Page 26 of By His Side

A squeak of a chair had me jerking my head up to find Levi easing himself into the seat opposite, the sight making me smile. Once upon a time, Levi had been a client. He was one of my biggest success stories and he’d also be my brother-in-law before the end of the year. Somehow, he’d taken my workaholic of a brother and made him realize work wasn’t everything. Now, Hayden was more likely to be found keeping Levi happy than working all the hours under the sun, finding a much needed balance that had him leaving the running of his restaurant to someone else.

“There he is,” Levi said with a smirk. “I was starting to think you were channeling past Hayden.” At my frown, he elaborated. “The mean, moody look just isn’t you.” He pushed over a coffee and a small plate with a cinnamon swirl on it, before gesturing at my phone. “What’s it done to offend you?”

“Nothing.” I took the food and drink offerings gladly, my coffee cup long since empty. “Speaking of the mean and moody one, where is he? I thought you were joined at the hip on a weekend.”

Levi leaned his elbows on the table and smiled. When I’d first met him, he’d never smiled. Now, it was a common occurrence, the relaxed man in front of me completely different from the one I’d picked up outside prison eighteen months ago. Would that happen to Felix, eventually? He might smile, but it always seemed more like an act than anything genuine. Would time sand off those hard edges andchange him just as it had Levi? Except in Levi’s case, it wasn’t time that had done it, it was love. Would Felix find love? Something about that thought didn’t sit comfortably with me, a squirming starting up in my gut.

“Hayden’s at a cookery exhibition,” Levi said. “I declined his kind offer to accompany him on account of having at least ten things I’d rather do. I prefer him getting orgasmic over me rather than the newest food mixers.”

I pulled a mock grimace. “Too much information.”

Levi grinned unabashedly. “You introduced us.”

“Yeah, and not a day goes by when I don’t regret it.” We both knew I was joking. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. It had been a masterstroke that had cured both my brother’s workaholic tendencies and given Levi the security he needed to flourish in one fell swoop. If only I could claim it had been a genius move on my part rather than a happy accident.

Levi sat forward, his expression intense. “So… what’s wrong?”

I picked up the cinnamon swirl and examined it. “When did Hayden start making pastries?”

“He hasn’t.” Levi’s curls bounced as he tossed his head, his hair even longer than when he’d gotten out of prison. So different from Felix’s closely shorn head. And why the fuck was I comparing everything to Felix? Couldn’t he stay out of my damn head for two seconds? “It’s from the bakery over the road.”

I took a bite of it, laughing around the mouthful of sweet-tasting pastry. “And you’re serving it to me in Hayden’s restaurant?”

Levi grinned. “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Besides…” He gave an exaggerated flutter of his eyelashes. “I know exactly how to handle Hayden.” He twisted the engagement ring on his finger around three hundred and sixty degrees, a gesture I doubted he was even awarehe did. “Anyway… stop ignoring the question. You looked like you had the weight of the world on your shoulders when I came over, which is not like you at all. Hayden and I do mean and moody. You do sunshine. I assume it’s work?”

“Why would you assume it’s work?” Even I could hear the defensive note in my voice. “There are other things in my life besides work, you know.”

“Yeah, of course there are. I meant nothing by it.”

Things really were upside down if Levi was the one placating me instead of the other way around. I let out a sigh. “It is work. Sort of.” I considered my words while Levi frowned, understandably confused by the non sequitur. “I’ve really fucked up.” The admission was out before I could think better of it, and there was no taking it back.

Levi laughed. When I didn’t join in, he quickly sobered. “Oh, come on, Darien. This is you we’re talking about. You’re a paragon of virtue. The best person I know.”

I studied my coffee, Levi’s kind words not helping in the slightest. If anything, they made me feel worse. A paragon of virtue… Right? If that was true, it seemed I’d fallen from grace spectacularly. “That’s sweet. Not true, but sweet, nevertheless.”

“I’m not blowing smoke up your arse. Look at me. Look at everything you did for me.”

“It’s my job.”

“It’s not your job to respond to moodiness with a smile. It’s not your job to bend over backwards to give your clients everything they need.” It was all I could do not to wince when Levi said that. I’d certainly given Felix something he needed. Maybe I should put it in my CV.Sexual favors available on request.“It’s not your job to be such a good judge of character that you know when to turn a blind eye.”

I jerked my gaze to Levi’s, his expression confirming that he was indeed referring to the thing we’d never discussed apart from one coded conversation. I had turned a blind eye to something I shouldn’t have while he was still on parole. I’d weighed up the consequences of him going back to prison and decided that it wouldn’t do anyone any good. Not me. Not my brother. And especially not Levi.

In a way, the reminder that I’d bent the rules before was useful. I contemplated his words while I sipped my coffee, Levi having made it exactly the way I liked it. “Do you really think I’m a good judge of character?”

Levi’s expression said it was a ridiculous question to ask. “Of course you are. You knew I wouldn’t fuck up again, even when I didn’t know it myself.”

“I have a new client,” I said slowly, not sure how much I wanted to reveal to Levi even as I started saying it. “He’s…” How the hell did you describe Felix? Moody, but different to how Levi had been moody, or my brother was. A hard person to read. A square peg in a round hole. “Well… he’s proved tricky.”

“Tricky?” Levi questioned with a raise of his eyebrow. “In what way?”

“He wasn’t supposed to be my client. My colleague went on adoption leave and I had to step in at the last moment.” None of which answered his question, but I was playing for time. “His crime is…”

“Spit it out. It’s not like you to be so cagey.”

No, it wasn’t, but then there were an awful lot of things lately that weren’t like me. Maybe I was having a mid-life crisis. Except, I suspected you were supposed to wait at least until your late thirties, if not your forties, before traveling down that route. “His crime is more serious.”

“Okay.” Levi dragged the word out like he needed some thinking time of his own. “How serious are we talking? Rape? Murder?”

---