You Distract Me

It's Me

Shayne

"Sixty years without possibility of parole, best I can do."

"Don't bullshit me. You don't have enough to get that kind of verdict from a jury. You were able to get Alexander Ryans behind bars, but you won't get shit from my client," Lucille shot back at the attorney general prosecuting me.

Just to put emphasis on how screwed I was, my prosecutor was my ex-girlfriend. Ruby Sambers.

"Are you kidding me? I have enough to take your client to the electric chair. I'm doing you a favor here." A smug look shot in my direction, her long red hair cascading off her shoulder.

All I could do was stare back blankly. A rise out of me was the last thing she'd be getting from me. My mind at the moment was much too chaotic to squeeze her in.

"Ms. Sambers, if I let the judge know you might be impartial in the court proceedings because of your association with Shayne, things won't go too well for you."

"Oh please give me a break, it's been almost four years since she ended things. My life didn't revolve around Shayne then and it doesn't now. Either way, that's why I'm offering you this deal incase the judge won't let me prosecute. Just to be clear, there's unyielding evidence that your client killed a man. You're even lucky you were able to make bail."

The coffee shop we'd decided to meet in was buzzing with life. The conversation in front of me was life altering. And the day was bright and cherry. Yet I couldn't bring myself to give a fuck about what was going on around me.

"We'll take your offer."

"What?" Lucille and Ruby said simultaneously, looking at me like I'd lost my mind.

I stood from my seat and tilted towards Ruby. "When I ended things, it wasn't personal. I had certain responsibilities I had to perform and you simply weren't among them."

The spite she'd been poorly hiding was on full display. "You mean you had to become a mobster instead of committing to our relationship. You seemed to have no problem doing both with Olivia Ryans. The little bitch back-stabbed you for crying out loud!"

"Like I said, it was not personal. Excuse me." I left her with a gaping mouth and frustrated teary eyes.

Lucille bustled after me as I strode away. "Shayne, sixty years is a whole fucking lot. Pleading guilty is the last thing you want. Do you not trust me to defend you? After what you did for me that day, there's nothing I won't do to get you out of this mess."

I stopped outside the coffee shop, turning to Lucille and placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're a magnificent lawyer, Lucille, and an even better man. You're too good to represent someone like me in court. I relieve you of your debt to me."

The debt was a big one for sure but I felt zero loss. Besides, it was merely by chance that he was indebted to me.

It was only a couple years ago when I had found a twelve year old girl in an old unfinished church where a rival gang operated. We were only supposed to intimidate them into moving out of our territory. But then I'd seen red when I saw the girl's bloodied and sexually abused slight form chained to a loose pipe. I'd ordered the scam dead within seconds, but not before interrogating one of them.

Turned out, Lucille had put one of their leaders behind bars and they took his sister, his only family, to teach him a lesson. The first time I'd met Lucille was when we showed up at his doorstep with his sister, Freya and Laura having treated her a couple weeks before contacting the helpless lawyer.

"Shayne, let me do this for you, please," Lucille said thickly, seemingly recalling the same past.

"There is one thing you can do for me. But in the mean time, I have somewhere I need to be."