"You think I'm going to let my best fag hag get emotionally invested in an ass hat? No, ma'am. Wash is a good one. He just needs some time to figure it out, is all."
"I hope you're right." His vote of confidence planted a seed of hope in my breast.
"I'm always right. We've been over this. Shh." Terrell wrapped me in his arms.
My tears eventually subsided, and we napped the rest of the morning away.
I spent the first half of the week running more searches on Tyler and Rourke and making phone calls to Angola to speak with Rowan. He couldn't offer me much more information, but at least he was pleasant enough on the phone. No more rapey vibes from the client was definitely a good thing.
Wash and I prepped for an evidentiary hearing Wednesday afternoon.
I wasn't sure how I'd feel seeing Wash again. We'd parted well after the morning at the hotel, him dropping me off at my apartment and giving me a gentle, yet still panty-melting, kiss. But then I'd had the meltdown with Terrell, so my compass was turned every which way. We continued on with our work, business as usual, though I caught him giving me long glances more than a few times.
The hearing concerned evidence suppression. Matt Turnbull had given us all the State's documents but was trying to keep certain expert records away from us. Wash and Matt argued for over an hour before the judge ruled in our favor and scolded the State for withholding materials.
On the way out, Matt hustled up behind us, his face still red from the heated argument. "Hey, Wash, buddy. Did I mention that Fawn's pregnant?"
Wash paused for only a moment and then continued walking, not saying a word.
"Yeah, just found out last week. Going to be a new Turnbull. Fawn's over the moon about having my kid." Matt's goading voice echoed around the courthouse rotunda.
Wash stopped at the top of the steps and took my elbow, helping me down in my heels. It was unnecessary. I could walk in heels better than in flats, but I appreciated the gesture, all the same. His grip seemed tighter than usual, though.
Matt jostled down the wide marble steps at my other elbow. "Just thought you'd want to hear it from the horse's mouth, seeing as how you're in love with my wife."
The three of us hit the bottom step with a thud. My heart made a similar sound, and an even deeper ache set up shop inside me. He's in love with someone else? My head was spinning. I looked up to Wash, my eyes wide.
He shook his head as if there were an annoying gnat buzzing in his ear, looked to me, and shot Matt a look that edged on a snarl.
"You know that was over ten years ago, right? You realize Fawn and I haven't even really talked since the day we broke up?"
Matt stepped in front of me, standing almost chest to chest with Wash. Wash looked down at him, murder in his eyes.
"She still talks about you. I know you're still in love with her." Matt's voice rose, anger simmering up to a boil.
"Just because your wife talks about how much better of a fuck I was than you are doesn't mean we're in love, Matt. I don't give two shits what you do with your limp dick. So give Fawn my best and get the fuck out of my way."
"Wash?" Kennedy had come down the stairs behind us. He was a ladykiller in a dark suit with a gray tie.
Both Wash and Matt turned to him.
"What's, uh, what's going on, guys?" Kennedy dropped down the last step. He gazed around the busy rotunda before turning back to the spectacle his brother was so close to making.
Matt glanced from one Granade brother to the next and dropped his gaze to the floor. Beaten.
I'd only gotten half the Fawn story. I wanted it all. I turned to Kennedy. "I'll be happy to fill you in. I think Matt was bragging about impregnating Fawn and then accusing Wash of being in love with said Fawn. That about got it, boys?"
Kennedy dropped his head back in an overblown show of exasperation. "Jesus, Turnbull, are you still on about that? Yeah, Wash dicked her back in the day. So did Lincoln, as we all know. Right, buddy?" He slapped an unamused Wash on the back. "But that was forever ago, and now Wash has moved on to greener pastures." Kennedy waggled his eyebrows at me.
So Wash had been in love with Fawn but his brother Lincoln fucked her? The plot thickened right before my eyes.
"Fucking your associates, Wash?" Matt leered at me. "I should've figured you'd do some bush league shit like that."
"What the-" Before I could finish the dressing down I had on the tip of my tongue for Matt, a blur of movement shot through the corner of my eye. Then Matt was on the floor, wailing and grabbing his nose.