Page 27 of Betrayed

Tension drained from her body as she smiled. “I can sit for a few minutes. Thank you.”

“What would you like to drink?” Beth asked.

“A skinny latte, please.” She reached into her bag and pulled out her wallet.

“First one’s on the house,” Mary said as she and Beth headed to the counter to make our drinks. “AJ, the usual?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You mispronounced Mary again,” she called out with a chuckle. She was always reminding me to call her Mary.

Blake’s laugh reduced me to mush.

I stared. Openly fucking stared as she walked away with Meg and Emily.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up as Jack’s voice broke my trance. “Come on, Janerek.”

Hopefully, no one else noticed me staring.

We sat at a high top in the middle of the dining room. From our position, we could see out the windows lining the front ofthe café. We were in the perfect position to intercept if anyone came in and tried anything. Not just for Blake, but for the other women, too.

“Wanna tell me what that was all about?” he asked.

“Nothing.” Something.

“Right, that didn’t look-”

“What’d you find out?” I cut him off. I couldn’t act on my attraction to Blake, so there was no point talking about it. The very thought of losing my temper and hurting her scared the shit out of me. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, risk it. She deserved so much better.

Jack paused before shaking his head and shifting gears.

“Doug and I have been looking into Davenport’s case history to see if anything or anyone stands out.”

“And?”

“And things aren’t adding up. He has a track record of cases getting dismissed for petty reasons. We compared it to other DAs in the area, and the percentage is well above average. Doug dug deep and connected a few of the cases, but it wasn’t easy.”

“You think he’s dirty?” I looked at Blake; it’d kill her if her father was crooked.

“Too early to say,” he glanced at Blake, “but there are a few red flags. We’ve got a list of people to interview.”

“Could the threat be because he didn’t take a bribe?” I wanted him to be innocent, for Blake’s sake.

“It could be, but we’re not making any assumptions.”

I nodded, knowing I could hope and wish all I wanted, but it wouldn’t change the outcome.

Laughter floated over to us from the booth where our girls were sitting. The sound made my chest constrict. I glanced over; Blake was relaxed and enjoying herself.

My heart leaped in my chest when Blake turned and smiled at me.She’s beautiful, classy, intelligent, and so far out of my league we might as well be on different planets.

“Jamie’s free tomorrow if you want a break,” Jack’s smug tone interrupted my train of thought.

“No.”

Damn it. I took the bait.

He grinned. “Yeah, I figured as much.”

---