Protecting Justice (The Justice Series Book 4) (31 page)

Grey’s voice was ominous. “I don’t drink tea, Syd, and you know it.”

“Shut up, Greystone,” Tony chimed in, making his way into the kitchen. He slid up behind Fallyn at the counter and ran his hands up and down her hips, pinning her between the counter and his body. He nibbled the sensitive skin under her ear. The man was insatiable. “You’re getting tea,” he called back over his shoulder. “Stop your bellyaching.”

“He’s right,” Syd added. Fallyn heard the TV click on.

There was more arguing from the patient but Fallyn tuned it out as Tony’s hands did naughty things to her.

Syd put a clamp on Grey’s grumblings and came back into the kitchen. Tony stopped molesting Fallyn and leaned against the counter as she poured the hot water into the mug.

“That man,” Syd said, rubbing her fingers over her temples and down her neck, “could drive me to drink. Thanks for helping get him settled.”

“No problem.” Tony lowered his voice. “Fal and I need to run a few errands. You need anything?”

Syd looked at Fallyn. “Can you help me this afternoon?”

At that moment, Grey called from his perch. “Tony, did you talk to Teeg yet about that lab report?”

“No working,” Syd yelled back.

Tony gave her a wry smile and went off to talk to Grey again.

“I know you’re supposed to be laying low,” Syd said to Fallyn. “And putting on a career day at Fresh Start isn’t exactly staying under the radar, but with Caroline tied up, I need someone I can rely on.”

She didn’t say trust. No, not Syd. She didn’t know Fallyn well enough to trust her, but she knew a kindred spirit when it came to getting a job done. She saw Fallyn as someone tough and indestructible like her.

And didn’t that play right into Fallyn’s get-shit-done personality? Not to mention the fact Syd guessed Fallyn would help for the sole reason she felt so damn guilty about Grey.
Yes, folks, we have a winner.
“I’ll handle it,” Fallyn said.

Syd gave her arm a squeeze. “I knew I could count on you.”

She looked so wrung out, so relieved, Fallyn felt the urge to hug her.

So she did. “Everything is going to be okay, Syd,” she said, drawing the woman into a sisterly hug. It felt weirdly right. Kind of like it had at the hospital.

Like it had with Tony’s sisters by the end of the party yesterday. There had been lots of hugging before she and Tony had finally made it out. Even Tony’s mother had given Fallyn a hard squeeze and thanked Fallyn for making her son happy.

There were tears in Sydney’s eyes when they broke apart. She dashed the back of her hands across them and blew out a sigh. “Thank you.”

The weight of the world had been riding on her shoulders. She couldn’t let anyone down. Fallyn understood that. “No thanks necessary. I’ll need your files on everything—the speakers, the schedule, the caterer, you name it.”

“There’s no caterer.” Sydney looked oddly amused. “Fresh Start doesn’t have funds for that and I couldn’t sweet talk any of the locals into donating their food and services. I was going to make sandwiches and a fruit salad but then this happened with Grey and I didn’t have a chance to shop. I can call Brice and Hope. Maybe they can get the fixings for me.”

Fallyn loved a good challenge and she knew who to go to for help. Jordan. The woman knew everybody and could sweet talk a mule into climbing Mt. Everest. She’d have a caterer lined up in nothing flat. “I’ve got it covered. You just take care of Grey and get some rest. Tony and I will handle the career day.”

“We will?” Tony strolled into the room. “You mean that thing I saw the posters about at Fresh Start?”

He looked like he was about to run the other way. Fallyn grabbed him by the coat sleeve. “I have a plan, don’t worry. You just keeping being your charming bodyguard self.”

His grin was pure cockiness. Why did she find that so damn sexy? “That should be easy,” he said. “But you can’t put yourself out there like that. No way. And what about Donald Fox? I thought we needed to find him.”

“We do.” She gave Syd’s hand a squeeze. “But first I have a career day to handle. And as charming as you are, Tony Gerard, you’re not talking me out of it.”

Chapter Nineteen

Tony sat on the windowsill in Syd’s office while Fallyn and Jordan did their thing. Watching these two ladies work was like watching a military operation. One that Fallyn shouldn’t be anywhere near. He got that Syd needed help, but this? For Fallyn? Crazy.

The more he tried to keep her out of danger, the more she fought him.

Lessons to be learned here because Fallyn’s
go, go, go
attitude might get her killed.

Jordan stood to Fallyn’s right, looking over her shoulder at a file Syd had said contained the schedule for the day. Fallyn tapped her pen against the desk. “What about the human resources lady? Is she here yet? She’s supposed to help some of the women with their resumes.”

“She hasn’t checked in with me yet. I’ll double check with Anita. She’s playing receptionist and signing everyone in.”

“Okay. Good. How’d you do on the food?”

“I called the caterer Heather liked and begged. The best I could do on such short notice was sandwiches, cold salads, and a simple dessert tray with cookies and brownies. The sandwiches will be good though. No white bread with deli meat. We’re talking fresh ham and turkey on artisan bread. They have a turkey and brie sandwich that’s to die for. It’ll be good, I promise.”

Sure sounded good. Particularly when Tony hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Maybe he’d get Jordan to snag him one of those babies.

And a brownie.

“Thank you,” Fallyn said. “I knew you’d pull this off.”

“No sweat. It’s fun. Let me get out there and see what’s happening. Call me if you need me.”

Jordan left and Tony folded his arms. “I don’t like this. Any of it.”

Fallyn waved him off. “Of course you don’t. Relax. I’m fine.”

“How much does she know about you hiding in Syd’s office?”

“Not a lot. I told her you were a freak and thought someone was following me and wanted me to stay out of sight.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Because I’m afraid the shelter residents will rat you out? There’s no way she bought that.”

Fallyn let out the mother of all sighs. “Hey, I improvised. I was talking so fast I didn’t give her a chance to question it. Did the lab call back yet?”

That damned lab. He’d tried twice so far, but the woman he needed to speak with was behind closed doors. All damned morning. Women everywhere were rebelling today. “Not yet. Got a couple of calls in though. I’ll try again in a few.”

His phone rang and he dug it out of his suit pocket.
Maybe
. Fallyn swiveled the chair toward him, her gaze focused on the phone.

“Relax,” he said. “It’s Syd.”

“Shoot.”

“Hey, Syd, what’s up?”

“Oh my God.” Her voice had a blade-against-glass shriek to it and Tony stood. “He fell.”

“Grey?”

“I didn’t fall!” Justice yelled from somewhere on the other end.

“Fine,” Syd said. “He didn’t
fall
, but he somehow landed on the floor, and now, guess what? I can’t get his giant rear back to the couch.”

Shit
. “He’s on the
floor
?”

“Yep. Yep, yep, yep.”

Fallyn stood, walked over to him, touched his arm. “Everything okay?”

He held his finger up. “Syd, is he hurt? Bleeding? Anything?”

“His pride is hurt, and I think he may have torn a stitch. And I might kill him, but aside from that, he appears intact.”

“He’s got to go back to the hospital. This is nuts. He’s not ready to be home and you can’t take care of him. He needs a few more days.”

“I keep telling him that. Tony, I’m sorry, but I need help and he won’t let me call 911.”

“Let me talk to him.”

She handed the phone off to Grey. “She’s not calling 911,” Grey said. “This isn’t an emergency. I don’t want to tie up an ambulance. I don’t need it. I just need to catch my breath.”

“From the floor.”

“
Fuck
you.”

“Listen to me,” Tony said. “I’m coming over there and we’re gonna haul your ass off that floor and into my truck. Then we’re taking you back to the hospital where you will check yourself in again. You almost died once on me. If something happens to you, I’m not living with that. Man, I get it. You don’t want people up your ass all the time. I’d be the same way, but what you’re doing isn’t fair to Syd. She’s worried about you and as strong as she is, she’s not equipped for you right now.”

“I hate that goddamned hospital.”

“Well, yeah. But there’s no getting around it. You need a couple more days. Please.”

The line went quiet. Did that fucker hang up on him?

“Hello?”

Syd’s voice.

Tony wrapped his hand around his forehead and squeezed. The damned tension might give him an aneurism. “Hey. I thought he hung up on me.”

“No. He just handed me the phone. What’s going on?”

“I’m coming over there and we’re taking him back to the hospital.”

“Thank God.”

“Give me twenty minutes.”

He hung up and shook his head. Rebelling. The whole friggin’ universe was rebelling against him today. “This is one fucker of a day.”

He jammed his phone back into his pocket.

“Go,” Fallyn said. “Take care of him.”

“I’m not leaving you here. You gotta come with me.”

“No. I promised Syd I’d take care of this.”

Ha! As if. Tony cocked his head back, stared up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. He needed a second here. Maybe two. To think. Work a plan. Fallyn alone, Grey ripping stitches. Total cluster. One that wouldn’t have happened if he’d had control of this fucking situation in the first place.

“You are out of your mind if you think I’m leaving you here. Jordan can handle this.”

“Yes, but we’re winging this. I can’t dump it on her after Syd asked me to do it.” She waved him off, went back to the desk. “I’ll be fine. You said yourself, it’s not like the residents are going to rat me out. I’ll stay in the office out of sight. Besides, I’m still trying to connect with this Don Fox guy. I don’t want to risk missing that call because of bad cell service in the hospital. Not doing it.”

He didn’t like it. Not at all. He folded his arms, dipped his chin to his chest and starting doing the math. Drive time from the shelter to Grey’s to the hospital and back would be an hour. Tops. But as slow as Justice was moving, it could take another hour to get him in and out of the car.

Can’t risk it
. He lifted his head. “I’m gonna call someone over here. Someone I trust.”

Fallyn gave him the mother of all eye rolls. “You are so damned stubborn. I told you, I can handle it.”

“I’m stubborn? Are you kidding me?”

She rubbed her temples. “Tony, I just want to get through this and go find Fox. Grey and Syd need you, and I’ll be fine. No one knows I’m here. Stop being overprotective and go help your friend.”

“Overprotective? You were in that car with Grey. Someone was tailing you. Before that, you had two close calls with intruders at Heather’s place.”

“No one tried to kill me. The intruder roughed me up, but that’s all. If he’d wanted to kill me, he could have. Yes, we were being tailed in the car, but the accident happened because of a deer.”

“You really have no clue of the danger you’re in, do you?”

She returned to the chair and eyeballed him. “Please. Just…stop.”

Stop?
“I won’t stop. You don’t get it, Fallyn. And I’m not going to wind up with you in a hospital, or worse because you
don’t get it.”

“Oh, snap. You just knock it off with the attitude. Don’t put this on me. This is about you and a boatload of transference on your part than actual danger.”

“Transference?”

“You’re afraid to leave me, to not control me and my surroundings because of what happened with your dad and the judge. You’re afraid if you turn your back on me for a second, I’ll end up dead. You need some perspective, here, Tony.”

Did she just go there? Seriously? “This has nothing to do with my father or the judge. Someone killed your sister over the same information you’re digging into, and you’ve had three near misses
and
a threat from the president. Who needs perspective, here, Fallyn?”

“I’m in a shelter with two dozen women, Jordan, and a host of guest speakers. Jordan is the only person who knows I’m here, but if anyone were to come after me, I’d have plenty of people to help me out. I’ll go get my gun. All in all, I think I’m pretty damn safe. Meanwhile, your boss and friend is sitting on his ass waiting for you. He’s the one in trouble.”

Maddening woman. All he needed right now was a little cooperation. From someone. Anyone. The damned lab, Grey,
Fallyn
. But, no. She had an agenda and screw everyone else. “This is nuts. You’re being reckless.”

She smacked a hand on the desk. “I’m being logical. And you’re overreacting! No one is going to bother to me! Will you please get the hell out of here and go help Grey?”