Page 6 of By His Side
“Your release is next Tuesday. That’s only six days away.”
“I can count.”
“Of course you can. I wasn’t insinuating you couldn’t. I was just pointing out how little time there is between now and then.”
Felix leaned forward again, his wide shoulders seeming to block all the light. “Don’t patronize me.”
“I wasn’t, I…” I stopped myself from saying more, worried we’d go round in circles. “Without confirmation from your mother that she’s happy for you to stay with her, I need to outline the alternative, which at this late juncture will be a room in Benedict House.”
“I’m not staying in a halfway house.”
I kept my gaze fixed on the page of notes. “I appreciate you don’t want to, and it will only be a back-up plan if we don’t hear from your mother. But… just in case, I have to go through Benedict House’s expectations.” I spent the next few minutes detailing the facilities at Benedict House and the curfew and sign-ins that Felix would need to adhere to if he wanted to meet his conditions for parole and stay out of prison.
Felix had turned his head away, his body language screaming that he wasn’t really listening. Yeah, he was difficult alright. If only the adoption services had held off for another few months. As soon as I thought that, I felt guilty. It was uncharitable when Katherine and her husband had already waited years.
“Does that all make sense?” I got a grunt in response and decided that would do. For Felix’s sake, I hoped his mother came through for him, but it was looking unlikely. History had shown that he had a far better chance of making a fresh start within a parental home rather than exchanging one building of criminals without freedom for another building where they had slightly more.
“Any drug or alcohol habits I need to know about?”
“No.”
“That’s good.” I offered him a smile. He didn’t reciprocate, Felix back to the man I’d first encountered when I’d walked into the room. Which, in some respects, was disappointing, but in others came as a relief.
“Any thoughts on what kind of job you might look for?”
“No.”
For a moment, I imagined a world where Felix had come before Levi, and I’d convinced my brother to take on Felix at his restaurant. Yeah, that wouldn’t have been pretty. Felix was far more combative than Levi was. Putting those two in a room together would have been like pouring oil on a fire. “We’ve got time to work that out.”
“Oh,wehave, havewe?”
I sat back in my chair and studied him with what I hoped came across as supreme confidence. “My job is to facilitate a smooth passage into starting afresh, and I’m very good at what I do.”
“Does it come with a blow job?”
I held his gaze and didn’t blink. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. “You’re trying to shock me.”
“I’m trying to get a blow job.”
“That’s not a service I offer, I’m afraid.”
“Shame.” Felix punctuated his sentence with a slow once-over that should have angered me, but had my cock once again sitting up and taking notice.Don’t fall for him.Oh, how wise Katherine was. Not that I’d be telling her that.
“One more thing I need to discuss,” I said, keen to bring an end to the strange atmosphere pervading the room. “Because of the nature of your case, you may want to think about using another name. A middle name, perhaps, if you have one.”
“’The nature of my case.’” Felix’s voice was low, alarm bells ringing.
“Murder is...”
I didn’t get any further before Felix surged to his feet. I automatically shifted my chair back, my heart hammering inside my chest. “I didn’t murder anyone.” His voice was still low, but no less emphatic for it.
“I’m sorry. That was a poor choice of words. Your sentence was for being an accessory to murder. That’s what I should have said.” I could have kicked myself. It wasn’t like me to fuck up like that. “All I’m saying is that there were strong opinions about your case and some of those opinions may not have gone away. So my advice to you would be to change your name. And I’d appreciate it if you sit down.”
Felix sat. “I’m not changing my name. Do you know why?”
I took a breath in and then let it out again in an effort to bring my rapid heart rate back to something approaching normal. “Why?”
“Because I didn’t do any of what the courts said I did. And I’ve already lost seven years of my life because they couldn’t get it right. Do you know how much of myself I’ve already lost?” I shook my head, my mouth too dry to form words. “A lot. So… you’ll have to excuse me, Mr. Quinn, if I refuse to give up that last part of myself just on your say-so.”
