Sacking the Quarterback (6 page)

Suddenly things start
to make sense to me. I heard Grayson say those words and instantly knew, in no uncertain terms, that the man in front of me is in the position he's in because of his brother.

“I have to go to the police station,” he says urgently, interrupting my thoughts. “I need to bail him out.”

“That's not a good idea.”

“Well, I can't just leave him there.”

“I'm not saying you should leave him there. I'm just saying it's not a good idea for you—currently out on bail—to turn up at the police station to bail out your brother who has been arrested on a similar charge.”

He steps back from me, thrusting his hands through his hair.

I want to tell him that I think I know what's been going on. That I know what he's been hiding from me. But I know that now isn't the time to confront him on that.

Later, I definitely will. Right now, I need to help him.

With a fire in my belly and adrenaline racing through my veins, I take my cell out of my bag and dial Ben's number. Grayson opens his mouth to speak. I hold my finger up and stop him.

Ben answers on the third ring. “Mel.”

“Ben, I'm just going to get straight to the point here—I want off the Grayson Knight case.”

“That's not possible.”

“I won't prosecute a man who I believe to be innocent.” My eyes meet Grayson's. I see the flare of surprise in them. There's something else in them, too, something that makes my stomach flutter and tighten.

Ben laughs. “Grayson Knight is definitely not innocent. And you will continue with his case. If you don't, you're fired.”

“You don't have to fire me. I resign,” I say, and hang the phone up before he can respond.

I'm staring down at my phone when Grayson's hands touch mine. “Mel.”

“Did I just quit my job?”

“It sounded that way.” His voice is gentle, his grip on my hand tightening.

“Holy shit.” I breathe out.

I just quit my job.

My job.

I love my job, and I just quit it.

“Are you okay?” Grayson asks.

I stare at him blankly. “No…I'm not sure. I think…I can't believe I just did that,” I say, shaking my head.

“Not to seem like an insensitive asshole, but I have to go bail my brother out of jail.”

That snaps me back to the present. To one of the reasons that I called Ben in the first place. Then I say, “I'll go to the station and get your brother out.”

“Mel…I can't ask you to do that.”

“You're not asking. I just know that it's not a good idea for you to be going to the police station right now. Not when you've been arrested for a similar charge. And honestly, Grayson, I think I know what's going on here.”

He frowns at me and says, “I don't know what you mean.”

“I mean, you're a guy who has never even had so much as a parking ticket. You have everything to lose if you face prison time for supplying drugs. Now your brother, who was there on the night you were arrested, is also sitting in a jail cell because he's been arrested for drug possession. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out.”

His expression tightens. “You can throw whatever you think you've uncovered out the window, because you're wrong.”

“Grayson—”

“You're wrong,” he says with determination. “Whatever theory you've conjured up is wrong. And I don't need you to go get Tyler. I'll go bail him out myself.”

Grayson turns to leave, but I touch his arm, stopping him. “Please…I'm on your side here. I quit my job because I'm that far on your side. I know you're holding something back from me. You don't have to tell me right now…but you should tell me, and soon. Now I'm going to help you by going to get your brother out of jail. Then maybe you'll believe that you can trust me.”

He's staring at me like I've grown another head.

I step forward, closer to him. “Let me help.”

“Okay.” He softly breathes out the word. “Thank you…for everything.” Then he leans close and presses a kiss to my cheek.

I take a
cab
to the station. During the whole ride, my mind is working overtime. Why is Grayson taking the fall for his brother, who doesn't have as much to lose? Tyler doesn't have the media spotlight on him or the high-profile career that his brother has.

Sighing, I rest my head back against the seat. I really need to see Grayson's brother's rap sheet. If I can see that, then all my questions will probably be answered. I take my iPad out of my bag and log into the criminal database. I'm sure Ben hasn't gotten my access removed this quickly. I see that I'm right as my login works and I'm in straightaway.

I type in “Tyler Knight” and wait for the results to load.

My screen fills with enough information to tell me that everything I was thinking is correct.

Tyler Knight has a rap sheet dating back to juvy. But nothing as an adult.

From inside the system, I can see that he's been charged for small things like shoplifting, driving without a license, underage drinking, and criminal damage, but then for bigger things, like drug possession, as well. They were all things that Grayson could probably hide with his money. But if Tyler's caught with drugs as an adult, and with the intent to sell, then he'll be looking at serious jail time in an adult prison since he has a rap sheet like this.

But if his brother, the all-American football star, a guy who doesn't even have an unpaid parking ticket to his name, is found with the drugs on him, then we're looking at no jail time. A slap on the wrist, maybe a fine.

Until a crooked state attorney ups his charge to possession with intent to sell.

I call the station holding Tyler. It's the same one that had Grayson a few days ago.

“Hello, my name is Melissa St. James. I'm a…lawyer…and you're holding my client Tyler Knight.”

So, he's my client now? Apparently so.

“Can you tell me if his bail has been set?” I ask.

“One second.” I hear keys tapping on a keyboard. “Yes, bail has been set.”

“I'll be there soon to pay it.”

My life has
changed
a lot since I came here for Grayson's interview. I can't believe that was only a handful of days ago. I make my way inside, pushing open the door, and approach the desk. The officer on duty looks up at me. “Hi, I'm here to pay bail for Tyler Knight,” I say.

“Sure thing.”

“Can you tell me what he was charged with?”

The officer turns to the computer on the desk beside him, taps a few keys, and says, “He's charged with felony possession of the second degree. He was caught with a Schedule II drug with intent to sell.” He glances back to me.

“How much is bail?”

The figure he tells me gives me pause. I mean, I am now unemployed. But I hand over my credit card and put up the money.

“He's in cell two at the moment,” the officer tells me. “I'll call through and have him brought out to you.”

I'm sitting on the waiting room seats, halfway through a game of Candy Crush, when Matt Daughtry comes out through the door. He takes the seat next to me and I put my phone back in my bag. “You're here bailing out Grayson Knight's brother?” he asks.

“Yes.”

“Do I even want to know why the assistant state attorney is bailing out the brother of the man she's currently prosecuting?”

I meet his eyes and say, “I'm not an assistant state attorney anymore.”

I see the shock reverberate through him. “Since when?”

“About an hour ago.”

“Jesus, Mel. What happened?”

“It's…complicated. I don't really want to talk about it right now.”

He blows out a breath, staring ahead. “When I was told his lawyer was out here bailing him out, I thought they'd made a mistake when I saw you sitting here. So I guess…you're his lawyer now?”

I sigh and say, “I guess so.”

I hear him exhale again, but I can't meet his eyes.

“Look,” he says, placing his hands on my shoulder. “Just…be careful. I know Grayson Knight is a big celebrity, but…be careful, okay?”

I nod.

Matt stands, abruptly changing the conversation. “I'm having Knight processed. He'll be brought out to you soon.”

“Thank you, Matt.”

“Since you're his lawyer, you should know that his arraignment is set for two days from now. I don't consider him a flight risk, but he'll still need to turn in his passport tomorrow.”

I know the process, but I nod my head and thank him again.

“Mel,” he says, stepping close and lowering his voice. “I don't know what the hell has happened…but I do know how much your job means to you. You need someone to talk to, call me. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Matt disappears back through the door he came through.

Fifteen minutes later, a disheveled, younger-looking version of Grayson Knight comes through the door. Matt is leading him forward with a tight grip on his arm.

“Thanks,” I say to Matt, getting to my feet.

Tyler looks at me and then back to Matt. “Who's she?” he asks, jerking his chin in my direction.

“She's your bail money and ride home,” Matt says to him, definite contempt in his voice.

I take a few steps toward Tyler and say, “I'm Melissa St. James. Your brother asked me to come and get you.”

Tyler stares at me. “Why didn't he come himself?”

I glance at Matt and then back to Tyler. “He wanted to, but…it's…difficult, with his…situation. So I offered to come.”

“You got this, Mel?” Matt says, heading for the door. “I need to get back to it.”

“Yeah, we'll be fine from here. Thanks again, Matt.”

Matt pins Tyler with a stare. “Remember I want you back here first thing tomorrow to turn in your passport.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”

Matt gives a frustrated look and shakes his head. “I'll see you later, Mel,” he says to me. Then he disappears behind the door, leaving me alone with Tyler.

“Well, thanks for coming to get me out,” Tyler says as he heads for the exit. “Tell Grayson I'll call him.”

“Tell him yourself.”

He stops at the exit and turns to face me.

“You'll be seeing him soon. I'm taking you to his place.”

“And if I don't want to go?”

“I'm not giving you a choice. You don't come with me, I'm taking you right back in there to Sergeant Daughtry and telling him I'm rescinding bail.”

“You can't do that.”

“I can do anything I want,” I say, and put my hands on my hips. “So what's it going to be?”

He tilts his head to the side. “You're not like Grayson's other girlfriends.”

“That's because I'm not his girlfriend.”

Though I'm not really sure what I am right now.

“Fine,” Tyler says as he walks out the door. I follow quickly after him. He's waiting near the side of the road for me. “You got a car, then?” he asks.

“No. We'll catch a cab to Grayson's place,” I say. Then I stick out a hand to an approaching cab. It pulls over.

Tyler opens the back door and waves me in first. “I do have some manners,” he says after I give him a surprised look.

The driver pulls up outside Grayson's house ten minutes later. Tyler and I haven't really spoken during the ride over. I thought it would be best to wait until he and Grayson were together before I started questioning them.

I find Grayson in his living room, standing by the fireplace, a tumbler of whiskey in his hand. A flash of relief passes over his face when he sees Tyler. But then the relief is gone and anger settles in.

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“Nice to see you too, bro,” Tyler says as he throws himself down onto one of the plush couches. “You know, you look just like dad, standing there by the fire, glass in hand, pissed-off look on your face. I feel like I've just gone back ten years in time.”

“Screw you,” Grayson snaps, putting the glass down on the mantelpiece. He pushes his hands into his pockets and steps closer to Tyler. “How could you do this? You promised me that it wouldn't happen again.”

“I didn't exactly have a choice,” Tyler snaps.

“What do you mean you didn't have a choice? There's always a choice,” Grayson says.

“Maybe in your perfect world there is. But in my world”—Tyler gets to his feet—“there isn't.”

“I don't know how to help you anymore,” Grayson says, sounding lost and frustrated.

“I never asked you to help me in the first place,” Tyler says quietly.

“You're my little brother…I couldn't just…” Grayson's words die out and his eyes come to me. It's as if he's remembering I'm still here.

Tyler turns to look at me, too.

“Don't stop on my account.” I wave a hand toward Grayson. “I mean, I think I've pretty much figured it out myself, anyway. Tyler has a history of criminal offenses. The cops raid the club. He has a sizable amount of drugs on him. Enough to put him away for a long time.

“Grayson, you tell him to give the drugs to you, so if they get found, neither of you will go to prison, because your record is clean and you're a notable figure in entertainment. You'll probably get a slap on the wrist—at the worst a fine and be put on probation. Only when it comes to laws about drugs, you don't know that Tyler was carrying enough to up the charge to possession with intent to sell.

“Because that's what you were doing, right, Tyler? You were going to sell the coke. Grayson took the drugs from you, got caught with them, and now he's looking at possible jail time. And I'm taking it the people you work for were not happy you lost those drugs that were seized from Grayson. Were they looking for their money back? Maybe you were out tonight, selling to try to make the money back to pay them off. Am I on the right track here?”

Tyler opens his mouth, but Grayson holds up a hand, cutting him off.

Grayson turns to me, his expression weary. He moves over to me, puts his hands on my arms, and says, “Mel…I need to talk to my brother…alone. I appreciate everything you've done for me and Tyler. But just give me tonight with him to talk.”

Even though his voice is gentle, I feel stung by his words.

He wants me to leave.

“Trust me,” he adds.

I step out of his hold.

“Sure,” I say, as if everything is fine.