Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
“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.