Craving (Steel Brothers Saga 1)

“Talon, that’s not a good idea. Mr. O’Keefe is here to help you.” I turned to O’Keefe. “Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”

“Mr. Steel, your sister explained the circumstances to me and also explained Ms. Roberts’s involvement. I’m going to try to have her removed from the case due to conflict of interest.”

“Just so you know,” I said, “I tried to get out of this case myself. Larry wouldn’t let me.”

O’Keefe nodded. “Larry has a tendency to bend ethics whenever he can.”

I didn’t doubt it. “You can get me off this case if you want to, but I’m willing to strike a pretty good deal.” I put my hand on the doorknob. “Let me know when you’re ready to talk.”

“Damn it!”

I turned and faced Talon after his outburst.

“Haven’t I made myself clear? I said she stays.”

O’Keefe let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. But if I tell you to shut up, you better damn well shut up. Maybe we can get this settled today.”

“It’s already settled. I plead guilty. I want to go to jail.”

I shook my head. “Talon, please. There’s no reason for you to go to jail. Colin is not even that injured.”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you’re saying, Mr. Steel,” O’Keefe said. “The city attorney here is clearly willing to work with us. Why are you so against it?”

“I committed a crime. Criminals belong in jail.”

“Technically this is a misdemeanor, not crime,” I said.

“Ms. Roberts is correct. You haven’t been accused of a crime. You haven’t even been charged with anything. You’ve only been arrested. Your sister is arranging for bail right now. You should be out of here within a couple of hours.”

“Nope, I think I’m staying.”

I threw my hands in the air. “I’ll leave you two to battle this out.” I turned to O’Keefe. “Afraid I don’t have a business card yet. I just started work today.” I hastily scribbled my cell phone number on a Post-it. “You can reach me here.”

“Thank you. I’ll be in touch,” he said.

“I told you, she stays!”

I left anyway.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Talon

Peter O’Keefe was an idiot. What had Marj been thinking, sending him? He sat across from me, drenching me with saliva every time he spoke. He asked me a bunch of questions about that asshole Colin, and I answered them truthfully.

“So I’m pretty sure we can get this down to reckless endangerment, maybe get some community service. Shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Jade says she thought she could get the guy to drop the charges.”

“We can’t count on that. But it would be great if she could.”

“Whatever. I don’t care if I stay here. I really don’t.” Fucking lie that was. I couldn’t bear the thought of being locked up. My nerves were a jumble of jelly. But I would take care of it and I would do it if it meant no one else would be destroyed because of me. I belonged somewhere where I couldn’t hurt anyone. Even if the walls caved in on me. I could do it. I’d lived through it before.

“Mr. Steel, you’re talking nonsense. Once you get out of here, you’ll see that.” O’Keefe took a card out of his wallet and slid it across the table to me. “I’m going to ignore your guilty plea because you aren’t in a position to make a plea at this time. The charges haven’t even officially been filed.”

“I don’t care.”

“Well, start caring. I’ll be in touch.”