Her smile exposes she’s still cautious. She just doesn’t have the willpower to fight anymore. It has been a rough couple of months for her family. She’s drained, and the struggle is seen all over her face. “He’s in the den with your father.”
After thanking his mother with a hug, Caidyn guides me to the den at the back of the property. I wait until we’re out of earshot before expressing my worries out loud. “It will take years to get together the money Dimitri shaved off the asking price.”
“I know.” The shortness of Caidyn’s reply doesn’t make it any less impacting. “It’s been one shitstorm after another lately.”
He drifts his eyes to the stairwell for the quickest second before pushing open the double doors that lead to the den. Even with Caidyn and I coming and going at all hours of the day and night the past two weeks, I’ve not seen hide nor hair of Justine. If Mrs. Walsh hadn’t suggested that I put Max in the backyard last week when he got a little vocal about a heated conversation Landon was having with his father, I would have forgotten she was here.
The dean at her college granted her special leave, but that expires at the end of the month. I truly don’t know if she has plans to return to her studies. She won’t talk to anyone, much less me.
A ghost of a smile cracks on my lips when our entrance into the den has Max squashing his jowls against the French glass doors lining the back of the large space. He wasn’t impressed when I said he couldn’t come with us today. He will never admit it, but he’s been missing Maddox. They have a unique connection that’s founded more on respect than friendship.
“Don’t get yourself into a fuss. A big ol’ ham bone calmed him down mighty fast once you left. He only left it when he detected your presence.”
Happy for Mr. Walsh to believe the angst on my face is because I missed Max, I thank him with a smile before moving to the outdoor patio to greet Max with a scratch of his chin.
“Max!” I shout when he darts past me. Usually, he knocks me over before covering my face with slobbery kisses. This is the first time I’ve been dissed for someone else.
“Shit,” I mutter when he charges through the den at a mile a minute. I assume he’s racing for Justine’s room as he has tried many times before but am proven wrong when he bolts between a bunch of movers unaware he’d rip off their arms if they so much as touched him. “Max, wait!”
I follow him down the front stairs, across the manicured lawn, and partway down the street before it dawns on me that he isn’t running away from me. He’s charging headfirst for what he believes is a threat to my safety. Two suit-clad men barely make it into their dark SUV in one piece. Max chomps at their heels, growling and barking like he’s possessed.
While Max follows their car down the street, I twist my torso in the direction they were facing before Max barreled around the corner. Their position makes no sense. All the show is in the front part of the Walsh residence. The big windows and flimsy window coverings make them prime targets for peeping toms, so why the hell would two camp out at the far end of their property?
I find an answer to the questions I’m asking when Max’s loud barks force a woman now petrified of dogs to the window of her room. Justine’s room is in the back far corner of the property. Her brothers forced her to have that room because it was the furthest from the front. If they were ever ambushed, Justine’s bedroom would be the last one searched.
When Justine spots me on the sidewalk, I wave at her. If she waves back, I miss it. I’m too busy collecting my heart off the floor from Caidyn’s sudden arrival. “A duo from your uncle’s crew?”
It could be stupid for me to do, but I shake my head. “Their suits were too fancy for my uncle. He’ll work you to the bone, but he only ever pays a dime for your time.”
Caidyn breathes heavily out of his nose. My uncle throwing his weight around was an easy scapegoat. Now he has to be more inventive. “It could be the Feds making their presence known. They weren’t happy when Justine refused to testify against Col.” The Feds weren’t the only ones mad at Justine. Excluding Maddox, all of Justine’s brothers were pissed at her decision. They don’t understand she saved more than her life when she refused to testify. Theirs were promptly scratched off my uncle’s hit list as well. “To be safe, I’ll let Saint and Landon know we’re being watched.” Caidyn bands his arm around my shoulders before spinning me fully around to face the house. “Come on. Owen wants to talk to us.”
I can’t help but smile when he drops his arm a second later. He isn’t worried about how Maddox would feel about us getting cozy. Max gave him his marching orders this time around.
Things are tense between Owen and Mr. Walsh when we re-enter the den. So much so, I place Max back outside. Their anger isn’t focused on me, but I don’t want to take any chances.
I return from the lawned courtyard in just enough time to hear Caidyn say, “We already agreed to a second appeal.”
Maddox’s first appeal was turned down today. That verdict was the reason I was so desperate to see him. I wanted to make sure he doesn’t give up. We still have many options up our sleeves.
Owen licks his suddenly dry lips. “I told Maddox the same thing this morning.”
“But…” Caidyn and I say at the same time, weirdly synced.
The more we hang out, the more we finish each other’s sentences.
Don’t misread what I am saying. I look at Caidyn like a brother. There is no sexual attraction whatsoever—on either side. We’re friends. That’s it.
“But…” Owen follows along nicely. “I don’t see any judge granting an appeal now.”
My eyes bounce between his, stunned by what could have changed his opinion so quickly. He was all for a second appeal when he left here this morning with the promise of twenty thousand dollars in cash to kickstart Maddox’s appeal process.
It takes a few seconds, but the truth finally homes in on me like a heat-sensing missile. “Maddox’s bruises?” I should say more. I just can’t.
Owen shifts on his feet to face me before nodding. “He was jumped by half a dozen inmates on the way to first break this morning.” Untrusting of my legs, I plonk into the closest chair. Owen waits for me to nurse my head into my hands before continuing, “Maddox…held his own.” He looked as funny expressing that as he did saying it. “He came away relatively uninjured.”
“If you class a swollen-shut eye as ‘relatively uninjured,’ I hate to see what you classify as near fatal,” Caidyn jumps in before I can, his voice edgy.
Unwilling to leave him out on the plate, swinging alone, I ask, “Why would a fight hinder Maddox’s appeal? He was defending himself. He didn’t start it.”
