Page 36 of Rescued Hearts
“Of course, I do. We’re friends, and I trust you.” It didn’t sound all that convincing, though. It sounded brittle and maybe even a little forced.
Tess looked at the table for a moment, with that small furrow between her brows that she got when she was thinking.She straightened and looked around the diner. Then she smiled tightly, and seconds later, Louise showed up.
“Whatcha need, honey?” Louise asked.
“A to-go box, please. And my check.” Her voice was quiet, meek. She hadn’t talked like that in front of me since the day we met.
My heart plummeted. She was leaving? “You don’t have to go,” I said. Desperate.
“I do,” she said, not looking at me. “I need to go tell Claire and Beau.” Panic flared in my chest. What if they reacted in the same way? What if I lost the only semblance of family I had left?
“Put her stuff on mine,” I told Louise, still watching Tess.
Tess shook her head. “No. I got it.”
It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was. I always paid when we did stuff. I wanted to. And it wasn’t some controlling, macho male thing either; I just wanted to spoil her, to take care of her. Her not letting me felt like shit. There wasn’t a better word for it. It felt like pure shit. And it hit so hard I could barely breathe. Louise came back with the bill and her box way too fast, and I watched in panicked silence while Tess paid and packed up her food.
When I woke up this morning, I never would’ve guessed this was how today would go.
“Tess, please,” I rasped, reaching for her as she stood.
“I gotta go,” she whispered, her voice cracking a little. “I’ll see you around.”
My chest hollowed out as I watched her leave quickly without a second glance. It felt like she had just reached in and carved my heart right out and took it with her.
“What the hell did you do?” Louise asked, scowling at me.
“I don’t know.” But that wasn’t entirely true. I knew. I just didn’t want to say it, didn’t even want to think it, but the thought wouldn’t stop. It rang through my mind until it was deafening.
I ruined everything.
And I needed to fix it before I actually lost the one good thing in my life.
I wanted to chase after her, to tell her that I was falling for her, and knowing that I upset her made me feel like I was dying, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t because I was herfuckinglawyer.
Louise left, murmuring under her breath that I was an idiot. I reached for my phone, a pit in my stomach as I called the one person I could think of who could actually help me with this. One of the few guys I stayed in touch with from law school, Trevor. He worked at a big firm in New York now, so we didn’t see each other often, but he was one of the best lawyers I knew. If there were a way for me to get around this situation, he’d know about it.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Trev,” I said on a heavy breath. “Got a minute?”
There was some shuffling, then the sound of a door shutting. “Sure. What’s up?”
“I need some advice…personal and work.”
There was a long sigh. “What did you do?”
I rested my forehead in my hand, wincing. “I may or may not have fallen for a client?”
“Jesus Christ, Levi,” he groaned. “What did you do that for?”
“It’s not like I could help it!” I hissed under my breath, not wanting anyone to hear. “I just…help me.”
“Easy. Stop representing her.”
My eyes fell shut. “I can’t. I don’t want to. Her case…I don’t want anyone else handling it, don’t trust anyone else to handle it.”
“Then wait until it’s done.”
