Chapter 7

Luke looked out of the windows in Ryker's conference room where he sat with all of his friends and Matt as they tried to come up with the best way to keep his father out of their lives. He was listening to them talk but imagining that he must feel like Paisley did with the house, overwhelmed.

He hadn't expected his friends to jump in with full support, especially Cade. Everyone had, though. They'd all show up for him and were now trying to find a way to protect all of them and his sister from his father's wrath when he found out what was happening.

The fact that Luke hadn't been to visit was probably already enough to tip him off, but nothing had happened yet.

"Here's what we have. The lawyers said we can bring another case with all of the harassment he's done to us since being in jail, but it's not that strong. He can argue that he didn't have anything to do with Marcus or anything else. I'm here for trying it, but I think we need another plan," Cade explained.

"I don't have record of Marcus visiting him and since he's not around to talk about it, I don't think that's a great defense," Matt agreed.

"There's him." Ryker pointed at Luke. "He's talked directly to him about everything that he wanted to happen."

Luke shrugged. "I have no problem testifying against him if we can get him to stop this shit."

Cade shook his head. "Won't work without implicating yourself in crimes. We could subpoena the videos of him telling you things, especially with your support, but then you could end up in trouble."

If this had been just a few months ago, Luke would have shrugged at that too. Now he had Paisley and Garrett to think of, and he didn't want to leave them. It was selfish, but he didn't.

"No. He's got Garrett to think of." Cade made eye contact with him. "And Paisley?"

Luke nodded. "Trying to have her, too."

Cade gave him a curt nod and turned back to the group. "Let's look at what Luke has gathered while pretending he didn't have any friends or family to help him."

Luke snorted.

Matt sent a new file to the screen. "Here are the main players that Luke has dirt on to help with Ashley. My concern is him finding out about Luke's newfound family. We don't know what he will do to prevent that from moving forward."

"Nothing he can do. I'm not leaving her or making her leave." Luke was firm on that. There was no chance he was going back to not knowing her or his son.

"We aren't asking you to. We just need to think of what he will try to do to interfere. If we can stay ahead of him, we can plan for the inevitable, just like you did with Ashley." Jake stood and paced near the windows. "I know you don't want to leave her, that makes sense to all of us, but all of us have gone through some shit to keep our relationships working because of him."

Everyone nodded except Luke and Matt.

"Matt, run a background check on Paisley, see if there's any dirt," Cade directed.

"I don't want to go through her past. It's intrusive," Luke defended. He didn't care what had happened in her past, but neither did he want to go looking through it.

"It's not about finding bad things about her. None of us will think any different, but we need to know what he could use against her. We can't help her if we don't know what we're up against," Evan reasoned. "I don't like it either, but I think it's important."

Luke thought it over and knew it was smart to do this. It just didn't sit well with him that he was doing this behind her back.

"Let me talk to her. I'll see if there's anything she can tell us before Matt throws her life up on the screen. At least we can give her the option of privacy on the rest of her past." Luke pulled out his phone.

"I'm going to start checking now. I won't share anything unless I think it's relevant. If you get more information, I can keep looking at that, but let me see if anything stands out." Matt didn't look up from his computer, already typing away.

Luke: Hey! How's it going?

Paisley: Waiting on Catherine to come over and Garrett is napping. Any luck there?

Luke: Actually, I want to ask you something.

Paisley: What's up?

Luke: Let me start with, I won't hold anything against you. I don't want to do anything other than get information.

Paisley: You're making me nervous and I don't know why.

Luke: We need to know if there is anything in your past that my father could use against you. This isn't about judging you if there is. It's about keeping you and Garrett safe.

Paisley:Not that I can think of. Nothing you don't already know.

Luke: What about people? Anyone that would have a reason to make you look bad, maybe for money or just to be mean?

Paisley: Maybe.

He thought on it and realized how little he actually knew about Paisley's life growing up. He knew about here in the city and that she wasn't from here, but that was it. In reality, he didn't know much about here like he thought. Why hadn't anyone helped her with Garrett? Where were her friends?

"What's she saying?" Ryker asked.

"Nothing yet. Only a maybe on people that might have a reason to make her look bad. I think this is an in-person conversation." He didn't want to do it over text.

Ryker thought on it for a moment. "Go talk to her then. Matt will find whatever it is anyway."

"We can keep working on this," Evan agreed. "You probably need to go talk to her before things get out of hand."

Luke nodded. He didn't know what they would find, but he didn't want to jeopardize his attempts at repairing their relationship by digging in her past without her knowing. He needed to face her to make her understand that he really didn't care what was there, that this was for their safety.

"I've got Ashley under surveillance. We'll know if he tries anything with her," Matt said.

Luke shook his head. "Does she know?"

"Of course not." Ryker rolled his shoulders as he answered. "She might have told you and we were trying to find you."

"She's going to be pissed when she finds out." He wasn't concerned about her safety as much as he was about risking her ire. She had strong opinions and loved to make them known, especially if she thought you were in the wrong.

"It's not like she's going to find out," Matt said. "Unless we have to help her, in which case she should be happy we're able to."

Luke threw his head back and laughed. "I tried to talk her into being a trial lawyer because of her arguing. You know she's studying to be a software engineer, right?"

"I've got this," Matt assured him.

"Keep telling yourself that." Luke laughed. "I'm heading out, but I have my phone on if you need anything."

He said his goodbyes and left the conference room. In the elevator, he checked to see if Paisley had written him back yet. Nothing. Deciding he didn't want to ambush her, he called her.

"Hey," he said when the call connected.

"Hey," was her quiet response.

"Look. I know this is an uncomfortable topic, but I am really just trying to keep you and Garrett safe."

"I know. I just, I'm trying to think of what or who to tell you that would matter."

"I'm on my way home now. We can talk then and you can just tell me whatever you think is relevant and go from there. My only goal is to protect you both," he stressed to her again, willing her to understand.

"Oh. Okay." It was just above a whisper.

"Paisley, you can't say anything to make me think differently of you."

"I'll see you in a bit," she said, not acknowledging what he'd said.

"Okay. Do you need anything on my way home?"

"No, thank you."

"I'll see you then."

The call ended and he felt like he should have said more. They hadn't really talked on the phone ever. Texted, sure, back before she got pregnant, but since then, not really. He'd been with her since he came back around. Just "see you later" felt cheap for some reason.

As he got in his car, he wondered what she could possibly have to tell him. There really wasn't anything he could think of that would change his opinion of her. She could tell him anything and he wanted her to believe that.