The Men With the Golden Cuffs(35)

“So, Serena is still attempting to malign me.” Doyle sat back with a sad sigh as though he didn’t want to believe it, but knew it to be true.

“She’s attempting to figure out who’s stalking her, Professor Brooks.” Liam’s Midwestern accent was in full force. The Irishman stared at Serena’s ex-husband with dark eyes, sizing the man up. Liam didn’t have Eve’s profiling credentials, but he’d spent years learning to read men and women. He’d had to. He’d had to learn who was going to try to kill him and who wouldn’t. Just like Jake.

A little laugh puffed out Brooks’ mouth. “No one is trying to kill her. I hate this. I really do. Serena used to be such a sweetheart, but she’s playing some kind of game. We’re in a little legal trouble, Serena and I, and she’s decided to play dirty. Have you read the police reports?”

Yes, but now that he was sitting in front of Serena’s ex, he could see what the cops had seen. A perfectly dressed, perfectly calm and reasonable man who could make his point in a manner they would understand. And Serena had most likely been a bit messy, a little mousy, and altogether awkward.

“I have,” Jake replied. “I also know that Serena’s been receiving some phone calls from you.”

He’d listened to the one on her answering machine the night before. It had been filled with bile and vitriol. The harsh voice on the machine the night before bore little resemblance to the cultured, smooth tones of the man in front of him. Professor Brooks seemed to have two different personalities.

Brooks had the good sense to flush a little. “I shouldn’t have left that message. It was wrong of me. I should have allowed our lawyers to handle things. Look, Serena and I have some matters to settle, obviously.”

“Your divorce was finalized a couple of years ago,” Liam noted. He had a notepad in his hand, looking to the casual watcher like an assistant.

Brooks sat up a little straighter. “Not everything was made clear to me at the time. My lawyer says this is a long shot, but I’m going to stand up for myself. I supported her while she wrote those…books, if you can call them that.”

“That’s what we usually call a collection of words forming a coherent story.” Yeah, the professor was a pompous asshole.

“I don’t know about coherent. What my ex-wife writes is pure pornography. It’s clogging up the publishers so the real writers can’t get through.”

Liam cleared his throat. It was a clear “I told you so.”

And he had. “Serena explains to us that you divorced her over her first book.”

He took a long breath and sat back. “Well, what did she expect me to do? I had just gotten on at the college.”

“Junior college.” Liam seemed to feel a desperate need to keep poking the professor.

Brooks didn’t acknowledge him. “A professor’s wife is an important asset. She reflects on the professor. If I wanted to move up in my profession, I certainly couldn’t be that man whose wife writes porn. And the acts she described.” His nose wrinkled in distaste. “The book was filth. It shouldn’t be out there. It made me sick and, quite frankly, some of it is demeaning to women.”

That was ridiculous. Jake had read the same book. She used some rough language. She called a cock a cock. She hadn’t used the phrase “honey pot” or “center” to describe a vagina. She’d called it a pussy. Jake had found it refreshing. It had made the whole thing hot. He didn’t see how a woman choosing to explore her sexuality demeaned her. But this wasn’t the time to defend Serena’s work. “Where were you last night, Professor?”

The man seemed a bit startled. “I don’t know that’s any of your business.”

“If you were at my client’s home running a key across her car, it is most definitely my business.” It was time to let this asshole know that someone was looking out for his ex. She wasn’t on her own anymore.

The professor’s fists clenched. “I was here grading papers. And no one was with me. Ginny was at class. The bus dropped her off after ten.”

Liam gasped. “You let that little bit of fluff walk the streets alone? What kind of a man are you?”

“I’m a man who respects women. She isn’t a child. She has a brain, and she can take care of herself.”

Jake sat forward. He understood the man now. “I know men like you. You take and take and give nothing back and call yourself modern or some shit. You won’t open a door for a woman because, according to you, it’s insulting. I’m sure little Ginny in there is responsible for her own orgasm because you can’t be bothered to give her one. You use every excuse in the book so you don’t have to take responsibility.”