arm and pulled me toward the bench just inside the door while Hap walked with Rothman to a bench closer to the barricade.
As the last couple people were walking into the room a bailiff stood between the barricade doors and gave a short spiel about the courtroom procedure and that everyone needed to remain silent during the proceedings. When the bailiff was done he stepped away from the barricade and disappeared into a side room before reappearing a couple minutes later.
"All rise for the honorable Judge Martin Broedel!" The bailiff called and the crowd rose as the judge walked in from the side room and took his seat. Once he was seated everyone except the bailiffs took their seats again. The judge cleared his throat as he shuffled through some papers in front of him before looking up and calling out the first case.
With each fall of the gavel for a new case I could feel the knot growing in my stomach. When they finally called out Happy's name I didn't even realize that my knee had started bouncing till Kozik set his hand on my knee. The contact made me jump, my eyes breaking from Hap standing in front of the judge with Rothman to my knee and then following Kozik's arm to his face. His face was stern, a silent reminder. I nodded as I took another deep breath, trying to relax. Kozik leaned in a little further, his hand still on my knee.
"Remember what Hap told you. Rothman's confident that it's just going to be a stiff fine and parole. No jail time." He whispered and I nodded again before leaning back into the bench and tried to let the tension melt out of my shoulders.
The judge went through each of the charges and allowed the prosecutor and Rothman to go back and forth for a couple minutes to argue details and then asked them to approach the bench. They whispered with the judge for a couple minutes before he sent the men back to their tables. The judge cleared his throat as he took a moment and looked through the files that both lawyers had handed him. After a long moment he looked up and this time he was looking directly at Happy instead of the lawyer.
"Just to clarify for the record Mr. Lowman. You are pleading guilty to the urinating in public and the possession charges, but not guilty to the public indecency and the charge of resisting arrest?"
"Yes." The judge nodded and looked down at the papers again.
"I see here that the dash cam was reviewed by both parties, it's noted here that 'no active resistance was recorded' and that 'individual never exposed himself to public perception'. Because of this I'm going to dismiss the charge of public indecency and the charge of resisting arrest…" With that I felt the knot in my gut almost dissipate. This was going better than Rothman had predicted.
"As for the charges of possession and urinating in public, for the possession there will be a fine of 250 dollars, for the charge of urinating in public there will be a fine of 500 dollars. Both penalties can carry time in the County Penitentiary or parole. On this occasion I do not think these actions are necessary and feel that the fine of the maximum amounts will be sufficient. Can you pay the total of 750 dollars today or do you need time to collect the funds?" I couldn't help the smile as the judge said that Happy wasn't going to have to spend any time on parole.
"We'll need a couple days to collect the funds, your honor." Rothman replied and the judge nodded.
"The deadline for payment of the 750 dollars in fines with hereby be set for two weeks from today. Next case." The judge hit the gavel on the desk and Happy and Rothman walked out from behind the barricade and headed for the exit. As they passed Kozik and I stood and followed them out.
Hap and Rothman were shaking hands in the hallway when we stepped out of the courtroom. Rothman seemed proud as a peacock a large smile on his face. He turned toward the door when he heard it shut and reached out for Kozik's hand.
"So glad things could go this well." Rothman said and Kozik nodded while I smiled and nodded, walking past the two to stand next to Hap and leaning into his side as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I was a little surprised by the show of affection, Hap wasn't one for any sort of display of affection while we were in public or around his brothers, but I knew better than to acknowledge it and just soaked up the small moment of utter normalcy.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Banks. Mr. Lowman, I'll send my bill in a couple days when all the paperwork is finished." Hap nodded and Rothman strutted out of the courthouse.
"Come on, let's get out of here." I said and nudged Hap after the lawyer, more than eager to get the hell out of this court house.
The ride back to the bar was quick. I invited Koz in for a drink but he declined, wanting to get back to the club house to get an early start on the night's party. Hap and I head up to the apartment, Hap letting Ace out while I made straight for the whiskey above the fridge.
"What are you doing?" Hap asked as I set down the glasses.
"We're celebrating." I said and poured the shots.
"Why?"
"When we bailed you out, we knew there was the chance that you could end up serving some time. Today was a win, you walked out of that courtroom without cuffs and without parole. We're celebrating that you are still a completely free man." I said and picked up the glasses and holding one out to Hap. He slowly took the offered glass though I could tell something was off by his expression.
"You realize this isn't the first time that I've been to court, that it likely won't be the last?" Hap said and threw back his shot, I threw back my own shot, relishing the burn before setting it down on the table before looking back at Hap.
"It doesn't matter. I'll celebrate then like I am now. Every win is worth celebrating." I said solemnly. Hap was staring at me with an unreadable expression.
"Hap," I sighed and took a seat in the wooden chair.
"I'm not being naïve, I was more than aware when I let you in that it was going to be a rough ride. That life wasn't going to be full of rainbows and unicorns. That there are going to be times when there's cops at the door and days spent in court rooms. Doesn't mean I look forward to those days but I know it's going to happen and I signed up for that when I let you into my home and into my bed. I'm all in for this ride with you, Hap, I'm all in. Maybe you need to be asking yourself if you're all in for me because I'm going to want these moments, I'm going to want to celebrate the wins, I'm going to want the times we can just be us and we don't have to be anyone but Happy and Jade without any outside pretenses. If that's something you can't do then I suggest you leave now." I left the whiskey and the glasses on the table and walked away, walked to what had become our bedroom and shut the door.
I slipped out of my jeans and my bra and climbed into bed, too exhausted from the lack of sleep and the events of the day to put up any more of a fight. As the minutes ticked by and I didn't hear anything I started to think he'd left and I fought the tears that were building in my eyes till finally I heard something.
The bedroom door creaked open before shutting with a click. He didn't say anything just stood there for a moment as I kept my back to him. Then I heard his belt and heard his pants hit the ground before he joined me in the bed. Once he was settled he reached across the bed, his hands gentle as he pulled me back into him, his arms wrapping around me. I closed my eyes, the feeling of relief almost letting the tears fall for a different reason.
"I'm all in."