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“Yes.” His lips pressed into a thin line, the grooves around his mouth deepening as he sat opposite me. “Who was the boy you hit and why?”
Christ.My chest tightened painfully. I didn’t want to go over it again. But it wouldn’t be the first time, and I would have to man up and do what I had to. “The kid’s name is Luke Green, and he was messing with a girl I was hired to protect. He took a swing at me, so I hit back.”
He’d already heard the story from Mom, and part of me wanted to call him out on it, but whatever. If I wanted to give more details, he was there to listen, and that was what he said without words.
“Self-defense. You’ll be out of here within the hour.” Grandad leaned back in his chair, and it creaked ominously.
“I don’t think it’s that simple.” The Green family would be out for blood, despite their kid harassing a girl. “The charge is involuntary manslaughter. And it’s why I called Uncle Lucas. I might need a team of lawyers, and he would have delivered that.”
Grandad waved away the words that still felt like a noose around my neck. “I’ll tell you what. If my lawyer thinks working with his is best, then we’ll do that.”
So generous of him. I kept my mouth shut. No matter the questionable things Grandad had done in the name of family, love, and loyalty, I owed him a certain amount of respect. And I knew he wouldn’t let me down. We would need a team, and Grandad would see it that way eventually too.
He glanced at a text on his phone before training those world-weary eyes on me. “Before my lawyer gets here, we have a few minutes to discuss a call I got from the bank. You asked the bank about taking a loan out against the trust your nona and I set up for you? Would you like to explain that?”
Anger whipped through me like a riptide. “I’m doing my best to keep up with football, work, and manage my classes so that my partial scholarship isn’t revoked and I can pay for classes without going to Mom for help.” I resented the hell out of him for not helping, at least with tuition, and that was the reason I’d inquired about the trust Phoenix and I had only just learned about. I hadn’t gone through with trying to take a loan out against it, but that bank manager must’ve had Grandad on speed dial. If I needed to, I could survive in a run-down apartment, pleading hardship to Coach so I could move out of the football house and make things easier on myself.
My brother had an almost full ride. He didn’t have the struggles I did. Winning a fight here and there was enough to cover what he needed. It wasn’t for me. The bodyguarding gig made up the rest of the money, not the internship Grandad had practically forced on me during my rare downtime. But that was gone.
“Care to explain about the fight you made Phoenix throw?”
“You’d better shut your mouth.” Grandad leaned closer. “Accusations like that are dangerous.”
“I call bullshit.”Like I wouldn’t believe my twin on something like that? For the way he’d forced Phoenix to throw a fight, and worse, the way he’d tried to force Aspen to disappear from my brother’s life?
Grandad’s face turned a mottled shade of red, and he leaned forward. “We aren’t discussing Phoenix now, are we? You’re in enough of a mess all on your own.”
I clenched my fists under the table, where he couldn’t see them. Grandad was nothing if not stubborn. And since I was the peacemaker of all my headstrong relatives, I let it go. “Fine. But if the lawyer agrees, I want Uncle Lucas’s team involved. This is my future on the line, not your pride.”
Weathered hands flattened on the table between us, and the usual ego that held Grandad rigid in his beliefs melted away. “Your best interests are all I care about. I’ll tell my lawyer to involve Lucas’s team regardless. It can’t hurt, and the last thing I want is for you to face jail time and risk your NFL dreams.”
We all had those dreams—Phoenix, Cole, Damon, and myself.
My shoulders dropped a full inch as the tension eased from them. “Thank you.”
Grandad meant well. He just didn’t always go about things the best way, like what he’d done to Phoenix, Aspen, and my parents. But those were issues for another day.
The door opened, and the same officer stood to the side while a tall, thin man with wire-rimmed glasses and a custom-made suit breezed inside. He shook hands with Grandad first then held out his palm to me.
“Frank Nicholson, please call me Frank.”
I took his hand, noting his firm grip and brisk, get-down-to-business manner. “Shane Bennett.”
He pulled out the metal chair next to Grandad, pushed up his glasses, then took a file from his briefcase. “A witness has come forward, and the police made a mistake releasing you too early, from what I’ve been told. Are you aware of the charges brought against you and what they mean?”
“Yes.” I didn’t need to repeat the words branded in my mind.
“Before we begin,” Grandad interrupted, “Shane would like his uncle’s lawyers to join you in representation.”
“I have no problem with that.” Frank gave Grandad a curt nod. “I’m on good terms with several legal associates who work for Lucas Savage. I’ll convene with them after our meeting.” Then he gave me his undivided attention. “Everything we discuss here is protected under attorney-client privilege. With that being said, I need to know everything that led up to and resulted in the death of Lucas Green.”
The level of confidence Frank wielded fueled my resolve to share what had happened with him in the hopes that he could get all charges dropped. “Erica Williams’s family hired me to act as a bodyguard for her during certain times of the day, basically after her classes and escorting her safely to her car.” It was easy money and worked with my schedule.
“What made her family seek you out? Why did they think you were qualified to be a bodyguard?”
That was the tricky part. “She told her parents about me after seeing me in a fight.”
“And what fight was that?”
