I might have been walking up to Hudson’s place later that night with a bottle of my favorite red wine, but I was feeling the pit in my stomach sink deeper with every step I took.

Before heading back into court, we had agreed to meet at Hud’s place later in the evening. But even before and after the blowjob I gave him, things felt...tense, somehow. I thought it was just how hot we were for each other, and it definitely was on my part, but I was sensing something else from Hud that made me uneasy.

Maybe it was just my nerves. In love, as in all things, I’d always been an assertive and aggressive person who knew exactly what he wanted. Hud was no different. But if I sensed danger, I was always quick to follow my gut. I didn’t get to the top of my class at Harvard by being a trusting person and ignoring red flags, and I sure as hell didn’t get to where I am in Vegas by ignoring my instincts. And the fact of the matter was that if Hud was getting cold feet about this little fling we were having, whatever it was, it could turn sour for me in a heartbeat.

He could use it as a means to get both of us recused and abandon ship altogether if he thought he was losing. He could even claim some very hurtful things, if he got really nervous.

And I was really starting to care for Hud, as much as I hated to admit that to myself, but I had to be realistic that Hud was not the most stable person when it came to love. This was a man who kept his sexuality secret all through college. I had been a regular playboy back then, so I couldn’t imagine bottling up all that sexual energy for so long. It made me feel bad for him, but I knew he had good reasons for what he did at the time.

Safety came before anything else, especially when your family had some high-profile bigots in it. But that didn’t mean I could be careless. One wrong step could spell disaster for both of us, not just Hud.

I made my way across the pristine streets up to the townhouse, and as I looked up at the tidy-looking place, I couldn’t help but want to know more about Hud’s life. I wondered why he picked this particular neighborhood, why he drove the car I recognized parked in the street out front, what it was like living in this part of the city...all the little details.

I wanted to know more about him beyond who he was in court and in bed. That was unusual for me. I wasn’t naive, though. I knew why I felt that way. It was the same reason I was carrying this bottle of wine up to the front door.

I hesitated for a few moments. Maybe this was stupid. Maybe he was smarter than he looked and just stringing me along for some grander courtroom drama than I even imagined. This was a man who could hide his sexuality like a chameleon for years, after all. There was no telling what he was capable of. I hesitated with my fist raised, but at this point, I knew there was probably a security camera on me watching my every move. There was no way I could live down some security guard seeing me walk up to a man’s door and then chicken out.

I knocked.

It didn’t take long for the sounds of footsteps to come hurrying to the door, and a moment later, Hud swung the door open and gave me a shy smile. My heart pounded. He was wearing tight jeans and an equally tight white t-shirt. Between that and the scruff on his face, he looked more like an old-timey mechanic who had just gotten off work rather than an attorney having a clandestine meeting by moonlight.

Or maybe he looked more like a model pretending to be a mechanic. Whatever the case, I was into it.

“Good, you made it,” he said. “Hope the guard didn’t give you any trouble.”

“I have a way of sweet-talking men in uniforms,” I said with a wink, and Hud rolled his eyes before letting me in. I stepped inside and looked around at what looked like the downstairs professional space. There was a secretary’s desk near the front door with signs of activity on it, and the lights were all either dim or out downstairs.

“Ah, so you do the home office thing?” I remarked, admiring the decor. “I never went for that myself, but I like what I see.”

“I’ve thought about moving into something bigger,” he said offhandedly as he headed upstairs, “but that’s its own hassle. Follow me, the living space is upstairs.”

I followed, and once we were upstairs, I found myself struck by how lived in the place seemed. I always took Hud for an all work, no play kind of guy, but the little signs of life all around were endearing.

There was a coat hanging on the rack at the top of the stairs, and once we moved into the living room, I saw a pair of shoes by the couch and a Kindle plugged into a power strip near the arm of the couch, a half-empty mug of tea resting on the coffee table in front of it. The smell of takeout was still faint in the air, and I saw a few pieces of what looked like amateur art hanging on the walls. I wondered if they were Hud’s or if he had some artsy friend he bought from.

Damn it, why was my head spinning with questions about this man’s life? This wasn’t the time. Or maybe it was the perfect time. Or maybe I was being led on like a damn fool.

“Nobody can know we’re having this meeting, obviously,” he said as he led me into a large kitchen that made even me jealous. He moved to a large cabinet across the room and opened it to withdraw a bottle of Bruichladdich, a top-shelf scotch I knew all too well.

“If I didn’t know any better, Hudson, I’d say you were trying to seduce me with a drink like that,” I said, setting the bottle of wine on the counter and leaning next to it. He turned around with a smile on his face, then blushed as he realized his mistake.

“Oh, you brought wine--sorry, I didn’t even notice. I’ve got a lot on my mind right now.” I wanted to frown, but the prospect of good scotch was just touching enough that I could overlook that. He poured a couple of glasses for us and handed me mine, and I swirled it around thoughtfully.

“Sounds like it,” I said. “Maybe thinking too much is bad for you. I can think of a few ways to keep you distracted.”

Hud gave a tight smile, but I could tell how anxious he was. “Maybe after we have a talk,” he said. “Not to scare you, this is just something...something I can’t ignore anymore.”

“Alright, boy scout, I can’t decide if you sound like you’re about to propose to me or break up with me, and I’m angling for neither,” I said, sitting up on the counter and crossing my legs to peer at him searchingly. “Let’s hear it.”

Hud took a deep breath, then knocked back a healthy swig of his drink before clearing his throat and speaking.

“I think we might be in over our heads on this case,” he said carefully. “Both of us.”

“Beg pardon?”

“I mean, I think there might be more going on than either of us realizes.” He paused and put a hand to his mouth. I recognized that look from law school. He was composing his thoughts, trying to think of the exact best thing to say. He did a good job of hiding the tic in court, but it came out when he was feeling anxious. It was kind of cute. “Mark Delaney,” he said at last. “You’ve gotten to know him a good bit, haven’t you?”

I raised a sharp eyebrow. “Now we’re definitely getting into forbidden territory. Sure you don’t want me to sign a nondisclosure contract?”

“Ass,” he said, smirking. “And yeah, I realize this is not exactly kosher by any standards, but this could be big, and it could be good for both of us if we play our cards right.”

“You sound like you’re about to pitch a Ponzi scheme at me,” I said, tilting my head to the side.

“Just hear me out. You know Mark Delaney isn’t the most scrupulous guy around, yeah? You don’t have to answer, we already know. Well, I’ve done some digging on his family history to figure out what kind of guy he is. And yeah, I know I’m showing you my hand at this point, but I want you to trust me--if what we’ve been doing the past few weeks means anything to you, trust me.”

I watched him carefully, and I genuinely wasn’t sure what to think. This could be sincere, or it could be a very shrewd ploy on his part. I decided to stay on my guard and not say anything.

“What I found is what I’m sure you found,” he said, pacing back and forth. “Delaney’s father lost the family money. Bad investments plus expensive vices equals bankruptcy, plain and simple. They never recovered from that. Mark’s credit wasn’t hit when any of this happened, but the family assets went up in smoke. They had nothing.”

“I can’t confirm or deny anything, but go on,” I said.

“So, what I started wondering was, where the hell did he get the kind of money to even be thinking about condo development?” he explained, running his hand through his hair. “On paper, this guy should have been looking at using his connections to get some cushy executive job and slowly build from scratch like all other millionaire brats do. These people never stay poor for long, but they know when to keep their heads down.”

“You don’t seem to think he’s a very smart person, though, so it sounds like he might be acting about as you’d expect,” I said, choosing my words carefully so as not to disclose anything about my client to Hud. Hud nodded, hardly even noticing.

“Exactly, but that doesn’t answer the question of what he’s doing getting involved in lucrative, risky investments like this. And with a history like his family’s, what bank in its right mind would lend him that kind of money?”

“Your clients, Southwestern First, apparently,” I pointed out, taking a sip of my own drink. Hud snapped his fingers and nodded excitedly.

“Exactly!” he said. “That’s what doesn’t make sense. There’s no way the bank didn’t know damn well what they were doing when Mark Delaney’s loan application came through. And that’s because I know for a fact that Delaney’s father did business with Southwestern.”

My eyebrows shot up. That was sensitive information indeed, and I wondered how he got a hold of it. Hud saw my reaction and seemed pleased with it.

“What are you suggesting?” I asked, giving my head a shake. “This is interesting information, but I’m having a hard time seeing where it’s going.” That was a lie, but I wanted Hud to give me what he wanted to give me.

“I’m suggesting,” he said, setting his glass down and pacing toward me, “that Delaney and the bank must have something else going on for all this to have worked out the way it did.”

“The bank is suing Delaney for fraud,” I said, “what else could they possibly have going on? The bank probably took a risk because one of them knew the Delaneys and was on good terms with them. Now that they realize just how crooked he is, they’re backing out and finding a technicality to nail him on. It’s open and shut.”

Hud shook his head, taking his drink again and pouring himself a second glass. “See, I would have thought that if I hadn’t seen something the night that we were together.”

My eyes widened, and that sinking feeling in my stomach got heavier. This was deep water that Hud was treading, and I had the creeping feeling that he was tying a stone around my ankles in it.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Okay, so yeah, I did leave you in a hurry,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “That one’s on me, and I’m honestly sorry for that. But when I went to pay my tab, I realized Delaney was in the same bar.”

I stood bolt upright and glared at him. “You think he saw us?”

“No, no no,” he said hurriedly, shaking his head. “Nothing like that. Quite the opposite. I don’t think he saw either of us at any point. He had a bunch of women with him, as if he was bar-hopping with them.”

I settled back down, finishing off my drink and letting Hud pour me a new glass. “I’m with you so far.”

“I listened in on him while he was in earshot,” he said. “He was drunk off his ass and trying to impress the girls by flaunting everything he could. Rod, he…” Hud put his hand to his mouth again for a moment. “He was talking as if he and the bank executives were all buddy-buddy with each other. Like they were raking in a hell of a lot of money together. I think they might be working on the same team, Rod, do you get what I’m saying? Delaney and the bank might be working together to make money off this condo thing, and this whole court case is just a farce to make us--and the IRS--think that they’re at each other’s throats and couldn’t possibly be up to anything shady.”

That sealed it. Hud was definitely trying to dupe me, and I felt the scotch start to taste like ash in my mouth. I didn’t show it on my face, but I felt it deep in my heart, and god, did it hurt. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this was too much.

Hud was trying to tell me based on hearsay alone that my client was collaborating with the bank and responsible for a much more serious offense than what he was already accused of. He was blatantly trying to suggest that I turn against my own client. I might have had a soft spot for Hud, but I wasn’t stupid, and I wasn’t a novice. This was a ploy on his part, I had no doubt in my mind.

But Hud was looking at me expectantly, and I knew that I couldn’t let him know his trick had failed. I slowly brought my hand to my chin and stroked it thoughtfully, raising my eyebrows.

“That’s...a hefty accusation,” I said, “but knowing Delaney, I can’t exactly say I’d put it past him.”

Hud’s face beamed, and he moved over to the laptop on the counter, opening it and typing in his password to access it and start browsing through some files. “Look, I know this is a long shot, but I’ve got some info here that I think we can follow a little farther if we put our heads to it. I don’t know what we can do with it, but if we uncover this, it could be big.” He paused, setting his glass down and biting his lip. “Shit, I like scotch, but it runs through me like water. Let me hit the bathroom, and then I’ll show you what I’m talking about.”

Hud hurried away down the hall, leaving me alone...and my gaze roved over to the open laptop. I clenched my jaw, drumming my fingers on the counter for a moment. But I knew what I had to do. This was too much to pass up on someone who thought he was dragging me along like a rube.

I took my keys out and approached the laptop. I kept a thumb drive on the keychain that I used for work, just to transport sensitive info to and from the office when I needed to. I plugged it into Hud’s laptop.

Within seconds, I had all the folders I could find copied onto my thumb drive--a treasure trove of evidence, all mine.

As smoothly as I stole the data, I pocketed my keychain and moved back out of the room and down the stairs as quietly as possible, just as I heard the toilet flushing.

“Sorry, Hud,” I murmured under my breath, “but you’re going to have to do better than that to get back at me for Harvard.”

And just like that, with my heart a little harder and my mind a little more bitter, I slipped out of Hud’s house and made my escape.

It was time to end this case for good.