by Ali Parker
Hell, I wasn’t even planning on offering the man a glass of water. My door had to remain firmly shut for the duration of this visit, then I would have to make sure the coast was well and truly clear before Carroway left.
As though he could read my thoughts, the judge wasted no time. “Your father is going to be released from prison, Mr. Lovett. This isn’t the kind of discussion we can have in my chambers, which is why I’ve come to you.”
“I appreciate it, sir.” The risk he was taking in order to give me a heads-up was astronomical. I’d always respected Carroway, but I knew in that moment that there would never again be a judge quite like him.
“You’re a good man, Mr. Lovett. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but it doesn’t smell right, which is why I’m here. Neither you nor your brothers deserve to be blindsided by this and, honestly, you need time to prepare your father.”
A heavy pit formed in my stomach. It might have better if I could have gotten him to call me Tyson and make this whole thing feel more informal, but I couldn’t. He wasn’t my friend or my colleague, he was my presiding officer, and he was here to deliver a message. He wasn’t Bill and I wasn’t Tyson. It would never be like that between us.
“Prepare him for what, exactly?” I cleared my throat, trying to dissolve the squeeze of nerves threatening to choke my voice.
“For his release,” the judge said darkly. “There are some very powerful men at the helm of this petition. There’s nothing any of us can do to resist it. The file has landed in my court, but I’ve spoken to some of the others about it. There won’t be any refusing the petition.”
He continued on, the edges of his lined mouth turned down and his eyes creased at the corners. “I’m not sure whether your father has been made aware of the petition, but he needs to be. His release is imminent, and you’ll all have to brace yourselves and get ready for what that might mean.”
“If you can give me a week, sir, I’ll find out who’s behind this. I’ve put in an appeal to keep my father on the inside, and I’ll file more if necessary. I just need some time.” Icy dread traveled through my veins. Fuck. Imminent?
“I’m afraid I can’t give you that, Mr. Lovett. I shouldn’t be giving you anything at all, as you well know. I simply couldn’t sit back and let you be ambushed by this, however. Like I said, something is off, and I don’t like things being off. It’s bad for business. Justice isn’t served when men like these interfere.”
“I couldn’t agree more, sir.” One of the things I hated most about my job was that the system wasn’t infallible. No matter how much we guarded and fought against it, it could be penetrated by forces from the outside. Which I would know something about since I’d used it to my advantage in the past. “Give me the week I asked for. Perhaps we can give these men what’s coming to them.”
Judge Carroway’s brown eyes narrowed. “One week?”
I nodded. “If you can give me that, I’ll do whatever I can to ensure these men can’t interfere with justice ever again.”
“Okay, Mr. Lovett.” He sighed, his reluctance written all over his face. “I’ll do what I can to buy you one week. In the meantime, you would be well advised to prepare your father and your family in any event. Even if you manage to find out who the driving force behind this petition is and even if these appeals of yours succeed, it’s only a matter of time. I hope you realize that. Your father made enemies of powerful men, son.”
“I understand.” My father’s situation was dire. Almost as soon as he was arrested, his head had a price on it. My desire to protect him at all costs might have sent him to prison, but he was safer there. “Thank you, sir.”
Carroway nodded and stood, leaving my office without saying goodbye or shaking my hand again. I’d wanted to make sure there was no one outside who would see him leave, but I knew he would be careful. His ass was on the line too.
Once he was gone, I waited more than thirty minutes before leaving my office. If someone had somehow seen Carroway leave, I didn’t want to be seen leaving so soon after he had. It was one thing seeing him leaving our building, but it wasn’t necessarily damning.
The Cypress Creek Penitentiary was made up of square, gray blocks of buildings. Dad’s cell was in the maximum security block. It housed the most dangerous of criminals, which Dad was most certainly not, but it was also the most closely observed part of the prison.
“I’m coming to see Roy Lovett,” I had told the administration’s office during the drive over. “Make sure he’s waiting for me when I get there.”
They had honored my request. Dad sat in the same room we had met in the last time, his mood somber. “I’m assuming you have news, Tyson?”
“I do.” I sat down, threading my fingers together on the rusty table between us. “The petition for your release is doing the rounds. Carroway’s going to be making the decision in a week.”
“Your appeals?” Dad asked quietly, resignation in his tone. He looked older than he had when I was here last, tension lining every inch of his face and body. His blue eyes hardly ever met mine, seeming glued to the ground.
I shook my head in response to his question. “I’ve filed, but there’s no guarantee.”
Releasing a heavy breath, Dad nodded slowly. “Thank you for trying.”
If I didn’t know any better, I would have said Dad’s mood betrayed the thought that he wasn’t going to make it long after he got out of prison. It couldn’t be, though. Dad was a fighter. Despite that, I couldn’t help but worry. I might not know all, but I knew with certainty the people Dad had tangled with that led him to this place wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him if they considered it necessary.
I shoved the unwelcomed thought away. We weren’t there. Yet.
“I don’t hold any grudges against you for what you did, son,” my father whispered. When he blinked, I could have sworn I saw tears in his eyes. “I understand more than you know.”
Shaking away the absurd notion of tears, I convinced myself I must have imagined it. “I don’t need your acceptance. You’re in here because you deserve to do time. That’s all there is to it.”
Dad let loose a humorless laugh. “Everything will come to light soon. Things aren’t how they seem, but you know that, don’t you?”
I didn’t answer him and kept my expression stoic. Dad would never see me crack. It was a promise I’d made to myself a long time ago, and I planned on keeping it.
“Have you talked to Eve?” he asked when it became clear I wasn’t going to answer his question or say anything else on the matter.
I nodded. “I’m going to be the one taking care of all that.”
Finally, my dad looked up from his gaze on the floor and slid his eyes to mine. “Very well, I trust you. Be safe out there, son.”
With that cryptic warning, another heavy sigh rattled from his lungs as he stood and walked to the door. The guards opened it after he knocked on it twice and disappeared back into the impenetrable depths of the prison. It was the last place on earth where I ever would have thought my Dad would be safe, but also the only place on it where he really was.
Chapter Twelve
Eve
“You, my friend, are on fire,” I said to Penny, who looked around in alarm and twisted from side to side. “Not literally. I meant about how the bakery is looking really good financially right now.”
Penny huffed out a laugh, pushing some stray hairs behind her ears. “First, don’t ever say the word fire in my kitchen again unless there are actually flames. You nearly gave me a damn heart attack.”
“Sorry.” I mumbled my apology, amused. “And next?”
“Thank you.” She beamed at me. “Without you, I don’t know what the hell I would have done. I sure wouldn’t have been in the position I am right now.”
“Yes, you would have.” Penny was a fantastic baker and a whiz at decorating. She had an uncanny knack for it that made me believe she would have succeeded anywhere in the world. “You work hard, and you’re great at it,
but I need you to relax a little. Maybe go home before midnight tonight and take a bath or something.”
She rolled her eyes. “Baths don’t make me money. Money is very much needed, my dear friend. If I don’t make enough of it, I lose everything. Including my house, which as you know, is where my bath is.”
I laughed. “You won’t lose your bath, don’t worry. You’re not going to lose anything else, either. There is nothing for you to worry about. The company is doing really well, and it will keep doing well.”
“As long as I keep working as hard I am,” she replied as the bell above the door jingled, signaling the arrival of a customer.
Penny wiped the flour off her hands with a rag and tossed it back on the counter before heading out of the kitchen. To my surprise, I recognized the voice asking if I was at work today. Tyson.
My heart leaped at the smooth, low timbre of his voice. God, just hearing him speak was making me wet. Memories of our night together were on my mind during every spare moment I had. The man had done things to my body I hadn’t known were possible.
I longed for more, but I didn’t know if it would happen. I was trying not to think too much about it. I kept trying to convince myself it was nothing more than an itch I’d needed to scratch. More simmered under the surface, but I knew it was a bad, bad idea.
I walked out of the kitchen to see him anyway, taking a moment before he noticed me to admire how damn hot he was. Wearing a pinstripe suit today, he looked impeccable. His dark hair was styled effortlessly, and his blue eyes were friendly and shining on Penny.
Remembering the feel of those broad shoulders under my palms and how his strong body had felt moving against mine, I clenched the muscles in my thighs and banished any sexual thoughts. This was so not the time or the place.
“How is it that you always know where I am?” I asked him as I pushed away from the door and joined Penny behind the glass case showcasing her delicious creations.
Tyson looked up, his eyes giving me a very quick and yet very thorough once over before his lips pulled into that sexy half smirk of his. “I’m the district attorney. I know everything.”
I gave a condescending laugh, shaking my head at him. “Know-it-all much?”
Winking in a way that only a guy who was as confident and self-assured as he was could pull off, he grinned. “Could I speak with you in private for a minute?”
A rush of raw desire ripped through me. “Sure.”
Already conjuring up images of what he might do to me in my tiny office, on my small desk or up against my thin wall, I led him to the back. Penny stared after us, confusion in her eyes and her head tilted with an unasked question, but she let us go.
I would talk to her about him later. I hadn’t told her about our wild, orgasmic night together. Girl talk and kissing and telling wasn’t really my thing. As much as I wasn’t shy about sex, I just wasn’t into sharing the details. The act happened between two people, and that was where it should always stay, in my opinion.
Tyson seemed to suck up all the air in my office, seeming out of place and constrained in the space so small. To my greatest disappointment, he didn’t make a single move toward throwing me down or taking me hard once the door was securely shut behind him.
Instead, his expression grew serious and he put his palms on the chair across from mine, not even taking a seat. “There is a very good chance my father is going to be fast-tracked out of prison. I’m still trying to stop it, but I need to make sure everything’s in place in case I fail.”
“Okay?” Failure didn’t seem like a word he was familiar with. His face scrunched up a bit as he said it, as though it tasted as bitter as an unripe lemon on his tongue.
“His will needs to be ready,” he said. “Just in case. I know you must know his finances better than anyone else, or he wouldn’t have insisted you help with it.”
My heartbeat sped up and every thought I’d had about sex in the last few minutes flew out of my head. I’d had no idea how right I’d been when I thought that this really wasn’t the time to be having those thoughts.
“I understand.” I nodded. “Are you okay?”
I shouldn’t have asked, and I definitely shouldn’t have cared about his answer, but I did. What we were talking about was so devastating and possibilities and consequences were so absurd as to be unthinkable to me. It seemed impossible that he could be discussing it so unemotionally.
Tyson frowned, but then shrugged. “It is what it is. I just need to make sure we’re ready for whatever happens.”
It is what it is? What it was was his father’s life. If Tyson didn’t want to talk about it, though, I wouldn’t push him. I had no right to his thoughts or feelings. I had been the beneficiary of his sexual prowess for one night, and his father was my client. Nothing more, which was all we ever could or would be. Nothing.
“I’ll get some paperwork together for you.”
He gave a swift nod. “Excellent. Can we get together tonight to discuss? I’m sorry if it’s short notice, but we don’t really have time to waste.”
“That should be fine.” I wished we were getting together for a night to do anything but what we were really meeting to do but wishes never came true. Mine didn’t, anyway. “Where and at what time?”
“My office,” he replied curtly. “Whenever you’re ready with it, I’ll be there waiting.”
“I’ll be there.” What Tyson didn’t know was that I had Roy’s will almost ready to go. There were a few minor things I had to tweak, but I’d had the basic document drafted for years and one of Roy’s former attorneys who had since passed had reviewed it fully.
“Thanks, Eve.” He nodded his goodbye and left. As soon as my door swung shut behind him, I lost myself to the thoughts thundering through my mind.
Roy and I had been closer than I had led Tyson, or anyone else, to believe. It wasn’t his business, or anyone else’s what my real relationship with Roy was. For the first time since I met Tyson, though, I felt the heavy weight of guilt settling like a mantel on my shoulders.
I tried shrugging it off, but the harder I tried, the more I felt the weight of it. Tyson was a good man, and I was lying to him. A lie by omission was still a lie.
He had no idea, none at all, who I really was.
Roy might be Tyson’s father, but he was still my client. My clients were my responsibility. Tyson easily could have told me to buck up and do what had to be done. I wouldn’t have blamed him if he did. That wasn’t who he was, though.
I hadn’t known him for very long, but I thought I had a pretty good grip on his character. He was an upstanding, loyal guy. The one who had dedicated his life to public service and felt it was his job to protect his family and the world at large.
I didn’t want to care about what he would think if—when, really—he found out my role. Caring was reserved for people who had a conscience and for that matter, a choice. I had long since abandoned my conscience on this issue and I didn’t feel like I had any choice.
Fuck, I’d literally been born with my role already determined.
Despite all that, I had mixed feelings about Tyson finding out. He was so different from what I had expected him to be. I certainly hadn’t expected to want the man as much as I did. Sex and lust aside, I liked him as a person.
I didn’t have to know him any better than I did to know he was a much better person than I ever would be or could be due to the cards life had dealt me. I savored his protective side and a huge part of me wanted to crawl right into it and never come out again.
It wasn’t something I’d ever felt or needed before, but the idea of feeling held and sheltered in his protection was beyond appealing. I didn’t deserve to be protected by him. The sad truth, however, was that he would be done protecting me the second he found out about my role.
The most he could ever be to me was a one-night stand. If we were lucky, we might get a few more nights.
I’d hoped having him that once would get him out of my system, but I
’d never known the kind of depth of attraction he elicited. It was raw, real, and pure. Sex had never been a necessity for me, but with him? I burned for him.
I desperately needed to be with him again, if only to imprint the way his hands felt on my body into my mind forever. Those memories would keep me warm and occupied, at night long after Tyson was out of my life.
Penny peeked into my office, looking around. “Is he gone?”
I nodded, struggling to pull myself totally free of the depressing thoughts racing around my mind. She walked in, leaning against my wall with her hand on her hip. “Who was that? Why didn’t I know you knew people who looked like him?”
“I don’t know him.” I replied honestly. “He’s just someone who’s looking to get his father’s will in place. Since I handled his father’s accounts, he asked for my help.”
Sadly, that was the honest truth. Penny didn’t seem to notice my melancholy mood. She stared at the door as though she could see him standing there. “I sure wouldn’t mind helping him.”
“Yeah.” I smiled, though I knew it wouldn’t reach my eyes. “I don’t mind either.”
That was the very crux of my problem.
Chapter Thirteen
Tyson
I fucking hated reliving my dad’s case. I’d done some pretty hard things in my life, but nothing even came remotely close to watching my father get convicted and sentenced to years in prison and knowing there was nothing I could do about it.
Those long days in the courtroom during his trial haunted my nights for a long time before I eventually managed to learn how to shut those memories out. Sitting in a coffee shop around the corner from my office with the papers relating to his trial spread out on the table in front of me, I knew I had once again opened Pandora’s box on my nightmares.
I sighed, already tired just thinking about how long the coming nights were going to be. I was just going to have to buck up and face it, though, regardless of how much I wished I didn’t have to dig through all this again.