“I will literally fight anyone, Liv. Just give me a chance,” Natalie adds, and it makes me laugh.
“Jesus Christ,” Jackson mumbles, and it makes me laugh harder. “Come on, fireball, we need to go pick up Dec.”
“I’m serious, Liv.” She motions as if she’s cutting someone’s throat as she backs away, and it’s exactly what I needed to feel better.
“She scares me. I love her,” Jo says, sitting on the other side of me. “I know you’ll want to stay in Hayes’s room tonight, but come up to the house in the morning so you can get ready. I have anything and everything you’ll need.”
“Thank you, I will.”
She squeezes my arm, and Lochlan takes her hand, pulling her up from the couch. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
She starts to walk away, but Lochlan doesn’t move yet, turning to look at me.
“You’re safe here, Liv. We take care of our own,” he says, gruffly. He nods at Hayes, standing behind me, and when I look back, his face is hard with an emotion I can’t quite read.
Chapter Forty-Five
Hayes
Inever needed Lochlan’s approval when it came to Liv, but hearing him call her one of our own here at the sanctuary is probably the nicest thing he’s ever done for me.
This place has been my home and my lifeline since I got out of prison. It made me the man I needed to be to get Liv back. I’ll never be able to express how important it is.
“Do you want to tell her?” Thea asks, looking at me thoughtfully.
“Tell me what?” Liv twists to lean on the back of the couch to look at me. Her eyes are wide with uncertainty.
She can’t handle any more bad news today, but luckily, that’s not what I have.
“I won’t try to pretend that I know what you need to slam dunk this case, but I think Nathan can help us.”
“Nathan?” She asks.
He’s been sitting off to the side, quiet as usual.
“He recognized Jeremiah when we came to watch the trial today,” Callie informs her.
“I think you need to put him on the stand,” I tell her. I’m notqualified, and she knows this, but as her wheels turn while she looks at me. She knows I’d never overstep unless it was important.
“Nathan wants to go on the stand?” Liv asks.
“No.” He shuts her down immediately, but she doesn’t even flinch at the rejection.
“Yes,” Callie insists, crossing her arms.
“Nathan, if you know something that will add years to Jeremiah’s sentence, then it’s your civic duty,” Thea tries to convince him.
He sighs. “I’ve done enough civic duty for a lifetime.”
“He’ll do it because I need him to,” Callie insists, stepping towards her husband, applying the full weight of guilt onto him. “Seeing everyone from that family punished for their crimes will give me the closure that I need, too.”
That did it. I can see it all over his face.
“Fine.” He wraps his hand around the back of her knee when she steps between his legs and rests his head against her hip.
Whatever Callie went through fills him with anguish.
I recognize the signs. The lack of control makes it impossible for him to be apart from her. As if touching her will erase all the fear and grief.
