Chapter Fifteen
Chapter
Fifteen
Keane heard the door lock behind him and felt bile
rise in his throat. He wasn’t going to embarrass himself here. Here, any
weakness was taken advantage of and harshly punished. Here, the world was a
dark and desperate place.
He thought this place might be his real home, the one he was
always going to come back to. As if being there the first time stained him in a
way he could never recover from. The last few years had been the dream, and
this was the reality.
“Hey, buddy. I heard someone say you have a lawyer. Like a
real live attorney person,” a man from the next cell said. He was obviously
drunk, though sobering up a bit. He wore a Rangers jersey.
“Ain’t no attorneys in Willow Fork,” his friend countered.
He sported an Astros jersey and a pretty shiny black eye. “You gotta go to
Tyler to find one, and those city slickers always look down on us.”
Like Tyler was a big city. It was not.
“I don’t have an attorney,” Keane muttered. He wasn’t
letting Garrett get stained by this, too.
From what he could tell the men had been watching a game at
a sports bar and gotten into a hell of a brawl and were shoved in here to sleep
it off.
He wished they were still sleeping.
The fact that these two morons were here pointed out the
reality that while Willow Fork holding cells were mostly for drunks and people
with unpaid parking tickets, this wasn’t where he would stay. There would be no
jail door opening and polite “don’t do it again” speeches for him. There would
be a prison transport right back to Huntsville.
“Nah, there’s one who comes in every now and then. He works
for Jack Barnes,” Ranger said. “He’s like Jack’s brother.”
“Lucas? Lucas ain’t going to take your case,” Astro
insisted. “Besides, why the hell would you be the one to sue? I’m the one with
the black eye.”
“Which you would not have gotten if that ump had made the
right call,” Ranger shot back. “Which is why we should both sue.”
He wasn’t sure who they were going to sue, but they started
talking about what they would do with all the money they were going to win.
Keane forced himself to sit on the bench, to keep his head
up and not let it drop to his hands.
He’d always known this day would come, and here it was. He
wouldn’t be allowed to have his happy life. Olivia thought he was a damn
monster. The idea killed him. She was sitting in a hospital room thinking he
was the one who put her there. She was likely cursing his name. Garrett would
go down with him if he didn’t do something about it. If this went to trial,
they might try to bring him in, too. They would say he had to be in on it. They
would eventually find something to use against Garrett, and he would go down.
He could feel his blood pressure rising. Garrett worked so
hard, and he would lose everything because he had the misfortune to care about
a cursed soul. That was what he was.
He’d already lost Olivia. He couldn’t drag Garrett down with
him too. If he let them both go, they might be able to find happiness together.
If Olivia believed Garrett had nothing to do with it.
It made him physically ill, but he was going to have to do
it. He was going to have to sit there and lie.
He was going to confess and save them all so much trouble.
He had to become the villain to be the hero, and they could
never know. It would be better for them to hate him and get on with their
lives. They would forget him over time, and he would be nothing but a bad
memory. Garrett was the one who belonged in that family, not him.
Keane stood before he could lose his bravery. He stepped up
to the bars. “Guard! Guard! I want to confess.”
“Confess?” Astro was standing up now. “Are you an idjit? You
ain’t supposed to confess. You need a lawyer person because they would tell you
not to confess.”
Ranger was right there with him, shaking his dark hair that
had some silver starting to weave through it. “Yeah, that’s a dummy move, man.
You see you gotta tell ’em you did nothing and stick to it. If you can throw in
a sob story, that sometimes works, but only if Judge Gary and his wife ain’t
fighting. He’s a cold bastard when Sharon is pissed at him. That’s real
important.”
“He’s new here,” Astro pointed out. “I think he’s from the
big city. You know they do crime all the time. I thought he would be way
smarter. Dude, have you ever watched CSI?”
The door came open, and he could hear someone yelling.
“Exert your dominance, sister. You can be the queen of the
prison!”
Was that Gigi?
Then the big deputy who’d driven the car that brought him in
was rounding the corner, and Keane damn near felt his heart stop.
Olivia. She was walking toward the cells, and her hands were
in cuffs. They were in front of her instead of behind like they’d cuffed him,
but she was still restrained.
They were handcuffs, and not the fuzzy kind that wouldn’t
chafe her wrists. The real kind.
What the hell had gone wrong now? She was supposed to be in
the hospital.
His fingers wrapped around the bars, and he leaned forward.
“What are you doing? She shouldn’t be in here. You let her go. She did nothing
wrong.”
Jimmy looked weary, like the night hadn’t gone the way he
thought it would. “I was taught violence is always wrong, but that girl
probably deserved the smack she got. Pretty sure she’s shady. Move back. I’m
putting her in.”
“This is the men’s side.” They couldn’t put his sweet Olivia
in a cell with men. There were other guys in here. Oh, they were drunken
philosophers, but he didn’t know them. He had no idea what they were capable
of.
Astro’s arms raised, and his face lit up. He didn’t seem to
care that his shirt was covered in blood and his nose was obviously broken.
“Livie! Girl, who’d you take down? I thought your daddy’s money protected you
from everything. Sheriff must be getting bold.”
“She’s not under arrest,” the deputy said, pulling his keys
out. “She wants to be here. She’s lost her damn mind. She slapped the shit out of
Jessica Fellows, who might have been lying, and then she demanded I arrest her
and put her in here with this guy instead of taking her to the women’s cell.
Which honestly is probably the right call because Ruth is in there. Again. And
she’s covered in spoiled milk. Guess Old Nan got tired of having her porch
pirated. I understand it, but it’s quite the stink.”
Ranger chuckled. “Jessica thinks she’s better than everyone
else. She probably deserved it. I know Ruth deserves it. What does she get from
Old Nan’s deliveries? I’m pretty sure she stole her fiber pills.”
“Didn’t Jessica steal that city boy from Livie?” Astro
asked. “Not that he was a catch or anything. I actually think she did you a
favor.”
“She did,” Olivia said. “Trey, Marty, how’s your night
going? What inning did you get to before the police came? Anyone spoil the game
for you?”
Both men shoved their hands over their ears and walked back,
shaking their heads.
Keane didn’t care about any of this. What the hell was
Olivia thinking? He needed to show her there was no saving him. Her father
hated him. He could cut her off. She couldn’t lose her family because of him.
“Olivia, you are not coming in here.” The words formed in his mouth, and he
could taste the bile of them. “Stop making a fool of yourself.”
She stared at him with wide, innocent eyes that kicked him
in the gut.
But he had to do this. He knew where to shove the knife in.
He knew how to force her to let him go.
“Olivia, I put the drug in your drink. I wanted some fun
before I leave. Garrett didn’t know. He’s in love with you, but I don’t like to
stay in one place for too long.”
She was so still, her hands in cuffs. “You don’t love me? I
know you never said it, but I felt it.”
“Is this happening again?” Astro whispered. “Poor Livie.”
She ignored him, spending all her focus on Keane.
He was not going to be sick. He was going to do the right
thing and save his subs. That was his job. And when he went in this time, he
wouldn’t take visitors. He wouldn’t take calls. He would accept that he was
alone. “You were never anything but fun for me. I don’t want to get married. I
wanted to have a little fun with a rich girl who thinks way too much of
herself.”
Tears dripped from her eyes, caressing her cheeks, and there
was nothing he wanted more than to drop to his knees and tell her it was all a
lie.
But that would put her entire future at risk.
“You need to get out of here. Go find Garrett. He’ll take
care of you.”
She sniffled. “I thought you were a team.”
He hoped there was none of the ache he felt on his face.
“I’m tired of playing around with cattle. I only stayed with Garrett because I
came out of prison with no money. He was useful.”
She shook her head. “No, you love him.”
Ranger leaned over, whispering, but he was loud. “Wait. Is
that like love love? Like Jack and Sam man loving?”
Olivia frowned.
Astro held up a hand. “No disrespect, Livie. If I were to
bend that way, I would be all over Sam.”
Ranger snorted. “Obviously Jack is the hot one.” He cleared
his throat. “If one liked men.”
Jimmy seemed more sympathetic now. He closed a big hand
around Olivia’s arm. “Come on, Liv. I’ll take you back out. It’ll be okay.”
She shook his off, moving right up to Keane, the bars the
only thing between them. “You’re saying you don’t love me and you don’t love
Garrett.”
She was being stubborn. He had to push her until it all
broke. “I don’t. Look, honey, I know you’re desperate, but you need to stick to
Garrett. I think the two of you will make an excellent couple. I was only
interested in the sex, and quite frankly your money. Your daddy told me I
wouldn’t be touching any of that, so you’re no longer of interest to me.”
She held her hands up. “Get me out of these.”
At least she was talking sense now. “That’s right. Get her
out of here. I don’t want to have to deal with her anymore. And get me a proper
attorney. I’m not using Garrett. All he knows how to do is push papers around.
Send her back to her daddy. I don’t need her anymore.”
“Jack is going to eat him,” Astro said with a shake of his