17. Wombat
Chapter Seventeen
Wombat
Honor and a woman I didn’t know walked out of the house as I parked. Both carried a glass of wine each. I shut the bike down and blew on my fingers to thaw them out.
They didn’t look distressed. More importantly, Honor wasn’t pale or shaking. Maybe the booze in her hand had something to do with it. I swung my leg over the back of my bike and straightened my jacket.
I was wearing my cut. That was probably a mistake, but I’d been at the club when Honor called. I stepped outside so I could hear her and raced out of there without thinking.
That might have been a mistake.
“Hi, this is Denise.” Honor made introductions as if this were some sort of civilized event.
The woman, Denise, held out her hand. I had to give her credit, she probably thought I was going to murder her. I shook it. “Hi. Call me Wombat.”
Her eyes dipped to the patches on my jacket. I ignored her curiosity to address Honor. “You sound better.”
“You didn’t have to come.”
“No, I certainly did.”
Unfortunately, Jim rushed out of the house. “What are you doing here?”
Aw fuck. “Hey, Jim.” I turned my attention back to Honor. “You’re drinking. Does that mean you’re staying here for a bit?”
She glanced down at her glass. “I was going to leave.”
Yeah?
“How do you know where I live?”
Ol’ Jim was like a dog with a bone. I shot an evil eye in his direction. “Walt’s got your address pinned on the wall of his office. Just in case we need to visit you.” I licked my lips to ease the chapped skin the wind had played havoc with.
“Would you like to come in?” Denise offered.
“He’ll do no such thing. He can leave.”
Jim was a right dick. “Where’s the kid?”
He lifted the plastic walkie-talkie in his hand. “He’s napping.”
“Jim!” Denise shoved him and took the device from his hand. “You’re welcome to come in. I’m going to check on my son,” she said over her shoulder.
For being the side piece, she wasn’t evil at all. Or maybe just evil enough to take Honor’s side in whatever was going on between her husband and the ex-wife.
“Yes, please come in. I have to get Molly.”
“He’s not welcome in my house.”
This was going to be a problem. “I’m going to tell Walt you said that. How much is his retainer a month?”
“Don’t threaten me.”
“That’s the wrong set of words, Jim. The words you want are ‘good customer service’ or maybe, ‘unbiased’ or ‘fair treatment.’ You know, like your company mission statement says on their website.”
“He’s right. You’re being terribly unfair to your client.” Honor’s mouth tilted into a slight smile she tried to hide.
“He’s your client.”
I shook my head and interrupted. “Nope, Walt didn’t hire her.”
Honor tilted her head to glare at me.
I shrugged. “And even if she helped you out that one time, I wanted more than just a client-lawyer relationship, but she wouldn’t listen to me because that would unethical.
So, once my case was done, I made it clear that our business relationship was done.
But the other shit wasn’t.” I’d heard enough of the argument before firing up my bike that the lie was well thought out.
“It’s too soon.”
“You want to know an interesting piece of trivia, Jim? Maryland never adopted the American Bar Association rule one-point-eight-J.”
Honor’s stare morphed into disbelief.
“I looked it up.” Sue me. I grinned at Jim.
Jim smiled back, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “It still could result in disciplinary measures for her.”
“How?”
Honor’s question matched mine.
“It is causing an issue with the club’s representation.”
An inkling of doubt slithered around in my brain. He was up to something.
Honor’s reaction made it worse. “Don’t you dare.”
Jim’s amusement rang through his tone. “Like you said, this my client. And it’s hard for me to represent him if you’re sleeping together.”
“That’s a you problem. Not a me problem.” Honor fired back.
“Then, Molly stays here?” he offered.
Could he be a bigger dick? “Don’t you dare cave to him. Molly’s your dog.”
Honor placed the wineglass in her hand on the cement driveway. When she straightened, she measured me. The debate in her eyes was clear. Worse? If she had to choose between her dog and me, I’d lose.
“He’s playing dirty. You know that.”
She nodded once. “And he could win. I could lose my dog and my career.”
Damn lawyers. I scrambled for a way to win. And I knew one way. “Hey Jim, I have a bet for you.”
“Private gambling is illegal.”
“It’s not for money. See, I bet Molly doesn’t love you like you think she does.”
“Wombat.”
I shushed Honor and doubled down. “And I bet you’re too chicken to test that, so you’re hiding behind your interpretation of the rules to spite your ex.”
His eyes narrowed. I’d struck a nerve or maybe hit the truth. “Molly loves both of us.” His protest bordered on desperate.
“Test it. Bring her out. Let’s see who she chooses.”
If I had to, I’d steal Honor’s dog right from under his nose.
“There’s no need for that,” he scoffed.
That’s right. There was no need for any of this. But Jim was a bully with an ego. And I knew just what buttons to push. “What? You scared to find out?”
Honor’s hand went to my arm. “Can we leave instead?”
“Not without your dog.”
“Of course not. Jim, I’m going inside to get my things and Molly. You can be the better person here and let this go.”
“That’s rich. I am the better person.” He swept his eyes down my clothing and when they lifted, he met my eyes. “Everyone knows that.”
Bait. I glanced at the sky and smiled. Jim was going to lose the Destroyers’ paycheck.
I bet that would go down real well with the firm he worked for.
When we locked eyes again, I engaged him with a calm animosity.
“Are you dissing me, or the whole club when you say that?” Once I had his attention, I glanced at his house number to remind him that yes, I knew where he lived.
“No insult intended. It’s simply the truth.”
Fucker. “Honor? Get your things. I’ll follow you home to make sure you get there safe.”
Instead of leaving, she took the time to fire a shot at her ex. “For clarification, anyone who has to claim they’re the better man certainly isn’t.” Then she kissed my cheek.
Since we were PDA-ing in front of the ex, I gave him something to see.
I wrapped my arm around Honor’s waist and pulled her back in for a proper kiss.
One that left her a bit breathless and pink.
For good measure, I nipped her pouty bottom lip to remind her who was the better man in the sack.
Poor Jim-dick didn’t stand a chance there.
Then it was a stare-down while Jim and I froze our nuts off outside.
Jim pointed his nose at my bike. “Don’t you own a car?”
“I’ve got a truck.”
He frowned.
“And a Husky I ride when I want to get frisky.”
His brow crinkled a bit.
“Husqvarna. It’s brand of motorcycle, like my Indian.”
The silence was growing a little too awkward.
“This is a phase.”
Bastard. “This? Do you mean Honor and I having an affair?”
He frowned. “Yes.”
The hard truth was that he was probably right. “And after it ends, do you think she’ll give you any credit for sabotaging it? Or maybe, you want all the credit?”
“What?”
“You heard me. You wanna play the bad guy, go for it. You might be doing me a favor and make her dig her heels in. Then I’ll get to see just how sexy all that stubbornness she has is.”
His color rose. “Don’t be crude.”
I laughed in his face. “Oh, come on, you’re the better man, right? You shouldn’t be so shocked that I might have an advantage when it comes to getting down and dirty.”
Honor came out with her purse in one hand and Molly’s leash in the other. I waited until she was off the steps before making my move. I whistled once and tapped my leg.
Molly slipped her collar and sat on my boot. She stared up at me, waiting for the next command.
“Well, I guess we know who this female loves best.”
I ruffled her ears and slipped her a nugget of jerky I had in my pocket. For good measure, I reinforced the reward with, “Good girl.”
Her tail thumped on the ground.
Honor took the distraction to buckle Molly’s collar back on. “Stop showing off.”
“I owe you ten, remember.”
Her eyes flicked to mine with a warning in them. Then she turned to Jim. “We’re leaving. Please tell Denise I love what she’s done with the house. And Jacob is perfect. I know she’s proud that he takes after her.”
Jim’s cheek flinched. “I’m back to work on Wednesday.”
Honor smiled. “By then I’ll have informed the partners of my relationship with your client. They can figure out the rest.”
“You’re making a mistake.”
Her chin went up. “I don’t think I am. And let me tell you why. Wombat knew I wasn’t in a good mood, and dropped everything to come here and, I don’t know, rescue me? He’s much kinder than you ever were.”
Take that, Jim.
Undeterred, he pointed at me. “Kind? You met because he was riding his motorcycle through town and terrorizing people so badly an elderly piano teacher wrecked her car.”
“She was turning left against the light. Not my fault.”
Honor spoke over me. “Those charges were dropped, remember?”
Jim glommed onto Honor’s words. “No, I don’t remember that, because he wasn’t my client at the time. He was yours. Which means I’m right. This is a conflict of interest.” He motioned between Honor and myself.
If I broke that waving hand, Snake would slap me on the back and say, “nice work,” but Walt would probably have to bail me out.
And that wouldn’t sit well. Especially if we lost our legal counsel over this.
And that was the problem here. Influence.
It was insight into Jim’s brain. “Do you think there’s some sort of power imbalance here? ”
Both of them stared at me.
“I’m serious. Is that the problem?”
“Yes,” Jim said.
“No,” Honor said at the same time.
“He’s your client and much younger.”
“And yet I’m the one tying her up at night.”
Honor froze. “We haven’t—”
I cut her off. “We will. And, I’m going to find out if you like spanking.”
Her mouth fell open. That wasn’t a no.
“Listen, Jim. I get it, you’re sore that you can’t keep your memories on a shelf where there’s always a chance to dust them off and see if she still cares about you.
But we’re talking about human feelings here.
They get messy. Hell, you cheated on Honor with a woman who might be my age.
So don’t go bringing that in unless you want to be judged by the same ruler. ”
“She’s a year younger.” Honor nudged me as she spoke.
“Yeah? Shame on you Jim. According to you, that is. Shame. But you’re making it work, right? You’re not holding a candle for my girl while you play house with another?”
His mouth fell open. Notably, he didn’t deny it.
“That’s not good, Jim. You’re going to end up divorced a second time unless you start paying more attention to the woman you got, not the one you lost.”
“I didn’t lose her.”
I glanced at Honor to see the truth of things written on her face. There was guilt there, but also a bit of anger. Maybe I was barking up the wrong tree, but I didn’t think Honor was one to cheat. My gut told me that she wasn’t to blame here.
“Jim? I bet you haven’t realized something about women.”
He scoffed and looked away. “What is a twenty-something-year-old high school dropout going to teach me?”
“Something really important. Women aren’t like men.
They curl up into themselves when they’re in pain.
And when they do that, the shell they make is like armor.
And they’re great at polishing it to the point you can’t even see it.
And the harder their armor, the more they hurt.
They carry everything. They pick their partners by who can take up the slack, and not be an extra burden.
And that’s where it fell on you to be her shield wall so all her pain didn’t get broadcast to the world.
And you’re a dick for making her pain worse. ”
I took a step away because Jim’s fist had curled on itself. I wasn’t afraid of him hitting me. I was afraid I wouldn’t stop if I swung back.
“She doesn’t need armor.”
“Bullshit. You don’t even see the real her. She’s a fucking battle knight suited up from head to toe. Granted, most of that is because of who she is, but part of it is your fault.
“And maybe that’s your problem. Guilt.” It was written across his face. “Well, I’m here to absolve you from it. She’s mine now. And I’m going to hand her a polishing cloth and give her safe space to get that sucker shiny.”