7th Heaven - James Patterson [62]
“No,” I said. “Let me.”
I put all of my tormenting thoughts aside. I tugged off Joe’s boxers, interlaced my fingers through his, pressed his hands against the pillows. He moaned as I lowered myself onto him and then I eased off, kissed him until he went crazy. Then I rode him, rode him, rode him, until he couldn’t wait another second — and neither could I. There was the undeniable pull of the undertow, before I was released by great cascading waves of pleasure.
I collapsed onto Joe’s chest, my knees still on either side of his body, my cheek resting over his pounding heart. He stroked my back and I told him I loved him. I remember him kissing my forehead, pulling the blanket up over my shoulders as I drifted off with him still inside me.
Oh, my God.
It was just so good with Joe.
Chapter 83
YUKI STUDIED JUNIE MOON as she was sworn in by the bailiff.
Defendants weren’t required to testify. It couldn’t be held against them if they didn’t, and it rarely helped when they did. So it was very risky to put your client on the stand. No matter how well rehearsed, there was no way to know if your client was going to go rogue, or get flustered, or laugh at the wrong time, or in some unique way prejudice the jury against her.
But Davis was putting Junie Moon on the stand. And the citizens of San Francisco and trial watchers across the country were dying to hear what she would say. Junie’s white blouse hung from her shoulders and her plain blue skirt billowed around her calves. She’d lost weight in jail — a lot of it — and when Junie raised her right hand to take the oath, Yuki saw vivid bruising on her forearm.
Spectators gasped and murmured. And now Yuki understood why Davis had risked everything she’d gained to have her client testify. Junie looked nothing like a whore and a ghoul.
She looked like a victim.
Junie swore to tell the truth, stepped up to the witness stand, and sat with her hands in her lap, smiling trustingly as Davis approached.
“How are you doing?” Davis asked.
“In jail, you mean?”
“Yes. Are you doing okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m fine.”
Davis nodded, said, “Good. And how old are you, Junie?”
“I’ll be twenty-three next month.”
“And when did you start turning tricks?” Davis asked.
“When I was fourteen,” Junie said softly.
“And how did that come about?”
“My stepdad turned me out.”
“Do you mean that your stepfather prostituted you? That he was your pimp?”
“I guess you could call him that. He was having sex with me from the time I was about twelve. Later on, he brought his friends over and they had sex with me, too.”
“Did you ever report your stepfather for rape or child abuse, anything like that?”
“No, ma’am. He said it was how I paid my rent.”
“Is your stepfather here today?”
“No. He died three years ago.”
“And your mother? Where is she?”
“She’s doing time. For dealing.”
“I see,” Davis said. “So, Junie, you’re a bright enough girl. Did you really have to be a prostitute? Couldn’t you have gotten a job in a restaurant or a department store? Maybe worked in an office?”
Junie cleared her throat, said quietly, “Doing sex is the only thing I’ve ever known, and I don’t really mind. It’s like, for a little time every day, I feel close to someone.”
“Having sex with strangers makes you feel close?”
Junie smiled. “I know it’s not real, but it makes me feel good for a while.”
Davis paused to let the tragedy of the vulnerable young woman’s story wash over the jury. Then she said, “Junie, please tell the jury: Did you ever have sex with Michael Campion?”
“No, I did not. Absolutely never!”
“So why did you tell the police that you did?”
“I guess I wanted to please them, so I told them what they wanted to hear. I . . . that’s the kind of person I am.”
“Thank you, Junie. Your witness,” Davis said.
Chapter 84
YUKI HAD A THOUGHT. It was stark, simple, irrefutable.
When Junie took the stand in her own defense, she had come across so frail and so helpless, it would