Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 88220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Severe and persistent sexual abuse.” They weren’t words I’d ever agree to hear on repeat in our bathroom, but Dash needed to practice his courtroom voice. He had all his catchphrases ready to pull out of his back pocket.
“Boorish and sexist behavior. Predator in wait.”
Sometimes the words led into sentences. Every once in a while, I heard a full paragraph. Dash was leaving nothing to chance, and honestly, damned good at his job.
When Dash’s cell phone rang, I glanced at the clock while reaching across the bed for Dash’s phone. Almost ten o’clock at night. Stone’s name appeared on the screen. The fear of what that might mean penetrated the calm inside me. I swiped over the answer option. With a fluid sweep of my arm, I never stopped until I rolled to the other side of the bed to give Dash the cell.
“Hang on, Stone,” I said.
He and I stared at one another, the intensity we shared was palpable. My hand went to his hip, as I sat on the edge of the bed, waiting. “What?” Dash asked into the cell phone.
The harsh tone reminded me that Dash was living on a thin line, trying his best to keep the savage attorney tucked away while home. The one barked word flipped him to the other side of patient in less than a second. “Why?”
My love’s gaze shifted quickly back and forth. Although he focused in mostly my direction, he didn’t see me—lost in the conversation.
“Meet me at the office,” Dash finally said and swung around, heading back to the closet. Instinct had me dressing too. “Stone, I’m tired of being led around by my nose. They deserve nothing from me. It’s too late.”
I went to stand by the bedroom door, toeing on my runners, waiting for Dash. My ball cap came last to hide my bedhead. I scraped my fingers down my beard, combing it into shape.
“If it’s not a plea, what would it be?”
Dash came out of his closet with the presence of power, much like a bull, searching for the matador. He wore a pair of pressed walking shorts with a collared polo shirt stretched over his chest. He had a key fob and wallet in one hand, cell phone still stuck to his ear.
“Where are you going?” Dash asked me, irritated. “I have to go to the office.”
“I’m goin’ with you.”
My guy looked momentarily perplexed then nodded, walking past me toward the front door.
“I don’t like secrecy. I’m not giving a single inch. They’ve lost the right to a code of conduct for the trial. I’m dying on this sword they created. Call Brianne. Have her call Lon and Penny.”
He disconnected the call.
Dash dropped his chin to chest and worked the phone’s keypad, never losing his direction, heading out the front door, ignoring me all the way to the Tahoe.
“Drive.”
“Text Amelia. I left my phone inside,” I said, climbing behind the wheel. It didn’t matter what was happening. I sensed that Dash was going to lose it on someone tonight. I rarely saw him this way. Whatever happened, I hoped it was worth it.
26: The Free Fall
Dash
Something akin to a fresh breeze blew through my mind as I stared at the small black-and-white photo of my family. Not a family completely made by blood, but by people who had picked me up and dusted me off after my foundation crumbled into rubble underneath me.
Where would I be today without these people in the photo?
If I had a skill, it was recognizing the one important person who’d be strong enough to walk through life with me. Beau. The rock who stood like a sentry in the waiting area, making sure he stayed between me and anything that might hurt me. That included Collin, the blood brother currently waiting in the conference room for my return. He was the sibling closest to my age. The weight of his worry caused him to appear much older.
Beau had no idea what was happening, but he waited quietly, ready to pick up whatever pieces shattered around me. My tears ebbed and flowed, never spilling over. After this was all said and done, I’d have to put my life back together once again.
The tears of my lost life, and the relief that this was almost over, had me rolling my neck and shoulders, trying to relieve the tightness there.
I sat with Stone inside my closed-door office, waiting on Lon to review the settlement offer my brother had delivered in person.
Without Beau’s influence, I wouldn’t know Lon or Stone. I rested my head against the headrest of my ridiculously comfortable desk chair.
I took for granted the way Beau had carefully documented our lives. The walls and shelves, end tables and credenza had strategically placed framed snapshots of us over the last twenty-four years. Such a special existence. It wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen the collection of photos, but today they drove their message home.