“Don’t you dare try to turn this around on me!”
A knock at the door interrupted our argument. My stomach dropped when Winn welcomed two Houston police officers into the penthouse. One of the cops stepped forward and asked, “Kelly Connolly?”
“That’s me.”
The officer pulled out his cuffs. I instantly put my hand on Kelly’s chest. Brows furrowed, he peered down at me. “What?”
“Don’t say a word, Kelly. I’ll have a lawyer meet us at the police station. He’ll take care of you.”
Hardness glinted in his bright green eyes. “I don’t need you to rescue me, Bee.”
Annoyed at his refusal of my help, I simply remarked, “I wasn’t asking your permission.”
Though he clearly didn’t enjoy being the one who needed protection, Kelly didn’t argue with me. He bent down and kissed me lovingly before allowing the police officers to cuff and read him his rights. Watching the cops perp-walk him out of the penthouse cut deeply, but there was nothing I could do right now.
Spurred into action, I rushed into the bedroom to change. While I tugged on jeans, I called the law firm I kept on retainer. They immediately promised to send someone from their criminal defense division over. As I slipped on socks and shoes, I dialed Finn and quickly filled him in on the situation.
By the time I returned to the living room, Sully had joined Winn. Both wore grim expressions, but neither said anything derisive about Kelly. Something told me they, too, would have punched Trevor if they had been in Kelly’s position.
On the ride to the police station, I stared out the window and tried to figure out what the hell I was supposed to do now. The carefully planned overture toward Trevor that I had strategized with Ty no longer seemed possible. After Kelly humiliated him by crunching his face, Trevor would never accept the modest sum I’d been willing to offer.
So what to do?
It occurred to me that this was one of those moments in my life where I had to make hard decisions, but I needed to be smart about them. Remembering the way I had bluffed my way through my interaction with Richard Hawkins in that parking lot, I wondered if I had it in me to do it again—but this time with Trevor.
When we reached the police station, I was a bit taken aback to see Lena and Yuri already waiting for me. Judging by the way they were dressed, they had been enjoying a night out together. I hurriedly apologized for dragging them out for something so sordid. “I’m so, so sorry about this.”
“Hush,” Lena said gently and gave me a hug. “I’m not here because you’re paying me to manage the crisis with your firm. I’m here because I care about you and Kelly.” She glanced over at Yuri, who looked very troubled. “We both care about you.”
“What happened, Bee?” Yuri seemed totally stunned by Kelly’s arrest.
I explained the situation as we entered the police station and waited in line at the reception area. Yuri sighed heavily but kept his opinions to himself. I was pretty sure Kelly would be getting an earful later from his former client.
The lawyer finally arrived and was taken back to the area where Kelly was being held and questioned. Lena guided me to a corner of the waiting room while Yuri went in search of coffee. As Lena tried to reassure me, I spotted Trevor exiting the main area of the station. His bruised and battered face made me wince. He ducked into the men’s restroom, and I popped out of my seat.
Lena grasped my hand. “What are you doing?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, shaking off her hand. “But I have a feeling it’s going to get me into trouble.”
With Sully shadowing me and shooting me incredulous looks, I crossed the waiting area and entered the men’s restroom without hesitation. A quick glance confirmed Trevor was the only man in there. He stood at the sink, washing his hands and inspecting his broken face. Shooting only a cursory glance my way, he said, “I’m pretty sure this is sexual harassment.”
“Well, you are the expert on that.”
He frowned at me. “I’ve never come on to you. Anyway, you can’t intimidate me.”
“Maybe I should take a page out of your playbook and try extortion,” I retorted tightly. “Of course, I hear that’s a federal crime, especially when you use the internet to do it.”
Trevor turned away from the mirror to look at me. “It seems we’ve reached an impasse, Bee.”
“Drop the charges against Kelly.”
“In exchange for?”
“Come to my office in the morning. Let’s say ten o’clock. We’ll finish this.”
Trevor looked almost relieved that I was backing down and agreeing to pay him off. He tossed the sodden, dirty paper towels he’d been using to dab at his face into the trash. “Let’s make it eleven. I’m going to need my beauty sleep.”
As he strode by me, I gripped the front of his shirt. His dark eyes narrowed but he didn’t try to tug free from my grip. “Trevor, I’ll only tell you this once. Don’t try to fuck me over again. I screwed up with Jeb’s email accounts, and I’ll pay for that—but I’ll only pay for it one time. I will not allow you to drag the other people in his photos through the mud.”
“And how the hell do you plan to stop me?”
I released his shirt. “You really shouldn’t underestimate me, Trevor. I have friends in some very low places.”
My connections to anything even remotely related to the underbelly of Houston ended with Kelly and Yuri, but Trevor didn’t know that. I watched his Adam’s apple slide up and down. Was he finally understanding how far I would go to protect the innocent people he wanted to harm?
I followed Trevor out of the bathroom—and collided with Jack Connolly. Kelly’s oldest brother steadied me. His brow creased as he glanced between my face, the back of Trevor’s head, and the bathroom. Finally, he asked, “Do I even want to know?”
“Probably not,” I said softly. “Is there any news?”
“The lawyer popped out to let us know that Kelly will have his bail set and be out of here in a few hours.”
Totally at a loss in this situation, I asked, “Where do I go to pay his bail?”
Jack seemed taken aback. “I’ll take care of it.”
I shook my head. “This is my fault. I’m responsible for this.”
“Your fault?” Jack scoffed. “Kelly is a grown man. No one made him assault Trevor. He did that on his own.”
“But he did it because I lied to him and allowed Trevor to blindside him,” I insisted. “If I’d only—”
“If you’d only done what, Bee? Spilled your brother’s deepest, darkest secrets after his death?” Jack shook his head. “I know what it’s like. I’ve been there. Kelly has been there. He knows why you did this.”
“I just wish I had been able to explain everything before the police arrived.”
“There’s plenty of time for that.” He gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “That hardheaded brother of mine is lucky to have you in his corner.”
But as Jack led me back to Lena and Yuri, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was true. The consequences of dragging Kelly into my personal disaster were staring me right in the face, and I highly suspected the blowback from this mess was far from over for him.
Chapter Thirteen
Sitting at my desk a few hours later, I rested my aching head in both hands and massaged my temples. I had sneaked in a quick nap after we had gotten Kelly home, but I’d actually woken up feeling more tired. How that was possible I didn’t even know.
The tension between Kelly and me hadn’t eased any since paying his bail and getting him out of police custody. The moment we’d stepped inside the penthouse he had locked himself inside the office to return phone calls to Dimitri and Lev. When he had finally sought me out, he had rather coldly informed me that he had been suspended from the Lone Star Group until further notice.
The guilt of Kelly losing his job gnawed at my gut. I grimaced as my empty stomach pitched painfully. I didn’t know what to do anymore. Feeling lost and adrift, I suddenly
wished that Jeb was still alive. He’d always steered me straight. Today I needed him more than anything.
“You look like you could use two of these.”
The sound of Ron’s voice drew my gaze toward the door of my office. He smiled warmly and held up a huge cup of my favorite coffee. Waving one of those slices of his shop’s coffee cake in a plastic container, he asked, “May I come in?”
I gestured to the chairs in front of my desk. “Please.”
He handed over the coffee and cake before sinking down into one of the chairs. He regarded me for a moment. “So—I heard about your friend.”
“What did you hear?” I sipped the soothingly hot coffee and leaned back in my chair.
“That he got into a fistfight with one of your former employees,” Ron said. Rubbing his thumb, he remarked, “After seeing how tightly wound the guy is, I’m not surprised.”
“You don’t know anything about Kelly.” My cheeks grew hot after I snapped at my friend. Sitting forward, I hastily apologized. “I’m sorry, Ron. I didn’t mean to be so rude to you. I’m running on no sleep, and there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that has me stressed to the max.”
Reminding me why he’d always been such a good friend, Ron happily accepted my apology. “It’s okay, Bee. I’ve been there myself a time or two. Is there anything I can do to help?”
I sipped my coffee. “Unless you sell some sort of special coffee that makes stalkers and blackmailers go away, I think I’m on my own on this one.”
“You’re not alone, Bee.” Ron’s expression seemed so sad. “Please don’t ever think that you’re in this alone. You have so many friends who want to help and protect you. You’ve got Kelly and Coby and Hadley—”
“And you,” I added with a smile. “Who would have thought that getting lost downtown and stumbling into a coffee shop because of the free Wi-Fi sign would have led me to such a great friend?”
Ron laughed. “Maybe it was fate.”
“Maybe,” I agreed, grinning at him. As I sipped my coffee, I spotted Trevor and his lawyers stepping off the elevator.
Ron must have noticed the grim set to my mouth. He immediately stood up and spun toward the door. “What’s wrong? Is it your stalker?”
With a heavy sigh, I pushed out of my chair and came around to stand beside him. “No, Ron, that’s my blackmailer.”
“What’s he doing here?”
“He’s getting what he always wanted.”
“And what about what you want?”
“I’m trying to protect my family. That’s all I want.”
Ron hesitated before patting my shoulder. “I wish you didn’t have to go through this, Bee.”
I clapped my hand over his. “Thanks.”
The elevator opened again but this time it held Yuri and my team of legal counsel. He’d promised to be here with me while I negotiated the end to the hostilities with Trevor. The Russian billionaire was proving to be the greatest mentor in the whole wide world. Sometimes I wondered how I’d been so damn lucky to gain him as a supporter.
“I need to go, Ron. Thanks for coming by this morning.”
“It was my pleasure. Good luck, Bee.”
With Ron’s smile of encouragement, I gathered up my notepad and pen and made the trek across the office space to the conference room. Along the way, my employees and friends rose up out of their chairs to watch me, most of them curious but some of them saddened. Though the exact details of my problems with Trevor weren’t public knowledge, the gossip mill was running full steam and had filled in many of the blanks.
Yuri waited for me outside the closed door of the conference room. The devastatingly handsome Russian narrowed his pale eyes and asked, “Why are we here, Beatrice?”
Certain he wasn’t asking about the legal team waiting to draw up papers that would silence Trevor, I answered honestly, “We’re here because I made a mistake.”
“Yes, you did. What has this mistake taught us?”
I considered all the questions and what-ifs that had been tormenting me all night and morning. “It’s taught me that I can’t survive in business if I’m soft and sentimental. I have to…I have to be more decisive. I have to always be aware that others will exploit my weaknesses.”
Yuri didn’t look happy to be leading me through this lesson. “There’s a time for being soft and sentimental, Bee, but it’s not here in the boardroom. Leave that to Kelly, and to your friends and your family. Here? In this place? You have to be a shark. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to protect what you’ve built and the people who rely on you for their paychecks.”
“I understand.”
Yuri touched my face in a gentle, almost fatherly way. “Yes, I think you do.” Glancing toward the conference room, he said, “I want you to go in there and slay this man. Do you understand me? If he refuses to give you what you want, you get up, and you walk out.”
“But what about Kelly and Jeb and—”
“Trevor knows what pain feels like now. He’s going to take one look at me and think about my ties with certain people. I’m sure that taste of discomfort Kelly caused him last night was enough for him.”
Though it felt dirty to exploit Trevor’s pain, I wasn’t about to toss out the option. After what he’d put me through, he didn’t deserve any kindness from me.
I entered the conference room with Yuri and took a seat across from Trevor. All the irritation and anguish he had caused hit me like a ton of bricks. Sick of the whole thing, I tossed my notepad across the table. “This is the deal I’m offering. Take it or leave it, Trevor.”
Trevor’s cheek twitched as he picked up the notepad and scanned my terms. His gaze flitted to Yuri who sat on my left and then back down to the notepad in front of him. “I want more—”
“No,” I cut him off and rose from my chair. “We’re done.” With a shrug, I stepped away from my chair and headed toward the door. Looking back at him, I remarked, “Maybe we’ll find another way to settle this out of court.”
“Fine. Fine!” Anger filled his shaky voice. “I’ll take it. I’ll take this deal.”
Relief washed over me. Keeping my expression hard, I returned to my seat and placed my hands on the table. “Then let’s finish this…”
***
Upstairs in the penthouse, Kelly paced the living room like a caged animal. The restraining order Trevor and his lawyer had filed required him to stay away from the bastard. Just thinking of Bee sitting across from that asshole and paying him her hard-earned money to keep him quiet sickened Kelly.
He rubbed both hands over his head and scratched at his scalp. How the hell had he let this happen? He had sworn to protect her, but it was his fault she was in this mess. Knowing that she had paid his bail made it even worse. Having the damsel in distress ride to his rescue? That wasn’t the way this was supposed to work.
The doorbell chime surprised him. With Winn and Sully down in the JBJ TechWorks offices, he was all alone up here and not expecting any company. At the door, he glanced at the monitor attached to the wall. The sight of Ty Weston was a further surprise.
“May I come in, Kelly?” Ty asked after he’d opened the door. Looking uncomfortable, he nervously explained, “It’s about Jeb.”
The mention of his best friend’s name caused his chest to constrict. Stepping aside, he gestured to the living area. “Come in, Ty.”
The reformed gossip blogger turned public relations expert found a spot on one end of the white sectional. Kelly sat across from him and watched as Ty placed his leather satchel on the coffee table. He unbuckled the latches and retrieved a couple of worn diaries and stacks of letters that he slid across the glass surface.
Putting a cleanly manicured hand to his perfectly styled hair, Ty said, “I can only imagine what sort of things Trevor showed you, but you need to know that was simply one very small side of Jeb.” He placed his hands on the small books with reverent affection. “This was the heart of Jeb. This was everything wonderful
and sweet and tender about him. This was the boy you called your best friend and the man who died in your arms over there.”
Kelly’s throat clogged with the heavy emotions that Jeb’s memory always spurred. Voice husky, he asked, “Were you his lover?”
Ty’s eyes were suspiciously watery. “I’m not sure lover is the right word for what we shared. We were both so young and innocent. All of this was so new to us. I don’t think we ever understood where that summer of experimentation was going to lead us.”
“How long…I mean…when did Jeb realize he was gay?”
“I think he always knew.”
Kelly cringed as he considered all the times he had teased Jeb or pushed women toward his shy friend. Why hadn’t Jeb said something? Why hadn’t he been honest? “I can’t believe I didn’t know.”
“Jeb was very skilled at hiding it. He’d always wanted to be a Marine. He knew what that entailed. When you two signed up after 9-11, Jeb shoved that part of him into a box and locked it away somewhere deep inside him.”
Thinking of the photos Trevor had shown him, he hesitantly asked, “What about the S&M? The women’s clothing?”
Ty didn’t answer immediately. “That came after me, Kelly. I don’t know if he always had those desires or if they were borne of his experiences at war.”
“I went to war, and I didn’t come back wanting to wear panties or a dog collar.”
Ty’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You shouldn’t judge the things you don’t understand. It’s not my cup of tea either, but I know many people who find a great deal of freedom in submission and embracing their kinks.”
Duly chastised, Kelly said, “You’re probably right.”
“There’s no probably to it.” His voice took on a faraway quality as he recalled, “I ran into Jeb again after that second deployment, the one that took you both to Fallujah. I was way, way too young to be in the leather club where he found me. Jeb took care of me and got me into a safe spot. That was the first time I had ever seen him like that. He seemed so at peace and so…free.”
Smiling, Ty continued, “I understood then that I never could have made him happy. What we shared when we were teenagers was beautiful and sweet, but it wasn’t what he needed. At the same time, Jeb could never have been the man I needed either.”
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