Free Too Naughty by Brenda Hampton Page A

white T-shirt with paint blothches over his head. His painter’s pants were messed up, too, along with his boots.
    â€œThis shouldn’t take long,” he said. “Give me about fifteen minutes and I’ll be ready.”
    â€œIf you use the same bathroom that Scorpio is in, you could be hours. In fifteen minutes, I’m out the door.”
    Shane nodded and agreed. He headed toward the bathroom in the hallway, and I made my way to the guest room. Frick had better be talking what I wanted to hear, and if not, I was leaving town. Warrant or not, St. Louis would soon be history.

SHANE
    8
    Yes, I hated to do it, but it had to be done. As much as I cared for Scorpio, I wanted to know for sure if she could remain true to me with Jaylin around. I wasn’t completely safe with the situation, but a part of me felt as if I could trust Jaylin more than I could trust her.
    There was still just a little fire in her eyes for him, but I guess that was to be expected. As for Jaylin, personally, I think the thought of losing Nokea was affecting him more than he was willing to admit. He told me about how cold she’d been toward him, and when he told me about Scorpio answering the phone, I told him that was a bad situation to be in. There was no way for him not to look at it from Nokea’s point of view. She had to be frustrated with the whole damn thing; and at this point, he was one lucky man that she hadn’t already given up.
    We sat in Frick’s office, waiting for him to end a call. As soon as he did, Jaylin made it clear that he was anxious to get this over with and be back at home with his wife and kids.
    Frick tapped a silver pen on his desk and looked overwhelmed with the whole thing. “Jaylin, this is not going to disappear overnight. I wish I could make it go away, but as of today, Felicia has filed charges against you. The prosecutor is going to try you for carrying a weapon, but I don’t think the attempted murder charges will stick. Assault charges may be filed, and even though your gun was licensed, the building you were in doesn’t allow it.”
    Jaylin arrogantly stood up and placed his hands in his pockets. “Assault and carrying a weapon? Man, make arrangements to pay somebody off so I can get the hell out of here. Those are tedious charges, and I’ve seen people get off with those charges every single day of my life.”
    â€œI’m hoping that you’ll get probation, but I don’t know. You were carrying a loaded weapon, Jaylin, with the intentions of using it. As for Felicia, she’s very persistent, and she’s not going to let this—”
    Jaylin’s brows scrunched in, and he darted his finger at Frick. “Fuck Felicia! She deserved what she got, and I’m not going to be apologetic about it. If she wants to meet me in court, then so be it. Any jury will see right through her bullshit, and she’ll be the one doing time in jail, not me!”
    I cleared my throat. “Mr. Frick, have you considered that Felicia illegally taped us in Davenports? You know the CD is what caused all of this mess.”
    â€œShane, of course I’ve thought about that. But it didn’t give Jaylin the right to come here and do what he did to her.”
    Jaylin snapped at Frick again. “Are you defending her?”
    â€œNo, I’m just being honest with you. And the truth is, I have to remove myself from this case. There’s too much—”
    â€œWha ... what the fuck did you just say?” Jaylin was furious, and I personally didn’t blame him. Frick appeared to be bullshitting around. “Remove yourself?”
    Frick took a hard swallow. “Yes. Only because of the position I’m in. I will refer you—”
    â€œRefer, me, my ass!” Jaylin yelled. He leaned forward and placed the palms of his hands on Frick’s desk. “How fucking long have you known me?”
    Frick looked away and