Page 57 of Tough Justice

“I was a pharmacist for over thirty years,” he said finally. “Before the DEA revoked my license.”

Every muscle in Deck’s body froze. That certainly explained the weird vibes he’d been getting and the way Tori and her sister had been walking on eggshells since the moment he’d arrived. No wonder Tori had hated him on sight. He was the bad guy. The DEA.

“What happened?” While the DEA was the primary agency that enforced pharmacy regulations, pulling a pharmacist’s license was rare.

“At first, I was handing out pain meds to people who couldn’t afford them. People without insurance, some folks without so much as a roof over their heads. Big Pharma has been jacking up drug prices to the point that only the wealthy can afford some of them.”

“So your motives were altruistic, not for personal gain.” Something the government tended not to take into consideration at times.

Craig clasped his hands together and gave a heavy sigh. “If that was my only transgression, the DEA might have looked the other way. The problem was that I graduated to administering death drugs to terminal patients who wanted to die.”

Holy crap didn’t begin to cover this. Try mountains of crap. The Feds didn’t tolerate Doctor Death scenarios, no matter how well intentioned the motives. Deck hoped the shock didn’t show on his face. “I take it that was before the passage of Proposition 106.” He’d read up on Colorado’s End of Life Options Act passed in 2016, permitting terminally ill patients over the age of eighteen to have physician-assisted suicide.

Craig nodded. “There are only eight states that currently permit physician-assisted suicide, along with Washington, D.C.—home to headquarters of the DEA and every other federal agency. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Yeah. It was. “Did you ever try getting your revocation overturned? Under the circumstances and since the change in law, they might consider it.”

“Bah.” He waved his hand in the air. “It was incredibly painful to lose my license, but I knew what I was doing was illegal, and I accepted the risks. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so forthcoming with the DEA about all that I’d done. My lawyer warned me not to answer their questions, but I did anyway and told the truth. I got what I deserved, but I was selfish in taking those risks. I lost my business, and my family lost its income. My wife was devastated, and it took quite a physical and emotional toll on her. Her heart gave out. Tori believes it was the strain that killed her.”

This was getting worse by the second. It was a wonder Tori hadn’t kicked him in the balls that night in the ER. When you step in it, Decker, you plunge into it, headfirst.

“Financially, it was hard on all of us, especially Tori. The money I’d planned to give her for med school went straight into my lawyer’s pocket to keep me out of jail, which didn’t work, and to pay a big, fat fine. Without my pharmacy’s income, Tori had to find jobs and worked every free minute she had. I don’t regret helping all those people. That, I’m at peace with. But I do regret how it impacted my family. It sucked the life out of my wife, literally, and left a lasting impression on my daughters.”

Now, Deck understood even more. “Tori’s comfort zone.”

“Now you’re getting it, kid.” Unexpectedly, Craig clapped him on the shoulder. “I came to grips with what I did a long time ago, and to an extent, so has Margo. But Tori hasn’t. Since then, she’s lived her life by the book so that nothing shakes her world apart again. You shake her world, in more ways than one. For her to bring you here tells me exactly how much she cares for you.”

Did she? Care that much for him? It wasn’t as if she’d actually invited him to dinner, and whatever their relationship was, they hadn’t gotten to the point of talking about it. He’d only kissed her once, and he hadn’t even taken her on a real date yet. There’d been way too many things going on for him to even consider going further.

Thor rested his head between his paws on the rail, flicking his amber gaze to Deck.

“I just want my daughters to be happy.” Craig turned from the rail, indicating they should head back to the house. Deck and Thor fell in step again. “After the devastation I unleashed on this family to follow my own conscious, I owe them that and so much more. Margo is happy. Tori is still searching. If you’re who and what she’s been searching for, I’ll accept that. For her sake.”

He liked the old man and respected him for watching out for his daughters. Part of him even respected the guy for what he’d done all those years ago to help people. “You sure you didn’t poison my food?”

Craig chuckled. “I might have been tempted there for a few minutes.”

Well. Good thing he hadn’t, because if Deck got his way, he very much wanted to be alive so he could court Tori properly.

Chapter Nineteen

Tori angled to face Deck, making no pretense whatsoever that she was staring at him. He ignored her, keeping his hands firmly on the wheel as he maneuvered the SUV along the dark twists and turns of Route 285. Behind them, Thor snored happily in his kennel.

“Are you ever going to tell me what you two talked about?”

Right before leaving the house, she’d been floored when her dad had shaken hands with Deck. For the last twenty-five minutes, she’d been interrogating him, employing every last weapon in her social skills arsenal to squeeze him for specifics about what he and her dad had discussed out in the yard. Each time, Deck skillfully avoided giving her any relevant information. All he’d said was that they’d “come to an understanding.” Must be another thing they taught in federal agent-school. How to be tight-lipped.

Instead of answering her, he grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together.

“You can’t distract me that easily,” Tori said.

His grin said otherwise, and he was right. Damn him.

Much as she tried to ignore them, tiny tendrils of steamy-hot awareness seeped from his hand to hers. She tried unlacing their fingers, but he only tugged her hand to his mouth. One by one, he began kissing her fingers, slowly, and with a tiny bit of tongue, as if each one of her fingers was a tasty chocolate morsel.

Oh, he was good at this duck-and-evade thing. Finally, she yanked her hand from his only to hear him chuckling in the darkness.

“You’re like a defense attorney,” he said, “but no matter how many different ways you ask me the same question, my answer won’t change.” He exited the highway and turned onto her road. “All you need to know is that your dad and I came to an understanding.”