Cards of Love: Knight of Swords

“It’s our house.”

“I’m okay with it if you are.”

“I’ll talk to Mr. Porter.”

Our jobs at the movie theater picked up again.

Roman took off more and more during his shifts to “handle business” with Ulfric. Someti

mes Dex even stopped by because he needed Roman’s assistance.

I’d never given Dex’s motorcycle club a lot of thought. He’d been a member and ridden a Harley for as long as I could remember.

But now, working for Ulfric, the head of a different motorcycle club, I had a lot more exposure to bikers. And I understood that they didn’t always operate on the right side of the law.

So Roman sneaking off with Ulfric bothered me a lot.

Especially the night he didn’t come back.

My car was here. That wasn’t the problem. I could get myself home.

Ulfric hadn’t returned either.

I took out my phone and dialed Dex. He answered and by the background noise, I assumed he was at a party.

“Dex!” I shouted into the phone.

“Give me a second, Julez.”

Eventually the noises faded and he came back on the line.

“You okay, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine. But Roman took off with Ulfric tonight and they haven’t come back yet. Do you know where they went?”

It was the first time I’d ever questioned him about anything closely related to his “club business,” and I could tell he didn’t like it. Well, too bad. I wasn’t a little girl anymore. If Roman was involved, I was involved and Dex would just have to suck it up.

“I don’t know what Ulfric had him working on, but I’ll look into it. Do you need me to come over to the house?”

“No, I’ll be fine.”

That was a lie. I stayed up all night worrying where Roman was and if he was okay.

Before the sun kissed the sky my phone rang. I’d fallen sleep with it on my chest, waiting for news about Roman. It clattered to the floor, and I hurried to scoop it up before the call went to voicemail.

“Hello?”

A robotic voice answered. “You have a collect call from Ironworks County Jail. Will you accept the charges?”

“Yes! Yes!”

“Juliet?”

“Roman. Thank God. Where are you?”

Angry, rage-filled tears blurred my vision as he gave me vague details.

“I’ll gather together some money and come post your bail.”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“This is bad, Juliet. I don’t want you involved.” He paused and I strained for sounds he was still on the phone with me. “Just finish school and…stay away, Juliet. I’m obviously no good for you.”

His words eviscerated me.

The line went dead.

My bleeding heart leaked out on the floor along with my will to exist.

Forty-Six

Roman

The job I’d gone on with Ulfric had gone utterly sideways. It was supposed to be simple. The Vipers MC had stolen a delivery that belonged to the Wolf Knights MC. I didn’t ask what it was, but I probably should have.

Since the Vipers had no idea who I was, I boldly went up to their front door while Ulfric and his brothers waited around the corner for my signal.

Turned out the Vipers didn’t appreciate unannounced visitors and they answered by firing through the front door. I barely avoided a bullet to the gut.

Ulfric and his crew had my back and while they handled things at the front entrance, I slipped around to the back and retrieved their goods.

I was carrying out the last bag when a gun brushed my temple.

“Put it down. Nice and slow.”

It wasn’t a member of the vipers though. It was a cop. Apparently, they’d actually responded to the shootout and I’d been the first lucky asshole they’d encountered.

Ulfric and the others got out—minus the last bag of goods.

Two kilos of cocaine.

Enough to put me away for a long time.

No matter how hard they tried to break me, I wouldn’t give up Ulfric and the others. They asked me about other crimes I’d been witness to—even the guy Dex had beaten the shit out of last year.

So many different cops asked so many different questions, I started to wonder if I was being given some sort of fucked-up loyalty test

Finally, the left me in my cell and stopped coming around with their questions.

The lawyer I’d been assigned seemed scared shitless about taking my case to trial. Not exactly comforting.

County jail wasn’t much different than some of the group homes I’d been placed in over the years. I kept to myself and watched my back.

“Hawkins,” the CO shouted over the din of the Ironworks County Jail. This place never settled down. “Your lawyer’s here to see you.”

My lawyer was an overly-eager, recent graduate. I wasn’t even sure he’d passed the bar yet. He came out to visit me at least three times a week. I didn’t mind the visits even though he never had any good news about my case.

I was royally fucked.

I shuffled into the interview room and stared at a man I didn’t recognize. Now he looked like a criminal defense attorney. Turning to the guard, I shook my head. “He’s not my lawyer. There’s been a mistake.”

“Barry Hansen. I was hired by a friend of yours to represent you, Mr. Hawkins.”

“Juliet?” Damn her, I told her to forget about me. I was looking at a long prison sentence here and I didn’t want her ruining her life waiting around for me. And I sure as fuck didn’t want her wasting her money on hiring an expensive lawyer for my hopeless case.

He flashed a warm smile. “A family friend who prefers to be anonymous.”

Had to be Dex or Ulfric. They probably wanted to make sure I’d keep my mouth shut.

“Okay.” I took a seat and the guard left us to talk in private.

“I have a meeting with the District Attorney on Monday. I think they’re willing to plea this out.”

“What do I have to do in exchange?”

“They might want you to tell them who else you—”

“No.”

His mouth twitched and he scribbled down a few notes. “Let me talk to him first before we make any decisions. You’re a young man, Roman. You’ve got options.”

“I’m not a snitch.”

A week later, I was being driven down to the County Courthouse for a meeting with my attorney.

“What’s going on?” I asked after he shook my hand.

“I’m not sure how or why, but the DA is dropping the charges.” He seemed puzzled and I didn’t blame him.

They had a solid case. Had caught me red-handed.

“It’s unusual for the District Attorney himself to handle a case like this,” Barry mused. “There has been minimal media attention and Tony’s already got the next election locked down,” he muttered to himself.

I had my guesses how it happened, but couldn’t put all the pieces together. It didn’t matter anyway. I just wanted to get out. I needed to see Juliet. I’d told her to forget me, but she was a stubborn one. I’d gotten two letters from her already this week. It was stupid for me to try and push her away. We were embedded in each others’ souls. A little prison time wouldn’t alter our destiny.

“Hey, Tony,” Barry stood and offered his hand to the other attorney. They made small talk while I stared straight ahead. I still didn’t have any faith this was going to work out the way my attorney said it would.

The judge took the bench and slammed his gavel down. “District Attorney, Cain, I see you’ve decided to grace us with your presence this morning,” the judge said with a wry twist of his mouth. He was either amused or annoyed with the DA, I couldn’t tell.

As long as it didn’t delay my release, I didn’t care.

The DA stood and buttoned the top button of his suit jacket. His whole demeanor dripped with arrogance, but my inner foster kid recognized the hard exterior it probably took him years to cultivate. He wasn’t some soft trust-fund kid kind of lawyer, who’d lucked into his position using his family’s connections. No, he looked like the kind who had worked his way to the top from the very bottom and had no intentions of going back. I could certainly relate t

o and respect that.

His type was dangerous. They’d do anything to stay in power.

Lucky for me, today it worked in my favor.

“Your honor, we’ve agreed to drop all charges against the defendant,” Mr. Cain said.

“That’s it?” the judge prodded.

My entire body tensed. Was it possible the judge wouldn’t allow my case to be dismissed? I leaned over to ask my lawyer, but he gave me a slight head shake.

“We’ve obtained new information that leads us to believe Mr. Hawkins was incorrectly identified as the suspect.”

Incorrectly identified? Bet the cop who’d arrested me enjoyed having to change his story.

All the reasons I needed to leave town as soon as I was set free were starting to stack up around me.

“We’d like the case dismissed with prejudice,” my lawyer added.

Tony cast a don't-get-carried-away look at our table.

“Request granted.” The judge scribbled down some notes, then glared at the DA. “Next time maybe be more thorough in your investigation before turning a young man’s life upside down,.”

If the judge only knew this was one of many tornadoes that had upended my life over the years. Sure, it was more serious. My actual freedom was at stake, but it wasn’t really a surprise. The counselors, hell even teachers had joked my whole life about how foster care was just a stop on the way to prison.

I didn’t want that to be my life, but somehow I wasn’t doing a very good job at staying out of trouble. Juliet was my life. I really wanted to do better for her.

A few more things were said. I signed some papers. Then I was ushered downstairs and driven back to the jail to collect my stuff and change into my street clothes.

Great, how the fuck was I going to get home, and where the hell would I even go?

The answer to my problems waited outside the in the parking lot, smoking a cigarette with three of his similarly leather-clad brothers.