Free Trapstar 3 by Blake Karrington Page A

how it goes.” she suggested, looking into the mirror mounted on her dresser.
    There was no way in hell Lorraine was going to let Brianna or any of her kids for that matter, see her face bruised the way it was. She knew that Herman would be as good as dead if they found out that he put his hands on their mother. Lorraine wasn’t justifying Herman’s attack, but she had to admit to herself that she was out of pocket for going to Cowboy’s trial. At the end of the day, she was still married to Herman, and her loyalty was supposed to be with him.
    “Alright then, Mom. I’ll call you later when I get some time,” Brianna said, before hanging up the phone.
    Lorraine hung up the phone and then sat on the bed, trying to figure out how she was going to deal with Herman when he walked back through that door. She was still debating on whether or not to bust him upside his head with something for putting his hands on her the way he did, or just leave it alone and give him a pass on account that she was part of the problem that got it to that point. Whatever was going to happen would totally be up to Herman’s actions when he came back home. If he walked through the door still on his bullshit, Lorraine was going to make sure her face wouldn’t be the only face that was bruised up. But if he came in humble, sober, and apologetic, it was a good chance Lorraine was going to try to work things out. The choice was his, and if he knew what was best for him, he had better choose the latter instead of coming back home drunk.
     
    __________
    Brianna, Charrise, Selena and Chatima all rushed into the courtroom just in time to hear the clerk yell, “All rise!” as the judge entered the courtroom.
    Cowboy turned and looked back at them and then over at Casteno, who looked back with concern on his face. Today, Charrise was supposed to get back on the stand so that the D.A. could cross examine her about her testimony.
    “Is the state ready to proceed?” the judge asked, lowering his glasses to the edge of his nose.
    “Yes, Your Honor,” the D.A. answered and then looked over at Cowboy’s table. “Are we good?” he leaned over and asked Casteno.
    Before he got a chance to answer, Charrise put her bag down on the bench right behind the defense table and walked up to the stand. She was sworn in by the clerk and then the D.A. went right at her like a lion on a zebra in the Sahara. He questioned her truthfulness about the whole kidnapping and whether or not she was really pregnant. He tried everything, hoping to get her to contradict herself or flat out lie.
    Charrise did not bend or fold to the D.A.’s tactics. The hardest thing about trying to get somebody to lie, is trying to get somebody to lie when they’re actually telling the truth. It was easy for Charrise to do her thing and to crush any doubts about whether or not she was pregnant. She brought the abortion receipt to prove it. That really crushed the D.A., so much so that he became frustrated and decided to end the cross examination early before it got any worse.
    “We’ll have a short recess and then we can have the closing arguments from each side,” the judge said before getting up and heading back to his chambers.
    Casteno requested that Cowboy remain in the courtroom during the break, which was granted by one of the Sheriffs that he knew.
    “Thanks Charrise, for everything,” Cowboy began. “You really took a chance by taking the stand for me, and I want you to know that I am grateful for that, no matter what happens.” Cowboy told Charrise with the most sincere look in his eyes.
    “I guess that makes us even. You saved my life, and now hopefully, I saved yours,” Charrise responded with a smile.
    Once the recess was over, closing arguments lasted a little more than an hour. The D.A. tried to tell the jury not to believe Charrise’s because it didn’t make sense. He then went on about the evidence that was found at the scene of the crime, and how evidence proved