Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1) (21 page)

“
Um yeah, a little.” That was
another thing about Hope. She kept everything entirely too close to
her chest. If she’d let people in on her problems, maybe they could
help her too.

That thought sent off bells inside of him.
“What the fuck happened to Tina?”

“
She quit her job.”

Shock rocked Dean, and he sat back. Cord
walked into the kitchen. “Dean, go talk to Jeremy, he’s in his
room.”

He looked up at his brother for a second
without even seeing him. Dean was that stunned from the news that
Tina hadn’t lost her job, she quit. “Did she say why?”

“
They wanted her to travel to
Europe, and she couldn’t do that.” Hope said.

“
Dean, you really need to go talk
to your son,” Cord said shortly.

Yes, he needed to go talk to his son. Explain
why he said what he’d said. He would think about Tina Montgomery
later. When he could actually think again. Right now he had to deal
with explaining to Jeremy that his mother was a faithless whore
without saying that. A six-year-old was not going to understand
that. And he was afraid Jeremy wasn’t ever going to forgive him for
saying what he had. Jeremy would become just one more member of his
family that hated him.

Because of Cindy.

No, he wasn’t letting that happen. “What did
you say to him?” Dean asked trying to figure out what he was going
to say.

“
I told him that you loved him, and
that you didn’t mean what you said. If I were you, I’d start
there,” Cord recommended.

Dean nodded and got up then walked on leaden
feet toward his son’s room. He knocked on the door, but there was
no answer so he just opened the door. Jeremy was laying on his bed
facing the wall. Dean walked over to sit on the side of the bed and
put his hand on Jeremy’s hip.

Emotion choked, but Dean swallowed it down.
Words are cheap
. He gathered his courage and forced the
words past the lump in his throat, “I love you, son.” Jeremy’s
shoulders tensed, but he didn’t roll over, so Dean continued, “I’m
sorry I said what I did. It’s not true. You
are
my son, and
I love you very much.”

“
I’m not your son,” Jeremy said
sadly.

Dean’s eyes burned, he rolled them and sucked
in a deep breath. “Jeremy, do you remember when your Mama
left?”

“
Not really,” Jeremy replied in an
even sadder voice.

His shoulders shook and Dean leaned over the
bed and slid his arms under him to pick him up. He pulled him onto
his lap and hugged him tight to his chest.

“
Well I remember. She did both of
us wrong when she left. But you know what, Jeremy?”

“
What?” Jeremy said with a
sniffle.

“
She did me the biggest favor she
could have too.”

“
By leaving?” he asked with
confusion.

“
No by leaving you here with me,”
he said brushing the hair off of his forehead. “I didn’t mind that
she left so much, but if she had taken you with her, I would have
been crushed. I was there when you were born, and I was the first
person to hold you. To love you. You
are
my son, and I’m
glad you are.” Dean hugged him so hard, his muscles
quaked.

“
But you said Bobby Jones was my
daddy,” Jeremy mumbled against his chest.

“
Bobby Jones is
not
your
daddy,” Dean said gruffly. “Daddies are the men that take care of
their kids. They make sure they are fed, clothed…and loved.” Dean
hugged him tighter. “I love you, Jeremy and I will fight for you.
That’s what daddies do.”

“
Maw Maw says you’re not posed to
fight,” he said and Dean laughed.

“
Maw Maw is right,” he said and
ruffled his hair. “I just mean I will
never
let anyone hurt
you or take you away from me,” Dean said then determination hit him
in the gut. “You’re mine, and I would fight for you with my last
breath.”

“
Can I have a brownie?” Jeremy
asked hesitantly.

“
You can have the whole pan. Except
for one, I want at least one,” Dean said as relief flooded him that
evidently he’d said something right. Something that made Jeremy
feel better.

“
Deal…and Daddy?” Jeremy said
looking up at him.

“
Yeah?” Dean replied meeting his
green eyes.

“
I’m glad you’re my Daddy
too.”

CHAPTER
THIRTEEN

Dean tugged at the collar of the dress shirt,
which felt a size too small. Smaller even with the tie his mother
tied for him before he left the ranch that morning. Making matters
worse was the huge knot of fear in his throat that felt like he’d
swallowed a brick. That feeling had been with him since he got
those papers from Cindy’s attorney on Friday.

Jeremy was counting on him to work this
out.

His family was counting on him. He was
counting on himself. And he was putting his eggs all in the same
basket. The attorney that Hope’s estranged father had recommended.
The man was a socialite. His daughter had been too before she
married his brother. They knew people, he reminded himself. To get
a recommendation from someone like Liam Carlisle meant you had
clients in that circle. Those people didn’t mess around. They only
hired the best attorneys, because they had the money to do
so.

Dean needed the best, but he couldn’t afford
that kind of attorney. He was only here for a consultation, he
reminded himself, as he forced himself to push the button on the
wall to call the elevator. According to Hope, the man would give
him advice on what he needed to do to stop Cindy. To keep his son.
The door swooshed open, and Dean stepped aside for two fancy
looking women to exit. They were talking, but one woman glanced at
him, did a double-take then smiled widely and stopped. The other
kept walking. “Cord Dixon?”

Dean pushed his hat back on his head, so she
could see his face. He knew that would answer her question whether
he was his brother or not. He waited. She smiled and waited. He
huffed out a breath. “No, I’m Dean Dixon, Cord’s
brother.”

“
Twin brother?” she asked with a
laugh then shook her head. “Damn, two of you?”

“
Older
brother.” Ancient
brother. From the looks of it at least five years older than this
woman who obviously knew his brother. Dean gave her a tight smile
and tried to step around her to get into the elevator. He had
things to do other than flirting with his brother’s old
girlfriends.

But she put a hand on his arm. “Wait. I heard
what happened to your brother at Laramie Jeans. That Tonya Laramie
is a piece of work.”

Dean stopped because he was too damned curious
not to. His brother had never told him the whole story about what
happened to end his reign as Mr. Laramie Jeans. Dean stepped back
out of the elevator. He had a few minutes. “What
happened?”

Her face flushed, but she smiled again. “Well,
Tonya Laramie propositioned your brother, then when he turned her
down she fired him and had him blackballed in the Dallas modeling
world. She did that to a couple of other guys there too. The man
she replaced him with even. I’d like to talk to Cord, but didn’t
know where to find him.”

“
Why do you need to talk to
him?”

“
Because I’m representing those
other men in a harassment suit against Laramie, and I think he
needs to include himself. It’s public knowledge now, in all the
papers. We’re getting ready to go to court, and I’m going for
broke,” she said with a cocky smile. “I believe we have a damned
good shot at winning the case. His testimony would be the
icing.”

Dean knew about broke. And right now his
brother did too. He wondered what that term meant in this woman’s
world. “Broke?”

“
Ten million. If Cord includes
himself, I’ll up that another five.”

Dean’s breath caught in his chest and he
whistled it out. “Damn.”

The woman reached into the pocket of her skirt
and pulled out a card. She handed it to Dean and smiled. “Tell your
brother to call me.”

With a saucy wink she left, and he watched her
walk across the rotunda toward the door.

Dean was sure his brother would be glad to
call her. Five million dollars? Damn, Dean would like to have even
a tenth of that. He wouldn’t take Hope’s money, but he damn sure
wouldn’t hesitate to take it from his brother. Maybe things would
work out after all. He felt better about getting into the elevator
and pushing the button for the eleventh floor.

An hour later, he finished the story about his
and Cindy’s situation then took a deep breath. He felt like he had
purged himself of it. Having it out in the open now felt damn good.
Dean had never talked to anyone about it. He would have paid this
man the two-hundred-fifty dollars an hour he charged, just to be
able to do that again.

“
Now, she’s married to the man she
left me for, the man she claims is Jeremy’s Fa—“ He just couldn’t
push the word out of his throat. The word tasted like bitter acid
on his tongue when he finally heaved a breath to finish,
“Father.”

The man who had thus far just sat there either
staring at him, or scribbling notes on the pad in front of him,
sighed too. He sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his
head. “Have you had a DNA test done?” he asked bluntly.

“
No…I thought it was better for my
son if I didn’t know.” Dean dragged his eyes away. “Still think
it’s better. He’s my son. That’s all that matters.”

“
Not now. You need to have it done.
If he’s your biological son that will make things a lot clearer in
the judge’s eyes.”

“
Okay.” He didn’t want to know, but
if this man said he needed to do it, he would.

“
You said you’re single on the
information form. Are you dating anyone?” the attorney asked easing
back to lay his elbows on his desk.

“
What the hell does that have to do
with anything?” Dean asked gruffly.

“
If you’re married, that will also
look better to the court. She’s married, and could provide a stable
home for him.”

“
Single isn’t stable? He has a
home, a roof over his head, food on his plate.” Even Dean heard the
defensiveness in his tone and flinched.

“
If he’s not your son biologically,
and his mother is married to his biological father now that could
look a lot more stable to the court than a single father who might
have raised him for the last six years, but isn’t his
real
father.”

“
I’m about as fucking real as you
can get. I’m the one who stayed up with him when he had a bug and
threw up all night. I’m the one who busted his ass to make sure he
had clothes on his back, and food on his plate. I’d say that’s
pretty damned real.”

“
Yes, that’s true, but the court is
going to look at the big picture. The whole picture. They will
think about the future, and what’s best for Jeremy. If your ex-wife
can prove she can give him a stable home with both of his
biological parents, it may not go well for you despite all
that.”

“
Fuck,” Dean said as he shot to his
feet. “Thank you for your time.”

“
I want to work with you, Dean, and
I don’t take on cases I can’t win.” The man held up his hand, and
Dean eased back down into the chair, but sat on the edge. “But I’m
not going to candy coat anything for you. I’m going to tell you
what I think. You may not like it, but that’s what is best for you
to hear. Have the DNA test done, and have the lab send me the
results. Here’s a lab that’s nearby.” The man scribbled something
on a notepad then tore off the sheet and handed it to him. “I’ll
call you when I get the results. In the meantime, I’m going to file
a request for a stay on that Emergency Custody Order and file one
of my own. I think the court will allow him to stay with you at
least until the test results come back.”

Let him stay with him. That sounded so strange
to Dean. For years now, since Cindy left him, Dean had blamed her
for strapping him with a kid who wasn’t his. Now, all he could
think about was fighting her to keep his son. He was so damned
scared of losing him, he felt like he would lose himself if Jeremy
wasn’t with him anymore.

“
I’ll get the test done right
away,” Dean said as he stood. He extended his arm over the desk,
and the attorney shook his hand.

“
Try not to worry. We’re going to
give Cindy and that jackleg attorney of hers a run for their money.
If we can drag it out long enough, maybe your son will be old
enough for the court to let him decide himself who he wants to live
with.” A smug smile eased up the corner of the man’s mouth and he
winked at Dean.

The confidence this man had was contagious.
Dean needed that confidence in his court for this fight. “Thank you
so much. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”

Dean left the man’s office and didn’t know how
he felt. He didn’t really give Dean good news about the situation,
but he didn’t think it was a hopeless situation either. That in
itself was good news to Dean, because before he talked to him
that’s exactly how he’d felt.