Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (40 page)

CHAPTER
FORTY

Brooke

Jordie
greeted me as I walked through the doors of the precinct and headed to the
desk. He frowned when I asked where Roger was. "I don't know," he
replied. "I haven't seen him since he said he had an errand to run and
walked out of the station."

"How long ago
was that?" I asked.

"Couple of
hours," Jordie replied. Then, anticipating my next question, he continued,
"I have no idea where he was going."

"Text him and
tell him to get his ass back here," I said. "We're going to need to
present a united front when we go before the judge, and we might need him to
sit in the second chair."

"What about
me?" Jordie asked.

"You might
have to be first chair," I said as I signed the logbook at the desk and
asked to see Dax Malone. The desk officer nodded and told us to wait while she
sent someone back to get him.

"Why the hell
would I be first chair on this one?" Jordie asked.

"Because I
might not be able to take the case, Jordie," I said as I gave him a
meaningful look. He was confused, and I didn't want to have to explain why I
might not be able to take Dax's case. "Just trust me. Text Roger and get
him back here ASAP."

"Uh,
okay," Jordie said as he pulled out his phone and started rapidly tapping
the screen.

Meanwhile, I
thought about how I was going to approach this bail hearing. I was going to
have to ask Dax a lot of personal questions about why he thought he'd been
arrested and who he thought was actually responsible. I knew that there was no
way I could defend him if I had any doubts, and I wasn't entirely sure that I
wouldn't have doubts, thus the backup plan consisting of Jordie and Roger.

I took some deep
breaths as I prepared to face Dax. I had to be his lawyer, not the woman who
he'd pushed over the edge of sexual ecstasy in the back room of Dooley's last
night. My body had other ideas, though. It wasn't going to be thrown off so
easily, and I could feel my pulse begin racing as I thought about Dax's dark
eyes looking down into mine as he'd run his hands over my bare skin.

"No!" I
said as I shook my head and tried to clear those thoughts out of my mind.

"Huh?"
Jordie looked up from his phone.

"Nothing,
just talking to myself," I said as I worked to clear my mind. I needed to
think about the issue directly in front of me and that was that Dax had been
accused of murder. The question was why. Why would a club owner want to kill
his lawyer? And, was it possible that a man with Dax's capacity for tenderness
could be capable of killing someone? I walked a dangerous line as I tried to
reconcile the possible sides of Dax Malone.

"Ms.
Raines?" the desk officer called. "Malone is being brought to the
interview room now. Please follow me."

I stood up and
smoothed my skirt, picked up my briefcase, and followed the officer to the
back. She patted me down as she asked if I had any weapons on my person. After
telling her I did not, she dug through my briefcase before nodding to the guard
behind the gate who buzzed me in. He walked me back to the interview room and
punched in a number on the key pad before the door swung open to reveal Dax
sitting cuffed to the interview table wearing the clothes I'd last seen him in.

I inhaled sharply
as I looked into his eyes and then quickly looked away. The effect he had on me
was overwhelming, and if I was going to get him out of here, I had to focus on
the job at hand – being his lawyer.

"Mr. Malone,
it's good to see you," I said as I set my briefcase on the table and
opened it so I could grab a legal pad and a pen.

"Do we really
need to be that formal, counselor?" he asked as a grin played at the edges
of his lips.

"Indeed, we
do," I said casting my eyes over to the window and then looking back at
Dax. They couldn't legally listen to us, but they could watch us. Dax followed
my eyes and then nodded slightly before looking directly at me again. I took a
deep breath and began.

"I'm here to
represent you," I said. "Can you tell me what happened?"

He quickly
recounted the details of his arrest as I looked down at the charge sheet. I
couldn't figure out why he was being charged with first-degree murder, aside
from the fact that the investigating officer claimed to have found traces of
Lydia's blood on Dax's boat.

"Mr. Malone,
can you explain why the DA would want to charge you with first-degree
murder?" I asked.

"Brooke, can
we please drop the formal tone and just talk?" he said. He looked at me
seriously as he spoke. "As my lawyer, I need to tell you things that may
affect the way you see me personally. Are you sure you want to hear them?"

"I'm your
lawyer. Don't you think it's a wise idea to give me all the information I need
to be able to defend you?" I asked. I knew what he was saying, but I was
here in a professional capacity and it wasn't appropriate for me to discuss our
personal relationship.

"Yeah, but
this is going to be hard to hear," he warned as he stared at me. I felt
like he was looking inside of me and seeing all the uncertainty and it unnerved
me.

"Then you'd
best begin by telling me everything," I said as I steeled myself and
waited to hear what he had to say. I didn't know what I'd do if he admitted
that he'd killed Lydia.

"First, I
want to make two things absolutely clear," he said, fixing me in his gaze,
unwilling to let me look away. "One, I did not kill Lydia."

"And, the
second thing?" I asked.

"Two, you
matter to me," he said dropping his voice. "I'm not letting go."

"I...I...I
understand," I stuttered. Then, leaning closer, I said quietly, "You
need to treat me like your lawyer right now. Please."

He nodded and
began telling me everything I needed to know. Halfway through his tale, I had
to stand up and walk to the other side of the room as I processed the story.

"Brooke?"
he said as I stood with my back against the wall and one hand over my mouth
trying to reconcile the image of Dax as an LA drug lord who ran a
billion-dollar empire out of his club with the memory of him in the back room
at Dooley's. None of this made sense.

"I'm
thinking," I said, holding up a hand.

"What are you
thinking?" he asked.

"I'm thinking
about why someone would want to frame you for the murder of your own
lawyer," I said as I turned the case over in my mind and looked for the
holes. Something didn't sit right, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Yes,"
he said with a slight grin as he leaned back and watched me. I could feel his
eyes moving down my body and knew that he was probably remembering our tryst
the night before. I felt the heat rising between my legs, despite the fact that
I was doing my best not to be distracted.

"Dax?" I
said.

"Yes,
Brooke?"

"If I'm going
to help you, you're going to have to stop imagining me naked while I'm actually
in your presence," I said with a wry grin. "It's messing with my
ability to be a good lawyer."

"I
understand," he said as he dropped his eyes and stared at the table.
"Is this better?"

"Only
slightly," I smiled. "You have to stop imagining any of that while
I'm still here."

"Fine, I'll
meditate on penguins, baseball, and entomology," he said to the table.

"That's a
weird combination of things," I said.

"Perhaps, but
you have to admit that none of them are erotic." He grinned, still looking
down.

"Well, you
don't have to be a smartass," I retorted.

"Better than
being a dumbass," he shot back, making me forget where we were as I
chuckled.

"Stop
it!" I said quickly regaining my professional demeanor. "I need to formulate
a strategy to get you bail and get you out of here, and this is not
helping."

"Now, see
there's one other thing I need to talk to you about," he said.

"What's
that?"

"I'm not the
only one who needs to be bailed out of here," he replied as he looked up
at me. "I need you to get my brother out, too."

I stood staring at
him for a full minute before I said, "Mr. Malone, if there are any more
surprises you intend to spring on me, I suggest you get them all out on the
table right now. Because if you continue doing it this way, we're both going to
be screwed."

Dax looked up at
me with a roguish smile that caused my heart to pound hard in my chest and then
said, "Nope, that's about it."

CHAPTER
FORTY-ONE

Dax

I
looked up at Brooke as I
told her about getting bail for Beck. She shook her head, which loosened her
braid a little and made me recall the way her silky hair had felt when I'd run
my fingers through it the night before. I watched a long strand wind its way
around her neck and I breathed deeply as I tried to maintain control of myself
while she talked.

Brooke hadn't
seemed too surprised by my drug business, but I could tell she had a lot of
questions she wanted to ask. I knew her well enough to know that she was only
going to ask what she needed to know and try to avoid getting caught up in
shady dealings that would put her at risk. She was smart enough to recognize
that defending me meant skirting the law in a way that wouldn't leave either of
us vulnerable. And as I watched her do the mental acrobatics necessary, I found
myself even more attracted to her.

"Dax!"
she snapped.

"What?"
I replied, shaking my head to clear it.

"If we're
going to work together, you're going to have to stay focused on what we're
doing," she scolded. I knew she was right, but I couldn't help remembering
the way she'd moaned when I'd caressed her beautifully shaped breasts.

"DAX!"
she yelled. "Jesus, you're going to have to focus! You do understand that
your life is on the line here, right?"

"Got
it," I said as I stared down at the table, willing myself to stay focused
on the questions she was asking.

"You're going
to have to give me a timeline of where you were the day that Lydia
disappeared," she said. "Then, you're going to have to trace your
movements for a week prior and post disappearance. Do you understand?"

"Sure, no
problem," I said. I knew that the cameras at the club would verify my
whereabouts. Every digital tape was time and date stamped and stored on a
server away from the club. This was dangerous, because it meant that if someone
conducted business on the premises we'd have evidence of that, as well. I
crossed my fingers and hoped that no one had been that careless the week before
or after Lydia's murder.

"Then, I'm
going to need to check out the boat," Brooke said as she made a note on
the yellow legal pad on the table. She was definitely formulating a game plan.
"I think the police have it under surveillance until they can haul it back
to the station for someone to go over it with a fine-tooth comb."

"Probably,"
I said, focusing on the legal pad and its yellow color. It was helping me keep
my mind on what Brooke was saying and off of how she looked while she was
saying it.

"Is there
anyone you can think of who would be out to get you?" she asked.

"You're
kidding, right?" I looked up at her in disbelief.

"What?"

"Brooke, I'm
a drug dealer in LA," I said. "Of course there are people out to get
me. The question is who would be so pissed at me that they'd kill my
lawyer?"

"Alright,
well, I'm going to need you to make a list of the people you think might be out
to get you so that I can have Jordie and Roger go interview them," she
said.

"Get the fuck
out of here," I shot back.

"There's no
need to swear, Mr. Malone," she said, as if speaking to a small, stupid
child.

"Look,
Counselor, do anything you need to do to win this case and prove my
innocence," I said, my voice getting louder as I continued until I was
shouting at the top of my lungs. "But do not send your legal colleagues
into rival gang territory to ask questions about whether or not they framed
me!"

"Do not yell
at me, Malone," she warned as she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, you're
dispensing with the courtesy title, are you?"

"Only when
you act like an idiot," she retorted.

"Me, act like
an idiot? ME?" I shouted. "Jesus, lady, for a college-educated
lawyer, you are one stupid woman."

"That's
enough, Malone," she said in a voice that was so calm it chilled my blood.
She placed both palms on the table and leaned in so that she was inches from my
face and quietly said, "I'm going to say this one time, and one time only.
I am the lawyer on your case, and you either cooperate with me and play nice or
I will walk out of here and leave you high and dry. You've had your one freebie
mistake – do not make a second one. Got it?"

In that moment, I
knew I wasn't dealing with a sweet innocent girl from Lincoln Heights. No, I
realized I was dealing with a woman who definitely knew what she was doing and
that if I didn't let her do it, she'd leave me defenseless.

"I'm sorry,
Brooke," I said. It was one of the few times in my life that I'd
apologized, and I was glad that no one else was here to witness it.

"Apology
accepted. Bygones," she nodded before looking back at the legal pad.
"Now, I'm going to go arrange for your bail and bail for your brother.
What did he do, anyway?"

"He's high as
a kite," I sighed. "They arrested him for trespassing on the boat,
but it's a bogus charge because it's my boat and he hangs out there all the
time."

"He
what?" she did a double take.

"He hangs out
on the boat," I repeated. "Takes it out and goes fishing, you know.
Stuff that a fuck-up little brother does."

"God, Dax,
don't you get it?" she said. "Your brother could have killed Lydia!
Or one of his cronies!"

"Who? Beck?
That little fuck-up?" I laughed. "Right. He can barely tie his own
shoes these days."

"But we don't
need him to actually be the killer. Think, Dax, think!" she urged.
"We just need him to cast reasonable doubt on your guilt. This is good!
Very good!"

"It's a
fucking joke," I said shaking my head. I knew where she was going with
this, but it was so ludicrous that I didn't have any faith in it actually
working.

"Alight, I'm
going to go plead your case and get you two out," she said. "This
will take a few hours. I've got to file paperwork, arrange for a bond, and get
you both to the courthouse."

"Call Riza.
She knows how to arrange the bonds," I said and gave Brooke the number.
"How likely do you think it is that you'll get us out today?"

"I don't
know. I've got to see who the judge is and then get the paperwork filed,"
she replied as she scribbled furiously on the legal pad. "I need to get
this to Jordie."

Brooke quickly
gathered up her things and shoved them in her briefcase before she looked at me
and said, "I'm going to do everything in my power to get you out of here.
Please don't do anything to screw that up."

"Now who’s
being insulting?" I said defensively.

"I'm not
kidding, Dax," she said quietly. "I'm only going to get one shot at
it. Do not screw this up."

I could see the
gravity of the task weighing on her, so I simply nodded as she walked to the
door and knocked to be let out. Before the door opened, she turned and looked
at me over her shoulder. The look told me everything I needed to know about
what she was thinking.

I nodded as she
left me sitting chained to the table. Alone.