“Because I don’t have a choice here,” Detective Jenkins said. “This story has exploded. People are scared that someone is going around stabbing college girls in our town.”
Fuck. Justice didn’t require a flashing sign to tell him that Detective Jenkins and the police department were under pressure and needed an arrest. And a homeless man with a coat soaked in Beth’s blood?
Too easy to pin the blame on him.
His head throbbed. After yanking out his phone, he checked for missed calls. “My dad hasn’t called. He gets a phone call. Are you allowing him his rights?”
“Yes, he refused to call anyone or talk at all. He stares at a wall and says nothing.”
“Don’t do this, Detective,” Beth pleaded. “Noah’s not well. He has PTSD, and you can see he’s suffered from his scars.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Don’t do this.”
“I need Mr. Cade to talk to me.” Jenkins’s frustration vibrated through the speaker. “All we have is a vague description from eyewitnesses—medium height, average build, wearing dark clothes and a beanie. I need more than that to rule out Mr. Cade, and he’s not communicating.”
Beth squeezed her eyes shut. “I didn’t see my attacker, I just heard his voice and saw the knife.” She shifted her gaze to him. “I’m sorry.”
She was sorry? For what? She’d been fucking stabbed, while Justice had been inside trying to save his career instead of making sure his girlfriend was safe. He’d failed, not her. He took the phone from her ice-cold fingers.
“I’m getting him a lawyer, and I’ll be there as soon as I can. You try to pin this on him, we’ll go to the media and let them know the guy with a knife is still on the loose while you hassle a former Marine who was seriously injured in the line of duty.” He cut the call, ready to kill someone.
Pull yourself together. Beth doesn’t need you losing it right now. Get to the police station and sort this out.
“Do you know a lawyer?” she asked.
After handing the phone back to Beth, he put the car in gear and drove while mentally ticking off what he needed to do. “No. I’ll call Sloane once we get to the house. He manages MMA fighters now, and a few of them have gotten into trouble, so he knows a reputable law firm.” But he couldn’t leave Beth alone to work on getting his father out of jail. “Can you call Emily? See if she’ll come stay with you?”
While Beth made the call, he eased around a corner. He lasted five seconds before he asked, “Is Emily answering?”
“Not calling Em, I’m— Sloane, hi, it’s Liza.”
Justice jerked. “What are you doing?”
She held up a hand. “The detective on my case called…” She summed up the conversation, then asked, “Do you know any good criminal lawyers who can get over to the jail right away and try to get him released today?”
Justice gripped the wheel as he heard Sloane’s deep voice answering, but he couldn’t make out the words.
She sank back against the seat and closed her eyes. “Thank you.” She held the phone out to him.
He stared at her for one heartbeat. This was why he loved her so damned much. She was in pain and miserable, yet here she was helping his dad. He took the phone but said to her, “You’re amazing.”
“We have to get Noah out of there. I saw him after being in the auditorium for less than five minutes, and he looked bad. I don’t know how he’s handling being dragged to a police station, interrogated and arrested.”
Her very real concern for his dad eased his own anguish, outrage and frustration. He didn’t have to handle this alone, he had Beth. Putting the phone to his ear, he said, “Sloane.”
“I’ll contact the firm I use and have a lawyer call you in the next hour.”
Justice headed into the decades-old track of homes. “I don’t know if my dad will talk to the lawyer. Sounds like he’s not talking to the cops.” Had his dad shut down entirely? Or was he having panic attacks? He rubbed his chest to ease the crushing anxiety and regret.
“He’ll talk to me,” Liza said softly. “I’ll go with you to the police station.”
Oh hell no. She was too weak and sore, and the doctors had been clear—total rest for a few days, and no lifting. The police station surrounded by chaos, desperation and germs wasn’t the place for Beth right now. “You’re going straight to bed.” This was one thing he’d do right—take care of Beth.
Justice turned on his street and hit the brakes when he spotted at least a dozen media vehicles in front of his house. “Goddamn it.” Tossing the phone, he threw the Jeep in reverse, shot back up the road and spun around. Flooring it, he glared at the mirror.
Had any of the reporters spotted them? No one seemed to notice.
“Oh crap,” Beth blurted out. “Why are they at your house? No one knew I was being released.”
Frustrated fury pounded in his head. He couldn’t leave Beth there with the media vultures circling. “I don’t know.” He sucked in air to calm down and took in her pale face, bruised eyes and scabbed lip. “Hang on, I’ll figure something out.” Seeing her phone where it’d landed in the cup holder after he’d pitched it, he remembered Sloane. Picking up the device, he switched it to speaker. “Sorry, Sloane, reporters are swarming my house.”
“The news that they arrested your father is breaking all over social media and TV. They’re calling him a suspect in Liza’s attack. They’re saying a cop found a bloodstained jacket.”
“But we just found out,” Beth said. “How did they…?” She dropped her head back. “It doesn’t matter, they know.”
Exactly. He needed to get her somewhere safe where she could rest. “I’m going to take Liza to her friend’s house. I’ll call you back.”
“Can’t,” Liza cut in. “Emily’s at work.”
His neck muscles bunched as he tried to think of an alternative.
“Go to my penthouse suite at the Opulence Hotel,” Sloane said. “It’s secure, quiet and big enough that Liza can rest in one of the rooms and you can meet with the lawyer in the living space after he finds out the situation with your dad.”
It was a good solution, and if he had to leave, she’d be safe and comfortable. He glanced over at her. “You okay with that?”
“Yeah.”
The utter fatigue in her voice stabbed him with guilt. She’d hit her limit. “Thanks, Sloane.”
Liza said goodbye and cut the call. “What a mess.”
He’d done this to her—coaxed his way into her life, and despite her warnings, exposed her past. Her aunt wasn’t wrong. If Liza wasn’t with him, no one would have paid any attention to her. Beth would have blended in as just another college girl in a college town. He really was a fuckup.
Beth’s warm touch settled on his arm. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll get your dad out.”
He took Beth’s hand in his, keeping his hold gentle around her scabbed fingers. She looked like hell.
And never more beautiful to him.
It was the love and trust in her green eyes that pierced his heart. She’d chosen him over her family, and even after he’d lost Court of Rock and she’d been stabbed, she hadn’t left him.
As bad as this week had been, she was the one person who made it bearable, made it feel like together they could handle anything.
Savaged Vows is available on Amazon
Other Books by Jennifer Lyon
The Savaged Illusions Series
Savaged Surrender, A Novella
Savaged Illusions Trilogy:
Savaged Dreams (Book #1)
Savaged Vows (Book #2) – Release July 24, 2017
Savaged Devotion (Book #3) – Release September 2017
The Plus One Chronicles Trilogy
The Proposition (Book #1)
Possession (Book #2)
Obsession (Book #3)
The Plus One Chronicles Boxed Set
The Wing Slayer Hunter Series
Blood Magic (Book #1)
Soul Magic (Book #2)
Night Magi
c (Book #3)
Sinful Magic (Book #4)
Forbidden Magic (Book #4.5 a novella)
Caged Magic (Book #5)
Jennifer Lyon Writing as Jennifer Apodaca
The Sex on the Beach Book Club
Good, Bad & Sexy, A Novella
Writing as Jennifer Apodaca
Once A Marine Series
The Baby Bargain (Book #1)
Her Temporary Hero (Book #2)
Exposing the Heiress (Book #3)
About the Author
Jennifer Lyon is the pseudonym for USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer Apodaca. Jen lives in Southern California where she continually plots ways to convince her husband that they should get a dog. After all, they met at the dog pound, fell in love, married and had three wonderful sons. So far, however, she has failed in her doggy endeavor. She consoles herself by pouring her passion into writing books. To date, Jen has published more than twenty books and novellas, won numerous awards and had her books translated into multiple languages, but she still hasn’t come up with a way to persuade her husband that they need a dog.
Jen loves connecting with fans. Visit her website at www.jenniferlyonbooks.com follow her at https://www.facebook.com/jenniferlyonbooks and sign up for her newsletter here.
Savaged Dreams: Savaged Illusions Trilogy Book 1 Page 27