Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,86
You are out of your damn mind if you think I’m paying you almost seven hundred dollars. I know for a fact Billy Dice only charges fifty bucks to tow anywhere in the city limits. He would have towed my car to Texas for less than seven hundred bucks.”
“Relax,” Camden muttered, pushing a credit card across the counter. “I’ve got it.”
I slid it right back in his direction. “Uh, no, you don’t. The only thing less likely than me paying this clown six hundred bucks to get my car back is you paying this clown six hundred bucks for me.”
“Nora, it’s not a big deal.”
“Yes, it is.” I looked back at Nathan. “You know what? I want to see receipts. You’re telling me you paid Billy Dice and whatever rent-a-cop you have guarding this place at night almost seven hundred dollars? Prove it. Show me the documentation and I’ll gladly pay a percentage over that. The citizens of Clovert need the jobs, but six hundred dollars is highway robbery and you know it, Officer Pollard.”
Camden grabbed my arm and gave me a tug. “Excuse us for a moment?” he told the extortionist in a uniform then once again handed him his credit card. “Go ahead and put it on that. We’ll be right back.”
“Don’t you dare charge that card!” I yelled as Camden dragged me outside.
“Would you stop?” he hissed as soon as the door shut behind us.
I yanked my arm from his grip, my shoulders still tender from my time in cuffs—and not in the fun way where Camden had spent the night and gotten a little kinky. “You aren’t paying for it.”
His expression was hard as he leaned down, getting in my face. “Yes, I am. And you’re going to hush and let me. Jesus Christ, woman, you aren’t helping your cause here. I know you’re pissed and you have every right to be, but these charges against you are serious. Honestly, a misdemeanor for some pot is the least of your worries. Do you understand aggravated assault on an officer can hold up to twenty years in prison?”
It was safe to say I did not understand that; therefore, my back shot straight and I clamped my mouth shut.
“Yeah, I see you’re getting it now.” He moved in close, one of his hands going to my hip. “I talked to the prosecution this morning. Given your track record working with the kids in the community, they are willing to at least discuss the severity of the charges. But you have to cool it with the Wonder-Woman-on-steroids act. You bit an officer yesterday, Nora.”
“I kicked Jonathan too,” I confessed because, well…it was Camden. He was my attorney and I thought he should have all the facts before he tried to defend me from twenty years in prison.
He blinked, but I swear I saw a twitch at the corner of his mouth. “Right. Well, no more of that.”
I rested my palm on his hard chest. His hand flexed at my hip the minute I made contact, but if he could touch me, I assumed I could do the same. “I’ll do better, I promise.”
“Less Chuck Norris and more of you being a heart-of-gold first-grade teacher who spends her spare time packing bag lunches for underprivileged kids.”
“Yeah, I kn—wait. How do you know about that?”
His hand fell away from my hip so fast you’d have thought I’d caught fire. “I, um, did some digging on you last night.”
I narrowed my eyes. It was a feasible explanation. Dropping my name into Google was probably the first lesson he’d been taught in Getting To Know Your Client 101.
But it was the “um” that piqued my suspicions.
Gorgeous, powerful, somewhat cranky attorney-at-law Camden Cole was not an “um” man. And it didn’t matter if I hadn’t yet spent a full twenty-four hours with him. This version of Camden carried himself with such a confidence it teetered on arrogance—sexy, mouthwatering, tingle-inducing arrogance, but arrogance no less. Sure, the nerdy boy I’d once known who’d prattled on for hours about absolutely nothing could hem and haw with the best of ’em.
But not this guy.
Between his reaction in his car the night before when I’d grabbed his hand, that strange edge to his tone when he’d made the jab back at my house, and now an “um,” something was going on. What? I had no idea, but he wasn’t the only one who would be doing some detective work from here on out.
“I’ll behave, but I can’t let