Charged

by Jay Crownover

  I took a couple steps inside the front door intending to follow the men into the blackened depths and say a proper good-bye but the minute the total loss and wreckage hit me I turned around and walked back out. My dad didn’t want me out in the open by myself so when he saw the flashy Cadillac parked across the street he marched over and knocked on the door. Moments later, a sleepy-looking Hudson Wheeler was standing at my side rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.

  He was even more attractive than I thought he was up close. I liked his mahogany-colored hair and the way his blue eyes crinkled up with sympathy and anger as he looked at the nightmare before us. His eyes were a couple shades darker than Quaid’s and far less world-weary and sharp but they were a pretty, clear blue and that made my heart kick hard when they turned my way. I was used to being around heavily tattooed men, but this guy had most of the guys I knew beat hands down in the ink department. Both sides of his neck sported swirling designs and the back of each of his hands were marked with impressive artwork. When he cocked his head to look at me questioningly, I noticed he even had ink etched into his skin behind his ears. He was colorful, beautiful, and softly spoken. His mellow demeanor was at serious odds with his tough-guy exterior and it made me like him even more than I thought I would. I decided then and there that I hated his bitchy girlfriend even more for all the times she kicked him around for the entire neighborhood to see.

  “It’s such a bummer. I hate that this happened to you guys. Brite is the best.”

  I nodded absently and looked over my shoulder where a nondescript sedan had pulled up to the curb in front of his house. There was a lone female driver that seemed to be looking at something on her phone and nothing about her screamed bad guy so I turned my attention back to my attractive and tattooed companion.

  “How’s the wedding planning going?” I was secretly praying that he was going to tell me that the she-beast had been abducted by aliens but no such luck.

  He shrugged and muttered, “It’s going. No one told me that it was going to be so hard. I feel like there should be a handbook or something. We’ve always been together, so it seemed like the next logical step for us to take. I didn’t know it was going to be more like taking a leap out of a plane without a parachute.”

  I coughed to clear my throat and gave him a look out of the corner of my eye. “Do you ever stop and think that if planning the wedding is so hard, how difficult the marriage is going to be?”

  He stiffened next to me and I saw his tattooed hands curl into fists by his sides. “We’ve been together since high school. Things weren’t like this until we got engaged.” He looked at me almost to see if I thought his words were convincing. They weren’t.

  “Most of us aren’t the same people we were in high school. Hell, I’m not the same person I was a couple months ago. We grow and we change. I think the key is that if you’re with someone you do that growing and changing with them.” Kind of like Quaid and I had been doing with each other the last couple of months. He had definitely opened my eyes to things I needed to see in a different light but I knew I had done the same for him. I knew that he had to know that he was completely lovable and worthy regardless of how big his TV was or how much money he had invested. He was so much more than his possessions, and I hoped that instead of resenting where he came from, I helped him realize it was a part of him that had enabled him to accomplish all the things he had. Without him, I would still be clinging to the ledge of guilt and blame, refusing to let go. Because of him, I was climbing and had my eyes firmly on anyplace that wasn’t rock bottom. I was trying to reach the top.

  Wheeler didn’t comment but he did look over his shoulder at his house and then back at me with his rust-colored brows furrowed.

  “Kallie used to be the sweetest girl in the world. She never had a mean thing to say about anyone and she was always happy. I had it really bad at home so her cheer and her infectious attitude was my escape, not to mention her folks took me in even when they knew what I was doing with their daughter when her bedroom door was closed. I needed her. I don’t think I would have survived high school or gotten to where I am today without her. She never minded that I spent more time with my cars than her and she was always my biggest supporter. We moved in together and I put a ring on her finger and it seemed like overnight all of that changed. We’re getting married in a few months and all I can hope is that the girl I fell in love with shows up to meet me at the altar.”

  I cringed because I was pretty sure that girl didn’t exist anymore and this very nice boy was going to make the biggest mistake of his life if he tied himself to the shrew he currently shared his life with. It wasn’t my business and I wasn’t sure that it was my place, but I couldn’t do nothing. I wasn’t ever doing nothing again; that was one lesson learned. So I put a hand on his arm and told him solemnly, “I know you don’t know me and that my reputation with the people we both know probably doesn’t inspire any kind of trust in me, but I have to tell you that every day you leave for work a red Honda pulls into your driveway and stays until about an hour before you get home from work. I don’t know if you have a cleaning service or if your girl has a friend over all the time, but to me it’s shady as hell, and you seem like a really nice guy so regardless if you believe me or not, I’m telling you that the chick that lives in that house with you is not the girl you are describing.”

  I thought he would balk or laugh off the accusation but instead his shoulders slumped and his head dropped forward like it suddenly weighed a thousand pounds. He lifted his hand and rubbed the back of his neck while staring at the concrete between the toes of his battered checkerboard Vans.

  “Every day?”

  I nodded even though he wasn’t looking at me. “Every day.”

  He heaved a deep sigh and then turned his head to look at me. “I caught her cheating on me once before. We broke up and she spent six months promising me it would never happen again and she did everything to convince me that the girl I loved was back. As soon as I proposed all of that went down the drain, and we were back to how it was when we were broken up.” He swore and tossed his head back so that he was looking up at the sky. “How hard do you think it is to cancel a wedding?”

  That surprised a chuckle out of me. “Probably easier than planning one with that human nightmare has been. Look, I don’t know who the car belongs to or what is actually going on under your roof when you’re not there. But I have heard the way she talks to you and how unappreciative she is, so regardless if she’s been unfaithful or not, I promise you can do better.”

  He sighed and I really wanted to hug him. He totally had the moody, broody thing down and it really, really worked well for him. Once he ditched the she-beast, he was going to be single for exactly zero seconds. The women of Denver knew a catch when they saw one, me and my own terrible taste in men obviously excluded from that group. Though my body had no trouble knowing that Quaid was an absolute keeper, it was my head and my heart that needed to figure their shit out.

  “Is there better than the girl that you’ve loved since you figured out how to love?”

  I patted his arm and dipped my chin in a nod. “There is better than the girl that doesn’t know how to take care of that love. That, I’m sure of.”

  His eyebrows dipped down over his eyes and his mouth pulled into a tight line. “I sold a car to this girl yesterday. She came in with one of my friends and she was so sad, so quiet and shy. It was obvious she didn’t want to be seen, but I saw her. I mean I really saw her, and when I was looking at her and trying to figure out what could have possibly happened in her life to make such a pretty girl look so scared and so lost, I wondered if I would have noticed any of it if things were the way they were supposed to be at home. Other girls were never on my radar in any way before Kallie and I started having problems.”

  “My dad seems to think that the answer to all of those kinds of questions are staring us right in the face.” He gave me a sad grin and I almost died when I noticed he had dimples
, one adorable little indent in each of his cheeks. Like the tattoos and the pensive persona weren’t enough to get him laid on the regular? Those damn dimples would seal the deal for sure.

  “Your dad would be proud that you’re doling out his advice. You need to perfect his ‘listen to me or else’ look.”

  I laughed. “If you tell him I’m quoting him, I’ll deny it. He has enough ‘I told you so’ stocked up to last a lifetime.”

  I jumped when a voice from behind us called, “Avett Walker?”

  Even though Wheeler hadn’t gotten the full rundown of what was going on in my chaotic life at the moment, he still stepped in front of me and made sure I was completely covered by his much bigger body as the woman that had been in the car across the street slowly approached us.

  “Are you Avett Walker?” Her tone was serious and so was the way she stared at us without blinking.

  “Who are you?” Wheeler was the one that barked the question as I peeked around his muscular back to peer at the woman. She had a folded piece of paper in her hand and I felt my blood go cold.

  “I’m from the sheriff’s office. I have a subpoena for you.”

  Wheeler stiffened in front of me, and while every single part of me wanted to refuse the paperwork in her hand, I knew I had to take it. I scooted around the tattooed wall in front of me and snatched the folded papers out of her hand. She nodded at me and told me, “You’ve been served. Good luck.”

  I held the papers to my chest and couldn’t keep my fingers from shaking.

  “What was that all about?” Wheeler’s voice was curious but not prying, so I sighed and tapped myself on the forehead with the court documents. I didn’t want to open them because I knew once I did I was going to have to call Quaid and ask for his help and my heart wasn’t ready to go back into battle with him or for him yet.

  “That was one of my bad decisions. I can’t seem to shake them and they continue to bite me in the ass. My dad insists bad decisions lead to great stories but so far all this one has led to is my heart being confused and mile-high legal fees.”

  There was a soft chuckle next to me and this time I didn’t bother to hide the sigh that escaped when those amazing dimples appeared on his face.

  “Messed up hearts and legal fees sound like they should make for a pretty good story.”

  They should, but I was hoping it was a story that was going to have a happy ending and I couldn’t see that happening right now.

  I could see my dad and Zeb walking towards us with their bearded faces set in satisfied lines. They both had grime and soot streaked all over their clothes and in their unruly hair but I could tell by the matched set of their shoulders and steady strides that they had struck some kind of deal.

  I should’ve known not to bet against one of my dad’s boys. Even if the house was a total lost cause, Zeb would never throw in the towel. Because the house mattered to my dad and my dad mattered to Zeb.

  It looked like the legal fee part of my story was indeed going to have a happy ending. I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes and wished and hoped to any silent being that was listening up above that the bewildered heart part would straighten itself out as well.

  CHAPTER 16

  Quaid

  I looked at the man that was seated at the other end of the long glass table from me and Avett and tried not to let my irritation show. She was stiff as a board next to me and I couldn’t tell if the tension coming off of her in waves was from having to confront Jared’s attorney during this deposition or if it was from the fact that we were close enough to touch. She wouldn’t look at me, but I could see her unease and anxiety in every delicate line of her face. Technically, she wasn’t even my client anymore because the charges against her had been dropped, but when she texted me that she had been subpoenaed and asked what “discovery” meant, I knew that I wasn’t letting her walk into the legal lion’s den alone. Much to Orsen’s obvious and much vocalized displeasure, I had cleared my morning so I could sit with her in this sharply modern conference room located at the courthouse as her ex-boyfriend’s attorney tried to pick her apart and break her down. I knew the deposition was pretty much a dress rehearsal for what he had planned for her when she took the stand, and I could see the calculating intent in the other lawyer’s demeanor as soon as he ushered us into the room.

  Larsen Tyrell was dressed better than I was, his shoes were more expensive, and the watch on his wrist was just as ridiculous and pricey as the one on my own. Before Avett crashed into my life and turned everything upside down and sideways, all of that would have rubbed me the wrong way and put me automatically on the defensive. I would have come out swinging and aggressive, trying to make it clear we were on equal ground; now all I could think was that having drug traffickers and clients with ties to the cartel noticeably paid well, but wondered how Larsen could enjoy his posh surroundings knowing that it came from blood money. His suit was perfectly tailored and clearly imported but I couldn’t stop myself from wondering how many people had had to die at the hands of the people he represented in order for him to be able to afford it. There wasn’t an ounce of envy or desire to have any of what Larsen had to be found anywhere, and that was how I knew the woman sitting rigid and unblinking next to me had done as much to save me as I had done to save her. She was a wake-up call I had desperately needed. My eyes were fully open and the man I had been striving to be with such single-minded focus was nowhere to be seen, and instead the man that now looked back at me was one that didn’t feel fake or forced. He also wouldn’t fight over frivolous things, but he would fight for the things that mattered. Right now, nothing mattered more than the pink-haired young woman at his side. The one he knew without a doubt he loved beyond measure and wanted to keep forever.

  I leaned back in my chair and moved my elbow over so that it was resting against hers where she was gripping the arms of the chair like she would float away if she dared let go. At the brief contact, she finally let out a long breath and turned to look at me with wide and intimidated eyes. I dipped my chin to let her know everything would be okay and she returned the small gesture and finally started to relax by fractions.

  “We finally have a trial date and the jury selection done. It’s in a little under two weeks and you’re the prosecution’s first witness. I’m surprised Townsend didn’t want to sit in on this discovery session.” Larsen flashed an artificially polite and whitened smile at us and I didn’t miss the dig that I was here instead of the D.A.’s office.

  “I’m the attorney of record on this case. I’ll pass along anything I think Townsend needs to know before the trial.” I narrowed my eyes at the other attorney as his shark-like smile widened.

  “So, is it professional interest in your client’s participation in the upcoming trial that brought you here today?” I stared at the other man without answering him. I wasn’t representing Avett in court any longer so there was no conflict of interest now that our professional relationship had turned personal, but Larsen was making it no secret that he planned on twisting those facts to however they best suited him. The guy was as slippery and shady as the people he represented.

  “I’m interested in my client’s interests—period. Get on with it, Tyrell. All this flash and showmanship might impress the prosecution and the jury, but frankly, I’m bored, and both Ms. Walker and I have better things we could be doing with our time.”

  The man’s eyebrows arched up as he laced his fingers together and gave me a smile that made my skin crawl. “I bet you do. I also have a full day and a court appearance, so I’ll get right to the point. Ms. Walker, were you upset your father sold the bar that he owned to someone that wasn’t you, the bar he had been grooming you to take over since you were old enough to work legally?”

  I felt her body tighten next to me and as much as I wanted to comfort her I knew if I reacted in any way that Larsen would use it against her when he had her on the stand.

  “I was upset, but not with my father. I was upset that I was such a
mess, that I had never given him a good enough reason to hold on to the bar for me. He never told me that his plan was to turn the bar over to me when the time was right. I think it was an assumption that a lot of people, myself included, jumped to as I got older.”

  Her body was stiff and tight but her voice was light and clear. She wasn’t hiding from the truth and I could see that Larsen knew, as well as I did, that her honesty and earnestness would come across clear as day to any kind of jury that was selected.

  Larsen scribbled down some notes and then looked back up at us with that creepy smile that I really wanted to rearrange with my fist. “Were you upset when the new owner of the bar, Rome Archer, fired you for stealing from the cash register?”

  She shifted a little in her seat and out of the corner of my eye I saw her full mouth pull into a hard line. “Again, I was upset, but only at myself. I knew there were cameras. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway because Jared insisted we needed the money. When you convince yourself that you’re in love, you can justify doing a lot of rash things.” I wanted to look at her to see if she was talking about the incident at the bar or something a little closer to home, but I wouldn’t give the observant man at the other end of the table that kind of leverage.

  “So you are telling me you knew you would get caught?”

  She nodded and we exchanged a look. “I did.”

  He jotted down some more notes, and I could practically see the wheels in his head turning.

  “Do you often do things that are illegal knowing you’ll get caught?”

  “I’ve made some mistakes in the past. I’m sure you have most of them in that file in front of you. Everything I’ve done is public record.”

  He was trying to rile her up, but she wasn’t giving in to the bait and I couldn’t be any prouder of her and how she was handling herself.

  Larsen made a noise and moved forward in his chair. “The security cameras at the bar show that my client got physical with you before going inside the establishment. Was that an isolated incident?”