Luc raised his eyebrows at his longtime friend and former classmate at juvie hall. Rosie had reformed a long time ago, long before Luc had decided to walk the straight and narrow. He’d been lording it over him ever since. “Is that all? Tsk-tsk-tsk. And I’m not even an ax murderer. Talk about!”
Detective Pierre Landry, another cardplayer at the table, laughed. “Hell, LeDeux, you’ve landed in deep shit this time. Too many important people with their noses out of joint. They’re gonna make sure you can’t make bail. And when it comes to trial… you’re gonna fry, man, fry.”
Luc shrugged and continued to deal the cards. His shoulder wound bothered him a little bit as he moved his arm, but it was nothing to be concerned about. The bruises on his face and ribs were another thing. He’d like to get hold of those security guards who’d roughed him up before turning him over to the authorities.
His cellmate, Frank Martin, regarded him with awe. “My bail is only $50,000, and I’m in for armed robbery and possession of a controlled substance. You mus’ be one dangerous dude.”
They were all sitting at a table in the rec room of the local jail, unrestrained. He couldn’t be that dangerous.
Really, though, Luc wasn’t all that concerned about being in jail for a few days. Cypress Oil would have a tail on his butt as soon as he stepped out of the jailhouse door. This way he could have Remy and René and Claudia finish up the groundwork that would seal their case, while Cypress Oil thought its opponent was powerless.
And there was another important reason why he didn’t mind being in jail. Sylvie. If he was released, he wouldn’t be able to help himself. He would hot-tail it to her house faster than… well, faster than a man with two tons of testosterone driving his brain. He would have to be with her. He just would. And God help him, he didn’t want to do anything more to put her in harm’s way.
How had he come to care so much? Was it the love potion? Would it wear off in a few days? Did he want these intense feelings to end?
“You lose, LeDeux,” Rosie hooted, tossing his winning hand down on the table. “Where’s your mind, man?”
“He’s under the influence of a love potion, dontcha know?” Landry told Rosie with a smirk. “I read about it in the newspaper.”
“Really?” Rosie inquired. “Does it work?”
“Is it like that Vi-ag-ra?” Frank asked. “I knew a guy once who had a twenty-four-hour hard-on from taking too much Viagra.”
“No shit?” Rosie and Landry exclaimed at the same time, their mouths hanging open with incredulity, and interest, as they stared at Frank.
The dunces!
“Had a heart attack and two strokes, but he died with a smile on his face,” Frank hooted, slapping his knee at having played a joke on them.
“Hey, LeDeux, you got a visitor,” announced another police officer. “This is becomin’ a reg’lar social beehive in here.”
He was right. Luc had already seen thus far today: his brothers Remy and René, Tante Lulu, Claudia, and his lawyer, Clovis Dupree. He’d refused to see his father or Sylvie’s mother, though why the latter would want to see him, he couldn’t imagine.
“This visitor put up your bail,” the officer informed him as he unlocked the gate to the holding cell.
“What?” What jerk had gone behind his back and extricated him? He’d explained the plan fully to his brothers and Claudia. Everyone had agreed with him, or so he’d thought.
“Mus’ have deep pockets, this one,” Rosie said, following behind him, ” ’cause every bail bondsman from Shreveport to New Orleans has been warned away from you. Paid in cash, too.”
Luc said nothing as he walked through the cell door into the visiting area. He was gonna kill the person who’d pulled this dumb maneuver. Really, he was gonna…
Oh, God!
It was Sylvie Fontaine.
Luc is not pleased to see me. Sylvie’s heart sank with despair at that recognition.
How could he look so good to her, even with a black eye and bruised lip and prison-regulation uniform, while she apparently held no appeal for him whatsoever? Almost immediately the answer came to her: The love potion must have worn off.