Down & Dirty 3_A Shameless Southern Nights Novel

by J. H. Croix

  "Yes."

  A loud thud came from his end of the line, and I was fairly certain he'd punched something. The string of curses that fell from his mouth next would've made a sailor blush. I listened stoically, soaking up every bit of anger and exasperation because it was better than what I actually deserved.

  "You know I've been looking into Dad’s case,” he continued, his harsh breathing starting to even out. "And don't you dare give me any shit about it being a bad idea right now."

  "Wasn't going to."

  "The guys he got involved with… This is bad, Jeremy, very fucking bad."

  "I guessed as much. What do we do?"

  It was the first time in my life I'd asked my little brother that question. Another first time for me was the shame heating my veins and weighing on my thoughts. I shoved my feelings aside and squared my shoulders. I wasn't going to let my mistake get the best of me. I'd been a fighter all my life, and I sure as hell wasn't planning on giving up now.

  "You should have come to me with this sooner," Sonny said quietly, apparently also having taken a minute to calm himself down.

  "I know," I admitted. "I'm sorry. Really. I thought I knew what I was doing."

  "Yeah? Well, at least you realized now that you were in over your head and not later." I hadn't told him I thought I was in over my head, but as he said it I realized it was true. "I really wish you'd have come to me earlier, but I'll still help."

  "Thank you," I breathed, so softly that I wasn't sure he'd heard me.

  "Yeah. Okay, here's what we're going to do. You said these guys have been showing up all over, right?"

  "Right."

  "I'll have to get things smoothed over on my side, but I'll get it done. My plan is that you're going to wear a wire if they approach you again, that way we'll be able to record their threats. If you play our cards right, we may even be able to get them on record admitting to having been working with Dad."

  "Okay."

  Sonny spent the next few minutes going over his plan with me as he formulated it. I listened in something of a daze as my little brother morphed into the professional law enforcement officer I knew him to be. It wasn’t as if I’d ever doubted him—hell, the guy was a SWAT officer—but this wasn’t the side of him I saw often.

  Finally having a plan and having taken the first step out of this mess, I took a deep breath, letting it out in a relieved sigh. Sonny's confidence in his plan made me feel like I might just have a real chance at getting out of this alive, if not unscathed.

  Chapter Twenty

  Marie

  "Thank you for fitting me in on such short notice," my client said with a smile.

  I couldn’t pull up her name in my fuzzy brain, but I gave her my best attempt at a grin, but catching sight of it in my mirror, it was watered down at best. "Always. Please enjoy your function tonight."

  At least I remembered why she'd needed an emergency appointment. Something about a work dinner with her husband. If I were being honest, I hadn’t paid much attention. It wasn’t her. It was me.

  Today marked day four since I'd last seen Jeremy, and I was all a muddle inside. I asked him for space on Friday, and he was giving it to me by the bucket load. I hadn't heard so much as a peep from him since.

  I’d been so angry with him for being so insistent about the money issue and so evasive with his answers, I hadn't considered the consequences of asking for space. Having had time to reconsider, I was worried I might have overreacted.

  I missed him like crazy. A part of me wanted to call him up and tell him to forget about the whole thing, but I knew I'd said too many hurtful things to do that. I couldn't believe I'd compared him to Wesley.

  He was nothing like my ex. Since he knew how much Wesley had hurt me, I regretted ever having drawn the comparison. I was trying to figure out a way to talk to him about it, but I was drawing a blank.

  Especially since the other part of me, the one that didn't want to just throw herself back into his arms, was still suspicious about how he behaved. Something had been off on Friday, I just didn't know what and the uncertainty was still eating at me.

  Meanwhile, the fun and games with said ex continued. Wesley filed to have the restraining order I had against him dropped yesterday. Though Savannah assured me she didn’t think he would prevail, I was still stressed about what might happen if that legal protection was stripped away.

  It gave me peace of mind to know that the restraining order had, at the very least, kept him from doing things like coming right up to our door, or even trying to force his way inside. Both were things he'd done in the past. Since his level of near obsessive maliciousness had definitely spiked since the inception of my relationship with Jeremy and the court case between us, I hardly doubted that he would be up to his old tricks once that restraining order fell away.

  This fear was cemented by the fact that he'd left a threatening note on my car again telling me that if I didn't break up with Jeremy, he wouldn't stop fighting me in court. Knowing that would cost more money and that money was now a huge bone of contention between Jeremy and I, it felt like Wesley had finally succeeded in backing me into a corner. I hated feeling like he had won even one round. While he couldn’t know how frantic I felt, I was desperately trying to focus on the positive.

  The positive being, according to Savannah, that she could send Wesley’s notes away for handwriting analysis to prove that they'd been written by him. Not only would that mean the restraining order would stay intact, but it would also go a long way to prove Wesley's motives in filing for custody of Austin.

  I couldn't deny that was all great news, but it also sounded like a lot more money to me. My thought process had come full circle back to the fight I'd had with Jeremy over said money. I sighed, running my hands through my hair and crossing the concrete floor of the salon to my cubbie.

  Turning my wrist to check the time, I saw that I was due for a coffee break anyway. Unless the receptionist had scheduled another emergency client, my next client wouldn’t be arriving for another hour. I didn't check in with the receptionist, seeing a few people waiting around for appointments and not wanting to advertise that I was free.

  Instead, I slipped out of my apron and hung it on the hook next to my cubbie, grabbing my purse to duck out for a quick coffee. It was miserable outside, wet and rainy, but it felt like the salon's walls were closing in on me and I needed to get out.

  Hurrying down the block to a local, cozy coffee shop, I ordered a large cappuccino with extra cream and carried my treat to a booth in the corner. The cream was rich and sweet, the coffee strong and bitter. It was exactly what I'd been in the mood for.

  I stared out of the window at the empty sidewalks and watched the rain come down. It was like the city was getting cleaned for a fresh slate, while my slate felt like it was muddied and had permanent black marks on it.

  My thoughts and feelings jumbled around inside me, threatening to drive me mad. The only way to clear them was to get them out. I'd been trying to deal with this by myself, but I needed to talk to someone.

  Not for the first time, I silently thanked whatever divine intervention had brought Belle back into my life at a time like this and dialed her number. I missed seeing her regularly like I had in Cypress Creek, but she was just a phone call away. Kids were shouting in the background when she answered, laughing and admonishing her son Tommy, Austin's best friend. "Marie? Hello? I can't hear a thing. Tommy, let me go for a minute. I need to take this."

  I giggled at the sound of the mayhem on her end, the first genuine smile on my face in days already making me feel better. "What's going on there?"

  The noise faded, and I knew she had found somewhere private to talk. "I came to the preschool to give a talk about the work of soldiers and their families. As it happens, it's one of the teacher’s birthdays and there was cake. They invited me to stay and, well…."

  I instantly felt guilty for calling her. She'd lived through so much on her own and yet I'd never heard her comp
lain. Her husband had been killed while serving overseas, leaving her alone with their son and her grief. Talking about that couldn't have been easy, and she didn't need me to lay anything else on her today.

  "So, how are you?" she asked, surprisingly cheerful considering the talk she'd given earlier.

  "I'm okay," I said quickly, but Belle didn't buy it.

  "No, you're not. Don't lie to me, friend. I can hear something is going on with you. Spill."

  "I just wanted to talk, but you've already had a difficult morning and..."

  "And nothing. You wanted to talk, so let's talk. I won't lie and tell you my talk was easy, but there were plenty of people around to support me. I'm fine."

  "Really, Belle, I'll call you again. We can talk in a couple of days’ time."

  "Nonsense," she insisted quickly. "I refuse to wallow and cry for days, and I won't let you do it either, by the way."

  "I'll have you know I wasn't wallowing or crying." Close yes, but not quite there.

  She chuckled. "Well then, distract me, or maybe I will."

  "When you put it like that, how can I say no?"

  "You can't,” she said. "Spill it, lady. What's happening up there in Savannah?"

  Following her instructions, I told her all about my fight with Jeremy and how I was wondering if I was overreacting.

  Belle, bless her heart, had always been a straight shooter, and she didn't pull any punches now. "I understand why you might get skittish about the whole money thing, but it's kind of obvious to me that Jeremy was only trying to help."

  "The thing is that he got all evasive when I asked him where he got the money from. It made me wonder if…" I couldn't even say it, feeling as if voicing those thoughts was a betrayal to Jeremy in and of itself.

  She knew me well enough that she didn't wait for me to say any more. "You're wondering if the money is dirty. If maybe he's like his dad?"

  I didn't say anything, ashamed to admit that that was exactly what I was wondering. Belle continued on, a voice of reason in the tide of darkness that was enveloping me over my guilt. "If you're worried about that, just ask him. Your experience of having trusted Wesley before must have brought up all of the self-doubts about this. Like maybe you were wrong about Jeremy too?"

  Stunned that she'd managed to summarize my feelings so eloquently, I simply whispered. "Yes."

  "What does your gut tell you about him?"

  "That he’s not like his dad or like Wesley." I didn't even have to think about that one. Jeremy was a kind, good man. Despite what I'd said to him, he was nothing like Wesley.

  "My gut agrees with yours then. Also, I know you weren't in town back then, but Jeremy and his whole family had their lives splashed in the news for weeks because of what their father did. If he had a record like Wesley's, there would’ve been no way to hide it."

  "I hadn't thought of that."

  "Think about it,” she said, then continued more gently. "Whatever you decide, I'm here for you. I need to go back inside, but call me later if you need to talk more okay?"

  "I will. Thank you."

  After we ended our call, I stayed in the coffee shop for the rest of my break, thinking that maybe I should just ask Jeremy point-blank about my worries. I was certain that he wouldn't lie to my face and even if he did, that I would be able to see it.

  However, I also kept reminding myself that I had to put Austin first and maybe things were moving too fast with Jeremy anyway.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jeremy

  On Wednesday, I decided to stay in Savannah for the day. Five solid days of giving Marie space was just about my limit. I still hadn't heard from her and if I arrived to see her and she told me she wasn't ready to talk yet, I would leave. But I had to at least try to see her, to speak to her.

  The things I needed to say weren't exactly the kind of topics I could cover in a lunch break. I also couldn't talk to her about it in front of Austin, but at some point today, I planned on finding the right time for us to talk.

  The rain had let up some, but it was still gray and misty outside. Even so, I was trying to take the clearing weather as a good sign. Unfortunately, before I could get around to seeing my girl and groveling for her forgiveness if that was what it took, I had to implement the next step of my plan with Sonny.

  I was driving to the bank to do just that. Finding a parking spot near the entrance, I rolled my truck to a stop. This phase of the plan was simple: return the money I hadn't used yet to the safety deposit box. It felt like the bills were burning a hole in my jacket pocket. I was more than relieved to be rid of them.

  I hadn't received another invoice from the attorney yet. I’d already given her another chunk to hold in trust, and I was hoping that would still last for a while. If it didn't, then so be it. I'd make another plan.

  There had to be away I could help Marie and Austin without digging myself all the damn way to China. The money couldn't physically have weighed that much, but I felt immeasurably lighter on my way out of the bank than I had felt on my way in.

  With new pep in my step and renewed determination to get both myself and Marie out of the storm we were currently stuck in, I nearly walked right into someone as I was leaving the bank.

  "Jeremy? What the fuck are you doing at my bank?" Wesley growled.

  My eyes snapped to him.

  "Wesley. This is a surprise," I said, forcing myself to stay friendly. The game plan for the custody suit as far as Wesley was concerned hadn't changed. I would continue to play nice until the day full custody was awarded to Marie. After that, all bets were off.

  "I bet," Wesley mumbled, accusations I couldn't quite figure out in his eyes. "Were you following me?"

  I couldn't hold back the laugh that rumbled out. "Imagine that, someone following you for a change. Probably would have been a good idea, but sorry, I wasn't."

  Wesley glared at me, then sneered. "Haven't seen you around much this week."

  My gut churned when I realized the implications of what he was saying. If he knew I hadn't been around, that meant that he’d been watching Marie’s place. A bolt of anger hit me, intense concern on its heels. It infuriated me the way he played games with Marie’s peace of mind. The knowledge I hadn’t been around was tearing me up for multiple reasons—rising through the scrum was the need to protect her, to keep her safe. I couldn’t do that if I wasn’t there for her. Uncertain as my future with Marie was at that very moment, I wasn't about to let him see that it bothered me.

  I shrugged, keeping my lips curled in a friendly smile. "Just been busy with work, man. Thanks for your concern."

  Wesley chuckled humorlessly and walked away from me, pushing through the creaky door that led into the bank. I breathed through the urge to follow him. Playing nice was taking discipline. The knowledge he was still keeping an eye on her and Austin burned through me, but now was not the time to do anything about it.

  Right across the spot I was parked in, a familiar green SUV with a familiar driver waited for me.

  Great, it's just coming from all sides today.

  I lifted a hand and waved half-heartedly, wishing I were already wearing that wire Sonny had mentioned so we could get that done with too. But I wasn't, so I acted against every instinct in my body. I slipped in behind the wheel of my truck and drove the fuck away.

  My fingers clenched around the wheel. I wasn’t used to ignoring threats and avoiding confrontation like I'd just had to do. Twice.

  Generally speaking, I wasn't much of a fighter despite my more recent aggressive thoughts toward the two guys threatening me and, of course, Wesley. I tended to mind my own business. With my size, there weren't too many guys crazy enough to take me head-on anyway. But I wasn't a pussy either. Walking away without giving both of those jerks a piece of my mind wasn't my nature.

  Turning up the volume on my radio, I allowed my frustration to seep out of me along with the bass line of the music and spent the rest of the day working in a coffee shop near my temporary house. />
  Later that afternoon, when all my emails were answered, my teams divided into their projects for the next day and feedback given to the clients who were expecting it, I was on my way back to my temporary house in Savannah when my phone rang.

  I'd been waiting for a call back from a supplier. I nearly ignored the call, not in the mood to deal with his excuses when I was formulating my plan on when and how to finally speak to Marie. But Sonny's name flashing on my screen caught my eye, and I punched the button to answer the call through my truck’s speakers.

  "If you're calling to make sure I'm sticking to the plan, I'm sticking to the plan," I told him. "Went back to the bank this afternoon."

  "Good to know, Jeremy," he replied, his voice more than a little distracted.

  "What is it?" My spine straightened and my eyes narrowed. Sonny didn't sound right. I hadn't heard him sound that way since our father's arrest, the memory sending chills through me.

  Sonny hesitated, then let out a deep breath. "It's Wesley Poole."

  "What about him?" I snapped. My senses heightened and terror stabbed me in my gut. I hadn’t seen her for days, but I could still perfectly recall her face, the way she tasted and smelled.

  Marie.

  If he'd done something to her… If he'd gotten to her and Austin, I would never forgive myself. Why hadn’t I gone over there earlier when he practically told me he’d been hanging around her again?

  Each breath I tried to inhale drove a knife through my lungs. I couldn’t breathe. A lump I couldn’t swallow past formed in my throat.

  Choking on the words, I asked my brother. "Marie. Austin. Are they okay? What did he do to them?"

  "Far as I know they're fine,” he said, but the way he sounded was decidedly off.

  I could feel the blood draining from my face as I jerked the truck around in a U-turn, heading straight for her apartment instead of my own. I was frantic, my heart beating so fast it was like it was trying to climb right out of my chest.