Rough and Rugged: Shameless Southern Nights Novels Read online

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?” His hands clenched into fists before he shoved them into his pockets. “He deserves to be out, and you know it. He’s in prison for Christ’s sake. It’s not better for anyone to stay in there.”

  “It is for him.”

  His eyes narrowed, and he jabbed a finger toward my desk. “You only want to keep him in there because you’re the DA and it looks good on your record. This is all about your office and your position. It has nothing to do with what’s best for Dad.”

  A stab of pain traveled through me. I knew what my brothers thought about me after what I’d done. I knew they would never understand why I had done it, but their understanding it or not didn’t change the facts.

  The facts were that our father was safer inside prison than he would be outside for now, and I had to keep being the one to protect our family. If he had any idea of how close I’d gotten to losing everything over the conflicts of interest I’d faced by working and staying on Dad’s case, maybe he would understand. None of them knew anything about it, though. Hell, there was still so much I didn’t even know.

  Reasoning with Sonny or getting into an argument with him wouldn’t help anything, nor would it change my mind about supporting the petition.

  “That’s not true, but think what you want of me, little brother. Dad’s not getting out of prison as a result of that petition. He’s where he should be, and he is staying there.”

  Chapter Six

  Eve

  Twirling the business card Tyson gave me between my fingers, I wondered what the hell the district attorney could want from me. It was an ordinary business card, but it felt heavy in my fingers.

  The weight of the office he held seemed to be imprinted on the card just as surely as the blue scales of justice printed above his name. He’d mentioned Roy’s name when he had tracked me down at the wedding expo, but why would he want to speak to me about his father?

  Confusion and worry tangled together, and my gut churned. Tyson wanting to speak to me had to mean I was in trouble -either with the law or because he’d found out who I was and what I’d been doing.

  After staring at his card for longer than was sane, I realized it would be better to go to his office and face this head on. Delaying was pointless.

  Before I could talk myself out of it, I looked up the address and drove over. My palms were clammy, and my heart was beating too fast, but I knew I was doing the right thing. Not knowing why he was after me was going to drive me crazy.

  When I got into his building, I followed the signs directing me to the district attorney and finally found myself in a circular room at the end of a hallway in the historic downtown building. A man with blond hair more perfectly styled than mine sat behind a heavy dark wooden desk staring at his computer until he heard my kitten heels clicking against the marble floor.

  The desk was positioned to the left of an imposing door with Tyson’s name written on it in golden letters. The man behind the desk fixed a friendly smile on his face when he saw me. “May I help you?”

  “I’m here to see Mr. Lovett,” I said quickly, before I could change my mind and pretend to be looking for the bathroom or something. You can do this.

  “Your name, please,” the man said, standing from his chair and waiting for my answer with his hand poised on the doorknob to the office behind him.

  I swallowed through the lump that had taken up residence in my throat. “Eve Cain.”

  It came out more like a question than a statement, but the man didn’t seem to notice. He smiled again and held up a finger to indicate he needed a minute. He shut the door behind him but emerged less than thirty seconds later. “Come on in.”

  My feet refused to cooperate. I’d always hated having to go to the principal’s office, even though I’d hardly ever been called in. Having to walk into Tyson’s office brought back that feeling of absolute dread and terror.

  You’re fine, I reminded myself. He just wants to talk to you about his dad. That’s it. No need to start making any calls just yet.

  Taking a deep breath I hoped wouldn’t be too obvious to his assistant, I finally walked into Tyson’s office. He looked up the moment I stepped into the room, closing the folder in front of him decisively. “Eve. Thank you for coming.”

  He stood, motioning me toward a leather chair. I took the seat he offered, forcing my hands to remain still in my lap. Fidgeting would make me look guilty. What it might make me look guilty of, I didn’t know. That’s why you’re here. “I’m sorry I didn’t call ahead to make an appointment.”

  Tyson sat down after I did like he was a real gentleman, and this was a date. The thought entered my mind unbidden and wasn’t welcomed. This wasn’t a date and he wasn’t a gentleman. He was a shark in a nice suit, and he was potentially circling me.

  A very, very attractive shark, but a shark, nonetheless. At least he was to someone who was in my position.

  He was wearing another suit, but his jacket hung from a coat rack in the corner and his sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, revealing a pair of forearms corded with muscles.

  Navy blue eyes sharp and curious on mine, he grinned. “No appointment necessary. I told you I needed to speak to you and I’m happy to do it at your convenience, which is obviously now. I’m just glad you’re here.”

  I tipped my head, unable to stop myself from internally assessing every move I made for fear it would make me look guilty of something. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  “How do you know Roy?”

  “You mean your father?” I shifted uncomfortably under the sudden weight and intensity of his gaze. There was a flash of something in it, a lightning strike of something dark before he answered my question with a simple shrug.

  I wished I could see into his thoughts to understand what lay behind this. If I thought he had a powerful presence about him when I met him for the first time, it was nothing in comparison to seeing him here, where he was so obviously in his element. Here, it felt as if he could bend anything to his will, simply because it was his will.

  Although, if he wanted to bend me in any way, I would have preferred it if he bent me over his desk and screwed me until I couldn’t feel my knees anymore. I nearly gasped out loud at that thought, never having been more grateful he couldn’t actually read my mind.

  I was so insanely attracted to the guy it was turning me into a sex-crazed maniac. Really, who sat across from the DA about to be interrogated and had thoughts like that?

  To distract myself from the nearly magnetic pull I felt toward him, I asked the first question that popped into my mind. “Is it true that you prosecuted your own father?”

  His dark eyebrows pinched together, but he didn’t answer my question. Instead, he smoothed his expression and resumed our meeting as if I hadn’t asked it. “Roy asked me to talk to you about getting a will ready for him.”

  “A will?” I frowned. Clearly, this was serious. More so even than I had thought. I wondered why I didn’t know anything about it. I should’ve known. “Is he okay? Is he ill, or in some kind of trouble?”

  “I don’t know that yet,” Tyson replied curtly, then sighed and the look in his eyes softened—if a person could look tough as nails and yet still softer at the same time. “I’m doing everything I can to keep him from getting out of prison, but he insisted I talk to you about it.”

  “Did he talk to you at all about the details he wants included?” I cleared my throat, my eyes struggling to stay on his. His answer to my question meant more to me than he could know.

  Tyson shook his head firmly, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief. Thank God. “You’re going to have to go see him in prison to hash it out.”

  “I can’t.” I felt the blood drain from my face, making me feel dizzy. “I don’t know what your father is into, but I want no part of it.”

  Understanding dawned in his eyes, lightening them. “I would never ask you to get involved. All he’s asking is that you draft a will for him.”<
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  My teeth sank into my bottom lip. His voice was so compelling, that way in which I was sure earlier he could bend anyone to his will in here was proving to be true. “Fine, but you have to be the middleman. I can’t go see Roy face to face. He’s in prison.” My voice dropped to a heated whisper on the word prison. “I can’t go in there.”

  Tyson hesitated before he nodded. “I see. You’re scared to go see him.”

  I shrugged. “Something like that.”

  “Okay then.” I could see him playing around with the idea. It didn’t look like he was too keen on it, but I saw the moment he made the decision. “I’ll do it,” he said firmly.

  Chapter Seven

  Tyson

  The diner where I was waiting for Beau was the smallest of the few we had in town. It was a typical diner in every way. It had a casual atmosphere with booths circling the room and tables scattered in the middle. A counter offered a view of the open kitchen. It was comfortable, quiet and familiar.

  Beau and I came here to catch up once in a while. The booths were situated far enough apart that we had some privacy and the customers were mostly regulars who stayed out of each other’s business. They even stayed mostly out of ours, unlike so many at the other haunts in town where people were always leaning in to hear if I was sharing any juicy details about a case or if they could catch a snippet of news about our father.

  “Thanks, Millie.” I grinned up at the waitress who delivered my coffee. She was around my father’s age and had been working at the diner for decades. Millie was one of the few people in town who had never tried to pump me for any details about my dad’s case or any other for that matter.

  She was one of the reasons we always felt safe coming here to talk. Whatever she might have overheard between any of us over the years had never gone further than our booth.

  She smiled at me, tired eyes rimmed with red. I would have to remember to leave her a great tip. It was the least I could do for her, knowing she was raising her four grandchildren by herself. “Sure thing, sweetheart. I’ll bring your brother’s over when he gets here.”

  Beau was late again. He got held up at work more often than not when we tried meeting during the day. It was usually a source of irritation for me since my own time away from the office was so limited, but it suited me just fine today. In fact, if he didn’t show up at all today it would be more than okay.

  I needed some time to myself away from my office to get my damn head on straight. Ever since Eve had come to my office to talk, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. I didn’t dwell on women. Ever. Well, until Eve.

  I couldn’t remember ever having had such a hard time getting a woman off my mind. Something about Eve intrigued me, kept my thoughts wandering back to her no matter how hard I tried to force them away.

  I wanted her. There was no denying that. Lust, albeit the most powerful I’d ever experienced, was at least something I understood.

  I’d assumed the feeling would fade away. When she came to my office, however, I realized it hadn’t faded one bit. Not at all.

  My need for her was raw and fierce, but now I also found myself wondering about her. I wanted to know her, not just what she felt like when she came, or how she looked when she was sated and spent. Even though our conversation had been short, my urge to know her had taken hold of me and wasn’t letting go.

  There was a girl-next-door kind of innocence to her, yet I sensed there was far more under the surface. Sure, what met the eye was incredible. She was gorgeous with that long, flowing red hair and her wide green eyes. Her skin was smooth and pale with a seemingly natural flush only slightly pinking her cheeks.

  Just thinking about watching my cock disappear between her plush lips was enough to make it twitch and come to life regardless of the fact that I was sitting alone in a booth. Over the last several days, I’d had countless thoughts of how I might corrupt that innocence I saw in her.

  If it was just the dirty thoughts I had to deal with, it would have been fine. Nothing my fist couldn’t sort out. What bothered me was the wanting to get to know her part.

  The fact was that she’d gone from someone I would’ve loved to fuck once or twice to someone I actually wanted to spend time with outside the bedroom. There had been something in her eyes while we talked that called to me, a haunting depth that told me there were so many things going on in her brain that she wasn’t telling me about.

  I wanted to know what she wasn’t telling me. I desperately wanted to know the thoughts behind her carefully chosen words and her connection to my father. It puzzled me that she refused to go talk to him in person.

  I never would have sent her into the prison by herself to see him. I planned on accompanying her when she went, but she never even let me get far enough into our conversation to offer. Toward the end of our meeting, I debated internally about making the offer anyway.

  She was so vehemently opposed to going, though, that eventually I just agreed to her suggestion of being the middleman even though I had zero time to do it. Why I went along with it, I didn’t know. It wasn’t my job to be a messenger, especially not for my father.

  It was Eve who made me want to do it for her, not for my father. He wasn’t getting out. He didn’t need a will. Playing the messenger would allow me to spend more time with Eve, which was why I should have said no.

  I rarely got involved with women, and I never thought it would matter, but it was starting to matter now. She made me want things, physical and more. Getting to know her might even have been a higher priority than getting her into bed after our meeting.

  Eve carried herself in a way that suggested— My thoughts screeched to a stop when I heard my name.

  “Sorry I’m late.” Beau slid into the booth, waving at Millie and smiling at me. “I got held up at the office.”

  “Surprise, surprise.” I pushed my thoughts of Eve to the back of my mind and focused on my brother. There was a relaxed ease to his movements I couldn’t quite place. “Did you get held up at the office or were you with Charise?”

  “Both,” he smirked. “She came to my office and then she came—”

  “I don’t need the details.” I held up my hand to stop him from completing his sentence and shook my head. “You know, I saw her at a wedding open house the other day. Is there something you forgot to tell me?”

  “Nah, man.” Beau nodded his thanks to Millie when she brought his coffee, then slid his bright eyes back to mine. “She has a friend who’s getting married soon, so she went with her. She’s a bridesmaid in the wedding.”

  “What’s that saying? Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.” I said it offhandedly, but Beau’s reaction stunned me.

  “She’ll be the bride someday,” he admitted. “I’m falling for this one, bro, hard. I never thought I would say this, but I can see myself settling down with her. If she wanted it, I think I would give her the whole nine yards. The big, white wedding, the kids, the dog, and the fucking joint account.”

  My eyes stretched wide open, my jaw loosening. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am.” He shrugged and dragged a hand through his blond hair before taking a quick sip of his coffee. “You’ll see someday, Ty. When you meet the right girl, it comes out of fucking nowhere. One day, you’re happy with your life by yourself and the next you start realizing life isn’t quite right when she’s not there.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”

  My brothers had all turned into lovestruck fools. Beau eyed me with an annoying, knowing look, but he didn’t push the topic. “Since I can see you’re still in denial about how great love actually is, tell me about Dad. Have you heard anything more about him getting out?”

  “I’ve set up an appeal to keep him in.” We hadn’t made any headway on finding out who was pulling the strings over trying to get him out, but I was doing everything the legal process allowed to prevent it from happening. “I’ll find out who is behind this and when I do, they’ll be joining him i
n prison. There’s no way he’s getting out.”

  “These people obviously want their money, Tyson.” Beau lowered his voice, his eyes darting around the diner to make sure no one was overhearing our conversation. “If they don’t get it, they’re going to take everything else. Starting with Dad’s life.”

  “I know.” I scrubbed my hands over my jaw, a rare moment of allowing my brother to see how well aware I was of the consequences that would inevitably follow if I failed in my appeal. An appeal I shouldn’t have been the one to lodge, but at this point… “He knows it too. I went to see him last week.”

  “You did?” Beau pushed his eyebrows together, confusion clouding his eyes. It was understandable, given how only Jeremy ever really went to see our father. Sonny and Evan had gone recently too, but Beau and I had stayed far away since his incarceration. “How did it go?”

  “I went to ask him about the petition to get him out. He claims he didn’t know about it and wasn’t involved.”

  Beau scoffed. “Do you believe him?”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged, shaking my head. “I don’t know. He seemed genuinely clueless about it, but you never know with Roy.”

  “What did he say?” Beau asked, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.

  “He wants to get a will set up,” I told him reluctantly. It was one thing for me to know Dad was worried enough about the petition that he would take measures like that, but an entirely different thing for my brothers to know. I wanted to protect them from all this, but I also knew Beau would find out eventually.

  Jeremy and Sonny went to visit Dad regularly. Sonny never used to, but he was on some kind of crusade to prove Dad’s innocence. Even Evan visited him more often now after Sonny dragged him—kicking and screaming at first—into his crusade.

  Dad was sure to mention something about the will to one of them, and there would be hell to pay if Beau found out I knew and never mentioned it to him. His eyes darkened with worry as he folded his arms and collapsed back against the fake leather booth. “Does he have any ideas about who might be behind it?”