"Are you sure you don't want to come with me?"

Juliette and I are back in bed, cudding. Being inside her was the most incredible feeling I've had in years, but cuddling is out-of-this world pleasure. What I feel like doing now is sleeping, and I roll over and pull her toward me. Maybe just five minutes before we have to get our shit together and leave.

I can't get enough of her. The feel of her body next to mine is so fucking soothing. So right.

Life would be perfect right now if Zoe wasn't in danger.

Of course, I don't really want Juliette to come with me when I visit Dr. Sebastian Engel, but in the spirit of honesty, I'm giving her the option.

"No," she murmurs. "I need to get my stuff together."

"Mmm." I kiss her neck as thunder grumbles in the distance. "It looks like it's going to rain hard."

I glance out the sliding glass door, to the visible swath of sky. It was sunny just a half hour ago, and now angry grey clouds have blown in from the sea.

"It rained a lot when I was in the hospital. I looked out the window every day to grey sky."

She runs her fingers through my hair. The gesture is so natural. "That must have been awful."

"It was. And when I heard the thunder just now, I thought it would be depressing, like when I was back in the hospital. But it's not."

"It's not?" Her voice is dreamy, and I brush my lips over the top of her right breast.

"No. Because I'm home. I'm here with you. It's all going to be okay."

She sighs contentedly. "I hope so."

"Once I meet with this guy tonight, everything will start rolling. Zoe will be home in no time. You sure you don't want to go? I hate being without you for a second."

Her fingers comb through my hair. "No. I have to see how Victoria's doing. She had court today."

Ah, shit. We haven't had this conversation. It's not that I'd forgotten about the arrests. But I'd been so distracted by sex and emotion and the call from Sebastian that the charges seemed meaningless.

Or maybe I just wanted to put it out of my mind, hoping it would vanish.

"Court?" I ask, not letting on what I know.

"Oh God, that's what I meant to tell you. Before I seduced you outside." She props herself on her elbow and laughs, a genuine, sparkling laugh of happiness, and my heart soars.

"What happened?"

She rolls her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Victoria was arrested, basically on a pimping charge. She'd put ads in an alt-weekly newspaper for her employees." She makes quote marks with her fingers. "Some of her employees were also arrested."

"Jesus, Vee."

"Yeah, it gets worse. Apparently one of the girls hates me, because she'd had a crush on you or some crap. So she told detectives that I was also an escort. And so I was arrested. And taken to county lockup."

Juliette, in jail? I stop breathing for a second. "You were in jail?"

"For like five hours. It was hell. But they released me." She smirks and I can tell she's trying to be tough.

It's one more thing that's my fault. If I'd never introduced her to Vee...

"But were you charged? What happened? Did you call my lawyer?" Why didn't he mention anything to me this morning?

"I thought about it, but didn't need to. The escort said I was with a man on a particular night. It just so happened that I was at a school event at that exact time. And the school paper took a photo of me. And someone else took a photo of me and, ah, some other people, with my phone. So I had a time stamp. There was plenty to prove that I obviously wasn't whoring myself."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry? This is all Victoria's fault for being too bold and hiring nasty people. I just hope she gets probation. She's super worried she'll get jail time."

I roll onto my back, wondering how I can help Vee. How I can make all this up to Juliette.

She snuggles in the crook of my arm and I hug her. So much hugging today. It's the best. "I'm proud of you."

"Why?" Those big eyes of hers get me right in the heart. Every time.

"You've been brave, dealing with all this. The residual of my shit. Victoria. A false arrest. You've managed to stay in school and do well, despite everything. I'm in awe."

She lifts herself and looks at me with watery eyes. "It's nothing compared to what you went through."

"The difference is, I brought everything on myself. You didn't ask for any of this. And yet you've dealt with everything really well. You're a lot stronger than you know."

She puts her lips to mine and kisses me slow. I open one eye and glance at the red numbers of the digital clock on the nightstand.

"I don't want to get out of bed, but I have to, if I'm going to be on time. Let me text Dylan. He'll pick us up, take us to your car, and then I'll go to my meeting. I'll give you the extra key so you can come back here when you're done at home."

"How long do you think you'll be?"

I sit up and shrug. "An hour. Maybe two."

She also sits up and presses her naked tits into my back. "Do we have time to take a shower together?"

"That's funny. I was wondering the exact same thing."

After a scalding shower — and I don't mean the water temperature — we're about to say goodbye.

"I hate leaving you. Even though I know it's only a couple of hours."

We're standing next to her car in the garage. Dylan's parked a few rows down. Juliette looks like she's going to cry. And truthfully, I'm not crazy about letting her out of my sight, either. I want to soak up every possible second with hero make up for all our lost time.

I kiss her forehead. "It'll go by quick. And you need to see what's up with Victoria. I'll leave it to you whether you want to tell her about me."

"She hasn't called or texted, so that can't be good."

"Go find out, and we'll deal with it when I'm done. Hey." I cup her jaw. "I love you."

"I love you too. I feel like my body's about to burst with happiness."

We kiss and I reluctantly walk to the SUV as she slides behind the wheel of her car.

* * *

I follow Dylan's SUV out of the school parking garage, my heart pounding in double time. What the hell am I going to do now?

My earlier plan about going to see Sebastian still seems solid, but I'm scared. Scared of how Sebastian will react. Afraid that Griffin will somehow find out and hate me. Terrified that I'll ruin everything, now that he's back.

Dylan's SUV turns onto the road leading to the interstate, and I continue on the traffic-choked downtown street. Fortunately Griffin won't think anything's wrong that I didn't follow him to the Interstate; my expressway to the beach and my condo is a few blocks away.

An aimless feeling takes over. Do I go home and change out of this sundress before visiting Sebastian? I'm supposed to be at his house between eight and eight-thirty. I might not have time to go home and then get to his house. Not with this traffic.

I see people walking along Biscayne Boulevard and realize there's a Miami Heat basketball game at the arena. If I want to get home, I have several more blocks of this congestion to endure.

On an impulse, I turn the car in the opposite direction. I drive for five minutes until I get to another street, then pull in.

I need a quiet place to think, and I'm pretty sure there's a park in here somewhere. It's called Morningside Park and it's nestled in a neighborhood, overlooking the bay.

There it is. I turn into the parking lot and climb out. It's almost dusk, and the air is thick and moist with the coming rain. I hear the shouts of a group of men playing soccer on the grass. I'm shaking as I walk past a row of palm trees, headed for the seawall. It's at least a quarter of a mile from the parking lot to the water, but I'm grateful for the walk.

By the time I reach the cement ledge, I'm crying.

These are tears of happiness and fear, of anger and confusion. I barely know why I'm sobbing. All I need is a few minutes to collect myself, and maybe the rain will hold off for a few minutes while I fall apart. Thank God there's no one else in this part of the park. It's lovely here, with the placid blue water of the bay and Miami Beach in the distance.

I sniffle and wipe my tears as I watch the water. My nose is congested bad, and I probably look like shit.

My phone buzzes. It's a number I don't recognize.

"Hello?"

"They're locking me up. For two weeks. Can you believe that shit?" Victoria's voice is spitting anger. There's also a hint of fear. "I'm allowed to make one call and wanted to tell you that I won't be home."

"What? Where are you?"

"I'm at the county jail. The judge said he wanted to send a message. Because he said I'm a good girl. Whatever." She sputters for a few seconds.

"Vee. Victoria. Hey. It's going to be okay."

"Yeah, right. I trusted my stupid lawyer and even fucked him—"

"Griffin's back," I yell, as a droplet of rain falls on my shoulder.

"What?" Her voice is small and thin. I can tell she doesn't believe me.

"Griffin. He's alive." I start to laugh and cry all at once.

There's another plop of rain on my scalp, then another on my hand.

"Juliette, I think you need to call your mom since I can't be there for you. I'm worried. You need some help."

"No. No. Listen. He's alive. I haven't gone crazy." Through my laughter and my tears, I tell her the abridged version of the story as it begins to pour. I don't care about getting wet, because I'm getting happier by the minute as I tell Victoria the parts of Griffin's story that don't involve actual crimes. "Do you have visitation? We'll come see you. Or he will. I swear. I'm serious."

"Oh my God." She repeats this several times and now she's crying.

"It's going to be okay. I'll get him to talk to his lawyer. You won't have to fuck that guy for legal representation."

We both laugh.

"Okay, I don't feel so terrible now. I can do this."

"You can do this. It's only two weeks." I'm trying to put a good spin on this, but I know two weeks in a cell will be hard on her. I brush away the rain that's clogged my eyes. Rain and tears.

"I gotta go. Give Griffin a big hug for me, okay? Love you."

The line goes dead and I shut my eyes, breathing in the scent of the bay, the freshly cut grass, the humid rain.

No, I definitely don't have time to go home and change before seeing Sebastian. He'd asked me over for a late dinner, and since he was always so formal, I usually dressed formally in his presence, wearing tight black dresses. I'm wearing a girlish dress and sandals.

Does it matter that my hair is wet, that I have a freshly-fucked glow on my cheeks, that I'm wearing a casual sundress?

No, none of it matters, because this will probably be the last time I'll ever see him.

That knowledge makes me feel lighter, and I slide off the seawall and head back to the car. It's like a monsoon now, the warm rain soaking my dress.

I never have to see Sebastian again. Never have to wonder when he'll want to screw me. Never have to endure those weird parties and his strange touches ever again.

Now grinning, I break into a run. I'm a little winded when I turn the ignition key. Not from exertion, but from excitement.

I drive a little too fast on my way to Sebastian's house in Coral Gables. He's expecting me at eight-thirty, and I'm fifteen minutes late by the time I pull into the circular driveway.

Even though we've been on many dates, I'm still not comfortable just opening the door and letting myself in to his humongous house.

I ring the bell and tap my foot. the door swings open, and I'm annoyed to find that it's Sebastian's maid, and not him. She's older, closer to his age. She's said about ten words to me total and has never, ever smiled in my presence. I'm not even sure she's his maid. Sometimes she acts more like a secretary or personal assistant, and I suspect she knows some of his secrets, whatever they are. I haven't paid attention, and definitely won't now. At first I thought she was Scandanavian or something, but Sebastian mentioned once that she's from Eastern Europe.

"Hi. Lena. I'm here to have dinner with Sebastian. Where is he?" I try to push my way past, but she blocks my path.

"He is in a meeting. Wait here in the foyer until I find out where he wants you."

I roll my eyes and sigh as she briskly walks away, without waiting for my response. "Okay. Thanks," I call out.

Come on. Let's get this over with. I need to get back into Griffin's arms...

____