My brain was rattled for a moment. Had I heard him right? “Talon, I’m going to consider this all off the record. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“You are a representative of the city of Snow Creek and consequently the state of Colorado. I am pleading guilty to you, an officer of the court. Take my plea, and send me up the river.”

What was with him? Three seconds ago, he wanted me to get him out of there. “As I said,” I continued through clenched teeth, “this is all off the record. This conversation is not taking place. Any guilty plea you want to enter with me is not going to get entered. I will not be taking any pleas from you, only from your attorney.”

He leaned back in his chair and sighed. “Suit yourself.”

“Now, I can help you. Colin is a reasonable man. I’m sure he will agree to drop the charges if you pay him restitution.”

“I’m not paying that asshole off.”

“Talon, you beat the crap out of him. He might have medical bills. You owe him that much.”

Talon said nothing, just crossed his arms and glared at me.

“Be reasonable.”

“Be reasonable? You want me to be reasonable? I had a cop come to the house this morning, took me away from my home in fucking handcuffs, like a common criminal. They locked me up, Jade. They locked me up in a cell. You have no idea…”

“Have no idea about what? What did you expect? When you beat the hell out of someone, that person might decide to file charges. You are a criminal, Talon. But this is fixable, if you’ll just let me help you.”

He closed his eyes. Dark circles rimmed them, his laugh wrinkles more apparent than usual. He obviously hadn’t slept last night. Where had he been? I opened my mouth to ask, but he spoke.

“Maybe I don’t want to fix it. Maybe I’m just too fucking tired to fix it.”

“Look, even if you do plead guilty, you probably won’t go to jail for a simple battery. Colin is fine. There are no lasting issues. You might get a fine, or restitution, maybe some community service and probation. You probably won’t do any jail time.”

“I happen to know that misdemeanor assault in Colorado carries a potential of three years jail time.” He raised his eyebrows at me.

“I see you’re familiar with the criminal code in Colorado.”

“I do a lot of reading,” he said. “I never sleep, remember?”

I sighed. What was I going to do with him? He seemed determined to destroy himself. Well, not on my watch.

A knock sounded on the door, and I turned.

A uniformed officer led a man in. “Mr. Steel, your attorney is here,” the officer said.

I stood and held out my hand. “I’m Jade Roberts with the city attorney’s office.”

“Peter O’Keefe.” The man took my hand. “Do you mind if I talk to my client alone?”

I shook my head. “Not at all.”

Talon stood. “I mind. She stays.”

“Talon, that’s not a good idea. Mr. O’Keefe is here to help you.” I turned to O’Keefe. “Maybe you can talk some sense into him.”

“Mr. Steel, your sister explained the circumstances to me and also explained Ms. Roberts’s involvement. I’m going to try to have her removed from the case due to conflict of interest.”

“Just so you know,” I said, “I tried to get out of this case myself. Larry wouldn’t let me.”

O’Keefe nodded. “Larry has a tendency to bend ethics whenever he can.”

I didn’t doubt it. “You can get me off this case if you want to, but I’m willing to strike a pretty good deal.” I put my hand on the doorknob. “Let me know when you’re ready to talk.”

“Damn it!”

I turned and faced Talon after his outburst.

“Haven’t I made myself clear? I said she stays.”

O’Keefe let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. But if I tell you to shut up, you better damn well shut up. Maybe we can get this settled today.”

“It’s already settled. I plead guilty. I want to go to jail.”

I shook my head. “Talon, please. There’s no reason for you to go to jail. Colin is not even that injured.”

“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you’re saying, Mr. Steel,” O’Keefe said. “The city attorney here is clearly willing to work with us. Why are you so against it?”

“I committed a crime. Criminals belong in jail.”

“Technically this is a misdemeanor, not crime,” I said.

“Ms. Roberts is correct. You haven’t been accused of a crime. You haven’t even been charged with anything. You’ve only been arrested. Your sister is arranging for bail right now. You should be out of here within a couple of hours.”

“Nope, I think I’m staying.”

I threw my hands in the air. “I’ll leave you two to battle this out.” I turned to O’Keefe. “Afraid I don’t have a business card yet. I just started work today.” I hastily scribbled my cell phone number on a Post-it. “You can reach me here.”

“Thank you. I’ll be in touch,” he said.

“I told you, she stays!”

I left anyway.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Talon

Peter O’Keefe was an idiot. What had Marj been thinking, sending him? He sat across from me, drenching me with saliva every time he spoke. He asked me a bunch of questions about that asshole Colin, and I answered them truthfully.

“So I’m pretty sure we can get this down to reckless endangerment, maybe get some community service. Shouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Jade says she thought she could get the guy to drop the charges.”

“We can’t count on that. But it would be great if she could.”

“Whatever. I don’t care if I stay here. I really don’t.” Fucking lie that was. I couldn’t bear the thought of being locked up. My nerves were a jumble of jelly. But I would take care of it and I would do it if it meant no one else would be destroyed because of me. I belonged somewhere where I couldn’t hurt anyone. Even if the walls caved in on me. I could do it. I’d lived through it before.

“Mr. Steel, you’re talking nonsense. Once you get out of here, you’ll see that.” O’Keefe took a card out of his wallet and slid it across the table to me. “I’m going to ignore your guilty plea because you aren’t in a position to make a plea at this time. The charges haven’t even officially been filed.”