Page 49 of By His Side

“Yeah, I got that. There’s not a lot to tell.”

Levi sat back in his chair and studied me silently. “At least I know what you meant now when you said you’d fucked up. You starting a relationship with a client is what you were referring to, right?”

I grimaced. I’d forgotten I’d told him that. “Yeah.”

Levi leaned forward. “Listen… I’m not here to be judgmental. I leave that to Hayden.”

“So why are you here?”

“I thought you might need someone to talk to. Someone who knows what it’s like to find yourself in the middle of something you never planned for. Something others might frown on.”

“You and Hayden?”

“Yeah.”

“He wasn’t your client.”

“No, but he was my boss, and he was my parole officer’s brother.”

“True.”

“And when it did all come out,” Levi continued, “you were pretty good about it, all things considered. Once you realized I wasn’t out to take advantage of your brother, anyway.”

“Once I’d cornered you. You avoided me for a week.”

Levi held his hands up in mock defense. “Guilty as charged.” He released a breath. “And then there’s the other thing, of course. The thing you could have had me sent back to prison for, but chose not to.”

“See, I was crooked, even then.”

Levi shook his head. “You’re not crooked. Don’t say that. You make decisions based on gut instinct rather than following the rulebook to the letter, and I’ll always be in your debt for that.”

It was a passionate speech from someone who used to say so little when I’d first met him. The Levi sitting in front of me was a different man. “Who’s taking whose name when you and Hayden get married? Have you thought about that?”

Levi sighed. “Well, we’re not hyphenating. Can you imagine us both going by Gutierrez-Quinn or Quinn-Gutierrez? And It would be ridiculous for him to get stuck with the name Gutierrez for obviousreasons. Plus, he has a restaurant in his name, so I guess I’ll be Levi Quinn.”

I smiled. “Another Quinn. I’m all for it.”

Levi took a sip of his tea. “Nice subject change, by the way. It won’t work, though. Tell me about Felix. Hayden said you’re convinced he’s innocent.”

“He is.” The steel behind my words warned Levi not to dispute it.

“U-huh.”

Nicely neutral. I had to give him kudos for that. “He is. His abusive dick of a boyfriend, who was convincing enough that the jury fell for it, set him up.”

“Do you love him?”

The question stole my breath away. Wherever I’d thought Levi was going with his line of questioning, it hadn’t been there. “I…”

Levi nodded. “Right.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Either you already do, or you’re well on your way to reaching that point. I know what it feels like. I’ve been there. I never planned to fall in love with Hayden.”

“Hayden can go out in public without wearing a disguise, and no one has ever chased him out of his mother’s house because they think he shouldn’t have been released from prison.”

“No.” Levi’s agreement was soft. “What are you going to do? And I don’t mean about the job. I guess that’ll sort itself out one way or the other. After all, if he’s living here, people are going to find out, eventually.”

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