“Son, we were informed that your father might have injured you. Is that correct?” Officer Rollan asked, and I jumped as Raven tapped my knee.
“No. No, I’m fine.”
She widened her eyes at me as she glanced at my cast, but I shook my head.
I was drained when I sat back against my chair after getting off the call with Officer Rollan, who had acted very nice in spite of the fact that he’d arrested Dad.
Raven’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes as she disconnected the call, and I hung up the handset. “Listen, it’s going to be fine. You worried about your pops?”
“Uh, he has health problems.” The truth was, I was more worried about the money I didn’t have to get him out of trouble. Groaning, I covered my eyes with my one good hand and tried to think.
“We’ll get this done.” A pat on my shoulder from her had me ready to jump out of my skin.
The rest of the morning was spent calling around trying to find a lawyer who would take payments, and when I finally conceded there were none, I gave up. It was nearly lunchtime, but Raven didn’t seem worried about the work she’d blown off, and Casey wasn’t exactly yelling at me to go back downstairs to my office in the server room, either. I glanced over my shoulder at him, the same way I had every fifteen minutes since I’d sat down beside Raven, and he was still glaring hard at his computer screen, typing away.
“Fuck, Dad’s going to have to go with a public defender,” I said with a sigh.
“You shouldn’t be swearing in the office,” Casey said, and I jumped as he strode out to stand beside me. “You didn’t eat?” He nudged the protein bar with a finger. “You don’t like chocolate?”
“Sorry.”
There was a long silence between all three of us that stretched out, and I felt like maybe I should have said something else.
Casey cleared his throat. “Raven, tell me the scoop, please?” he asked, and it irked me that he looked to her and not me for information, but then she rattled off everything that had happened at lightspeed. While she spoke, she handed him a list I hadn’t thought to make of all the lawyers we’d called and their rates.
He glared down at the paper and then at me. “You like any of these guys?”
“Um… Mr. Weston was nice and charged the least. He said he would give me a discount because I sound like a good guy.” I winced. “Raven did most of the talking.”
“She’s good. That’s why she’s here,” Casey said, and I flushed hot all over because maybe that implied I wasn’t good—but that was stupid. We had different jobs, and I did the best I could at mine. Raven leaned back in her chair and slapped Casey’s arm. I glanced at her in surprise.
His mouth thinned and a vein bulged on his neck for a second or two, and then he nodded at Raven. “Send payment. Get Weston going on the case. Is that what you want? Do you want to make sure he’s out of jail? This is your father. My opinions on him are not important.” When Casey was done talking, his jaw hardened until it stood out. Clearly he did have an opinion, even if he wasn’t sharing with the rest of the class.
“I can’t afford that.” My throat felt like there was a rock wedged in it.
“I can.” He shrugged. “It’s up to you. Personally, I’d be fine letting him rot where he is.”
“Casey!” Raven turned to narrow her eyes at him like she was trying to tell him something, and I wanted to laugh. If she only knew about Dad, she’d probably be encouraging him. How did people deal with terrible family?
“I knew Dad said something awful to you last night.”
Casey only looked at me with heat in his gaze. Not sex. No, this was something different. I shivered anyway because it reminded me of that same expression he’d had while holding my dick and rubbing his trapped cock against my ass. “I’ll do what will make you happiest here, and don’t worry about money.”
Guilt bubbled in my gut. The idea of Dad in jail was actually… a great one. I wouldn’t need to worry about him if he was there. Tears stung my eyes and I blinked them away. “I don’t know.”
Raven stood. “I’m going to lunch.” She could have gone the other way, but instead she slipped behind my chair and elbowed past Casey. She got on his other side and shoved. When he didn’t move, she pinched his arm until he laughed, and then she pushed him into the chair next to me. “I’ll be back.” She gathered her coat and purse from a coatrack in the corner and beamed at us. “I’ll tell Nev hi, and that you’ll be over for dinner some night with Angel, there.” She almost flew toward the elevator, she was in such a hurry, and once there pressed the Call button. Before I had time to think about being alone with Casey, she was gone.
All the feelings from last night filled me until it felt like I might pop and turn into confetti, and my face heated again. After he’d left, I’d fucked myself against the bed and had made a big wet spot that I had to avoid the rest of the night. Casey was quiet, and I didn’t know how to start a conversation. I clenched the armrest of my chair with my good hand.
“How are you today?” he asked.
Such a simple question, yet I had no idea. I shrugged, and he cupped my chin and trailed his thumb along my cheek. He didn’t force me to lift my head, but I wanted to see what he was thinking, so I glanced up. His blue eyes were intense as he studied me the same way he had his computer screen, and I gulped.
“How’s your arm?” His jaw clenched again and seemed to demand an honest answer, when I really just wanted to say it was fine. Things were always fine, weren’t they?
“Hurts if I move. Walking knocks it around. Okay otherwise.”
“Are you taking anything?” He ran his thumb over my lip ring and it was a shock as he slid around the little bead. I could feel the movement in my lip. Inside my body. Except for when I got the piercing, no one else had ever touched it. Pleasure curled in my stomach and I shifted in my chair.
