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)
“Like I said, they lie.”
Keane’s head nodded slowly. “They lie because I don’t matter. They lie because they can.”
“You can’t shut down now,” Garrett pleaded. “I need you here with me. Something is incredibly wrong, and we have to figure it out. Someone is setting you up.”
“Have you wondered why they picked me?”
“Because you were the one who grabbed the beers.”
“No,” Keane insisted. “Because they knew about my record. They knew everyone would believe it. It doesn’t matter how much time I spend peacefully. All that matters is those ten minutes that cost me three years and the rest of my life.”
Emotion welled in Garrett’s soul. He could lose Keane all over again. “I need you to fight.”
“Garrett, they are going to try to put you in here with me.”
“They’re going to fail.” This was precisely why he’d gone to law school. After he gained his bachelor’s, Keane was released from prison with the help of a smart lawyer working pro bono with an innocence mission. Mitchell Bradford had taught him a lot and then introduced Garrett to some people who helped him apply for law school. He’d done his internship with the man and his partners before finding a place at Barnes-Fleetwood, where Lucas O’Malley took over the role of mentor, and he was an excellent one. “I’m going to give Lucas a call. We might need to bring him out here to represent us.”
“Don’t call Lucas.”
Garrett sighed. “Why? I know this is everything you ever feared, but you have to have some faith.”
A bitter expression settled on Keane’s face. “Faith in what? Faith in a system that already ground me down once? Faith in a town that hates the sight of me? Faith in a woman who has never said I love you?”
“Faith in me.”
That seemed to shut Keane down. He was silent for a long moment. “It was all pretend, wasn’t it? The whole ‘I’m in control’ thing. The whole ‘I can take care of you and Livie.’ I was never in control.”
“No one is when it comes to something like this.” There was real fear in his heart now. “Keane, you never deserved this. Once Olivia understands what happened…”
“It won’t matter.” Keane stopped him with a firm tone. “I need to do the only thing I can do now, and that’s save you. I’m sorry. It’s probably going to cost you your job.”
Garrett took a deep breath to slow down the panic he felt. He had never realized how much he counted on Keane to be the stable one, the one who didn’t panic, who didn’t jump to conclusions. Keane was steady, and now it was so clear to him that Keane had been the top for years. Even when he was in prison, he was the one who supported Garrett. Once a week, Garrett would make the long drive to Huntsville and spend their visitation time talking about school and wanting to quit and Keane would build him up for another week.
“This time, I don’t think you should come see me. I think you should let a public defender take over and put some distance between us.” The words that came out of Keane’s mouth didn’t make sense at first, and yet they were perfectly clear. “You need to have a real life this time. Not one that’s about trying to save me. I’m not savable.”
He had to take control. He stared at this man who had been the center of his life until they met Olivia and things shifted, allowing for her to find the place that balanced them. “Master, I need you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and start fighting. I need you to be my damn Dom.”
The words seemed to shake Keane. “I’ve never…”
“You’ve been my Dom since long before we knew what words to call it. Even when you were inside you kept me where I needed to be. I worked my ass off so we would have something real when you got out. I went to law school because I wanted to be able to protect you if this ever happened again. One of the things a truly great Dom knows is when to be flexible. When to follow his sub because his sub’s job is important, too. Olivia will feel the same way. She’ll be pissed if she finds out you’re trying to play the martyr.”
“Play the martyr?” Keane’s voice went low, and there was something besides morbid acceptance in his gaze now. “I am trying to save you. You have no idea what can happen inside. You aren’t the one who had to go.”
Finally, they were getting somewhere. Keane held everything inside. Oh, he might talk to a therapist in clinical terms, but he held himself apart from what happened to him. He had never told Garrett everything.