Blaze (Steel Brothers Saga 21)

“No, this was an assault, plain and simple.”

“Assault with deadly coffee. I see.”

“If you’re not going to take me seriously—”

“Oh, please, I am taking you seriously. I want you to go straight to the sheriff and tell him the same story you told me. That’s where you start with this.”

“Thank you. I will.”

I slam the phone down.

What is this man after? No way will Hardy take this complaint. Spilling coffee, for God’s sake. I rise, walk out of my office and to Callie’s cubicle. “Take a walk with me.”

“Sure.” She stands, and together we leave the office, walk down the stairs, and outside.

“What’s the matter?” she asks.

“Nothing. I just want to warn you. I just got a call from Pat Lamone.”

She lifts her eyebrows. “And…?”

“He wants me to prosecute you for assault. Get this. For spilling coffee on him the other day.”

She drops her beautiful lips into an O.

“Yeah, that was my reaction too.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him to go to Hardy. If he wants to file a complaint, that’s where you start. With the police report.”

“You don’t think…”

“Of course not. Hardy is a good guy. He’s not going to take this shit seriously.”

“Okay. Good.”

“Honestly, Callie, I don’t think he’ll even go to Hardy. I’m pretty sure he just wanted to call me. Find out whether I even knew you had spilled your coffee on him.”

“He thinks I might have kept that from you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. He’s trying to mess with our relationship apparently.”

“Yeah. Just like when he told you those lies about Rory and me. And when he said the same thing to Raine.”

“I’m not sure what his angle is yet,” I say, “but I will figure it out.”

“I wonder… Maybe you should call him back. Tell him you’d like to hear more about this complaint about me.”

“Oh?”

“You’re a brilliant attorney, Donny. You can interrogate him. Find out why he’s here.”

A smile spreads over my face. “You’re right. I had a shot at finding shit out, and I didn’t take it.”

“That’s okay. If it had been me, I probably would have slammed the phone down on him.”

“That’s pretty much what I did.”