Page 64 of Desert Loyalties
Christina looks at me like,wow. I smile. “Yeah, he’s pretty awesome.”
We sit. I don’t want to talk about the trial just yet, not without Drake. So instead, I ask the question that’s been sitting in my head all week. “How do you know Alecia?”
She freezes a bit, caught off guard. “We went to high school together.”
“Friends?”
“Sort of. We had... history.”
Before I can dig deeper, Drake walks in with the food. Christina lights up, too much for it to be about Drake or the food, which does smell like heaven. She’s relieved. It’s clear.
While eating, she says, “So, about this hearing—”
“You can eat your food first,” Drake cuts in.
Christina chuckles, setting her napkin on the table. “I’ve got an early flight tomorrow. Need to get back to the hotel and catch a few hours of sleep.”
Turns out she wasn’t just in Nevada for Alecia; Christina has an office here too. Some kind of satellite branch she's quietly been setting up.
“You’re going back already?” I ask, halfway through my plate.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in time for the hearing,” she says. “I’ve just got a few open matters to wrap up before making the move.”
I blink. “So, you’re really doing it. Moving here for good.”
“Yeah,” she says, a little smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “I like D.C., but Nevada is home.”
She says it like it’s simple, but I know it’s not. Still, it means something. People don’t move their whole lives unless they’re serious.
“Anyway,” she continues, leaning back slightly, “the probable cause hearing is basically just to see what the government’s holding. If there’s not enough to justify the charges, the case gets dismissed. But let’s be real,” she adds, “this is federal court. It wouldn’t have gotten this far if they didn’t havesomething.They needed probable cause to even get a warrant, and that’s no easy ask.”
I glance at Drake. His face is unreadable, but I know him well enough to recognize the tension behind his jaw. She pauses, then looks at both of us.
“I’m not going to ask what happened. As your lawyer, Ican’tknow. I can’t lie in court, and it’s better if I don’t know anything. Just let me handle it.”
Christina sets her fork down, wiping her mouth with a paper towel. Her expression shifts, lawyer mode activated.
“Alright,” she says, her tone crisp. “Before I leave, there are a few things we need to go over. This probable cause hearing? It’s not the trial. It’s just the judge deciding whether there’senoughevidence for this to go to trial. That’s it. But we still treat it like it’s important. Understood?”
Drake nods once, slow. I stop mid-bite, watching her closely. She leans forward, elbows on the table.
“Rule number one: stay silent unless I tell you otherwise. If the judge speaks to you, you wait. Look at me. Let me handle it. No backtalk. No facial expressions. I don’t care if the prosecutor lies outright, you stay cool. Control is power.”
“Got it,” Drake mutters.
“Two: dress like someone who respects the court. No leather. No boots. No biker rings. I don’t care if you feel like a poser in slacks, this isn’t about your image, it’s about winning.”
I smirk at the thought of Drake in anything but black denim and arrogance, but Christina doesn’t pause.
“Three: don’t talk about this case to anyone, not your brothers, not the club, not even Skye,” she adds, looking at me pointedly. “Especially not on the phone. Everything is fair game for the Feds. Assume you’re being recorded.”
Drake’s jaw ticks. Mine too.
“Four: don’t expect this to get dismissed tomorrow. The bar is low. If we walk out without extra charges, that’s already a good day. We're playing defence, not offense. Not yet.”
She takes a sip of water, then sets the glass down with a quietclink.
“Five,” she says, locking eyes with Drake. “Don’t tell me anything I don’t need to know. I mean that. If you confess something to me, I can’t lie in court. I can’t knowingly put someone on the stand who’s going to lie. That would violate my ethical duties and I could be disbarred.”
