Chapter 11
Roman
“Marshall? You made bail.”
The booking officer doesn’t even wait for me before turning and walking away from the cell I’ve been locked in for the last ten hours. They questioned me, I told them the fucking truth. I was defending my wife, and Buck Ryder, or Emmett fucking Smith, touched her first.
He can press fucking charges, for all I care, because I’ll make him tell a whole fucking courtroom how an eighteen-year-old girl who’s five feet tall in heels gave him a voice an octave higher than it was yesterday.
I always suspected it was him and his asshole son Colt who planted that tranquilizer in my locker, and now I know. He admitted as much. I just wish I had proof.
At the desk, I’m handed a plastic bag with my belongings, and then I head out.
“Hey, man, I heard what happened.” Casey pulls me into a man hug, and I slap his back in return. “You did what anyone would have done.”
“Emily here?”
“Outside with Carrie. She was in a mess, imagining you in all kinds of trouble.” He clears his throat and stops me before I push my way out through the doors.
“I got a call from Emmett fucking Smith. Buck. Whatever the fuck his name is. Deal’s off, man.
He told me if I dropped you, he’d consider it, I told him to go fuck himself. ”
“Shit…” I huff, shaking my head. “Can he do that? I mean, we had a signed contract…”
“He had Carrie put in a clause about disrepute or something. She said it was pretty standard, and she added and initialed it before the contract was signed. I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
“Fuck. Thanks for standing by me.”
Casey shrugs. “We’ll find someone else. You’re my fucking brother, and I happen to think you were right on this.”
I nod, and we push through the exit, out into the sunshine.
Emily is there with my sister, and as soon as she sees me she runs right across into my arms. She’s sobbing, and I try to calm her the way I would a horse who’s been spooked, speaking softly, making shushing noises, stroking her hair.
She shakes her head. “You don’t know all of it. They… The people filming us. It’s all over the internet. Look.”
A moment later, I find myself staring at a video clip on repeat on some social media app. It doesn’t show the way Smith grabbed Emily, or the things he said about her. All it shows is the punch I threw, and the way he crashed against a car hood before I laid into him.
It’s bullshit, but it’s bullshit people will flock to because it makes for good entertainment.
“I don’t give a fuck,” I tell Emily. “I’d do it again. Bring that fucker here, and I’ll finish the job this time.”
“No.” My wife is sobbing as she hugs into me. “No, he’s nothing. He’s not worth it. I don’t want to lose you, Roman, not now. Not after we waited so long.”
It’s then that I feel my own phone vibrate in my pocket, and pull it out to read the text message that just came through. And if I thought today couldn’t get any worse, I was dead wrong.
Decker: Saw your little bust up. I’m disappointed in you, son. I really thought you were gonna make the year.
“Who is it?” Emily looks up at me with tears in her eyes, but I shake my head as I type out a reply. My heart cracks open inside my chest. Without Decker’s blessing, Emily will never have what she deserves and I fucked it all up.
Me: It’s not what you think, man. I was only defending your daughter. If you were there, you’d thank me.
“Nothing. Some sales bullshit. I have no idea how they even got my number. Come on, you’ve got a competition to get to.”
Three hours later, and the crowd has gone fucking wild. I can barely hear the announcer over the cheers and shuffling of feet as those who bet on Emily go to collect their winnings.
Of course, my wife won.
How could she not? She’s a goddamn miracle, riding Ruby Tuesday so tight around the first barrel some people in the crowd are holding their breath. Her time comes in a full half second faster than her nearest competitor. I couldn’t be prouder.
As she runs across to where we’re all standing with Decker, May, Leah and Allister, the smile on her face lights up my world.
She runs right by her dad, and straight into my arms instead, and I don’t miss the dark look on Decker’s face.
“Roman, we need a word,” he says, and I nod, ready to face whatever shit he’s about to throw at me.
I guess I disappointed him, and things are bad between the two of us right now.
But before he can say whatever he was about to say, I realize they’re about to get worse.
Because Emily took off her wedding ring for the competition, but now she’s back with me, she reaches into the back pocket of her jeans and slides it out and onto her finger.
And our moms go silent.
It’s Allister, my dad for all intents and purposes, who speaks first. “Is that…”
Emily’s face is red as she turns, her words garbled. “We were going to tell you?—”
“Tell us?” May and Leah both speak at once.
But they’re not mad. Well, it doesn’t seem that way. It seems like they’re… excited.
“Look, I can explain everything,” I start, and all eyes turn my way. Decker could probably kill me if I was standing a few inches closer. “So?—”
My phone starts ringing, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I turn away to take the call, not caring who it is, only that it saves me from trying to finish that sentence.
“Is that Roman Marshall?” The voice on the other end of the phone is male and deep. Several octaves deeper than mine, Decker’s or Allister’s. Somehow, it sounds like money.
“Yeah. You the cops?”
The chuckle comes back crisp and clear. “No, son, I’m not a cop. I know your uncle. Decker Lawrence? I’m also your new business partner. Well, investor, if you’ll have me.”
What the fuck?
I turn back to look at Decker, and what I thought was an urge to kill me a few minutes ago seems to be something else. Respect? God damn, what the actual fuck is going on here? And who’s the guy on the other end of the phone auditioning for the part of Barry White in an upcoming biopic?
“I’m confused,” I say, and hear a chuckle.
“I imagine you are. The man you beat half to death is a rival of mine, and I understand you two had a falling out over your BuckTrack app. Nice right hook, by the way, I would be proud of that if I were you.”
There’s a pause, and I glance around at Casey, who’s miming something in the corner of my vision.
Put it on speaker.
I shrug. Whatever. I hit the speaker button and my new friend’s voice comes through for all to hear.
“Emmett Smith is a fucking asshole. I know it, you sure as hell know it, and when your uncle phoned me a few hours ago he fucking knew it, too. You think there’s no way to get hold of the rest of the footage of what happened between the two of you?
Your uncle had me pull a few strings, but probably best if we don’t go into details on that.
” He draws a breath on the other end of the line.
“So, what do you say we twist the knife on Emmett Smith, or Buck, or whatever he’s calling himself?
I’ve been looking at your app, and he’s a fucking idiot for reneging on the deal.
I’m pretty sure the others he works with will be fucking furious if he can’t put things right, and I want in.
I’ve got cash and I already have a gambling license.
Let’s hammer out the details before these fuckers find a way to duplicate the coding and put out something on their own. ”
I glance at Casey, then at Carrie, and finally at Emily. And I see grins all round. “I’ll have my lawyer draw up a new contract,” I say.
“Good man. Have your people talk to mine.” And with that, the call ends.
And I meet Decker’s eyes. “You were defending my daughter.”
“Yes, sir, I was.”
He nods. “I’m proud of you. Welcome to the family. You have my blessing, son.”
After that, things move fast. I find myself shaking my new father-in-law’s hand, while May and Leah laugh and shriek with Emily as she shows them the ring.
Of course, they’re kind of mad that they weren’t there for the wedding, but we make our promises that we’ll do everything properly at home, and it was just to get a ring on Emily’s finger.
“He wouldn’t… you know… not without that piece of paper.”
May snorts a laugh, and Leah smiles as she pulls me in for a hug.
“Your mom would be proud,” she says. “And I’m proud of you. I know I’m not your birth mother, Roman, but I couldn’t be prouder of my little boy.”
“Not so little anymore, Mom,” I say as I hug her back.
She shakes her head. “You’ll always be my little boy though.
My little Roman soldier, toddling around with Emily.
We knew it, right back then. Me and May, we used to tease Decker with it, telling him he needed to watch you around his daughter.
But we always knew you were the best thing for her.
Looks like you proved us right on both counts. ”
I nod as Emily comes up beside me, wrapping me in her arms.