CHAPTER TWO
Zek
Confusion raced through me as I drove back toward the house. I should have known better than to think Alisa would let me call out our history and her not pull away as the only viable response left. She was a lawyer — ethics were their calling card.
“Hell, investment managers are supposed to be the same.” I ran my fingers through my short hair and let some of the weight sitting on me leave through a long exhale. I would find another lawyer, but dammit if I didn’t want it to be her. The level of trust between us when we were kids was solid and something I’d yet to experience since her.
Watching her get all hot and bothered when I walked through the details of having sex with Melissa caused my blood to boil. We weren’t kids anymore, and I wasn’t bound by any restraints other than my impending doom.
“You’ll never be good enough for her. You weren’t then and you sure as fuck aren’t now.”
I pulled up to my oversized house and parked, sitting in the driveway and closing my eyes. I just wanted a minute to think through the moment when I lost her at dinner. I’d pushed her just a little past her comfort level, and unlike most women who would have nodded politely, told me they’d consider everything and call, she hadn’t.
A smile lifted my lips as I replayed the moment. She shot back her glass of wine like a pro, the woman obviously capable of holding her liquor. The look in her eyes as she pinned me with that sexy hard stare spoke of confidence and stature. She didn’t have to feel anything where I was concerned, and where she most certainly did... she would deny herself.
I opened the door and got out of the car, walking languidly to the house as the sound of a car pulling up behind me gave me pause.
“Hey. You wanna go grab a beer? Lizzy’s working late again tonight, and I’m fucking sick of pizza.” My brother, Mark, leaned out the driver’s side of his car and yelled far more loudly than he needed to.
“Yeah. Let me change into some jeans.” I walked around the front of his car as my eyebrow lifted. “Come in and get a beer from the fridge. I just need to get out of this monkey suit.”
“Long day? You look like shit.”
I turned and walked to the house, lifting my hand in the air and giving my older brother a proper welcome. His laugh caused me to relax a little. If the world fell apart, I wouldn’t stand alone. Mark would never leave my side, and in all honesty, I’d never leave his either.
“I still have a Bud Light in the fridge, I think.” I walked down the hall as he started to hammer on about something related to his job.
Some part of me wanted to snap at him for bitching about the simple things in life, but it was jealousy. I wanted a quaint house, a wife and a few kids. Somewhere along the path to getting those things, success grabbed a hold of me and pulled me in deeply. The desire to reach the top soon outpaced any other aspiration in my life. Having things and impressing people had never been my drug. Success... that was it for me.
“So I tried to call you earlier. What the fuck? Can’t turn your phone on?” Mark walked into my bedroom behind me and dropped down to sit on the edge of my large four-poster bed.
“I was in a meeting with the new lawyer Lizzy was trying to set me up with. She is Clark’s little sister.” I gave him a sideways glance and let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “She’s a bombshell.”
“Figures. Married, I guess?” He lifted his beer to his lips and took a long drink.
“No. I don’t think so. No ring, at least, but who knows. She has a different last name than when we were kids, so if she’s not married, then she’s divorced.” I worked to unbutton my shirt as I disappeared into my large walk-in closet.
“She looked good?” Mark’s voice reached me, and I nodded before realizing that he couldn’t see me.
“She’s fucking hot. Had on a little tight business suit that covered everything up, but I couldn’t stop thinking about fucking her long enough to win her over. I became a demanding ass for some wild reason.” I pulled on a t-shirt and changed into some jeans before walking back into the bedroom. “I just had to push her to tell me if she was Clark’s sister. I should have let it go, but I couldn’t.”
“Yeah, but that’s because she’s the one that got away.” My brother lifted his beer in the air. “To all the ones that—”
“Don’t start that. No one got away. I pushed her away.” I worked on my boots and walked toward the bedroom door. “Come on. Let’s go grab a bite to eat. I’d planned on eating dinner with her, but she didn’t make it through the first glass of wine.”
“What? You’re losing your touch for sure. I’ll show you how it’s all done.” Mark wagged his eyebrows as I turned to look over my shoulder. I awarded him with a ‘go to hell’ look for his cheeky comment.
“You’re not giving me tips on dating. You’ve been married since the beginning of time, and honestly, I’m not interested in talking about the girl. She’s just a part of my past that didn’t go anywhere. I need a lawyer, not a wife.” I grabbed my keys. “I’m driving.”
“Good. Your car is a hundred times better than my old piece of shit anyway.” He patted me on the back and finished his beer before walking to the front door. “So you’re not interested in anything but having her represent you against these charges?”
“No, I’m not. I’d love for her to take both cases or even one of them, but I’m likely headed to jail, Mark. We can pussyfoot around the conversation all we want, but I didn’t get where I am now by shrinking away from the truth. I can get out of the rape charges, but the insider trading is going to get pinned on me. I deserve it anyway.” I shrugged and moved out into the cool early evening.
“Stop talking like that. Lizzy will break the rules and take the case if we can’t find the right person, Zek. I’m not giving up on us beating this. You aren’t either.” He squeezed my shoulder tightly and gave me a look I’d seen a million times in my mom’s face as we were growing up.
“Stop trying to give me a pep talk and get your ugly ass in the car.” I pushed his hand off playfully and walked to the Porsche.
“Jealousy is not becoming.” He wagged his eyebrows and got into the car.
My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, waiting for it to connect to the car’s speaker system as I got in. “Your wife’s on the phone.” I pressed the button. “Lizzy. Give me some good news.”
“I’m divorcing Mark and we can finally be together.” My sister-in-law sounded as cheeky as she truly was.
“Thank the Lord,” Marc responded loudly, dropping his head back dramatically. “Such a slave driver.”
I chuckled. “It’s not happening. I’m sure you being a lawyer and me being a criminal wouldn’t work at all. Besides, you like little scrawny men. That’s not at all—”
I didn’t even get it out before my brother leaned over in the seat and started wailing against me, the wrestling match soon to take place in the front seat of my car. I laughed loudly and started to give it back to him, letting all of my anxiety over everything bleed into the moment.
“Boys! Really. Jeez.” Lizzy’s level of aggravation must have warned Mark, because he pulled back and started to smooth down his hair.
“What, baby? I’d fight for you, and I’m not scrawny.” He glanced over at me and narrowed his eyes. “I got twenty pounds on you, at least.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled out of the driveway. “Lizzy. Tell me that Ms. Manning decided to take the cases.”
“I’m not sure. How did it go with her today? She seemed a little unsure of herself when we spoke. She did mention that you guys knew each other when you were kids.”
“We did. I’m not sure if she remembered that before seeing me though. I’m the one who pushed our past back up in the middle of the conversation. It was a long time ago, and we were nothing more than strangers passing in the night. I was good friends with her older brother, Clark Beeler. She might have had a silly crush on me, but nothing else.” I glanced over to Mark in time to see him mouth, “liar.”
I shrugged. “Did she debrief with you? Our meeting was cut a little short.”
“Yes, we spoke, but I think I’ll have to twist her arm a little, which I’m not too thrilled about. I guess if nothing else, I could talk to one of our partners about putting a senior attorney on your case. With any luck, they’ll choose me.” She sounded tired.
“You okay, baby?” My brother took over the conversation for a moment as concern brushed across his aging features.
“Yeah. Just ready for the weekend. We have a large caseload coming in from a chemical spill downtown earlier this morning.” She sighed. “I’ll talk with Alisa, but you should too, Zek. Something tells me that you have more pull than you think you do. She’s the perfect attorney for both cases. Let’s nudge her from both sides to take them.”
“Alright. Thanks for your help.”
I pulled into a small pub that Mark and I had been haunting for years and got out, leaving my brother in the car to finish the conversation with his wife. He would bring the keys in with him when he came, and knowing the bastard, he’d pocket them too. He’d been eying my Porsche since the day I picked it up.
Hell, it might be best to give it to him now, before they come to take everything away.
*
“I think the hardest part of this was Celia’s involvement.” I pursed my lips and tapped my fingertips on the table between us. “I just never saw that coming. She’s been one of Mom’s good friends for as long as I can remember, and she was my secretary since the day I opened the firm. Why would she wear a wire and bring the cops to my door?”
“Because either she was paid, or she really thought you raped the girl, Zek.” My brother nursed his beer as he watched me intently.
Was he questioning if I raped Melissa? Surely not.
“I didn’t rape her.” I lifted my eyebrow at him in challenge. “I fucked up, and I fucked her, but it was completely consensual.”
“I get that, but it might not be about the idea of you raping someone. Celia knew you better than that.” He sat back and dropped his hands into his lap.
“Then what?” My phone buzzed. Unknown number.
I let it be, not interested in talking with anyone other than my brother at the moment, and even he was starting to grate my nerves.
“The girl was twenty, bro. You’re thirty-six. That’s a huge age gap.” He shrugged. “That upsets people a lot sometimes. Maybe Celia just figured you took advantage of the girl because you were her boss, and you’re quite a bit older. If anyone should have known that sleeping together wasn’t a great idea... it was you.”
“I guess.” I picked up a chip from the basket sitting between us and chewed on it slowly, trying to think through my next steps. If Alisa wasn’t taking the rape case, then I needed to find someone sooner rather than later.
“We’re going to get through this. Just say an extra prayer that Alisa will take the case, or if not, we find another attorney that’s just as well suited for your shit.” He picked up a few chips and shoved them in his mouth before turning his head to follow a cute waitress as she walked to the back. “I think the worst part about going to jail would be the lack of opportunity for sex.”
“I think there’s probably plenty of opportunity.” I crossed my arms over my chest, not really wanting to broach the subject that my brother always moved toward. Sex was his go-to topic and had been since we were kids. How he had a wife and hadn’t cheated on her was a shock to me.
He chuckled. “That’s disturbing.”
The phone buzzed again, and I picked it up, lifting my hand to tell him to keep it down for a minute. “This is Zek.”
“Zek. It’s Clark Beeler. How are you, old friend?”
“Hey, buddy.” I slumped down in my chair and ignored Mark trying to play charades with me across the table. “How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m sure you know why I’m calling.” His tone was even, but I knew Clark well enough to know that he could go from cool and collected to a raging bull in a matter of minutes.
“Yep. I honestly hope that I didn’t upset her too much.” I turned and got out of the booth, heading for the front door. “I just needed to know if it was her. Sitting across the table and pretending to be strangers didn’t work.”
“I get that. What happened with you guys when we were kids? I thought she just had a passing crush, but it seemed like maybe I missed something.”
“It wasn’t much more than that. I respected you too much, and she was too young.” I pushed the door and walked out into the darkening evening, taking a deep breath of the fresh air around me. “I need her help, buddy. She’s the best at what she does, and I’m in a shit load of trouble.”
“I get that. I’m a little hesitant to encourage her though. I’m sure you understand.” He let out a long sigh.
“Just ask, Clark. We were friends our whole lives. Just ask.” I pressed my back to the wall behind me and lifted my eyes to the sky as the stars started to dot the skyline. How badly I wanted to experience life in a new and fresh way now that it was close to being snatched from me.
“Did you rape that girl? I know you didn’t, but I gotta hear it from you. I need to protect my sister from whatever is raging inside of her.” His voice was pinched, tight with stress.
I wasn’t even offended. I knew why he needed to ask me the question and didn’t blame him.
“No. I would never in a million years hurt a woman. I had sex with her, and it was rough because she bantered me into being rough. It was what she wanted. But I’d never hurt her, or anyone else. Not even after her false accusations. I feel sorry for the girl.” I pushed away from the wall. “Help me get Alisa on my side. I’ll keep away from her other than what’s required professionally for this shit.”
“Swear it on your great granddaddy’s grave.”
Warmth filtered through the phone as he joked with me like he did when we were kids. Everything was sworn on our great granddaddy’s graves. I almost felt sorry for the old guys... they had a lot stacked against them.
“I swear it. I just need help and someone I can trust.” I held my breath, knowing if he agreed to talk to her then she would come over to my side.
“Alright, buddy. Let’s get together soon and talk. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks, Clark.” I dropped the call and slid the phone into my back pocket before cupping my hands over my mouth and pacing along the sidewalk for a minute or more.
Somehow proving my innocence in the rape case had become more than just a need to clear up my name. It was about getting Alisa to remember who I was. Remember the kind of man I was. I could get Clark to convince her to agree to represent me, but it would be up to me to bring her to see me as I wanted to be seen.
It was an uphill battle, but one I wanted to fight.
“Now, just don’t lose yourself to her in the middle of it.”
Yeah right.