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Caleb nodded, but didn’t say anything He was holding onto er man, he likely would have caused me some serious pain

“There he is,” Eli said He was leaning against Mav, who had his arm around him I followed Eli’s nod and saw a talltoward us

“Eli,” he said as he shook Eli’s hand, then said his hellos to Mav

“Caleb, good to see you again,” he said

“Mr Morrison,” Caleb said with a nod “Um, this is Jace, my boyfriend”

I forced myself to nod politely as the man introduced himself to me Caleb had been worried the man would rail at him for the letter Caleb had sent his father in prison, but he’d assured Caleb that he’d seen the letter and it could easily be explained away in court - a fact that had eased some of Caleb’s attention

Morrison turned his attention went back to Caleb “Are you ready? I got a text from the defense that they’re already in there,” he said as he motioned to the doors

Caleb sucked in a breath and said, “I’m ready”

But the second the four of us fell into step behind the prosecutor, the man turned to us and said, “Oh, I’ You won’t be able to join us It’s just e”

“What?” Caleb croaked “His… his client?”

Caleb’s startled eyes swung to me, then Eli “Dad… Dad will be in there?”

“Baby,” I said, desperate to get his attention, but he jerked his hand free of mine

“No, no, you never said he’d be in there,” Caleb said to the prosecutor Then he turned to me “Jace, I can’t,” he cried “Please, you have to come with me!”

“Caleb—” the prosecutor began, but Caleb cut hirabbed my wrists

“Jace, please, I can’t go in there I can’t see him I’m not ready!”

“It’s okay,” I said as calh I wanted to punch the prosecutor in the face To hi you can do Talk to the judge—”

“No, I’m sorry, that’s not possible” To Caleb he said, “Caleb, I’m sorry, but it needs to be this way”

Caleb shook his head frantically He’d gone so pale that he was scaring me

“Can you delay the hearing?” Eli asked