JJ
The courthouse smelled like floor cleaner, old paper, and nerves.
Marissa walked on my left while Nixx and Benny stayed a few steps behind us. She had warned them twice that this was my hearing, not a Black Daggers meeting, and both men had managed to look personally offended by the reminder.
I almost laughed.
Then we turned the corner and saw Havoc standing outside the courtroom with his attorney.
For one ugly second, my body recognized him before my mind caught up. My shoulders locked, my stomach went cold, and every place he had ever hit me seemed to remember at once. He wore a dark suit and white shirt, his hair freshly trimmed, with no cut or Hell’s Fire colors anywhere on him. To anyone walking past, he looked respectable.
His attorney said something quietly.
Havoc looked u
