“Of course we cannot force you to let him get his things tonight,” Tyler said, “but I have already called my attorney and he is in the process of drafting an emergency motion to allow Steven access to his property. Either we can handle this tonight, quickly and privately, or I will make sure my attorney forces you to get an attorney and it will cost you a minimum of twenty thousand dollars just to let him get his things. Are you really ready to play that game, madam? Because I can assure you, I am quite eager and ready to bleed you dry many times over after the shameful way you treated your father and mine, much less your poor son.”
Andrew could tell from the steel in Tyler’s voice that while the attorney move was a bluff, it was one he was prepared to make good on immediately. In light of not being able to personally handle Zoey’s crisis, Tyler would channel all available energy into the fights he could fight.
To Steven’s benefit, at least.
The deputy turned to her. “Ma’am? Personally, I say let the boy get his things tonight, and both of you spend a week or two cooling off. I can’t force you to let him into your house, but I’m pretty sure if you don’t, you’re going to regret it in more ways than one, and it’s going to be a lot more expensive than just letting him get them.”
It looked like the thought was physically painful to her. “Fine!” she finally spat. “You’d better go right now and be gone before I get home from church, because if you ever set foot in my house again after tonight, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing!”
“Go,” the deputy said to Tyler. “I’ll be right behind you so I can document and attest to the fact that you didn’t trash the place. Wait until I get there to go inside.”
“Thank you, officer,” Tyler said.
Tom pulled out his keys and grabbed Tyler, guiding him and Steven down the porch and to his truck.
As they drove out of the yard, Andrew pulled himself to his full height and stepped down off the porch. He walked over to Susan and smiled.
“Officer, what do I have to do to issue a trespass warning against this woman? I told her the last time she accosted me here at my home that she’d bloody well best never grace me with her presence again.”
“I’ll get my citation book.” He headed for his car.
“What!” Her voice approached a painfully shrill screech.
Andrew smiled and dropped his voice to a whisper the deputy couldn’t hear. “Shut your gob, you manky bint. You can’t stand it that your father and son are both happier with you out of their lives, can you? I’ve seen how this ends before, and it does not end well for the likes of you. You’ve lost them.” He dropped into a Savannah drawl. “Do not come ‘round here again, or you’ll learn how, like my son, I take care of people in these here parts.” Turning so the deputy, Colin, and Nevvie couldn’t see, he mimed firing a gun at her with his fingers.
She stared at him with wide eyes, recognition of who he was finally dawning, while the deputy returned and wrote out the citation.
He ripped it off the pad and handed it to her. “You are hereby warned not to return to this property. If you do, you can and will be arrested for trespassing. Now, I’ll go to your house and make sure they leave it put together so you can’t claim they destroyed it. I suggest you go to your church meeting like you said you were and not come home until they’re gone. Then calm down, think about what you’ve done, and if you really want to pray for something, pray your son and father forgive you for how you’ve acted toward them tonight.”
“He-he just threatened me!”
Andrew stuck his hands in his pockets and innocently stared at the deputy.
“What’d he say?” the deputy asked.
“He threatened to shoot me! Like his son shot that guy years ago!”
The deputy looked like he’d rather be any place but there, but he studied Andrew.
“I told her not to return, or I would take action.” He pointed at the citation pad in the deputy’s hand. “I will not hesitate to file trespassing charges against her. And yes, I did remind her my son is well off financially, more than rich enough to carry through on his threat to front the legal fees to fight her on this.”
The deputy pointed at her car. “Go. Now.”
“But—”
“Now!”
From behind the deputy, Andrew waggled his fingers at her and blew her a kiss.
“This isn’t over!” she screamed before turning.
“Oh, I quite assure you it is,” Andrew called after her.
The deputy shook his head and turned back to Andrew. “Mr. Paulson, here’s my card, and a case number.” He handed over a business card with the number written on the back. “If you need to call us back out for her, refer to that number so they can find the warning easier.”
“Thank you, officer.” He shook with the man. “I appreciate it.”
The deputy waited until Susan was in her car before he leaned in and dropped his voice. “Your son is sort of a legend in our department,” he said. “I’d just been hired on when he shot that guy. Do you think he’d mind if I asked him for his autograph? I love his books.”
Andrew smiled. “I’m sure he’d be honored. Nevvie, darling?”
She took the porch steps two at a time and quickly joined him. “Yeah, Dad?”
“The officer here is a fan of Tyler’s. Do you perhaps have any—”
She grinned. “I’ll go run grab an ARC super fast. We live right next door. Follow me, and you can take it with you. I’ll call Ty and tell him.”
The deputy grinned. “Thank you! That’s really kind of you.”
Colin stepped down and handed Nevvie his keys. “Take my car, hon.”
She kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Pop.”
As she drove away, the deputy following her, Andrew draped his arm around Colin’s shoulders. “Sorry about our evening, love.”
He wore a pleased smiled. “She called me Pop.”
“I heard.” He couldn’t help smirking. “I did warn you that they would adopt you.”
“Yeah, you did.” Colin’s green gaze didn’t leave him. “Now what’d you really say to Susan?”
Andrew’s eyebrows lifted. “Moi?”
Colin arched an eyebrow at him.
“You truly wish to know?”
“Yeah.”
He shrugged. “I reminded her who my son is. I also might have implied a more permanent solution than just a telephone call to the authorities to have her arrested, if she dared return. After all, is this not a castle doctrine state?”
Colin finally chuckled and slowly shook his head. “I can see where Ty gets it now. Come on, Sir, our lasagna is getting cold.”
“Oh, dear. Steven didn’t get to finish his.”
“We’ll put plastic wrap over it and reheat it later. I’d give you a blow job right now, if I thought we wouldn’t be interrupted before I could finish it.”
Andrew had to stop walking, he laughed so hard. “Did you just offer to blow me for threatening your daughter?”
Colin turned and kissed him, reaching down to palm Andrew’s bulge…which was now showing interest. “Hell yeah. No one’s ever stood up for me the way you have, and I damn sure love it. And you.”
Chapter Eight
Several days after Steven moved in, and Colin and Steven hadn’t heard anything else from Susan. While Steven and Colin chose to look at that as a win, it troubled Andrew greatly.
He knew it didn’t mean she’d given up, only that she’d gone to lick her wounds and come up with a new plan.
People like her did not give up until they’d exhausted all recourse. Emily had been proof of that.
Grandfather and grandson enjoyed spending time together, able to relax without worries about Susan looking over Steven’s shoulder, or how he’d spent his time outside of school. Andrew enjoyed having someone else around the house. He also noticed Zoey started spending a lot more time over there with them, as well.
Perhaps that was one way for her to heal. Seeking safety in o
thers she could trust. Someone she knew wouldn’t hurt her.
Chloe felt as if she’d gained a big brother, and it warmed Andrew’s heart that Steven didn’t brush her off as an annoyance. He spent time with her, too, whether it was helping her with schoolwork or working with her on something like tying her shoes.
The peace couldn’t last. Thursday morning, as everyone was getting ready for work or school and Andrew and Colin were trying to stay out of their way after fixing them breakfast, there came a knock on the front door.
Andrew glanced out the kitchen window and spotted an unfamiliar car in the yard. But it was Karen who made it to the door first. As Colin and Andrew stepped into the hallway, she answered it.
“Can I help you?” she asked the man.
“Mr. Colin Dawson?”
“Dude, do I look like a mister or a Colin?”
Colin walked up to the door and pushed the screen door open. “That’s me.”
The man handed him an envelope. “Process server.” Then he turned and left.
Andrew’s rage simmered, because he knew what this was about before he even made it to Colin.
Bill and Steven joined them as Colin ripped the envelope open and scanned it.
“That woman!” His hands trembled as he read. “I’d wring her dang neck if she was standing here.”
“What is it, Grandpa?” Steven asked.
Karen looked murderous. “Your mother is filing with the court to get custody of Colin and be named his power of attorney and all of that. Son of a bitch.”
Andrew held his hand out for the papers, and Colin handed them over.
“I’m going to call her and bitch her out,” Steven said.
“No! Absolutely not.” Andrew waggled a finger at him. “We’ll let the attorney deal with it. We’ll talk to Davis and see if he handles family law. If not, I’m sure he can recommend someone good. Do not, under any circumstances, have contact with her. They might use that against us.”
Colin sank down onto the sofa. “She just don’t want to quit, does she?”
“I was afraid of this.” Andrew joined Colin on the sofa and patted him on the thigh. “We’ll talk to Davis this morning.”
Among the outrageous allegations that Andrew logically knew would be thrown out were things like corrupting her son and “turning him gay by influence,” “living out of wedlock with another man,” and “clear signs of dementia by suddenly changing his living situation.”
I suppose there are attorneys greedy enough to take any case.
The plaintiffs were Susan and her brothers, and the hearing was set to happen in two weeks. And Colin needed a new attorney locally, because his had moved to Atlanta.
Once everyone was out the door, leaving Colin and Andrew alone, Andrew called Nevvie.
“Darling, I need Davis’ number, please.”
“Our attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Um…okaaaay, stupid question—why?”
Andrew barely got two sentences out before she let out an angry shriek and said something he thought sounded like be right there and then ended the call.
Colin frowned. “What happened?”
“I’m…not sure.” He was about to call her back when he heard the sound of a car in the yard, and there came Nevvie, still in her PJs, piling out of it.
He had the door open by the time she stormed up the front porch stairs and into their living room.
“What’d that bitch do?”
Rather than tell her, Andrew handed her the paperwork. As she looked through it, he heard another vehicle, and here came Tom and Tyler in Tyler’s car, both of them looking like they hadn’t had time to dress, either.
As the three of them read the paperwork, Nevvie angrily muttering under her breath the whole time, Tyler took charge and called Davis. Twenty minutes later, Andrew and Colin were taking a shower together, and the triad had headed home to get their own showers. They’d be back in thirty minutes to pick up the men and accompany them to Davis’ office, where one of his partners, who Davis assured them would love to get his teeth into a case like that, would be happy to hand Susan’s ass to her in a basket.
Andrew would have preferred it be just him and Colin, but considering his children loved both of them, and had so readily accepted Colin—and Steven—as full-blooded adopted family, he wouldn’t turn them down.
He was a little shocked, however, when Nevvie whipped out her checkbook when they first got there. “What do you need to get started?”
“Ah, sweetheart?” Andrew said. “We’ve got this.”
Tom smiled, but it was Tyler who actually tackled reeling in their enraged wife and soothing her.
“They are adults, love,” he said. “And if they were to need assistance paying for this, I would hope they both know they need only ask and the blank check shall be issued immediately.”
Her brow furrowed. “No one fucks with my family.”
“They know, love. Now please, let them speak with the man.”
An hour later, the attorney assured them he would enjoy knocking this one out of the park. Rather than request an immediate dismissal, he preferred to take it to court and go for a ruling that would prevent it from being refiled in the future, and would report back to the men in a couple of days with their next step.
Colin also handed over all the paperwork that he wanted updated and changed, such as his will and power of attorney. With that handled, as they headed back to the men’s house, Nevvie, sat in the backseat between them and grumbled the entire time.
“Crystal’s going to think I bailed on her today. That stupid bitch.”
“Crystal?” Colin asked.
“Not Crystal being a bitch. I meant Susan. Sorry. Crystal and I were going to work on a new Facebook ad campaign this morning to dovetail with the Netflix series. She’s leaving for New York on Sunday.”
“Ah.”
Her expression softened. “Hey, you’re family. This takes priority.”
“Why don’t you two come over for lunch?” Tyler asked. “We didn’t eat breakfast.”
“Please?” Nevvie asked as she hooked her arms through theirs.
Colin smiled and shrugged at Andrew. “Please?”
Andrew couldn’t help laughing. “Fine. I know when I’m outnumbered.”
Except…they were partway through their lunch when Crystal arrived. And before Andrew could ask Nevvie not to say anything to Crystal about their personal situation, Nevvie was already all up in it, telling Crystal about it and asking about social media strategies on how to counteract it.
Andrew was trying to figure out a way to gracefully extricate himself and Colin from there when Bob called Tom. Upon finding out Colin and Andrew were there, he asked Tom to put the call on speaker mode.
“Crystal’s here, too,” Tom told him.
“That’s fine. I received a call from Detective Cash. They performed one more data dump on your security system this morning, and that’s going to be the last one, unless they get new permissions from you, or a search warrant. No more signs of the creeper.”
Nevvie crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her arms as if chilled. “Terrific. And they haven’t done jack shit to find whoever that fucker is.”
“We already knew the creeper hasn’t been back,” Tom said. “I’ve got the alerts going to our phones now. Bad call on my part before, I’d stopped monitoring it because we hadn’t had a need to. Just got texts when the alarm was set or disarmed or if it went off. And all the extra cameras haven’t picked up anything except deer and a couple of opossums. Or us and the kids.”
“Well, that’s one good thing,” Bob said. “I did impress on the detective that it would behoove them to put as much energy into trying to identify that mystery person as they did in trying to falsely accuse Nevvie of killing Cole Johnson. Frankly, Dunn’s an idiot, and Cash basically admitted as much to me over the phone without coming right out and saying it. I think she’s trying to get control of that investigation, too, c
onsidering how it’s overlapped at this point.”
“How many victims have they discovered?” Tyler asked. “Of Cole’s?”
“Last count? Nearly forty. Will all of them be able to be confirmed victims? Maybe not. When we start getting numbers like that, there’s bound to be a few people jumping on trying to get a payout. But many of them, even if they don’t have hard evidence, we can confirm they shared classes or had enough regular contact with Cole Johnson that it’s likely they were a victim. Or they’d contemporaneously told others when the encounter happened, and they can attest to that.
“And not all of the encounters were full-on rape the way Zoey experienced. Some of them experienced a sexual assault, like he groped them or fingered them. A couple of them, he reportedly made them give him blow jobs on demand because he cozied up to them and got topless or naked selfies from them, and then used those to extort the victims. So in addition to a rapist, we can technically add child porn to the list.”
Nevvie looked like she was going to puke. “Motherfucker,” she muttered.
Crystal reached over and hugged her.
Perhaps I should be more generous in my thoughts toward Crystal.
Still…Andrew couldn’t understand his visceral reaction to her. And that annoyed him, too.
“They finally movin’ on from us, then?” Tom asked.
“I hope so. She couldn’t promise Dunn wouldn’t make another run at Nevvie in the future, but she said she’s trying to nudge the investigation into a broader scope. The only good thing about how many victims there appear to be is that expands the suspect field. Hell, the killer could have been anyone we don’t even know about yet, maybe a victim or victim’s relative. Cash let it drop to me that there didn’t seem to be any sign of a struggle or forced entry at Cole Johnson’s home. His parents didn’t even realize he wasn’t home until after they got home and had been home nearly an hour. His phone was in his room. Whoever did it, he likely knew them.”
“And he wouldn’t have opened the door to Nevvie,” Tyler said. “Not after what she’d said.
“That’s exactly what I reminded Cash,” Bob said. “Anyway. I can’t promise there won’t be a round three with Dunn, but stay positive. They have identified two other assistant coaches at Cole’s previous school who ‘had talks’ with some of the victims and convinced them to stay quiet. They’ve been fired and are looking at charges for failure to report sexual crimes against students, among other things.”
Love Slave for Two: Retribution [Love Slave for Two 6] (Siren Publishing Menage Everlasting) Page 8
