Page 62 of Without You, Scotch and Sammy 2

“You don’t understand. You’re talking about something you don’t know about.”

“You’re defending her?”

“No, I’m just saying that circumstances change, and you attacking her in the street isn’t cool.”

“Oh my god, you knew she was here?”

“Yeah,” he nods. “I did. She’s been here for a few days, and she came right to me to talk. She’s not sneaking around town.”

My stomach flips as Juliette Jones walks out into the street. She stops in shock and eyes our group, then she walks past Sam and the women and comes toward me. “Shit, Sammy. What did you do?”

Alex steps forward. “Jules?”

I look between them. “Jules?”

Juliette looks at Alex, then me, then Alex again. “I have a legal responsibility. An obligation of confidentiality that if breached, I could be disbarred. You know that, Alex.”

His face pales. “Jules--”

“Come on, Sammy. Come to my office and we’ll sit down.”

It’s literally painful to swallow over the lump in my throat. “You know each other?”

“Alex, meet Sammy, my sort of client. Sammy, meet my fiancé, Alex Turner, chief of police around here.”

The blood rushes to my toes. “Your fiancé.” I step back as though Alex’s glare is that of a hungry wolf. “I swear, I didn’t know.” I look at Juliette. “You tricked me?”

“I did not!”

“You knew who Sam was. You said you didn’t even know him.”

“I told you I didn’t know who Sam Turner was, which was true. I knew him as Scotch. And I told you to tie up your loose ends, and to do it gently.”

“And you mentioned your fiancé with the nice eyes. They’re the same damn eyes!”

“And they’re beautiful, no?”

Alex glares at his fiancé. “Juliette!”

Sam steps away from a still restrained Brittany and walks toward me, then nodding at Alex, he murmurs, “I’ll call you later.”

“What the hell’s going on?”

Sam sidesteps his brother. “Like I said. I’ll call you later.” He takes my arm gently and turns us back to the stroller. “You need a ride home, Mac?”

“You’re ditching on me early?”

“I gotta take care of business, sorry.”

Mac looks me up and down the way a man would. “Seems about right. You got a kid and you forgot to tell me? I woulda got you a rattle or somethin’.”

“Beat it, Mac. Stay out of trouble. Hang with X for a couple hours if you want, but I have to go.”

“I’ll see you on Saturday?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.”

Mac smiles. “I’ll bring a rattle.”

---