Hollywood's Baddest (5 page)

He shook his head again. “No. There was no time when I knew they were there. As I said, I don’t keep anything in those pockets, ever, and certainly not drugs.”

“Yet that’s where the police found the drugs when they arrested you at your home.” she said coolly, looking up at him from her notes.

He shrugged. “I guess so. At least, that’s what they said in their report.”

She sighed. “Where were you when they arrested you? What room?”

“I was in my office,” he replied, watching her closely.

“You were in the office where you had gone to meet the men you didn’t know. You went in, you met them, you had a drink, and then you blacked out from that point, during which time you were arrested, and you woke up in the back seat of a squad car, and that’s all you know. You don’t know how or when the drugs made it into your pockets. Right?” she asked, clarifying everything she had written.

He nodded. “That sounds about right.”

“Did anyone see you go into the office? Was anyone else around that you can remember or that you think might have seen what happened while you were in there?” she asked seriously.

“No, there wasn’t anyone else around.”

“Well, what about the guys that you met in the office? You don’t know who they were? Where they went?” she asked in confusion.

“I don’t know who they were. All I know is that one minute we were drinking to my Oscar win, and then next I woke up in the squad car,” he replied with a slight attitude. She could see that he was becoming frustrated.

“Do you think either of the men in your office had anything to do with the drugs?” She looked up at him, her pen poised over the paper beneath her hand. The yellow paper was filling up swiftly as she made notes.

He shrugged. “I have no idea. I had never seen them before in my life. I don’t know who they were, and I don’t know if they had anything to do with it.”

She lowered a brow. “How come you were meeting with strangers in your office?” she asked, suspicion thick in her voice.

Lucas grew frustrated again. “I don’t know! They were just there! Someone said that there were a couple of guys in there waiting to meet me… there were people all over the party waiting to meet me or talk to me. I had just won an Oscar for chrissake. Everyone wanted to talk to me and hang out with me. They were just two more guys who were doing the same thing!”

Alexis gave her head a shake and wrote more notes. He watched her and lowered his voice just a little. “You still don’t believe I’m innocent, do you!”

Another statement. He glared hotly at her.

She looked up at him and laid her pen down on the paper. “No, Lucas, I don’t believe you are innocent. I believe that you are an actor with a drug problem and you were meeting a couple of guys who were going to give you drugs, and it went south somehow. I believe that you knew there were drugs in your front pockets the whole time they were there. I believe you just don’t like that you got caught and busted, and now I have to try to figure out a way to get you out of it. But you know what? It doesn’t matter what I believe. What matters is what a jury of your peers believes, and what I can make them believe, and right now, you aren’t giving me anything at all to go on!”

Lucas looked as if he had had all that he could take. He pushed himself up from the chair and looked down at Warren, who had been silent the entire time.

“This isn’t going to work! She can’t defend me! We have to get another attorney!” he demanded angrily. Warren looked up at Lucas and shook his head.

“No, we aren’t getting another attorney. She’s the best one in this firm for this case. She’s the attorney that you’re going to have.” He looked calm and collected, as if he was used to arguing with Lucas, and nothing Lucas said was going to ruffle his feathers at all.

“I can’t have her defending me! She doesn’t even believe me! How in the hell is she supposed to make anyone else believe that I’m innocent if she doesn’t believe I’m innocent? There has to be another kick-ass attorney in this city, who could do a better job than her!” he glared at Warren.

Warren shook his head. “No, Lucas, she is the best attorney for this case, and she is who is going to defend you. You two are just going to have to iron out your differences and figure out how to make this case work. She has to prove that you are innocent, and you have to help her do that, and that’s all that there is to it.”

Alexis stood up and narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you think I even wanted this case? I didn’t! I wound up getting stuck with this case because Anderson Nolan demanded that I take it! If you want another attorney, then go find one; that’s just fine with me! I didn’t want your case to begin with! I’ve got several other much more important cases to work on than yours!” the volume of her voice went up, and both men turned to look at her.

Lucas looked as if he was ready to reach across the desk and strangle her, and Warren stood up and held his hands up to both of them. “Listen to me, both of you, before this goes somewhere that it shouldn’t. Lucas, you’re not getting out of this, she is your attorney, and that’s all there is to it. Alexis, you’re going to defend him and prove that he is innocent, because that’s your job and that’s what you were hired to do. That’s that. There is no changing anything. Nothing. You two are going to have to find a way to work together, and that is just all that there is to it.”

She huffed in frustration and turned her head away from them both, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. She knew that Warren was right. She couldn’t get out of the case, and she did have to prove that Lucas was innocent, at least in court, or she wasn’t going to get her promotion. She wasn’t about to let either Warren or Lucas know that.

Lucas turned from her and planted his hands on his hips, his squared jaw clenched in anger. He let out a long slow breath and finally turned to look at her. “Listen, I’ve told you all that I know. You’re the attorney. The rest is up to you to figure out.”

Then he turned to look at Warren and shook his head. “I’m done here.” With that, he turned and walked out of the room and Warren looked at Alexis.

“I guess we’re done. Let me know if you need anything else.” He gave her a nod and turned to follow Lucas out.

Alexis sank back down into her seat and rested her forehead in her hands, closing her eyes. She hadn’t gotten hardly any information from either of them at all, and what she did get wasn’t going to be nearly enough to defend Lucas in court. There was no way she could win his case with the information he’d given her that night. There was nothing about it that proved that he was innocent.

She looked up at the clock and saw that it was after ten-thirty. She knew there was nothing more that she could do that night. The best that she could hope for was to go home, get what was left of a good night’s rest, and then come back to her office in the morning and try to make some sense of it.

She put the pad of paper in her desk and locked it, picked up her purse and keys and shut her office door, locking that behind her, and then she turned down the hall and walked to the elevator with a long slow exhale of breath, wondering how in the world she was ever going to make the case work.

Chapter3

She didn’t get a night of rest as she had hoped. She couldn’t stop thinking about the case, thinking about her job, thinking about what was going to happen to her career if she didn’t win the case, and here and there in her thoughts, Lucas’ wandering eyes that had moved all over her body kept coming to her mind and infuriating her.

She woke up tired and irritated, and knew that it was a bad start to her day. Hollywood’s bad boy was no good, and he was going to be difficult to deal with and almost impossible to defend. She had just gotten out of her shower when her cell phone rang. It was her sister. She sighed and answered it, knowing before she even said hello that her sister wanted the whole scoop on the night before.

“So? How did it go?” she asked excitedly when Alexis told her good morning.

Alexis sighed. “It… went. It’s not good, Ab. He didn’t really have any good information to give me; at least nothing that I could use to defend him, and to top it all off, he’s really kind of a huge jackass. He kept checking me out and at first he was kind of flirty with me, but then we both got irritated as hell with each other, and no we aren’t getting along. I just… ugh. I wish I didn’t have this case. I wish they had requested anyone else. I can’t get out of it, and now he doesn’t want me to be his attorney, so he’s not being helpful anymore.”

Abby gasped. “What do you mean he doesn’t want you to be his attorney? Did he fire you? Did you fight? What happened?”

“We just… didn’t get along. He’s a jackass. I don’t like him. He got frustrated with me, and he said he didn’t want me to be his attorney, but his manager told him that he isn’t getting anyone else, so he’s stuck with me, and I’m stuck with him, and neither one of us can get out of it.

That’s kind of all there is to it, really. I have nothing to go on to defend him, and he isn’t going to be any help to me. We’re kind of blocked in by a bunch of impenetrable walls right now. Or at least, that’s what it feels like.” Alexis frowned and fixed her lipstick in the mirror and then walked toward her front door to go to work.

“Oh… Lexi, I’m so sorry. I thought it was going to be so great to meet him and get to defend him. It doesn’t sound like it went well at all, and I’m really sorry. I hope it gets better for you. If it’s any help at all, it seems like all the social media is half and half on it; kind of right down the middle about his innocence or guilt.

So, I don’t know what that means in terms of you finding a jury of his peers that will find him innocent, but it is a possibility. There are people out there who are adamantly sure that he is innocent.”  Abby sounded as if she was trying her best to remain positive.

“Yes, and from what you are telling me, there are an equal number of his peers out there who believe that he is guilty as hell, and I’m one of them. I’m not the only one who selects jurors in the selection process, Abby. The prosecution and I both do that.”

She sighed. “There is some time though, but not much. I’ll see what I can do. Right now this is looking like it might be the hardest and most difficult case I’ve ever done in my life.” She climbed into her car and backed out of her garage, closing it behind her before pulling down the driveway.

“Well, good luck, Alexis. If I can do anything to help you, just let me know, okay?” Abby offered with a helpful and encouraging tone.

Alexis thanked her, grateful for her sister’s support, and ended the call. All the way to the office she ran different scenarios over and over in her mind about how she could turn his pathetic situation into a good defense. There were a few holes in his story; things that could be filled in that might give her an answer as to what really happened, and she knew if she could uncover the truth, she could show it to the jury and the judge, but she had to find it first.

By the time she got to the office, she had made up her mind to dig as deeply as she could to make it work. She sat at her desk and picked up her office phone, wishing that she didn’t have to make the call that she was going to make, but knowing that it had to be done. It was the only way to go forward.

“Hello?” Lucas answered.

“Good morning, Lucas, this is Alexis Harper.” She was trying to sound like it wasn’t the last call she wanted to make.

“Alexis who?” he asked in confusion.

She sighed and bit back a sarcastic retort. “Your attorney. Alexis Harper. You met me at my office last night.”

“Oh! Yeah.” He sounded dejected almost immediately. “What can I do for you?” he asked unenthusiastically.

She took a deep breath and tried to remind herself to be positive about it. “Well, I was thinking about everything you said, and I’d like to come over to your house and take a look around. I want to see if there’s anything I can think of that might help me in your case. Something that you might have missed, or that I didn’t know to ask… just… something to go on besides what you have already told me. Would that be alright with you?”

A long sigh escaped him. “Yeah, I guess if you think you need to do that, it would be fine. I’m home this morning if you want to come by the house.” He gave her the address and gate code, and she told him she was on her way.

She promised herself all the way over to his house that she was going to give it her best shot, that she wasn’t going to go in with a negative attitude, and that she was going to try to give him the benefit of the doubt. She considered that the alternative to his being guilty was the possibility, no matter how unlikely, that he was in fact innocent. She didn’t believe it for a minute, but if by some fraction of a chance he was innocent, there had to be a way to prove it, and if he wasn’t, she was going to have to find a way to prove it without hiding evidence from the prosecution or the court.

It was a tricky situation,
she thought to herself, but she was going to do her best to see what she could do to make it work. She had to. She had no choice. Her career was on the line.

It was a long drive to get to his neighborhood; an exclusive area where the homes were big enough to be hotels. She found his private gate on the street and pressed the code into the security box, looking around as she did so. It was an unassuming gate; large and metal, and it was held in by the frame of a hedge on either side, and an archway that was thick with ivy. It would have been impossible to get through without the gate code. The iron gates swung open and she pulled ahead on the driveway.

It was a long and winding drive that led through some hills and a mass of trees and vegetation,
planted no doubt
she thought,
for privacy
. As she came around a big curve, the home came into sight, and her mouth fell open at the sheer size of it. It was massive, and seemed to be made of different sections that were fitted together to form a whole, but at the same time, it didn’t look disjointed.

It was two stories high with white stucco walls, fronted with pillars and tall wide windows. There were perfectly manicured gardens all the way around it from where she could see, and in the front was a rounded driveway with a big fountain in the center of it. It looked and felt as if she had just stepped onto the Isle of Crete or Mykonos; somehow blended with ancient Roman architecture.

She parked her car and stepped outside, feeling the rising heat of the day around her. She pulled her suit jacket off and took her phone from the hidden inside pocket, and left her jacket in the car. She went to the front door, rang the bell and waited, looking around. It was peaceful there, with so much greenery around her, the warm sun shining brightly on the white house, and the tall thickly grown trees that surrounded the property. The sound of the water fountain helped to ease some of her tension, and she found herself breathing it in and enjoying it as she stood there.

The door opened and she turned to see Lucas before her. He looked more casual than he had the day before. He was in a t-shirt that was stretched over the solid wall of muscles in his chest and arms, and a pair of snug fitting jeans.

“Hi,” he said politely, giving her a small smile.

He stepped back from the door and motioned for her to come inside. She did and as she passed him, she could have sworn she felt his eyes moving over again. It made something in her burn and tingle and she grew irritated for a moment before she reminded herself that she was going to do her best to be on good terms with him and try to focus on the case.

“I was sitting out by the pool. Would you like to go out there to talk or did you want to just look around the house?” he asked, his expression softened, his eyes drifting over her face, taking in every aspect of her features.

She felt her cheeks warm under his steady gaze. “The pool would be fine. I have some more questions for you, and then I can take a look around, if that’s alright.”

He nodded and led the way, stopping in the kitchen to get her a cool drink before they went out of the back door to the pool and gardens. She tried not to stare around her at the house, but it was easily one of the most beautiful homes she had ever seen.

The floors were marble and tile, there was light oak woodwork all throughout the area that she walked through, windows almost everywhere that let in a great deal of light, and the wide spacious layout of the home made her feel comfortable. Despite the fact that she was in Lucas Ryan’s home, she loved everything that she saw about it.

He led her out to the pool and he offered her a chair by the table, under a large umbrella. He sat after she did, and then spent a long moment letting his gaze travel up her legs to the slim fitting light grey skirt she was wearing and then the thin pastel lavender silk blouse that seemed to want to cling to the curves of her form. The blouse, like the one she had been wearing when he met her, was unbuttoned to just above her cleavage, and she saw his eyes pause there a moment, lingering before he lifted them to meet her eyes.

She sighed in annoyance and tried to remind herself to focus on the case. He smiled at her, showing dimples in each of his cheeks, and his blue eyes seemed to dance with the reflected light of the pool in them. “You look beautiful. I’m just… admiring the view.”

Turning her gaze away from him for a moment, she reached into her bag and pulled out the legal pad she had been making notes on before. She felt slightly flustered, but she concentrated on the notes and her train of thought, and she looked up at him, ready to begin the questions.

“Did the two men you met in your office give you their names? You must have been introduced… I’m betting. Do you happen to remember anything about them?” she hoped that she could give him enough questions to distract his attention away from her body, and to help her get anywhere with the case but where she was.

He reached his hand up to his lower lip and ran his finger across it thoughtfully. “Well… now that you mention it, I did get their first names. I think they were Larry and Wade. One of them was tall and skinny, and the other one was shorter, and kind of heavy.” He said, his eyes looking off into the distance at nothing as he thought back to that night.

She wrote quickly. “What were they dressed like?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Dress shirts and pants. Nothing really nice or anything that stood out. In fact, I remember thinking that they were probably party crashers. I thought I’d just have one drink with them and then go.”

Alexis frowned and looked at her notes, feeling like she was missing something. She read over them twice and when she looked back up, she saw that Lucas was staring at her mouth. She cleared her throat and tried to get him to focus on her eyes.

“What did you drink with them?” she intoned as if he needed to be paying attention to what they were talking about, rather than what she looked like. He smiled a wicked grin and winked at her.

“I’m not sure… whatever they were drinking. Bottle of whiskey or something.” He said offhandedly.

Her eyes widened and she leaned forward slightly, not realizing that it strained the material of her blouse against her breasts until his eyes dropped to the generous curves there and she felt her cheeks get warm as she sat back up.

“You drank with them… with men you don’t know, and you just took whatever they offered you without any hesitation? You didn’t even know what it was?” She was dumbfounded that he could be so careless.

He shrugged again. “I wasn’t too worried about it.” He answered lightly. “I was drinking all different kinds of things with people all night.” He cringed at the thought of it. “Actually, that was probably my worst mistake that night.”

“Yes. That and getting caught with drugs on you and in your library,” she added shortly. He rolled his eyes and looked away in irritation.

“So were you drunk when you went into the room?” she asked, biting at her lower lip as she tried to piece it all together. She looked up at him and saw that he was watching her chew her lip intently and she stopped biting it. He grinned at her again.

“Yeah, I was pretty buzzed. I wasn’t wasted or anything, but I was definitely feeling the liquor.” He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “Do you have a boyfriend? Are you seeing anyone?” he asked with a sly smile.

She blinked at him in surprise and looked away from him. “That’s none of your business.” She replied shortly and he chuckled a little as he gazed at her.

“You weren’t drunk when you went in, but then you passed out shortly after being in the room.” She knitted her brow and read her notes again before looking back up at him. “And you said you weren’t on any drugs… right?” she asked doubtfully.