Chapter Fourteen #3
Keane shook his head as he started to walk off. “Tell her
I’m sorry. Tell her I was never good enough for her.”
“The first smart thing you’ve said, son,” Jack shot back.
Keane glanced at the older man, a hollow look in his eyes.
“I’m not anyone’s son, sir.”
And then he was gone.
Garrett was pissed at Jack Barnes. He turned to the other
man as the door closed between him and his best friend. “I think I’ll quit
before you fire me. I don’t want to work for a man who judges someone as
quickly as you do.”
Something had changed in Jack’s expression. He didn’t look
happy or even vengeful. If anything, Garrett would describe it as thoughtful.
It was a moment before he turned from the door to Garrett. He frowned, but it
was clear there was something going on in the man’s head. “You don’t have to
quit. I’m sorry about what I said earlier. My problem isn’t with you, though I
suspect you had something to do with your friend’s lies. I can understand it. I
probably would have done anything for Sam.”
“What lies?” Garrett suddenly realized what he was talking
about. “We didn’t lie about his record. When we first applied for the jobs, we
were open and honest. Lucas…”
“Lucas is up shit creek right now,” Jack announced.
He needed to calm down. This was a man who loved his
daughter. This was a man who understood what it meant to be in the system. He
should be able to talk to him. They had something in common. They both loved
Olivia. “Lucas understood. Sir, are you trying to tell me you’ve never hired a
hand with a record? Because I happen to know that’s not true. You’ve often
taken young men in and given them the stability they need to put the past
behind them.”
“They’re not fucking my daughter.”
“So you’re okay with me fucking her but not my Dom?” He
needed to use words Jack understood. His language.
Jack sighed and sat down, one big hand scrubbing over his
head. “Well, of course you’re in the lifestyle.”
“Is it so surprising that Olivia would want the kind of
relationship she grew up admiring?”
“She never has until now,” Jack replied.
“She never met the right partners. I assure you that man you
sent away would die for her. Tell me something. Did you approve of those twins
in Colorado?”
“It would have been easier, but she and Will didn’t have a
spark, and I wasn’t surprised to find out Bobby is gay. They’re good for each
other but only in a friendship way.”
“How about Scott?” He was getting somewhere with this line
of questioning. That’s how he had to view it. He was questioning someone in a
trial. Keane’s trial. Or maybe theirs. Their trial to see if they could be good
enough to belong in this family. He knew if he couldn’t win over her father,
Olivia would never be happy. “You liked Scott, didn’t you?”
Jack sighed. “He seemed okay. I never thought he was the one
for Olivia, but he did his job well.”
“And Keane does his well. Ask Aidan. We didn’t lie. Please,
Mr. Barnes. I assure you this is all a huge mistake. Keane would never put
Olivia in a position where she could be hurt. He takes his place as her Dom
seriously.”
“He’s calling himself her Dom?”
“She calls him Master.”
That seemed to shake something in the big guy. “It’s too
soon.”
“And how long was it for us? I believe I’ve made this
argument already,” a soft voice said.
“Abby,” Jack said quietly. “Baby, I’m trying to look out for
her. They have evidence.”
Abigail Barnes-Fleetwood stepped inside the room looking
gorgeous and way younger than her years. He could see Olivia in her mother’s
face. Olivia would look like this one day. Mature and confident because she was
so well loved. She put a hand on her husband’s shoulder. “I just watched one of
the witness statements fall apart. Jack, the one who’s accusing Keane is
Jessica Fellows.”
Jack seemed to think about it for a moment, searching his
brain to connect the name. Then he frowned, his eyebrows furrowing. “The one
who worked in the Dallas office? I gave her the job because you felt sorry for
her.”
“She came from bad circumstances, but she proved to be
troublesome. She was the one who had the affair with Scott and left with him,”
Abby explained. “I believe she’s doing this on purpose, but I don’t know why.
I’ve been thinking, and getting rid of Keane wouldn’t be helpful if what she
wants is Scott back.”
Finally he was talking to someone who was using logic. “But
she could be trying to get revenge. Although I don’t know why, but I’ve learned
people can justify a lot in their heads.”
“They have a video,” Jack said quietly.
“Then let’s watch it,” Abby said, challenge clear in her
tone.
“The sheriff said it’s clear,” Jack returned, sitting up
straighter.
Ah, he knew this. Jack’s inner Dom was reacting to the
challenge from his submissive. It was instinct.
How many times had Keane’s shoulders gone back like that
when Garrett said something snarky or upended plans?
Damn, he’d been blind. That man had been his top forever,
but neither was willing to risk the most important relationship of their lives.
Until Olivia came along. At least he hoped Keane felt the same.
“You know the sheriff will do anything to stay on your good
side,” Abby returned and then softened. “Jack, I know you’re worried about our
daughter, but you don’t want to hurt this young man. You were this young man.”
“I wasn’t tried for attempted murder,” Jack shot back.
“How many times could you have been?” Abigail asked. “How
many times did you hurt someone in defense of yourself or Sam?”
“That’s not attempted murder,” Jack argued. “That’s
literally self-defense or defense of others.”
Abby stared at him, seemingly at a loss.
But Garrett knew what to say. “Only if the people with more
money or more power say it is. Any one of those fights your wife described
could have ended with you in the same place as Keane. With a public defender
who has way too many clients and only wants to clear the files, so he convinces
you to take a plea for something that wasn’t your fault. You could have been
Keane given the right circumstances. That’s what Lucas saw. That’s why Lucas
was okay with hiring him. He even told us at the time. He said Keane reminded
him of his brother, who is the best person he knows.”
That seemed to have some impact. Jack’s jaw clenched, and he
looked to his wife. “All right. Let’s see the video.”
It didn’t take more than a few moments for a deputy to bring
in a tablet. It must be nice to be Jack Barnes. It would have taken Garrett
weeks to get that damn evidence out of the sheriff’s office. Jack simply asked
and it was given.
And it was nothing.
It was Keane standing at the bar waiting. He was right by
the place where the servers picked up drinks for customers out at the tables.
He walked up and ordered three beers and then waited.
“There,” Jack said. “That’s it.”
Keane had moved suddenly and his hand went into his pocket
and came back out with something.
“That’s his cell phone,” Garrett pointed out.
“He could have the drug stuck there,” Jack reasoned.
But Abby leaned in. “Which drink, Jack? Which one do you
think he dropped the drugs in?”
“The margarita,” Jack replied.
“Which one?” Abby asked calmly, like she knew something no
one else did. “You can always tell which one is Olivia’s.”
Keane got his beers and walked away, and the drinks there
were clear. That was when Jack stared at the screen. There was a margarita in a
fancy glass, three beers in bottles, and what looked like a rum and coke or
maybe whiskey.
Jack sat back, going a little pale. “Her drink isn’t there.
They told me Tim was behind the bar tonight. He wouldn’t serve her drink that
way. Olivia prefers Grand Marnier to Cointreau. That’s not how they normally
make them. They put an umbrella in hers so they don’t misplace it. They’ve been
doing it at The Barn since she turned twenty-one.”
That was the moment Miranda showed up, bouncing to the bar
like she couldn’t not move to the music. And the tall man with dark brown hair
reached out and handed her a margarita with an umbrella in it. The bartender
had just completed it.
“He didn’t do it,” Jack said.
“I told you.” Garrett couldn’t help it. “Something is
happening, and I don’t like it one bit.”
Jack finally seemed to understand they weren’t the true
enemies here. “I heard what happened and saw the file on him and I…”
“Jumped to conclusions?” Abby prompted.
Jack looked to his wife, his expression downcast. “She’s my
baby girl. She’s the first child I ever held in my arms. You know I love Lexi
like she’s my own, but she was grown when I joined the family. Olivia was the
first time I held a baby and knew I would love her forever.”
Garrett took a long breath. This situation was salvageable.
“Mr. Barnes, I understand. Well, I guess I understand on an intellectual level.
I was young when my mother died. While she was alive, I had a family. They
weren’t the big, warm one everyone likes to see on TV, but we got together. We
had holidays, and I would play with my cousins and spend time at my
grandparents’ place at the lake. Then she died and no one would take me in.
They had all the excuses in the world. They already had too many kids. They
were old. I wouldn’t be a good fit.”
“Your whole family?” Abby had a sheen of tears to her eyes.
“How many aunts and uncles?”
“Three on my mom’s side and one on my dad’s,” he replied. “I
didn’t blame her. Aunt Helen had a kid with muscular dystrophy. Caring for him
took a lot of her time. Especially after her husband left her high and dry.
It’s funny but I remember begging her to let me help. I told her I would take
some of the load caring for Charles if she would give me a room. She cried but
said no.”
“Unfortunately, I do know what that’s like,” Jack said. “And
Keane?”
“He never had much of a family. His mom got pregnant in high
school, and her parents kicked her out. She ended up in a trailer working two
jobs. She had a lot of boyfriends, and the last one killed her.” Garrett laid
out the facts with as little emotion as he could. “He’d been in the system for