Link_Ruthless Bastards

by Chelsea Handcock

  “Keep your eyes on the road, Lincoln Frost.”

  Carrington’s reprimand didn’t even phase him, he kept right on looking.

  “If you’re going to put it out there on display, Carrington,” Link laughed, “I’m sure as hell going to look.” Link watched as she pulled the skirt up and sat back down in the seat. He almost moaned at the injustice of it all. So far, this had been the best thing to happen today. Then again, those boobs were still on full display, so maybe it wasn’t that bad.

  “Link!”

  “What?”

  “Eyes on the road.”

  Link wasn’t a gentleman in any way, but he decided if they were going to make it to court in one piece, he needed to keep his eyes on the road at least.

  “Shit!”

  “What now!”

  “The shirt Addy sent is too small. I can’t wear this to court!”

  Link looked back again, and this time he did laugh out loud. Carrington wasn’t kidding; the shirt was puckered and pulled around her breasts in a very non-flattering way. He rarely paid attention to what a woman wore, but even he knew this wouldn’t work for court. Then again, maybe the judge would be paying more attention to her boobs than what she had to say, and Talon could get off on a technicality.

  It didn’t matter, anyway, because they were here. Link pulled into the parking lot of the Defiance courthouse and parked. Rummaging around in the console, he pulled out a roll of duct tape and got out of the cage. Opening the rear door, he took a second to look at all that was Carrington Worthington. Tight little black skirt and bright-white lace bra with enough cleavage to make a grown man cry.

  Grabbing the silky shirt from her hands, Link took his Leatherman tool out and sliced it down the back. Pulling off strips of tape, he made it so that there was more room to hold her delectable mounds without making her look like a sausage. The whole time she watched him. When he handed the shirt back, Link said, “It’s not perfect, but once you put the jacket on, no one will see.” Then she smiled at him, a genuinely happy smile, and Link felt his lips turn up in response.

  “Thank you. That’s a good look on you, Lincoln Frost, you should consider doing it more often.”

  “Huh?”

  “The smile, it looks good on you, makes you more human.”

  “Whatever, Carrington, just hurry the fuck up.”

  “Yeah, I knew that wouldn’t last long,” Carri grumbled under her breath. She got out of the vehicle, smoothing down the skirt and jacket, doing a little turn and asked, “What do you think?”

  Link wanted to throw her back in the cage, push that skirt up over her hips, and show her exactly what he thought. Shit, if he thought she looked good in jeans and a hoodie, Carrington looked even better in a tight-assed skirt and high heels. She was gorgeous. Instead of giving those words or thoughts to her, he grunted and kept an impassive look on his face, like she didn’t affect him at all.

  “You look fine. Now, let’s move.”

  “What is your deal?” Carrington grabbed his arm, making him turn back to her. “Why do you hate me so much? I’m a damn good lawyer, Link. I’m not the same little girl you knew before. Hell, let’s get real. You didn’t even know me before, so who are you to judge me now?”

  “I don’t hate you, Carrington. None of this is about you or how I feel. What I do know is that my brother’s life is on the line, and we’re all putting his fate in your hands. You haven’t even asked me one question about what he’s being charged with or what I know which shows me you aren’t taking this seriously. I’ll give you your twenty minutes because I don’t have any other choice, but that’s it.”

  “Fair enough, Link,” Carrington said, walking away toward the courthouse doors. When Link looked away from her, he could see Addy and Whiskey waiting for them. He also saw several other members of the RBMC. Carrington didn’t talk to them. She hugged Addy then walked over and started talking to Suzie and Reagan. Shit, he hoped he was wrong, but her actions were proving him right, she wasn’t taking any of this seriously. She should have been trying to talk to Tuck or at the very least, Jinx, so she knew what they had found out, but instead, she was socializing with her friends. This was a disaster waiting to happen. When Whisk came up to him, he had to hold himself back from punching him right in the face.

  “This is a mistake. You shouldn’t have called her in. We need a real lawyer, not some friend of a friend, playing at being one.”

  “You’re never going to change, are you? Always judging people on some scale in your head which never measures up.”

  “This is Zander’s life Whisk, what do you expect me to do?”

  “I expect you to trust you’re not the only one who has his best interests in mind. I expect you to realize I’ve done my homework and agreed with Addison that Carrington is the best lawyer for the job. I expect you, asshole, to realize and respect that Talon and I can make decisions for this family as easily as you can.”

  Link watched Whisk walk away. He needed a minute. He couldn’t talk to any of them right now. It was his job to keep his brothers safe. It was his responsibility to make sure they had what they needed. Whisk didn’t understand that, he wasn’t the one who had been doing it his entire life. He wasn’t the one who had to make sure; Link was. He turned to Tuck who was standing next to him.

  “Do you think I’m wrong?”

  “Not my place to say either way, but, Link, this is their choice. Whisk asked Tal if he was okay with Carri representing him, and he said yes. You need to trust them, all of them. Not everyone will let you down.”

  Link heard the words and wanted to believe them, hell, he tried to force himself to believe them, but he’d learned many lessons in this life, the main one, trust your gut. Carrington might be a good lawyer, hell, she might even be a great lawyer, but in this town, her name was shit, just like his.

  Chapter 4

  Carri walked away from the group. She needed a couple of minutes to get ready for court. Walking into the courtroom, Carri looked around and noticed the place was packed. She’d spent a couple of summers here clerking for Judge Warner, so she knew this wasn’t a good sign. Defiance was a small community, and the courtroom was usually a ghost town, but today it was filled to the brim with busybodies. Traffic tickets and misdemeanors were the highlight of a typical court day. Tal’s case had the town’s attention. Standing at the back for a minute, she noticed the upper crust of their little town was out in full force; that never happened. Someone was trying to make a point.

  Walking down the aisle, she noticed a couple of people looking her way. She didn’t care, let them look. They would all learn soon enough, she was back, and she planned to make a big impression. Carson Wells was sitting at the prosecutor’s table. She hated the man. They had gone to law school together, and he was an arrogant son-of-a-bitch. He was also lazy as hell.

  “Well, well if it isn’t Carrington Worthington.” His slimy smile turned Carri’s stomach.

  “That’s me,” Carri said not playing into him; the jerk knew she’d changed her name. “Carson how about we cut to the chase here? You don’t have a case against Zander Frost. I don’t even know how you managed to get the arrest warrant. How about you drop it before I show all the fine citizens of Defiance how inept you really are?” Carri made a big demonstration, using her arms to indicate the people in the gallery.

  All it did was piss Carson off, making his already ruddy cheeks even redder. “Oh, Carrington, you haven’t changed a bit, still rooting for the underdog. It’s refreshing.” His condescending tone didn’t bother her, hell, she was used to it, but his next words did. “I think this is a slam dunk, and the citizens of Defiance will see it for themselves as soon as I put that biker scum behind bars for the rest of his life, exactly where he deserves to be. Then I can start cleaning up this town the way it should be, with the right people running it.”

  “Last chance, Carson,” Carri said, not giving the asshole anything, simply looking bored. She looked down at her watch; court
was due to start in a couple of minutes. Usually, she would love to wipe the floor with him, but if she could convince him to drop the case, they were all better off. She knew her evidence couldn’t be denied, but back door deals and shady shit always plagued the justice system, especially in Defiance.

  “James won’t be too happy when I have this case thrown out before you even get to say a word. You might want to call him, so he can watch his top associate’s fall from grace.”

  James Haslet was the county attorney; he was also the man who Carri’s father had selected to marry her. He wasn’t a villain exactly, but he wasn’t a good man either. James had political aspirations even back when Carri knew him. She wondered why he had let this case go so far because it stunk to high heaven. Carri planned to find out as soon as she finished here today. Carson, of course, started to laugh, and Carri walked away. The guy had always been too arrogant for his own good.

  “Last chance Carson,” Carri smiled, taking a seat at the defense table.

  “Oh, Carrington, I think I’ll be just fine, but, hey, after we are done here, I’ll buy you a drink, and you can apologize.” He had the nerve to look her body up and down, stopping to stare at her tits. “Maybe you can do more than just apologize.” She didn’t need the bobbing of his eyebrows to tell her what he was thinking.

  “In your dreams, Carson,” Carri said, leaning back in her seat. The asshole was still laughing at his joke when Talon was lead into the courtroom. Damn, it had been years, but Talon looked the same. As gorgeous as his brothers, but the man standing before her now was different. He was better, at least in Carri’s eyes. He might not get her juices flowing like Link did, but Zander was one of the kindest-hearted people Carri had ever met. Carri hated seeing him in handcuffs and chains, wanted to demand that they be removed, but she knew until she got a chance to present her case, that wouldn’t happen. He’d been charged with a violent crime, so the cuffs and chains would have to stay. The Deputy brought him to the table, and Carri leaned forward

  “I want to hug you, Tal, but I can’t.”

  “It’s okay Carri, do your magic and get me the fuck out of here, and you can hug me all you want.”

  “It’s a deal, Tal,” Carri pulled back smiled.

  “I trust you, Carri. Make these fuckers think twice about doing this to someone else.”

  “That’s the plan.” Tal gripped her hand, and Carri let everything else go. He trusted her, and she wouldn’t be letting him down. The clerk called the court to order. Once everyone was seated and the charges were read, Carri stood up. “I move to have the case against Zander Frost dismissed.”

  “Well, Miss Worthington, it has been a long time since you’ve graced the doors of my courtroom, and I see not much has changed. Care to explain why the case brought before me should be dismissed or should we proceed with defendant’s plea?”

  “Judge Warner, I have photographic video surveillance, as well as eye witness accounts which put Mr. Frost in Jasper, two hours away from the scene of the crime, as well as the victim, at the time of the offense. I also have reason to believe the investigation into the attack was tainted by the victim’s statement and a hasty arrest was made without cause.”

  “Those are pretty damning accusations, Ms. Worthington. Have you logged your evidence with the court and the prosecuting attorney’s office?”

  “Yes, your honor. I have all the documents here if you would like to take a look. I don’t want to waste the time of the court by dragging this out further when our efforts could go to finding the real assailant.”

  Carri watched as Judge Warner’s face turned a vivid red. He was in on this. Hell, she already knew it because he’d been the judge who signed the warrant. Carson, on the other hand, was white as a sheet. Neither of them had expected this which didn’t make any sense. Suzie had filed the documents, both of them should have had some warning as to what she had planned.

  The gavel came down, and Judge Harwell announced a five-minute recess to examine her evidence. Carri sat down and waited. She knew it wouldn’t take that long. At the time of the crime, Tal had been in Jasper meeting with a Sergeant with the Kentucky State Troopers and several other law enforcement members. Suzie had tracked him and could account for all of but fifteen minutes of the presumed crime with video, receipts for gas, and other means. It bothered Carri that the RBMC hadn’t offered the information to her or even Talon.

  “Shit, Carri, I wish you would have told me you were going to do that,” Tal whispered in her ear.

  “You hired me to get you out of this and that’s what I’m doing,” she leaned back and whispered. “Later you can explain to me why you didn’t do this for yourself.”

  “Carri, you don’t understand, this could be worse than spending a couple of nights in jail.”

  “You’re right, I don’t get it,” Carri said looking at him. “But I plan to find out.”

  Talon shook his head and turned away from her, looking pissed. Well screw him, she was upset too; none of this was adding up. She loved Talon, but if he wasn’t willing to defend himself, she sure as hell would, consequences be damned.

  The gavel came down again, and Judge Warner stood, announcing the case against Zander Frost was dismissed. The Deputy came over to the defense table, and Carri demanded that Talon be released from the cuffs. She was happy the man didn’t fight her and did as she ordered. Link, Whiskey, and Addy came forward to congratulate them, but Carri didn’t have time for that.

  “Tal, I need to do something, we’ll talk later.”

  “Carri…”

  “No, you brought me here, and I’m going to do my job.”

  “You already did, nothing is left to be done.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong, and you know it.” Carri grabbed her briefcase and started to walk out of the courtroom. James was waiting for her at the door.

  “It’s been a long time, Carri.”

  “Yeah, it has. Care to tell me why you agreed to this crap?”

  “Not here.” James grabbed her elbow, leading her out of the courtroom and into the hall.

  When Carson came up to them, clearly ticked off, but also apologetic, James ignored the man saying they would talk later and ushered Carri out of the building, not stopping until they were in the parking lot.

  “Carrington, you need to head back to Lexington and leave this alone. Defiance is changing, and you don’t want to come out on the wrong side.”

  “James, I’ve never given a shit about sides. That case was crap, and you know it. What I want to know is why you even allowed it to go that far. Any lawyer could have gotten Zander off.”

  “Maybe that’s the question you should be asking yourself. Why wouldn’t any other lawyer take the case if it was that easy?”

  “Damn, nothing changes around here, it only gets worse. You’re okay with an innocent man going to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. We both took an oath James, seems like that only matters to you when it suits your needs.” Carri yanked her elbow out of his grip and started to walk away, but he stopped her grabbing her roughly, pulling her body back around.

  “I’m warning you, Carrington, leave this alone and go back to where you ran away to. The RBMC has annoyed some powerful people. Get out of it while you’re still standing.”

  “Like who, James? We’re in Defiance, Kentucky for Christ sakes.”

  “Shit, you’re still the same naïve little Carrington, aren’t you? Look around, Carrington, and use that brilliant mind of yours. Who owns this town? Who would have the most to gain from keeping the RBMC in line and out of the way?”

  There was only one person she could think of. “My father? Seriously, James, he might be wealthy, but this?” Carri said waving her hand in the air. “This is even beyond him.”

  “This is nothing, Carrington,” James laughed, “this is a blip on a fucking screen, and if you hadn’t come here and put your nose into it, it would have been done. We all could have gone on with our lives and not thought about it again, b
ut no, you never could look at the bigger picture. What the hell does it matter if one biker goes down? Hell, he might not have done this, but you know damn well he’s done something. That’s why they called themselves Outlaw bikers and wear that diamond patch on their vest, Carri.”

  “I expected more from you, James. I don’t care who it is, no man deserves to be charged for a crime he didn’t commit, even the members of the RBMC. You don’t get to make that choice, none of us do, not even Theodore Worthington. Maybe it’s you who needs to wake up, James. My father isn’t anyone’s sure bet. He thinks of one person and one person only. If he thinks you’ve let him down, he will take you down. Remember that the next time you agree to do something which has the potential to blow up in your face.”

  Carri walked away this time, not giving James the chance to say anything else. She hated this town, but she hated her father more. He was behind Talon’s arrest, and Carri was determined to find out why. Walking around the corner, she saw Suzie waiting for her.

  “You ready to get to work?”

  “You won, Carri, I thought the job was over?” Suzie stated.

  “You and I both know that isn’t true. I’m starving, how does lunch at the Grove sound to you?” Carri asked. She wasn’t shocked to hear Suzie’s grumble of disagreement.

  “The Grove, seriously? Carri, you know she’s going to be there, hell, they all will be.”

  “Exactly why we’re going. Mommy Dearest should be deep into her tenth or twelfth martini by now. I think it’s the perfect time to say hello and let her know I’m back in town, don’t you?”

  Chapter 5