by Virna DePaul
That weakness could get her killed.
Now or never, Tony, he thought.
He forced himself to grin. “Justine. Babe. Did you hear what the judge said? He’s letting me out on bail.” Stepping up to Justine, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against his body. “Guess what I want to do first?” he said just before he kissed her.
Chapter 12
Being beaten by Guapo’s men hadn’t hurt Linda nearly as much as seeing Tony kiss another woman. And by the looks of things, kissing wasn’t all he was planning on doing with her.
He’d called her “babe”—the same woman Linda had seen in the courtroom bathroom the day of Tony’s arraignment. The same one she’d suspected of snorting drugs while inside the stall.
People pushed past her, crowding her against the wooden observation seats, but she remained rooted, her focus on the familiar shoulders of the man she’d once loved, now covered with the languidly draped arms of a woman in a too-tight, too-short black leather miniskirt.
“Looks like he’s going to be taking advantage of his freedom sooner than later.” Neil’s gaze was locked on the kissing couple, too, only his attention seemed more focused on the brunette rather than Tony. “You know who she is?”
Linda quickly glanced away. “No,” she said, her voice scratchy but muted. No, no, no, she wanted to scream. Even more so, she wanted to stride up to the kissing couple and shove them apart. She shouldn’t care. But more importantly she had no right to.
Turning, she strode toward the courtroom doors, aware that Neil was right beside her. Just before she exited, she couldn’t help herself—she glanced back. Tony and his lover had stopped kissing and he was cradling her in his arms as if he never wanted to let her go. But his expression was grim. His gaze locked on Linda for a brief second. Just before he smiled.
That taunting smile did what the evidence itself hadn’t been able to do.
It told her Tony really was a changed man. A man who cared nothing for her. One that maybe even hated her. She bit her lip to stifle the sound of her pain, but when Neil laid his hand on her shoulder, she knew she hadn’t been successful.
“I’m sorry, Linda,” he said quietly.
She shook her head. “Don’t be. I’m used to being second best in his eyes. This time, I just happen to be second best to a woman rather than a controlled substance.” Who knew it could hurt so much more.
Taking her arm, Neil led her outside. “Come on. Let’s get some coffee and talk about something else for a while.”
Coffee was the last thing she wanted. And she certainly didn’t want to fake pleasant conversation when all she could think about was Tony kissing that woman. But Neil had already witnessed her weakness. Whether they ended up dating or not, she had to work with this man. That meant keeping up pretenses in front of him. She raised her chin. “Fine. But this time I’m buying.”
He nodded. “This time, I’ll let you.”
As they walked toward the downstairs cafeteria at the front of the courthouse, Neil said, “So how’d the two of you meet?”
She visibly stiffened, which caused him to wince.
“Sorry,” Neil said. “I know I said we’d talk about something else but you looked so torn up just now. And you only gave me bits of information about your previous relationship.”
Sighing, she said, “It’s okay. You’re doing me a favor by taking his case. It’s natural you’d be curious.” She hesitated. “I met him through his sister. Mattie Nolan. She was a court reporter here before you started. We—we were friends.”
“Were?”
“She left me, too,” she said, hearing the bitterness in her voice and mentally wincing. It wasn’t a fair accusation, she thought. Mattie had left with her daughter Jordon because she’d had to. Their lives had been in danger because of Guapo, just like hers had been. But why had she left without Tony?
“I’m an idiot,” Neil declared, startling her out of her spinning thoughts.
“Wh-what?”
“Obviously a lot of stuff happened between you, Tony and his sister. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
“It’s okay. Really. It is what it is. I put my trust in the wrong people.” She probably looked as dejected as she felt, so she forced a smile. “Can’t do that again. Not if I want to win this judgeship.”
“You haven’t done that with me, Linda. I promise. We’ll get through this and then maybe we can get back to the issue of you having dinner with me sometime.”
Tilting her head, she studied him. His expression was earnest. As far from Tony’s taunting smile as one could get. She felt her constricted heart loosen slightly. Getting through “this” meant either Tony’s freedom or incarceration. Either way, she’d be on her own. She was used to that, but the idea of a dinner date with Neil suddenly seemed like something to truly look forward to.
She took a deep breath. “I’m afraid I’ve created a conflict between the two of us, haven’t I? Having known Tony, I can’t exactly date you while you’re prosecuting him. As we discussed, the chances of me having to disclose my prior relationship with him are very slim, but still possible. If that happens and I was dating you... But you’re right... Afterward...” She nodded, causing him to grin.
“I look forward to afterward,” he said. They chatted some more over coffee, deliberately keeping the conversation focused far from Tony’s case. When they were done, Neil asked, “You going back to the office or heading out?”
“I’m going to head home.”
“You want me to walk you to your car?”
A flash of her assault by Guapo’s men in the parking lot swept over her. It did occasionally, but she refused to let it intimidate her. Especially now, she told herself. Eighteen months had passed with no incident and Guapo couldn’t hurt anyone anymore. Tony had made sure of that. Or so he claimed.
Man, things were so confusing. She didn’t know what to believe and for someone who was used to assessing witnesses and weighing evidence day in and day out, that was truly frustrating.
“I’m good, Neil. Thank you. For everything.”
As she made her way to the front of the courthouse steps, she found herself thinking about Neil. Sure, he’d expressed interest in her before, but he was definitely taking extra interest in her now. Because of Tony? Was he afraid that Tony would somehow ruin his chances with her and feeling he’d better stake his claim while he could? But that was ridiculous. Tony was charged with murder. There was—
“Coffee again, Linda?”
Her head jerked up at the familiar voice. Tony leaned against one of the outer walls of the courthouse.
“Honestly, I didn’t think you liked the stuff that much. Then again, maybe it’s not the coffee you really like, is it?”
She glanced around but saw no sign of the woman he’d been kissing so passionately less than thirty minutes ago. “Where’s your girlfriend?”
He frowned. Opened his mouth to speak. Shut it. Then shrugged. “Bathroom,” he said.
Yeah, she thought, and she’d place bets on what she was doing in there.
She kept walking toward the garage, the pavement hot under her feet, the sun straight in her face, nearly blinding her. A car idled at the corner, and she coughed on the noxious smoke, but threw over her shoulder, “Did you leave her there? Careful. Getting caught having sex in public while on bail? Could ruin all the work your attorney did to—”
He put a hand on her shoulder. That was all. Fiercely she whipped around, knocking his hand away, not caring that they were on a public sidewalk in front of a crowded courthouse. “Don’t touch me.”
“Why? Because Neil Christoffersen does that? Are you in love with him?”
She almost laughed. The expression on his face was dark and thunderous, the jealousy impossible to miss. “Are you crazy? You just kis
sed another woman—”
“Answer the question, Linda.”
“No.”
“No, you’re not in love with him or no, you’re not going to answer the question?”
She shot him a smile as taunting as the one he’d given her earlier. “You figure it out,” she said. Turning, she began walking away again.
“Linda, I— Wait!”
It all seemed to happen at once. A car screeched around the corner of the courthouse. Tony yelled and she saw him move out of the corner of her eye. Gunshots fired a split second before she felt something slam against her body.
She hit the concrete so hard the breath was knocked out of her. Pain exploded everywhere and all she could think was that she’d been shot. Then she realized Tony had knocked her down, covering her body with his. Which meant that he might have been shot, too.
She imagined his blood seeping out of him.
She imagined him dead.
Everything that had transpired in the past few years vanished. All she could think was this was Tony.
And he’d been hurt.
Again.
Oh, God. He wasn’t moving.
She fought back the gag reflex that suffocated her, and wriggled herself out from under him and onto her knees.
“Tony!” She kneeled over him, her shaking hands tugging at his shoulders.
He groaned.
“Tony! Answer me.”
“Linda!” Neil’s voice came from behind.
She glanced up, choking back a sob. Neil was scrambling down the steps toward her. Just behind him Tony’s girlfriend followed. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses but she appeared to be looking down the street, where the drive-by shooters had disappeared. Several court personnel and officers burst out of the courtroom.
“What the hell happened?” Neil asked, coming down to his knees next to her.
“We were shot at. Tony pushed me out of the way. He’s hurt—”
“I’m not hurt,” Tony said, his shoulders moving under her hands. He pulled away from her and slowly got to his feet, leaving her kneeling on the ground. For a second he hesitated, as if he was going to reach out a hand to help her, but then his gaze met that of the brunette. His mouth flattened grimly.
She went cold. He’d just saved her life, and now he didn’t want anything to do with her? This wasn’t a case of male ego—this was Tony’s absolute rejection of her because he didn’t want his girlfriend getting pissed.
Neil was beside her, helping her up. “Did you see anything? Faces? The car?”
She tore her attention away from Tony. Damn him. “I—I—” She shook her head. “The car was blue. That’s all I remember.”
“There were two men, a passenger and driver. They were driving a beat-up sedan. Blue,” Tony confirmed.
“You recognize them?”
Tony shook his head.
“Were you waiting out here to talk to Linda?” Neil asked.
Eyes narrowing, Tony challenged, “What if I was?”
“If you were, then I’m wondering if you held her up. Just long enough for her to get shot at.”
Linda stifled the automatic protest that came to mind and wrestled with that possibility. Had Tony set her up?
“Great theory, but I got shot at, too. Besides, I have no reason to want Linda dead. Why would I? She’s not the attorney prosecuting me anymore.”
Neil stiffened. “Is that a threat?”
“No. Just an observation. Perhaps you should remember that’s what you’re doing. Prosecuting me. Yet you made it mighty easy for me to get out on bail, remember?”
Wait—what? How could Tony make such an accusation? “Are you saying Neil’s responsible for those men shooting at us?”
Tony finally looked at her. Caught her gaze and held it, challenging her with his stare. “Shooting at me, babe. I’m betting you were just in the way. As usual.”
Those two words knocked the breath out of her. “Then why push me out of the way? Why protect me at all? Maybe you’re not the conscienceless drug dealer you’re trying to make everyone believe you are.”
“Oh, I am, Linda. Make no mistake about that. As to why I pushed you out of the way?” He shrugged. “You meant something to Mattie once. And yes, you meant something to me. That was worth something. But from now on, you’re on your own.” He looked at Neil. “Start doing your job and take care of her so I don’t have to.”
Chapter 13
Tony and Justine were more than a mile away from the courthouse when he said, “Damn it, what am I doing? I can’t leave Linda by herself. Not now.”
Realistically, he knew he shouldn’t go back for her, but he also shouldn’t have said anything to her when she’d been walking down those stairs to go to her car. He’d done so anyway. He hadn’t been able to help himself. He’d seen the hurt on her face when he’d kissed Justine. How devastated she’d been when he’d smiled at her and called her “babe,” as if he hadn’t cared one iota for Linda’s feelings.
That had been so far from the truth.
Now she’d almost been shot and he’d walked away and all he could think about was how she’d come to see him in the jail infirmary. How concerned she’d been about his pain. His needs. And this was how he was going to repay her?
“We have to go back.”
Justine glanced at him from the driver’s seat of her car. “And do what? Confess that you’re not the heartless criminal you’ve been pretending to be? You already publicly threw yourself in front of her to take a bullet. Why not advertise to the whole world that you care about her? I’d give her less than twenty-four hours before someone comes after her in order to prove he and not you will be replacing Guapo.”
“Maybe she already has someone after her. Despite what I said, I’m not so sure the people who shot at us were after me.”
“How can you say that?”
“Why would someone shoot me? Like you said, it would only be to get me out of the picture and get their cut of Guapo’s drug ring, but they wouldn’t risk shooting me down in front of the county courthouse. Plus, I know who Guapo ran with, and the guys in that car? I didn’t recognize them.”
“It isn’t just the men who were loyal to Guapo who want to take you down. You’re open season for every wannabe drug dealer thinking to get in on the action. You made me a promise, Tony. You said you cared about my brother, enough to find the scumbag responsible for getting him hooked on Rapture and to shut him down so another kid doesn’t die. Have you changed your mind about that?”
“Damn it, how can you say that after the past few weeks? I did care about your brother. I did everything I could to convince him to get clean and finish high school. To get away from Guapo and turn his life around. And you know I’ll do whatever I can to find the Rapture supplier, but—”
“Then be smart. That woman? Linda Delaney? She’s with her friend the prosecutor. He’ll protect her in a way you can’t.”
Like Tony could forget Neil. Asshole. “I don’t like him.”
She smiled slightly. “No? Good-looking, upstanding guy like him? What’s not to like? Other than he’s trying to put you in prison, that is.” Her smile disappeared. “And all for a crime you didn’t even commit,” she said softly.
Tony glanced at her. No, he hadn’t killed Guapo, but he had a lot of other things he was guilty of. Each one of those things had made him feel like he was lying when he’d pled not guilty in court. He was guilty, but he could still do some good. Starting with taking the blame for Guapo’s death and making sure Justine didn’t have to go through the trauma of a trial. Hell, the woman was still grieving the loss of her younger brother and she’d been helping Tony with his mission any way she could. That was the only reason Guapo had attacked her in the first place, causing Justine to kill him in self-defense.
Plus, Tony copping to killing Guapo had made sense for another reason altogether—once word spread to the streets, it would give more legitimacy to his claims that he was taking over Guapo’s drug business and that he was tough enough to do so. Granted, he’d probably also issued a challenge to countless thugs who would try to prove they were even badder than he was, but hopefully word of Guapo’s death would keep them away long enough for Tony to find out the identity of the Rapture supplier. “None of that,” he told Justine. I killed Guapo, remember? Me. That’s our story and we’re sticking with it. If the man who was supplying Guapo Rapture believes I killed Guapo because I wanted in on their drug partnership, he’ll contact me. And we’ll be able to shut him down.”
“If that’s what you still want, then you really can’t go back to see that woman, Tony.”
Leaning his head back against the seat, Tony closed his eyes. Damn, his entire body ached. And even worse, he really wanted to take something to make the aches go away. Something strong, like Oxy. That, more than Justine’s pleas, made up his mind about Linda. “I know.”
One thing he didn’t know? When the lies would stop. Hell, he hadn’t even explained to Justine why he’d kissed her and he could tell she was looking at him with even more interest now. An interest he didn’t return.
When was he going to stop hurting those he cared about even as he was trying to do the right thing?
He opened his eyes and straightened. When he’d done the job he was supposed to do, he told himself. When Rapture, the same drug that had killed Rory, Justine’s brother, was taken out of the equation.
But despite telling Neil Christoffersen to do his job and take care of Linda, Tony knew he couldn’t leave it at that.
He said nothing about his intentions to Justine, but he had to make sure Linda was safe. He was going to learn the identity of the Rapture supplier, but he wasn’t going to sacrifice Linda’s life to do it.
