Grip Trilogy Box Set - Kennedy Ryan Page 0,187

lot of cocaine in his possession. Enough to bump this up to a felony.” Barry polishes his glasses and shakes his head. “Because they have reason to believe it’s connected to a larger case, to a case they’ve been working and a group they’ve been trying to prose- cute for years, the typical strings I would pull aren’t working.”

Barry stands to his feet and gathers his briefcase and jacket. “Where do you think you’re going? Rhyson, he isn’t leaving.” I grab Barry’s briefcase and hold it hostage behind my back. “You’re not leaving.”

Rhyson and Barry stare at me, mouths hanging open. “Bristol, listen,” Rhyson says. “I know you—”

“No, you don’t know.” My voice breaks. My heart breaks. “If you’re willing to leave this place, to let Barry leave this place with Grip still behind bars, then you don’t know.”

“Bris, I get it.” Rhyson says. “He’s my best friend.”

“But he’s my . . .”

I drop the briefcase and turn my back on the two of them, my heart like a spinning speedometer, completely out of control and reckless. I cross one arm across my waist and chew my thumbnail. The sound of Barry leaving the room barely registers. A horrible suspicion sprouted like a weed as soon as the officers found that cocaine, and has grown into venomous certainty. It’s choking every lucid thought and killing off my reason.

“Bristol, we have to go home.” Rhyson turns me gently by the shoulders to face him.

“I want to see him.” Tears flood my throat and emotion weakens my mouth into a trembling mess. “He didn’t get to . . . to eat . . . and I need . . . I need to see him before we go.”

“We can’t tonight, Bris. It’s . . .” he pulls his phone out of his pocket and grimaces at the screen. “It’s one o’clock in the morning. Tomorrow. He’s asleep anyway.”

“Asleep in jail, Rhyson. We can’t leave him.”

“Look, we’ll be back at it first thing in the morning. I am ordering you to go home, get some rest so you’ll be ready to fight tomorrow. We can at least try to find some way to get him out before Monday, despite this hearing thing. But nothing more will happen tonight.”

He heads for the door, looking over his shoulder at me.

“Let’s go, Bris. I need to get home to Kai anyway. She’s so close now, I hate leaving her alone.”

Guilt pricks me as I think about my sister-in-law home alone, ready to deliver at any moment.

“You’re right. Of course, go. I’ll work on this tomorrow morning.”

“Make no mistake about it,” Rhyson says gently. “So will I. If there was more we could do tonight to get him out, you know I would do it.”

I nod and walk with him into the hallway outside of the room we’ve occupied the last few hours, crawling up walls and shaking trees to make headway.

“Rhyson, what if I told you I think Grip being here has some- thing to do with me?” I ask softly, finally voicing the noxious thought that has been scratching the inside of my head the last few hours.

“You mean Parker?” Rhyson slides a glance my way and nods. “It occurred to me.”

I stop, grabbing his elbow to stop him, too. “So you do think this is my fault?”

“No, not your fault.” Rhyson squeezes my hand. “But I wouldn’t put it past Parker to be involved somehow. This was all too orchestrated. It smacks of foul play. If Parker is involved, I bet some high-ranking judge is in his pocket.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“Bristol, promise me you won’t contact Parker.” Rhyson looks down at me sternly. “We knew he was dangerous, but now we know the lengths he’ll go to. Or at least we think he’ll go to. We’ll work on this together tomorrow.”

All the pieces start coming together in my head while I’m driving home. Once I know for sure that Parker is behind this, I’ll feel better. He never does anything unless there’s a gain. A measurable gain. I know what, or who he wants to gain. For the first time I feel some control. Steel enters my spine. I can fix this. I don’t know what I’ll have to do to fix it, and I honestly don’t care as long as I can get Grip’s name cleared and him out of this ridiculous situation.

I should be surprised to find the same black SUV that met me on the tarmac after Dubai in my driveway, but