by Brook Wilder
“That was amazing,” I breathed. I turned my head to catch his gaze and looked deep into his eyes.
“You’re telling me,” he said with a small chuckle. “Olivia, you’re probably the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
I realized with a start that I was slowly falling in love with the man in front of me. The real Emmett, the one who loved his daughter and wanted out of the biker lifestyle. This was dangerous territory for me. If only we could stay in this bedroom, in this moment, forever. We couldn’t, though, and once we both stepped back out into the real world, everything was going to change and not necessarily for the better.
I rolled over, grabbing his hand in mine, giving it a small squeeze. The real world could wait a while. We spent over an hour just lying there, gazing at each other and talking about nothing, before Emmett stood up and started to put his clothes back on.
Chapter 13
“So, uh, what do we do now?” I asked as Emmett slid back into his jeans. He looked at me like I had three heads as I pulled his bed sheets over my body. I felt embarrassed, but this was foreign territory for me. It was rare for me to just casually make love with someone, especially in the middle of the afternoon. Hell, it had been years since I’d even looked a man in a romantic way. I was so out of my depth and the awkwardness of the situation made my toes curl.
“Well, I figured you would head home,” he said. “Unless you really want to hang out in my dingy trailer. I just assumed you’d have something you needed to get to, you know.”
“I mean, I do,” I said hesitantly. I had a list of errands as long as my arm, but my will to do any of them had evaporated as soon as Emmett had kissed me. The truth was that as soon as I stepped outside that bedroom door, the magic of the past hour would be gone. We’d stop being us and go back to being Emmett the rough and ready biker and Olivia the stuck-up lawyer.
“Why don’t we grab dinner tonight?” he asked. “I mean, it doesn’t have to be an actual date if you don’t want it to be.”
He turned as he said this and I stifled a giggle at his flustered expression. Both of us were confused, deeply confused, about what had just happened. I certainly had feelings for Emmett, and the sex had been absolutely amazing, but was this something I actually wanted to pursue? We were from two different worlds, which, if they did collide, would probably only result in heartache for both of us. I also had Jon to contend with. This morning had proved how small Black Rock really was and I doubt it would go unnoticed if we went on a dinner date.
“As much as I’d like to, I don’t know if that’d be such a good idea,” I said. “Unless we go out of town, like far out of town. Jon told me he’d fire me if he heard even the slightest rumor that we were seeing each other like this. Apparently, someone told him about how you kissed me last night and he took it very badly.”
“Oh, shit,” he said. “I guess that makes sense. I am your client after all.”
“Yeah, it’s actually kind of terrifying. I can’t really afford to move anywhere, and Jon told me that this was a one in a million job for me.”
I was about to continue venting when I noticed Emmett had raised his arms to run his hands through his hair. Since he hadn’t put his shirt back on yet, I could see every inch of his tanned and muscled torso. Earlier, I’d been so distracted that I’d failed to notice that his arms were completely bare. There was no eagle tattoo, or any tattoos for that matter, in sight, and I almost cried aloud in excitement. It was true. Emmett’s brother had actually killed Wildcard and the police had wrongly arrested Emmett.
I then realized I had been staring at Emmett silently for far too long. He had a puzzled look on his face, and I scrambled to continue the conversation without giving away my sudden realization.
“Do you not have any tattoos?” I asked as breezily as I could manage. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a biker without at least some ink on him.”
“I don’t. As a matter of fact, I think I’m the only guy in the Martyrs without a one,” he said. “I just never found anything I liked enough to have on my body forever. My brother, though, has a handful of them. People always say how funny it is that we look so alike yet are two completely different people.”
I wanted to press on and ask if one of them happened to be an eagle, but I’d learned my lesson from last night. If I kept pushing and showed my hand now, Emmett might completely shut down again and my chances of winning this case would tank. I hated to think of what had just happened in such a clinical light, but our sex had really opened him up to me. Before I had just caught flashes of the real Emmett, but now here he was, completely vulnerable. I wondered briefly if I looked the same to him. I liked to think I presented my true self to the world, but maybe I too had walls up for protection.
Before I could travel any further down that mental rabbit hole, the ring of my cell phone startled me. It was still in the living room, and I scrambled to throw on my clothes before I ran out of the bedroom. It stopped ringing just as I reached it, and the screen displayed Jon’s name under the missed call notification. I was partially glad the call had gone to voicemail. It’d be pretty hard to explain why I sounded so out of breath if I’d taken the call right now. I took a deep breath, calming myself, while I hastily pieced together a plausible story in my head. I pushed the call button and put the phone to my ear. It rang twice before Jon picked up.
“Jon, hey, sorry about missing your call,” I said, pacing around the living room in circles. “I’d put my phone down in the other room, and I hadn’t heard it ringing.”
“Not a problem,” he said. I breathed a sigh of relief, chiding myself for my unwarranted anxiety. Jon wasn’t psychic after all, and there was no way he could know what had just happened. “Did you listen to my voice mail?”
“No, I didn’t. I figured I’d just call you back. Is something wrong?”
“Well, yes and no. Are you still with Emmett by chance?”
I panicked slightly, stopping dead in my tracks. Part of me thought to just tell the truth, but I also thought it would look funny if I was still at Emmett’s place. After all, I’d just come to tell him the news about his brother. That certainly didn’t warrant me being here for two whole hours now.
“Olivia?” Jon asked.
“I’m still here, Jon, I just got a little distracted,” I said. “I left Emmett’s house an hour ago, so no, I’m not with him.”
Emmett had just walked in the room as I spoke the last sentence and I gave him a look that he hopefully interpreted correctly. If Jon or anyone else called Emmett next, he would need to corroborate my lie or I’d be in serious trouble.
“Ah, well, that makes sense. I just wanted to warn you that the police have a warrant out for Emmett’s arrest. I figured you could tell him in person if you were still there, but I’ll just call him after we’re done.”
“A warrant, why? It can’t be for the murder charge, he was bailed out for that.”
“I can’t say for certain what happened, but I think more than a few people are angry that a potentially violent criminal got released so quickly. Whatever the cause, the police dug up enough overdue traffic tickets to warrant his arrest. The chief of police actually called your desk first, but I answered since you weren’t there.”
“Damn, Jon. What does that mean for us?”
“Nothing really. The traffic offenses will be tried separately and shouldn’t have an impact on our case. The one thing we do need to make sure of is that Emmett doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“Like what?”
“I’ll tell him this myself, but when the police come, he needs to cooperate. If he fights back, that’s what’s going to reflect badly on us.”
“Ok, Jon. Thanks for the heads up. Let me know if anything changes.”
He hung up without saying goodbye and it was only seconds until Emmett’s phone started to ring.
“Emmett,” I said. “I can guarantee that’s Jon. Just listen to what he has to say, and remember that he thinks I left your
house an hour ago.”
Emmett nodded, then took Jon’s call. He spoke cheerfully at first, but I watched his face fall as Jon gave him the news. Emmett kept his composure during the conversation but hurled his phone into the couch the second he hung up.
“What the hell!” he yelled, kicking at the coffee table.
“It’s not so bad,” I said in what I hoped was a soothing voice. “Your bail will be much lower this time and traffic court works a lot faster. You’ll probably only be there for the night.”
“That’s not what I’m angry about,” he said, turning to me with a stony look. “At the end, Jon said that my murder charge would probably get dropped because of what you were supposed to tell me. He said something about my brother, asking if I knew where he was? Tell me, right now, what the hell was he talking about?”
Chapter 14
Emmett paced around the living room while he waited for my reply, his hands clenching and unclenching restlessly. I knew I needed to tread carefully. He might have taken this news a little better an hour or so ago before Jon called, but that opportunity was lost. It was up to me to control the damage and own up to my mistakes.
“Look, Emmett, I was going to tell you earlier before we got, uh, distracted,” I said, stalling as much as I could to give myself time to think up what to say next. Emmett had said that his brother inherited most of his f’s temper, but I could still see a malicious anger growing in Emmett’s eyes. The kind, loving Emmett I’d know ten minutes ago was gone and replaced by a hard man accustomed to doling out violence.
“Now, Olivia,” he growled. Something snapped in me, and I realized that the best way forward was to just tell the truth as plainly as I could.
“I know about your brother, Knox, and I knew about him before we talked last night. I know about his green eyes and his tattoo,” I said, my voice falling into a monotonous tone. “We have proof, on video, that the shooter had an eagle tattoo on his right bicep that matches the description the women in the bar gave me of your brother. I also have confirmation from the diner owners that the shooter had green eyes. Emmett, we have conclusive proof that it was your brother, not you, who shot Wildcard and I intend to use this information.”
Emmett stared at me while he processed this, his mouth hanging wide open. His fury was starting to grow, and I wondered what he was about to do. I doubted that he would go so far as to actually injure me, but it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. Normally, I’d be afraid, but my own temper was slowly flaring up. Here I was, trying to help him see his daughter again, and he dared to be angry at me.
“If I take this evidence to the police,” I continued. My voice was no longer monotonous and, instead, had an edge of irritation in it, “they’ll drop the charges against you and you’ll be considered innocent.”
“But they’ll go after Knox,” he said, “and I can’t let them do that to my brother!”
“Your brother can handle himself,” I said, my voice rising. “He made the choice to shoot Wildcard and he needs to take responsibility for that action! Besides, isn’t this what you wanted in the first place? Or were you lying to me when you said you’d do anything to see your daughter again?”
“I wasn’t lying to you, but there are some things I just can’t do,” he said. “Knox is the only family I have left.”
“I don’t get it. The way you talked about him only an hour ago, it seems like Knox is a stranger to you now. You said it yourself that you resented your dad’s favoritism toward him. Why on earth are you willing to go to jail for him?”
“You just don’t understand.”
“You’re right, I don’t. How you can possibly justify choosing your brother’s freedom over your daughter is just baffling to me. She needs her dad in her life and that won’t happen if you’re rotting in jail because you were too proud to hand over your asshole of a brother!”
“Get out,” Emmett said, his voice almost a whisper. I held my ground, waiting to see what he would do next. I still wanted to help this man, even if he was being the most stubborn man in the world right now.
“I said go!” he yelled as he kicked over the coffee table. Coasters flew at me and one of the table legs splintered from the force of his kick.
I quickly gathered the rest of my things and all but sprinted out to my car. He stood silently to the side, seething in rage as he watched me leave. His large frame that had looked so protecting just minutes ago had now turned into a terrifying wall of muscle.
He stared as I sped out of his driveway and out of the complex, my tires throwing gravel as the spun out. I pulled off onto the shoulder as soon as I reached the highway, finally realizing how much I was shaking. While I tried to calm down, I thought over what my next course of action should be. Though a small part of me wanted to respect Emmett’s desire to protect his brother, but there was no way I could let an innocent man go to jail. It was my duty, as his lawyer, to act in Emmett’s best interest. Just because he was blinded by familial loyalty didn’t mean I had to be.
I decided I would go home to shower first, but my next stop was the police station. I would tell them everything I knew without regret. Emmett could yell at me all he wanted, but I was going to win this case and leave Black Rock behind me for good.
Chapter 15
“Thank you for calling, officer. I appreciate the information,” I said as I hung up the phone.
I let out a huge sigh and leaned back into my office chair. I’d come in this morning feeling awful, a feeling that had hung with me ever since my trip to the police station last night. I had told the detective in charge of Emmett’s investigation everything I’d found out over the past few days and he had told me that, with this information, chances were good that all charges against Emmett would be dropped. I should have felt happy then, and I should have felt even happier now that the detective had called to confirm that Emmett had been dropped from their official suspect list. They were now focusing their efforts on finding Knox and had withdrawn the murder charges against Emmett. They were still bringing Emmett in for the traffic charges, but he’d only be in jail for the night and everything would be resolved as soon as he paid his fines.
Forget happy, I should be jumping around my office now. I’d technically won Emmett’s case and now I was free from this backwoods town. Emmett was free in a way as well. He’d be able to see his daughter and, as soon as I told Jon about the phone call, I’d be packing up my desk and heading to Phoenix. I looked around the small office with its messy paint job and stained ceiling tiles and tried to force myself to be happy. It didn’t work, especially since I now realized that this meant the end of my adventures with Emmett. He hated my guts now and it was no use trying to reconcile if I was going to be relocating in the near future. I felt tears start to prickle at the edges of my eyes, and I put my hands to my face to try and stem the flow. Shame sprang up as I realized that I was crying over a man who I barely knew, one who probably hated my guts.
I heard a soft knock and looked up to see Emmett standing in my doorway with a stony look on his face. My heart started to race. What did he know? Had the police called him yet or was I about to tell him that his brother was now wanted for murder? His face was impossible to read, so I sat silently and waited for him to speak.
“Olivia,” he said in an eerily calm voice, “We need to leave here, now.”
“Excuse me?” I replied. He slid into my office with a furtive look behind him and shut the door.
“I just talked to my buddy Charles. He’s the one who bailed me out of jail and pretty much my only real friend in town. He told me that Wendell got wind that the police are after Knox now, and he thinks it’s my fault. Charlie happened to overhear a couple of brothers talking and learned that both you and I are next on the hit list. Me for snitching and you for being a nuisance to the club.”
“Oh my God,” I said, panic rising in me. What the hell was happening in my life? All I wanted to do was help Emmett and now there were people who actually w
anted to kill me.
“I know it’s a lot to handle, but please, just come with me. We’ll lie low for a bit and figure out how to get ourselves out of this mess.”
I sat frozen in my desk chair, almost unable to process what was happening. I knew I needed to get up and go with Emmett, but the overwhelming fear wasn’t letting me move.
“Olivia!” Emmett said, a little louder. I could hear the edge of fear in his voice and I looked up to see him gazing out the window. “Shit. Is there a back way out of this place? Looks like the Martyrs are working faster than I thought.”
