Count on Me (Petal, Georgia)

“Wow.”

  The song ended and Luke Bryan’s “Shut It Down” came on.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever undone anyone before. I really like it.”

  He laughed and kissed her, diving into her taste until he was nearly drunk with her. “I hadn’t welcomed you to my house yet. Terrible breach of manners on my part.”

  “You’re a really good host that way. Thanks for sticking up for me. With my grandmother. Thanks for sharing that stuff about your mom with me. Thanks for slow dancing in the kitchen and wow, I…thanks for loving me.”

  There was a pause and he felt her energy shift and he waited, hoping like hell whatever she said next was good.

  And it was. “I’ve been falling in love with you since you fetched cereal for me off the top shelf. You backed me against something then too.”

  He did very much enjoy backing her against things or getting her prone on the bed or the couch. He did it right then, backing her to his kitchen counter gripping the smooth edge at her back. “It’s pretty much my favorite pastime.” He kissed her again.

  The oven dinged that it had finished preheating.

  “Okay, woman, let’s get this dinner started. Tell me what you want me to do.”

  She put the lasagna in the oven. She made a salad, and he put out some garlic twists she’d picked up at the Honey Bear.

  “In a few weeks it’ll be warm enough to be outside. I have one of those deck heater things. I also have a new piece of outdoor furniture on order. It’s a covered chaise for two. I’m thinking ahead.”

  “Awesome. I don’t have any outdoor space at my place. Yours is so lovely. It’ll be nice to use it.”

  “Interesting thing that. Want to help me plant some pots for the deck? I traded some kale for groundcover and flowers, and I have the box planters out there anyway.”

  Her smile—Christ, she was pretty—brightened. “I’d love to help you plant. But one thing.”

  He set the table. “What?”

  “Melissa invited us over Sunday afternoon for a barbecue. Clint is back in town so you can meet him too. Plus you can see her adorable little house.”

  Caroline had been trying damned hard with his friends so of course he’d do things with her friends and get to know them.

  “Sounds good.”

  They settled at the table and filled their plates.

  “So, do you have like a basic talk when you discuss your father’s case? Like the case in an outline or gif-formed answer?”

  She ate and watched him for a while. “Why?”

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about this. I’ve read some on the internet. This is important to you. A part of who you are, and I think I’m at the point I should know about this and have an opinion.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “At first I thought I’d let it sit a while to see how you and I worked out, what our relationship was, before I pushed it. Then I panicked thinking, oh my God what if I ask her and I don’t believe her? So I read stuff online. Some of the pieces you’ve written and those written after your father lost his appeals. I want to hear your explanation. Your intro to the case. I know you have one. I want to understand it better. Please.”

  And over the next two hours she laid it all out. The same things he’d already been bothered by, like the lack of any real motive and the way the DNA at the scene that didn’t match her father’s had never been followed up on. She explained how each time they had something new they couldn’t just automatically take it to court, that there had to be a basis for each thing that she could bring up to the court and new evidence wasn’t always enough.

  And when she’d finished, he began to take notes and ask follow-up questions.

  They sat in his hot tub, breath misting in the night air. “Jesus.”

  She looked up at the sky.

  “I believe you. Your father is innocent.”

  “You don’t have to say that.”

  “I don’t. But I believe it anyway. How freaking aggravating. All that legal stuff, the hoops. I had no idea it was so complicated. And now I have even more admiration for you. You’ve done all this?”

  “It started when I was eighteen. I went to college at UCLA, and I had the ability and resources to start digging. So I did. I didn’t have much of anything. I started teaching myself how to do stuff. I saved up and paid for legal help when I could. In time I was able to get some low-cost help. I only had to pay filing fees in some cases. But I knew if I went to law school, I could arm myself better. Be more able to free him finally. And I got involved with the Innocence Project and started speaking nationally, and my grandmother would call and yell at me about how I was betraying my mother. I’ve tried to tell them, tried to get them to allow me to show them all the evidence but they refused.

  “I had my own money then, and I was able to hire appellate attorneys who were far better than me to do that work. We had some significant movement and then he got sick. We put aside most of our main work with his case and began petitioning the court to commute his sentence or transfer him to a prison with a hospital better suited to his particular cancer.”

  She drank, silent a while before she continued. “And during that time I came to my grandparents and begged them to at least let me tell them what I knew so they could better make up their minds. I only asked for a chance to talk to them. I begged for his life. But they refused.”

  “Have you ever tried to talk to your siblings? Away from your grandparents I mean.”

  “I was twenty and was just starting my junior year at UCLA. I came back here for Mindy’s birthday, and my grandmother came in as I was answering a question about our parents. She grabbed my shoulder and hauled me into my grandfather’s home office. She was so angry at me she vibrated with it. She told me how easy it would be to influence my siblings to not want to see me. And she said it with such icy calm. She slapped me. Right as I was speaking she just hauled off and slapped me so hard my lip split.”

  Rage shot through him. He didn’t like Abigail Lassiter one damn bit. From then on he’d be there to get Caroline’s back when she dealt with them. He wasn’t going to allow them to rip her apart anymore.

  “She’s hardcore. And totally fucked up. God, I’m so sorry, Caro.”

  “She’s doing what she thinks is best.”

  “She’s being mean and spiteful. Come on. That’s such a crappy thing to do to someone. She’s emotionally manipulative and abusive. She hit you? With her hand and with a threat to stop you from seeing Mindy and Shep.”

  “Well the problem is that I gave in to it, and if they were hardwired into her worldview a decade ago? Shep, well he’s more curious about the world. But Mindy, she’s so wrapped up in trying to make our grandmother proud and be the girl who chose the right future. The most rebellious thing she’s done is date a Baptist.”

  He laughed, kissing her temple.

  “So I gave in and never mentioned it, and there’s this unspoken thing going on. Like I’m hiding it. But now? I’m feeling so much less inclined to let anyone make me feel ashamed of knowing what I know after I actually did some research. I know this case backward and forward. That they just won’t listen and realize the truth of this tears me apart.”

  She blew out a breath.

  “Caro, you can’t make things better all on your own. You’re making all the sacrifices here. I just don’t know how you could claim to love someone all the while reinforcing a divide keeping them at a distance.”

  “I’m trying to give it time. So they can see I’m back for good. I want them to be able to count on me, and that sort of trust needs to be earned.”

  “You came back here for them. For birthdays and holidays and you gave up a life in Seattle. For them.”

  “It’s working with Shep. I mean over the past several weeks he’s been more comfortable with me. He texted me a few times this week. Mindy? Well since that brunch I’ve seen her once. The other times I was supposed to see her she cancelled. And now when I suggest we do stuff, she wants Garrett
along but when I say oh double date, let me see what Royal is up to, she insists it’s more a girls-night thing. Only with Garrett. I’m weak, but I can’t. No, I won’t. If she wants me out of her life, okay. But she doesn’t. But she’s also letting this guy control her and it’s gross and I can’t pretend my way past that. So we had an argument about it, and I know it makes things worse but I only have so much patience with this dumb crap.”

  “As you should. Because Garrett isn’t policing what she does, he’s policing what you do. That’s creepy and gross and makes me want to punch him in the nose.”

  “I’m officially calling an end to this discussion so we can move on to something much nicer to talk about. Like sex or your ass. Or how you’re a really dirty guy when you’re dancing.”

  He picked her up and deposited her in his lap. “You got the special, super-deluxe dance package. With extra dirty.”

  She laughed, leaning down to kiss him.

  She had a bathing suit on. Not that he was complaining because she looked fantastic in it and he’d be seeing her naked by the end anyway. He reached up and untied the top, freeing her breasts.

  “Hey!”

  He nuzzled her nipples at the water line. He’d need to take this party inside soon. The condoms were in there, and it was a cold-enough night that doing anything seriously sexual outside was inadvisable.

  “Hey what?”

  “You’re just randomly untying bathing suits now?”

  “Nope. Not randomly. Only yours. And for a very good reason. I like your nipples.”

  He managed to stand and help her out even though he was so hard he was sure ninety percent of his blood was currently in his cock.

  She got out, toweling off as he did the same, shooing her toward the door. And then down the hall to the master bathroom. “Strip off your suit. Rinse off when you finish.” Royal shoved his trunks down and off, dropping them into the mesh basket in the bathtub, and bent to grab her suit as she finished stepping from it. “We’ll toss them in the wash later.”

  “Was this just a reason for you to get me naked?”

  “Naked and in a situation where it’d be normal for me to rub my hands all over your naked, wet body.” He popped the cap on her body wash and drizzled it over her skin in ridiculous quantities.

  He rubbed slick hands all over her skin. “You’re very inspired this evening.”

  “You’re apparently my muse.” He knelt, looking up the line of her body. “Man. I’m in big, big trouble,” Caroline whispered.

  “I’m afraid that’s the truth.” He stood, sliding his body against hers as water pelted them. “There’s no cure for that. And the only treatment is lots of time with me.”

  She massaged shampoo into her hair and then used conditioner, and though he kept her within reach, left her alone enough to finish up and get out, drying off as he did the same.

  “It’s late and we both have to be up early. I vote we get right to sex.”

  She laughed as he pulled her toward his bedroom.

  Chapter Twelve

  “That’s some smile you got going on there,” the server said as they sat down.

  Royal shrugged. “Look at her. What’s not to smile about?”

  The server nodded. “You do have a point.”

  “Four Friday nights ago I took this gorgeous creature out for the first time.”

  “Wow. That’s awesome. Congratulations.”

  Royal winked at Caroline. “Thank you. Naturally a pitcher of margaritas will be necessary.”

  Caroline looked at her menu again quickly. “Yes that. And guacamole please.”

  “Good idea,” Royal agreed.

  Their server left and Caroline looked up to find Royal grinning at her. “What’s that face for?”

  “I just like looking at you.”

  The margaritas arrived and they put in their food order before settling again.

  He clinked his glass to hers. “I have to be up at six or so tomorrow, but I’ll be done by ten so I can get back and cleaned up for lunch. Feel free to use my office to work in. You know where everything is.”

  “I still can’t believe you’re willing to do this after the way she was yesterday.”

  “I told you, I’m not having you go over there and expose yourself to attack. Not alone. I’m going to be there to get your back. After a certain point though, I’m going to ask you why you do it at all.”

  “Because it’s only been six weeks since I came back. I can’t erase fifteen years of absence with a month. I’ll revisit this later on if things don’t improve. I don’t give up on stuff. Not that easily.”

  “I’ve been told by my aunt that we’re to stop by their place Saturday before we head over to your family’s. She and my uncle want to meet you.”

  “Awesome!”

  “I stressed several times that we were going to be eating a meal in about an hour so we didn’t need snacks. But you really never know with my aunt. She’s one of those people who bakes hams and turkeys just in case company comes by or you get a little puckish and only a turkey leg can satisfy.”

  She laughed. “All right. I’ll let you take the lead on that.”

  Dinner was leisurely. The food was awesome, and the margarita buzz would serve her well during the movie playing at the Orpheum that promised lots of explosions and gunfire and pretty heroes and heroines who ran in slow motion.

  Perfect.

  Of course once they arrived, he was already thinking about snacks.

  “Dude, where do you even put it all? Seriously, it’s so unfair that you eat the way you do and stay so lean. Makes me want to bite you.”

  He put an arm around her waist, pulling her close. “Feel free to bite me any time you like.”

  “Incorrigible. Oooh, Red Vines.” She put a box on the counter. “Just water please.”

  “It’s like four dollars for a dollar fifty bottle of water. Tap water most likely.”

  “Life’s full of little tragedies.”

  He snorted and gave her a grumpy face when she started to pull out money. “What? Let me pay for the snacks. You paid for dinner and the tickets.”

  “We talked about this already.” He paid and she allowed it so they could move away from the counter, and when they finally got settled and she helped herself to some popcorn, she was back on the topic.

  “The thing is, we didn’t talk about this at all. You went all he-man and declared the person inviting pays, but you won’t let me pay then either. It’s silly not to let me pay for stuff.”

  “You just relocated and gave up a way better paying job to move here. I didn’t.”

  “Well that’s dumb. Not even credibly connected to this situation. This isn’t a vacation to a luxury resort in the Bahamas.”

  He sighed. “If I agree will you let it go?”

  “If by letting it go you mean will I win graciously and not crow about it? Yes I’ll let it go that way.”

  He kissed her quick and hard.

  “It’s a good thing I find independence sexy.”

  “Only because I also have a really good sense of humor.”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder as they shared popcorn. Then a bunch of people came in, including Beth Murphy and her fiancé, Joe, and a woman Caroline bet was Lily Murphy holding hands with Nathan Murphy.

  They saw him and waved, making their way over.

  “I should have asked you first. Sorry about that,” he said quietly.

  “I’m just going to say I’m not the source of that particular problem, Royal. You know who is though, so take it up with her.”

  “You’re right. Okay? You’re right.”

  She smiled at everyone as they approached before she said to Royal, “Of course I’m right.”

  They had to stop at her place for a few minutes after the movie and were on the road back to his place shortly after that.

  “I have flourless chocolate cake, chocolate, chocolate chip ice cream and those salted caramels you love.”

&nbs
p; “Wow. You should step on it. I may have to eat it when you’re having your way with me.”

  Laughing, he pulled into the garage and they went into the house that way. She put her stuff down and allowed him to pull her into the bedroom.

  He flipped on the light. “Goddamn, I need to see you naked.”

  That’s when Caroline realized they weren’t alone.

  Anne Murphy was in Royal’s bed.

  Naked.

  “What the fuck are you doing, Anne?” Royal asked.

  A very good question and one Caroline intended to ask. Caroline turned to face Royal, placing her hand on his chest. “You need to go.”

  He started and then shook his head. “Let—”

  “Get out, Royal.” Caroline cut him off before he could say anything else. Firmly, she pushed him from the room and into the hallway.

  “Sweetheart,” Royal said in that sweet cajoling tone he often used to get her naked.

  Caroline held up a hand for a moment to stay him. “Don’t. Right here and right now, what’s it going to be? Is this a Royal and Caroline type thing or are you going back to her? I need to know.”

  “You. Fuck. I choose you. Over and over. She’ll get dressed, and I’ll walk her to her car and get this straightened out.”

  Caroline stepped back into the bedroom. “Oh, yes, this will get straightened out. But I’ll be doing the straightening. If you come into this room before I say come in, I will walk out of here and out on you. This has gone on too long. It needs to be clear.”

  He nodded. “All right.”

  She turned back, kicking the door closed and taking in Anne, who was quickly getting dressed.

  Anne kept her head down, her hair covering her face. “I’m sorry. Jesus. I knew this was a mistake. I knew it before I came over here.”

  Caroline leaned back, blocking Anne’s only exit from the room.

  “If you knew it was a mistake, why are you in my boyfriend’s bed naked?”

  “I was here long before you were.”

  “Yeah, and you were gone long before I was here too. Don’t you have any pride?”

  “What the heck are you talking about?”

  “You’ve been a dreadful bitch the whole time I’ve been back in town and dating Royal. I get it. He’s awesome. Smart and handsome. Funny. Sexy. He opens doors and uses his manners and brings me coffee in the morning because he wants to take care of me. I get it. You don’t have that in your life and it sucks. I got it. It sucks because you had him. He loved you and wanted forever from you, and you didn’t want that back. To your credit though, you were finally honest and put your foot down and let go so he could find what he wanted and needed with someone who wanted those things too. Not you, if you recall.”