My cheeks heated, and I shuffled on the spot. It wasn’t that I was embarrassed with what Cade had said, but that Brody had witnessed it, and he was Brody’s son, which meant he was my baby’s big brother.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
I blinked several times, my hand twitching by my side, but I managed to keep it there and not move it to my stomach. That one move would have been all Brody needed to see, and there was no way I was going to tell him right now. Not when his wife and son were in the diner, and not when I wasn’t sure what was happening with anything else in my life.
“Lola,” Brody started, but Sal stood, blocking me.
“No.” Sal shook his head. “You’re not doing this. Walk out of this room right now and go back to your wife and kid.”
“Sal,” Brody ground out, and I felt him rather than saw him move closer. “Stay out of my business. This has nothing to do with—”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Sal stepped forward, and I moved to the side, hating that they were face-to-face with only a few inches separating them. “Lola is my business, and she’s on the clock, which means you leave her alone.”
The atmosphere was so tense even I squirmed. I didn’t want any of this to happen. All I had wanted was to get out from Hut and start a new life. That new life wasn’t meant to cause me more stress than my old one.
I was meant to start fresh.
Brody focused on me, his gaze flicking over my entire face and finally stopping on my eyes. There was so much shining inside of them, but he concealed it all just as quickly as he’d shown me. “I only wanted to say thank you for bringing Cade back here.”
“You’re welcome,” I croaked out, gripping my hands in front of me.
“You can go now,” Sal growled. “And tell Cade his first shift starts at twelve tomorrow.”
Brody didn’t move for a beat, his feet planted to the floor, and part of me wanted him to fight what Sal said, to tell Sal he didn’t get to command what he did and he was sorry for lying, that I was enough for him. But the other part of me—the part that told myself I didn’t need a man—stood up taller and took over. That part wouldn’t stay in this room while the testosterone was rife. That part had my feet moving around the table and past Brody, not giving him a second glance.
Too bad that part only stayed for a few minutes, because as soon as Brody walked back into the diner, and toward Moira and Cade who were standing by the front door, it withered away, and left me more confused than I was before Brody had come in here.
Chapter Nine
BRODY
“What the hell do you mean he got bail?” I pushed my hand into my hair and gripped it as hard as I could. The burn of my scalp didn’t help though. It just aggravated me even more.
“It means,” Aaron said, “that the judge let him out on bail. He’s free to run the streets until his court date.”
My office had all the guys in it, as well as Aaron as he delivered the news we didn’t think we’d hear. That wasn’t what was meant to happen. We’d pulled way too much cocaine off the streets and had enough evidence that he shouldn’t have been let out at all.
“He must have connections inside,” Ryan growled from his position on the sofa. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. If he doesn’t, then he’s one lucky fucker.”
Aaron winced but didn’t deny the theory. “His bail was set at a million, and he met it.”
“Of course he did.” I stood and planted my fists on my desk. “They let him use drug money so he could get out onto the streets again.”
My mind was working overtime. We’d been able to get everything we needed to put him away for good, and he’d still managed to squirm his way out of it. It shouldn't have been possible—no way in hell. And yet he was practically a free man walking.
“What do we do now?” Jord asked from where he was leaning against my closed door. We’d all put way too much time into this case for Hut to just walk away. There was no way we were going to let it go. And from the way Aaron’s jaw tensed, he agreed. It was too personal for him to surrender at the first sign of trouble.
“What about Ford?” I asked, an idea starting to form. “Hut doesn’t know he was involved.”
“We promised him he’d get out,” Kyle reminded me.
He was right, we had, but I’d do anything at this stage just so that Hut wouldn’t be on the streets. “Where is he?” I asked. It had only been two weeks since Hut had been arrested, and Ford had been in this office when I told him exactly who I was. He may have already been starting his new life with his cousin, Jenna, but there may have been a chance...
“He’s in the next state over.” Ryan stood. “I took him there myself. I gotta say”—he walked over to the window and looked out of it, a frown on his face—“he reminds me of you.”
“Me?” I pursed my lips.
“Yeah.” Ryan turned to face me. “He has this raw need to not be who he’s always been. He wanted out, and a better life, and he said he’d do anything to have that. It was like I’d gone back a decade and was talking to you.”