Hidden in the Woods by Elana Johnson

Author:Elana Johnson [Johnson, Elana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works

Chapter Ten

Allegra paced in the hall, the skirt she wore a stitch too tight. Probably from all the meals she’d been enjoying at Phoenix’s bar. The man didn’t make gourmet food, no, but he could cook nonetheless.

“You’ve got to calm down,” he told her from his spot on the bench. “You’re freaking me out.” He reached for her and took her hand in his, drawing her over to him.

She sat, but every cell in her body wanted to run. “I just…I don’t want to face him again.”

Phoenix watched the people go by them in the busy hallway outside the hearing rooms at the courthouse. He was doing better on this, his second trip to town in over five years. Or maybe he was just better at hiding his panic this time. Or maybe she was so anxious, she didn’t notice his.

“It’ll be okay,” he said. “I’m here, and Bea is coming. You have support here. He’s certainly not going to do anything here today.”

“Jerrod is late.” Her lawyer had told her about ten times not to be late, and yet he was. She wasn’t going to hire a lawyer—she hadn’t last time—but Phoenix had suggested it might be a good idea. They knew the lingo. They knew what to say, and they’d been to court before, so they weren’t nearly as nervous as she’d be.

She’d argued with him, but in the end, she’d hired a man named Jerrod Pennington, who’d helped her prepare for the hearing and promised he’d be there.

But he wasn’t.

The clock clicked closer to the time when her hearing would start, and she stood up again.

“Allegra,” Phoenix said, but she ignored him. She needed to move, and she hadn’t badgered him about his nerves when they’d come to file the paperwork for the restraining order. She’d had a temporary with her for the past twenty-four days, and she knew Devon had been served notice of this hearing by the police last week.

She hadn’t seen him arrive yet either.

Returning to Phoenix’s side, she watched the stairs which came up from the first floor or the elevator. People came up and went down, came up and went down. Finally, a sandy blond-haired man appeared, and she jumped to her feet.

“Jerrod,” she said, rushing forward to meet him. “There you are.”

He smiled at her as if they were meeting for coffee. “Here I am, and you’re not late.” He glanced at courtroom seven. “Doors aren’t even open yet.” He frowned as he pulled out his cell and looked at it. “Should be any minute now.”

He ushered her back over to the bench, where he shook Phoenix’s hand and sat beside them. “Things are looking good,” he said. “We drew a good judge, who’s always leaned in the favor of keeping women safe from even the littlest of things.”

A measure of relief accompanied the rapid head-nodding that Allegra couldn’t seem to stop. Phoenix wrapped his hand around hers and squeezed, his silent plea for her to stop freaking out.

As if drawn by a magnet, her eyes migrated to the steps just in time to see Devon arrive.

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