Fall From Grace

CARSON

“You look like shit.”

Owen glances up at me as I stand in the doorway to his office. “Nice to see you too.”

“What’s going on with you? Chelsi having issues with the pregnancy?”

Owen shrugs, then leans back in his chair. “You know she hasn’t been sleeping much and has high blood pressure. It’s not getting any better. I’m worried about preeclampsia even though her doctor thinks the blood pressure is stress related.”

“Sorry, man.”

“It is what it is. But that’s not even the worst of it.”

“You do have three girls that are all a little wild, I am sure it’s not.”

He rubs his hands over his face. “It’s not even them. It’s my damn sister. I swear she is having a midlife crisis. She goes out every night and thank fuck she has her own entrance. But that doesn’t mean I don’t hear her stumble in drunk at night. And the fucking. Shit, that’s the worst. I do not want to hear my sister having sex. And it’s only been a week. I can’t take much more of it.”

I throw my head back in laughter.

“This isn’t funny.”

I shake my head, my hand going over my mouth. “It kind of is.”

“Have you given any more thought to having her work for you? I am hoping her working can get her to calm the fuck down with her nightly escapades.”

“That’s part of the reason I’m here,” I say as I walk the rest of the way into his office and sit in a chair across from him. “I talked to HR and worked it out. We can get her in maybe twenty-five hours a week. I know I could use the help for sure.”

“Good. Make her come in at the ungodly hour you do, so she has some discipline in her life. I am ready to go sleep in one of the girls’ rooms upstairs so I can’t hear her through the floors.”

I shake my head at him. “You know me getting here at six in the morning has nothing to do with work but—”

“Getting out of your house. I know, man. I don’t understand why you haven’t sold it yet.”

I run my hands over my face. “Because I am so bogged down with cases. I don’t have time to look for a new house, much less get mine ready to sell.”

Owen raises his brows at me. “You barely even live there. I’m sure someone could walk through it right now, and they wouldn’t even know someone lives there.”

I don’t say anything to him. He’s right, and he knows it. I spend nearly fifteen hours a day at the office. I prefer it to being at home. The memories of Tiffany still weigh me down. It’s like her ghost haunts that house and I can’t stand to be around it. Even six months later, and I swear I can hear her laugh, smell her perfume. Maybe it’s all the designer touches she added to the house. Things I would never have bought myself. I should just get rid of those things, but I know it won’t be enough. I bought that house for her. It was her dream home, and I thought we would live our dream life in it.

“Yo, Carson, snap out of it.”

I blink a few times, then look at Owen.

“You need to get out, man. Do something other than work all day and go back to that huge empty house and sleep or drink yourself stupid. Whatever it is that you do there.” He pushes himself out of his chair. “I’m guessing the other reason you walked in here was to see if I wanted to get a late lunch?”

I nod. It’s after three, but I know neither of us has eaten. We both work hard as criminal defense attorneys, but we always force the other to take a lunch break. Every day.

“How about we just leave for the day?”

“Why?”

“Because I need a break from work and that damn houseful of women. And you need a break from your mind and all that shit I can see going through it.”

“I have a shit ton of work to do.”

“And that work will be here tomorrow,” Owen says to me before continuing. “I’m calling your brothers. We are going out.”

I shake my head. “I have a meeting with the DA tomorrow and a case that—”