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I glanced down at the paper and read a few lines. “River was his attorney, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get a grip on the case, and the stress was just too much for your father.” I used my best imitation of Doreen’s voice, which was one of a middle-aged woman who’d smoked heavily for most of her life, and she glared at me, but I saw the corners of her lips turn up with amusement. “You fully blamed me.”
“What were we supposed to tell her? That her father can’t get it up enough for his current lady friend, so he tripled his dose of medication?” Doreen crossed her arms over her chest.
“For fuck’s sake. I thought you doubled it. You tripled it? What were you thinking, Lionel?” I hissed. It pissed me off because I loved the asshole, even if I wouldn’t admit it. And mixing his old-man dick medication with booze and his poor current cardiovascular condition had been a recipe for disaster. “And, yeah, that’s what you were supposed to tell her. Because it’s the fucking truth. Instead, you threw me under the bus. But if Ruby’s as smart as you claim she is, I doubt she’d buy that bullshit story anyway. People don’t just have strokes because someone sues them for a workplace accident. You weren’t facing prison time, for fuck’s sake.”
“Hey. I played Juliet in our high school play. I’m a theatrical genius. Trust me, she bought it.”
I leaned back in my chair and shook my head. I’d represented Lionel in this ridiculous case, even though he was completely in the wrong and should have just paid Jenna Tate’s medical bills right when the accident occurred. But his cheap ass tried to save a dime, which cost him three times what it should have in the end.
“Listen, you and your limp dick better pull your shit together. Stop dating women who are half your age and maybe you’ll be able to keep up. Have you ever thought of that?”
Lionel shrugged, the right side of his mouth drooping. “Stella’s hot.”
“And you’re a stubborn ass. I’ll go along with your ridiculous charade, but I don’t think Doreen is that good of an actress, andif Ruby buys this shit, then she isn’t the genius that you claim she is.”
“Ahhh… I see the whole gang is here,” a voice said from behind me, and I glanced over my shoulder.
Ruby fucking Rose had grown up since I’d last seen her.
She had long dark waves falling down her back, red plump lips, and hazel eyes that looked more gold at the moment with the sunlight coming in through the windows and illuminating her pretty face.
Fuck me.
Lionel’s daughter was hot as hell.
She sure as shit didn’t look like this when I’d seen her last. Obviously, it had been a while, and she was no longer a teenager.
She was a sexy-as-sin woman.
I raised a brow because she was glaring at me like my mere presence offended her.
“Long time no see, Ruby.” It had been years since I’d seen her. Lionel went to visit her most of the time, and when she came home, she never stayed long, from what he’d shared. Lionel’s ex-wife, Ruby’s mother, Wendy, was a real piece of work, so from where I was sitting, Ruby appeared to be avoiding Magnolia Falls.
“Oh, how observant of you,” she hissed, her words pure venom. What the fuck was her deal? She hardly knew me. “Is it your brilliant ability to recall that you haven’t seen me in a long time that makes you such an amazing attorney?”
“Ruby,” Lionel said, his voice much softer when he spoke to his daughter than when he spoke to anyone else.
She held her finger up as if to silence him. “No. Don’t youRubyme right now, Daddy dearest. I’ll get to you next.”
Doreen chuckled, and Ruby shot her a look. Lionel’s feisty daughter was small in stature, but fierce in presence. I was six foot two, and she couldn’t be more than five foot four inches, andshe was wearing black military boots that probably gave her an extra inch. Her dark skinny jeans hugged her curves, and I tried hard not to let my eyes roam from her head to her toes the way they were dying to. Her black leather coat stood out like a sore thumb, considering it was the end of May, the sun was shining, birds were fucking chirping, and Magnolia Falls was all sunshine and unicorns this time of year.
This girl looks like she’s just returned from the bowels of hell.
I recognized that kind of anger, because it lived and breathed in me, as well.
“Doreen, I thought you being my father’s oldest and dearest friend and him choosing you as my godmother shortly after I was born meant that you had some sort of loyalty to me?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Jesus. She was pissed at everyone.
I normally focused my anger on one individual at a time. I reached for the baggy with apple slices on Lionel’s tray, grabbed a slice, and popped it into my mouth while I enjoyed the show.
“You know I love you, baby girl. My loyalty is always to you and your father.” Doreen glanced between Lionel and Ruby, and I reached for another slice of apple, which earned me another glare from the queen of darkness.
“Is that so?” Ruby moved closer to Lionel’s bed and plopped down on the end as she glanced at each of us. “Well, we must have different interpretations of loyalty. Lying to me, when you’ve all but begged me to come home to take care of the bar—I don’t know. It seems a little… disingenuous, no?”
Damn. She was smooth.
Confident and condescending and terrifying all at the same time.
