Wild Man (Dream Man #2)(116)

So I told him so. “You have a very nice smile, Dade.”

“Thank you, Tess, and hopefully in the not too distant future, I’ll be doing it more often.”

I nodded. “I hope so too,” I said quietly. Then I said, “I’m sorry this is happening to you.”

His smile turned small again before he used my words to reply, “You and me both.”

Then I shared, “Evidence is suggesting that I may be in the boys’ lives for awhile and, if I am, I’d like for us to work together to find ways for you to stay in their lives too.”

The light died in his eyes but they got bright in another way, he swallowed, controlling his emotions and his smooth voice was rough when he said, “I would appreciate that, my dear.”

“I’ll talk to Brock,” I whispered, reaching out and grabbing his hand.

He turned it in mine and gave me a squeeze.

Then he let me go, started to stand and I went up with him.

“Take care of yourself, Tess,” he said and I moved toward him, put my hands on his shoulders and touched my cheek to his.

Leaving it there, in his ear I whispered, “You too, Dade. Anything you need, I’m here.”

His fingers curled around my upper arms, gave them a squeeze and I moved back. He again let me go, smiled his solemn smile and then walked out of the shop.

I snatched up the folder and envelope, hoofed it to my office (which was now Martha’s office, really) and found her on the computer.

“Can you give me two shakes?” I asked. “I need to talk to Brock. Private. Good news. I’ll fill you in in a sec but he gets the news first.”

She studied my face, nodded and didn’t delay in dashing out and closing the door behind her.

I pulled out my phone, called Brock and held it to my ear as I dumped my purse and the folder and envelope on my desk.

“Babe,” he answered as I opened the folder.

“I got a surprise visitor at the shop today,” I told him and didn’t make him wait. “Dade came by.”

“Shit,” he clipped.

“No,” I said quickly, turned over some papers and went mute at seeing a photo of Olivia doing it doggie style with a very muscled young man at least twenty years her junior and I also noted that repeated commentary from Brock was proved irrevocably correct through photo evidence. She was beautiful but she was bony.

Ick.

“Tess?” Brock called, his voice terse.

I slapped the folder closed and grunted, “Ugh.”

“Babe, what the f**k?”

“Um… wait a sec while my retinas recover from being seared.”

“Tess,” he growled.

Crap. Time to pull it together.

“Honey, Dade just gave me copies of his private investigator’s reports and photos as well as a sworn affidavit as to Olivia’s behavior after their marriage as it pertains to the boys. He’s going to be contacting your attorneys to tell them he will stand as a witness to her unsuitability to parent. And, if what I just saw does not set her attorneys scrambling to give you everything you want, he’s going to talk to some of his buds who ‘wear robes and command gavels’, his words, to see that this nightmare is sorted out sooner not later.”

Brock was silent.

Then he asked, “What did you just see?”

“Let’s just say what I saw means you aren’t getting one of your favorite positions for a long time because it might take eternity for the image of her getting boinked by what appeared to be a boy toy to heal considering it’s burned like acid on my brain.”

More silence then, “No shit?”

“Would I shit about that?” I asked then I answered before he could. “No.”

“Fuckin’ hell,” he muttered, sounding shocked but also pleased.

I sucked in breath.

Then I told him softly, “He cares a great deal about Joey and Rex.”

A pause and then, “Yeah. The boys think he’s the shit too.”

This was good.

“Do you want me to bring these to you at the Station or do you want me to drop them by your attorney’s office?” I offered.

“You got the time, take them to Smith. If you don’t, I’ll try to get away and take them myself.”

“I’ll carve out the time.”

Another pause then, “Thanks, sweetness.”

“My pleasure,” I said with feeling then asked, “Do you drink champagne?”

“If I have to,” he answered and I started laughing.

Through my laughter I told him, “Well, tonight, you have to. We have things to celebrate, baby.”

“Fuckin’ finally.”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

Then he commenced in rocking my world.

“You got a lot on your plate and on your mind but I hope to God what McManus gave you means there’s no time to waste. So, if my boys make a move it’s probably best for them that they make a permanent one, not one that leads to two. A buddy of mine in the unit just left his wife, moved in with his brother and sister-in-law. He’s not a big fan of his sister-in-law and only a slightly bigger fan of his brother. He’s lookin’ and he’d sublet from me. He left with nothin’ but suitcases so he’ll sublet furnished which’ll give us time to sort out two houses full of stuff. And it’s time we put this two house bullshit to rest, babe. It’s gonna happen eventually, it might as well happen now.”