Page 52 of Blue

He accepted the documents and nodded. Then he held up a finger.

“Perfect. Send them to me. You’re a lifesaver, doll.” Once he’d ended the call, he slid the phone into the pocket of his suit.

Bewildered and exhausted, Blue stood awkwardly, unsure what she was supposed to do or say.

“I’m not sure we’ve officially met. I’m Nathaniel Sawyer, but you can call me Nate. All the men do. I’m your lawyer.” He extended a hand toward her.

Maybe she was still drunk or the whirlwind of the evening had caused her brain to stop functioning, but she couldn’t process the words he said. Well, she could, but they didn’t make sense to her.

“I don’t have a lawyer.” Skeptically, she accepted his handshake.

“No, but your friends do.” He winked.

Wait. What? Who? What friends?

“And they have a vested interest in your freedom.” He gestured to the door. “Shall we?”

“Uh. Oh. Okay.” What other choice did she have?

Blue needed to sleep for about a week. She followed the lawyer toward the parking lot, and the sun blinded her immediately.

Holding her hand up, she did her best to give her eyes a chance to adjust. It was tomorrow. How long had she been in there?

Relief triumphed over her exhaustion. She was out of the cell and back in the free world. While she wasn’t sure how things worked, she hoped this meant whatever the outcome, she’d stay on this side of the bars.

Guiding her by the elbow, Nate brought her to his sleek sports car. The same car that had whisked Mooky away that fateful day, the one that had changed their lives. It felt like a lifetime since then.

After he opened the door for her, she dropped into the passenger seat. Wrapping her arms around herself, she glanced around.

Mere weeks ago, Mooky had been the one in the passenger seat of this exact car. Everything had gone to shit when she’d last seen this car.

Once the lawyer got behind the wheel, she turned toward him. “Where’s Mooky? Is he home already?”

Sighing, he shook his head. “No. He’s still inside.”

“Wait.” With furrowed brows, her sleep-deprived brain tried to sort things out. “Why isn’t he with us?”

Nate lifted his shoulder. “You were his priority, and his case was a little more complicated.”

Blue glanced out the window and took in the large concrete box which contained the jail. Sadness tugged the corners of her mouth down into a frown. Losing him, knowing he remained when she had been freed, weighed heavy in her heart.

Shaking her head, she slid her fingers over the door handle. “No, I’ll go back. Get him out. He has kids.”

“Doesn’t work like that,” the lawyer said patiently.

Turning in her seat, she peered at him. “He can’t stay in there.”

“The sooner I get you out of here, the sooner I can work on doing the same for him.”

“What’s going to happen to him?”

Again, the lawyer lifted one of his shoulders. “If I can work my magic, not much. Time will tell. But I can’t do anything sitting in a parking lot.”

None of this was right. Nothing about her and Mooky being together was right. They were a combustible combination of everything that could go wrong—a calamity of errors. No matter how good it felt, in the end, they were not meant to be.

“Okay,” she said, hanging her head in resignation. “Where are you going to take me?”

Chuckling, he checked his cell again. “I was going to ask you the same thing. You’re calling the shots. Mooky just wanted you out of jail so I can work on getting all this mess dealt with.”

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