Shadows and Dreams (Dream Series Book 2)

by Braxton Hicks

  “I guess you’re right. It seems to be working, whatever it is. See you tomorrow, girlfriend.”

  She dropped me at the curb and I went through the lobby of our apartment building. Trey was stretched out on the couch watching football when I got in. Preston was napping. I kicked my boots off and curled up on the couch with Trey. He pulled me close, wrapping his arms around me. I ended up falling asleep in his arms. He woke me when the game was over, asking me if I was hungry.

  “I am, but I don’t feel like cooking anything,” I whined.

  We ordered a pizza to be delivered. Preston was awake, so I went ahead and bathed her while we waited for the pizza. I dressed her in pajamas and put her in her playpen with her favorite toys.

  Trey brought our pizza into the living room so he could watch the later games. He had a bottle of beer and had poured a glass of wine for me. I dug into the pizza. I sipped the wine slowly, as I had a one glass limit while still nursing.

  “Trey, can I ask you something?”

  “Sure, baby,” he replied wiping his mouth with a napkin as he grabbed another slice of pizza.

  “Has Libby hit on you?”

  He paused with the slice of pizza in mid-air. “What did Gina tell you?”

  “Never mind what Gina told me. I want to hear your version of it.”

  “I should've told you sooner; I’m sorry. Gina was eyeballing us all evening, so I imagine she just couldn’t wait to tell you.”

  I was starting to get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I needed to stay calm. I needed him to tell me what he thought I already knew. I downed the rest of my wine.

  “I’m waiting to hear your version of this, Trey.”

  “The other night at the club, Tristan got up to use the restroom. Libby was telling me a joke that she'd heard at work. Naturally, it was one of those X-rated jokes, but it was funny and I laughed. She was laughing too and then she sort of leaned into me and put her hand on my crotch and started feeling around.”

  “And you did nothing,” I hissed as if that's what I was led to believe.

  “That’s a lie!” he shouted, startling Preston from her play. She started to fuss so I went over to pick her up. My heart was pounding. I sat back down with her in my lap. She put her thumb in her mouth and leaned back against me watching Trey.

  “Let’s keep our voices down, Trey. No need to upset the baby,” I said calmly. “Go on.”

  “If Gina told you that I did nothing, then she's lying,” he said calmly, smiling to act as if everything was okay for Preston’s benefit. “I promptly lifted her hand from my crotch and asked her what the hell she thought she was doing. Her response was that she dreamed of doing both Tristan and I together—in bed I mean.”

  “Yes, I gathered that much,” I replied sweetly, bestowing a smile back to him. “Why haven’t you told Tristan?”

  “I don’t know. I’m conflicted. What if she tells him she was just kidding? What if she tells him I made it up? That could do irreparable damage to Tristan’s and my relationship. Of course, since Gina saw the whole thing and saw fit to tell you her version of it, then I suppose she'd be no help in validating it with Tristan.”

  I needed to come clean with Trey about Gina’s involvement or he would dislike her more than he already did.

  “Gina didn’t say anything to me about her fondling your junk,” I stated, picking up another slice of pizza as I balanced Preston on my lap.

  “What?”

  “Hey, you're the one who jumped to that conclusion. The only thing that Gina told me was that Libby was all over you and that you didn’t reciprocate. So, I'll thank you very much to not make a snap judgment about my BFF.”

  Trey started to say something more, but his IPhone chimed. He pulled it from his pocket to answer. I finished my slice of pizza as Trey took his call to the study. I took Preston into the kitchen and got her settled into her high chair for dinner. Trey came into the kitchen just as I was helping her use the cup to drink. He had a serious look on his face. I hoped it wasn't bad news.

  “That was the deputy D.A. giving us a courtesy call. Your moth—Maggie's been extradited back to Georgia. She'll be transported to the jail here, tomorrow.”

  “What's that mean for us?” I asked.

  “It means she'll be arraigned, make her pleading against the charges, have legal representation and the criminal litigation process starts for her here.”

  “Will she be able to get out on bond?”

  “That’s what I was discussing with the Deputy D.A. just now. Nothing's for certain, but she'll be considered a major flight risk, so they're going to go very high with her bond if she's granted one at all. Please don’t worry, baby.”

  “That’s easy to say, but we know she had assistance from at least one person in the area, maybe more. She's always been resourceful that way. At least you'll be here with us." I smiled at him for reinforcement.

  "I have to go to Baton Rouge this week, baby.”

  “Why and for how long?”

  “I have to make an oral argument and present briefs in a class action suit Harmon and I are handling in front of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. We're trying to consolidate cases that are pending in another district court and lump them together under one federal jurisdiction. It may be a couple of days.”

  Then I recalled what this was about. This was the case that had to go in front of the panel of seven federal judges, one having a name similar to mine. I'd meant to ask Trey about that numerous times, but had always seemed to get side-tracked.

  “I want to go with you,” I blurted.

  “Baby, if you don’t want to be alone, why not have Gina come and stay here with you while I’m gone?”

  “It’s not that. It’s about one of the federal judges on that judicial panel. I remember seeing his name when I was working at the firm the day Preston was taken. I meant to ask you about him then, but with all that’s happened, it slipped my mind. His name is mine only backwards.”

  Trey’s confusion was apparent.

  “His name is Preston James Tylar. His C.V. states that he was appointed as a federal judge in 1990, the same year that I was born. He serves as an appellate court judge in Baton Rouge, when not serving on the JPML.”

  “Tylar, I'm impressed with your knowledge of this particular judge, but I still don’t understand why you want to go with me.”

  “I know it sounds bizarre, but something hit me when I saw his name that day at the firm when I was entering the data in Harmon’s court calendar. I can’t describe it, but I just know that I have to see him.”

  “I have no issue taking you with me, but I’m not sure how much you'll be able to see. These hearings are similar to state Supreme Court arguments, where you get so many minutes to state your case and pitch your argument. Literally, when the red light in the front by the judges illuminates, it means to shut up and go back to your seat.”

  “What time is your hearing scheduled? We can get there early to make sure we sit up front.”

  “It doesn’t work that way, baby. The dockets are called at random beginning at 8:00 a.m. each morning, so we may simply sit there or have to hang out in the hallway until our docket gets called. It’s not like a court hearing you’ve seen on television where the defendants sit up front at a table facing the judges and the plaintiffs sit at the table on the opposite side.”

  “Trey, can you please humor me on this one?”

  “Hey, you’ve got it, babe. Just be prepared to be bored, and perhaps, disappointed. I think you’re putting too much stock in the fact that some judge has a name similar to yours only backwards.”

  “I’ll take the risk,” I assured him.

  “What about Preston? We’ll be there overnight.”

  “I’ll have Gina come stay here with her and then Jean can watch her while Gina works.”

  “Well, you better get that lined up because we leave Tuesday on an afternoon flight. I’ll have to make your reservation tonight.”


  “Thank you," I smiled up at him. “I love you.”

  Chapter 25

  Gina and I were chatting while we stocked the upstairs bar and hung the clean glassware. I'd shared with her Trey’s revelation as to what Libby had done Friday night. I also let her know how I got him to spill the beans.

  “No shit? He probably hates me more than ever now.”

  “No, I cleared that little detail up with him and, in fact, told him that you hadn't seen her do that, but had merely commented that she seemed very flirtatious with him, but that he didn’t reciprocate.”

  “Is he going to tell Tristan?”

  “I don’t think so. He feels it might cause a major rift between him and Tristan.”

  “I can’t believe how many skanks there are out there, can you?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “Most of them don’t give it a second thought about wanting to take your man, either.”

  “You’re starting to think a lot like me, girlfriend.”

  We went back downstairs and finished up at the main bar when we heard someone knocking on the front entrance doors. It was Tristan.

  Oh God - the skank is with him.

  Gina let them in and they walked across the dance floor to come and sit where I was standing on a chair dusting off one of the hanging light fixtures. Libby had tight black leather jeans on with a short cropped, black leather jacket and black leather boots. All she needed was a black leather riding crop to accent her outfit to perfection, I thought. Tristan introduced Libby to Gina.

  “We met Friday night, Tristan, remember?” she said. “I swear, girls, since he's turned forty his memory seems to be slipping. Thank God nothing else has or I just might have to trade him in for a younger model.”

  She was perched on a bar stool and playfully pulled him toward her for a kiss. Gina and I could read each other’s minds. Right now we both wanted to puke.

  Tristan asked me to give him the grand tour. Libby said she'd stay at the bar and chit-chat with Gina. I saw Gina roll her eyes as she turned back to the bar to answer her phone.

  I showed Tristan around the building. He had no idea that the place had such a well-equipped working kitchen, for not having a dinner menu. I explained the kind of crowd the Sanctuary got were more of the after 10:00 p.m. type that weren’t interested in eating dinner.

  He checked out the wine lists, drink menus and the Happy Hour menu that was in place Monday through Friday, which did discount beer, mixed drinks, and appetizers. He asked me if Gina would have any issue with his meeting with the accountant to go over the books. It sounded like he was serious about buying in.

  “Tristan,” I asked, “are you interested in a partial share of this place or controlling interest?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Trey seemed to think that you wanted to buy me out, which in all honesty, I'd have no problem with. It's already taking me away from Trey and the baby too much. Gina, on the other hand, has pretty strong convictions about how she wants to run this place. She’s already talked about changing the name of it.”

  “Really? What does she want to call it?”

  “The Shady Lady,” I replied, smiling.

  Tristan laughed appreciatively, displaying his dimple. "I can see the appeal of that. She’s a pretty feisty little thing, isn’t she?”

  “You've no idea,” I said.

  He'd be so perfect for Gina.

  “How about this, I'll talk one-on-one with Gina and let her know my interest in buying your share out to see if she’s even amenable in partnering up with me. If so, I'll request her permission to look at the books in advance. I'll make suggestions to Gina. We'll see fairly quickly if we butt heads or not.”

  “I can guarantee that you and Gina will butt heads. You'll never be bored, so enjoy it.”

  We returned downstairs where Tristan talked briefly to Gina. They arranged to meet at her accountant’s office the following day. Tristan delayed his return for another day in order to do this. I figured he was as good as her partner now, which would free me back up and make Trey happy as well. Libby was extremely quiet upon our return. She was sipping water and filing her nails, pretty much ignoring the rest of us. Gina called her accountant and a meeting was set for 10:00 a.m. the following morning. She gave Tristan the name and address of her accountant and they left. Gina locked the doors behind them. When she returned to the bar, she had a shit-eating grin going big time.

  “What did you do?” I asked her.

  “A video's worth ten thousand words. Why don’t I show you?”

  She grabbed her smart phone off of the register and pressed some buttons to bring up the video. She placed it on the bar for me to watch. The video showed Libby sitting on the bar stool she'd just vacated. I could hear Gina’s voice from behind the bar.

  “You know, Libby, I was working this end of the bar last Friday night when you, Tristan and Trey were sitting right over at that booth there.”

  “Yeah, I remember,” Libby answered.

  “Take a look over there at the booth you were sitting in and look up at the ceiling. What do you see?”

  “Looks like track lighting to me,” she said.

  “You’re only partially correct on that,” Gina said.

  “I don’t understand—”

  “Some of it is lighting for spotlighting the dance floor, but there are also closed-circuit cameras camouflaged in with the lighting. We have to do that to minimize theft and for crowd control on busy nights here. The video is streamed in so that it can be watched live from my office in the back, and it's also backed up on my computer.”

  I could see Libby get nervous as Gina continued.

  “I saw what you did to Trey that night when Tristan went to the restroom. I saw it on the playback video that's backed up on my PC. With some technical enhancement, I was even able to pick up the audio portion where you said you wanted to do both him and Tristan. That's what you said after you tried to massage his Johnson and he pushed your hand away.”

  “What's it to you, Gina?” she asked haughtily.

  “Well, first of all, Tylar is my best friend; you hit on her husband.”

  “So, what? He didn’t take the bait, did he? That was his loss.”

  “Secondly, hitting on your fiancé’s brother is usually not a very smart thing to do. It can cause a family rift.”

  “What do I care about a family rift? There's no way I’m marrying the dude, anyhow. He's turning out to be way too white-bread for me. I need more spice in my life; mix it up a little, you know?”

  Gina told her she was pathetic.

  “How so? Because I want to fuck Trey? Hey, I was fully prepared to let Tristan watch while his younger brother fucked me.”

  Libby continued on as if she'd choreographed the scenario in her mind.

  “Tristan would've been given the opportunity of punishing me for it later. Then we would've had some good make-up sex as a threesome, so there would've been no hard feelings amongst the brothers. We all would've been satisfied.”

  “You’re kind of a twisted bitch, aren’t you?” Gina asked.

  “Hey, don’t judge me, honey. I just happen to know what I like and I go for it. Maybe your friend's happy in her little married world with a snotty-nosed kid clinging to her tits all day; maybe she enjoys wiping up her baby’s shitty little ass, but that's not the life I want.”

  “What about what Tristan wants?”

  “Like I said, there won’t be a marriage. Do you know how many of these things I’ve collected over the years?” Libby held her hand up and splayed her fingers for the video, displaying the beautiful diamond engagement ring Tristan had given her.

  “No,” Gina answered, the disgust apparent in her voice, “How many?”

  “Six,” she said proudly. “I’ve kept them all.”

  The video stopped at that point as it had reached capacity. It was more than enough to show Tristan what she was about.

  “Gina, you're brilliant. Let’s go to your office I want to w
atch that downloaded clip of her trying to grope Trey’s crotch last Friday.”

  “There isn’t any video. I lied about all of that just to make her think I could present it to Tristan if I so desired. You can tell by my phone video, she doesn’t give a shit whether I do or not.”

  “You need to send that video to my phone so I can show it to Trey when he gets home. I’ll let him decide how he wants to handle it with Tristan.”

  “Sure enough; it’s on its way now.”

  We finished up at the bar and then locked up. Gina said she'd be at the apartment the following day by one o’clock to stay with Preston. Our flight left mid-afternoon. She didn’t work again until Wednesday afternoon, so Jean would be coming over to stay with Preston until Trey and I got home Wednesday night.

  I told Gina about Maggie being transferred to the jail in Atlanta sometime today.

  “I know what you’re going to say before you say it, Ty. Preston will be fine. I won’t take her outside. I won’t open the door for anyone except Jean. Don’t worry, okay?”

  “I trust you with her completely, but you know that I still worry after what I’ve been through.”

  “I know, but I don't see her getting bonded out.”

  “Trey doesn’t think so, either,” I replied. We said our good-byes and I headed home.

  Jean had cleaned the apartment while she was there today. She told me Preston had been napping and should be up before too long. I let Jean know that Maggie was returning to Atlanta where she faced multiple criminal charges. She assured me that she'd stay on high alert, but like Gina, she didn’t think a bond would be set for her.

  I'd put some chicken in the refrigerator to thaw for dinner, so I went ahead and preheated the oven and washed my hands to start the preparations. I'd just put the chicken in a baking dish in the oven when I heard Preston crying.

  She'd pulled herself into a standing position against the crib rails and quieted down when I went into her room. She raised her arms up for me to take her.

  “What’s the matter, sweetie?”

  We hadn’t had any of our regular girl time lately. I missed it and guessed that she had too. I got her situated and then rocked her slowly back and forth, enjoying our closeness again. Once finished, I took her out to the living room and put her in the playpen with her new activity center. She was content to entertain herself, which made life a lot easier for us.