“You’re an amazing man, Tucker Shaffer. I know it and the Lord knows it too.” She reached over and squeezed his arm. The guard was going to have to pull her away if he didn’t want her touching Tuck. “This is all going to be made right, and everyone will realize you couldn’t do something like this.”
“I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I care about you.” Tuck stared deeply into her eyes and time seemed to stand still. She ran her hand down his arm, avoiding the handcuffs, and wrapped her hand around his.
“Will you wait for me, Maryn?” he asked, his voice gruff but his dark eyes tender.
“Till I’m puckered and bald, Tuck.”
He gave her a smile.
The guard marched over to them. “Time to go.”
The guard grabbed Tuck’s elbow and Tuck stood. His hand was pulled from hers. She watched him shuffle away, so opposite his usual confident stride, and couldn’t stop the tears tracing down her face.
ChapterTwenty
It was after two in the morning when they left the jail with a promise from Johnson that he would contact them as soon as he knew something. The arraignment would probably be in the late morning. Tuck had a team of lawyers meeting with him and the policemen, and doing research on the bar fight. Maryn could not imagine Tucker in a bar, let alone fighting over a stripper and using excessive force because of his Army training, which was the story they had at the moment. Supposedly the video had been on some America’s Most Wanted website and someone had called in with proof that it was Tuck who killed the man.
Beck and Alyssa had convinced Maryn to leave, but it was a huge battle until she finally talked them into letting her stay at her own apartment. It was sweet they wanted to keep her with them, but she needed her own bed, shower, and clothes. Maybe she could get a few hours of sleep and then in the morning she could be there for Tucker. She knew there was no reason to sit at the jail all night, but it was hard to leave imagining him alone in a cold, metal cell.
Waving goodbye to Beck and Alyssa, she climbed to her apartment and put the key in the lock. An arm shot out from the darkness and grabbed her. Maryn screamed and yanked free.
“Shh, Maryn, it’s me.” James stepped out of the shadows. “Can I come in?”
“James.” She sighed with relief that it was only him, but had no desire to talk right now. “I’m exhausted, this really isn’t the time.”
“I know. I heard what happened.” He pulled her into a comforting hug. “I’m so sorry about Tucker.”
Beck’s sport utility door opened and closed and he hurried up the steps. “Maryn? Is everything okay?”
James released her, eyeing Beck’s huge frame.
Maryn nodded. “This is James, my friend and editor.”
“Oh, yeah, we’ve met before.” Beck arched an eyebrow as if waiting for James to explain why he was there at two-thirty in the morning.
“I’ve been tracking her.” James held up his iPhone and his find my friends app. Maryn had forgotten she’d accepted him and some other friends on that last year. She never opened it.
“You have your phone on you?” Beck looked to Maryn.
She felt her face heat up and had to resist reaching for her cell. Not carrying her purse tonight, she’d turned the sound off and hidden her phone in her bra. She should’ve left it home, but always liked it with her. “Yeah, I do.”
Beck arched an eyebrow, but didn’t comment. “Why were you tracking her?” he asked James.
“I just wanted to make sure she was okay after everything that happened tonight.”
“How did you know?” Beck asked.
“Journalist.” James lifted his shoulders. “One of those geeks who listens to police scanners. It’s also all over the internet now. People took pictures in the restaurant. You and Tucker are both pretty well-known so it’s gone viral.”
Beck focused on Maryn, his eyes asking the question before he verbalized it, “Are you okay with him being here?”
“Yes. James is a friend. He won’t stay long.” She pinned him with a glare and he nodded quickly.
“Okay. Call us if you need anything.” Beck turned and slowly walked back to his Audi.
James sighed heavily. “I get it, Mar. You’re tired. I won’t stay, but I wanted to check on you.” He stared at her. “You need to know I’m here for you.”
“Just like you were there last night when you left me with the bill?”