“It’s bullshit,” he mumbled, eyes narrowing. “Jarrod? Yeah, I get it. Guy’s a fucking asshole. But my dad?”
I swallowed thickly and tried to keep my tone calm when I reminded him, “Butler, you know they aren’t going to arrest him without any kind of proof.”
Suspicion and betrayal stole across his face. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry all this shit’s happening to your family—I am. But you know they wouldn’t.”
“You’re saying my dad’s been tampering with evidence?” he asked, tone warning me not to respond.
“I’m just—”
A laugh that was pure betrayal left him. “One of my best friends is having an affair with my sister.”
“Not,” Rowe bit out as Butler continued.
“The other is accusing my dad of this shit?” One of his brows ticked up. “Are you the one who said something, Ryan? Because you were just in there with plenty of time to talk when the person you should’ve been talking to is me.”
“I did it.”
My stomach dropped at the soft voice that came from the girl near me.
Butler looked over at Emma, blinking slowly as if he hadn’t heard her correctly.
When she spoke again, her voice was stronger and held a hint of that steel, all wrapped up in sorrow. “I’m so sorry, Nick. I didn’t want this.”
Butler just stared at her in complete disbelief for a few moments before looking at me. “Did you know this?”
“No,” Emma answered for me. “I didn’t want anyone to know. If I had my way, no one would know still.”
“Know what?” Jenn asked when Butler looked back to Emma on a delay.
“Yeah, enlighten us,” Butler said, voice nothing but a warning growl. “I find it really fucking hilarious that all this shit started happening once you came back to town.” His stare slid back to me. “I told you to stay away from her.”
“That’s enough,” I warned darkly.
“None of this was happening before her,” he shouted, flinging an arm out to gesture to where Emma was sitting, still as stone.
“He needs to stop being mean to my Emma,” Nora whispered from where she was tucked against my side, curled into a tight ball.
“I know,” I mumbled softly to her and then directed my attention back to my best friend. “Just because it came to a head with her doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening before her. I know you’re upset, but you’re pushing all your anger on the wrong person, and you’re pushing me to a breaking point.”
He worked his jaw, his eyes narrowed on me for a while before they snapped to Emma. “I want to know what you said. What you supposedly know.”
“You don’t owe him anything,” I said when I looked over and saw her hardened exterior being torn away by all those demons.
When minutes came and went in strained silence, Butler huffed. “Look, I am the first to say that my dad isn’t the best guy in the world—he and I have our own shit that goes back as far as I can remember. But I know he wouldn’t do this. That guy is by the book—both legally and biblically.”
Emma looked at me then, her eyes glassy with unshed tears as she struggled to hold herself together.
With a shaky inhale, she bent down to Nora and whispered, “Cover your ears.”
When she was satisfied that Nora was doing her best to block out what was around us, she twisted in her chair to face me better, even as she reached behind her for her bag.
“When you and Peter came in today, I—well, I was horrified and scared and so many things,” she began, her head bouncing in a faint nod. “But I grabbed my phone and started the video before putting it in my front pocket.”
My brows rose in surprise when she brought her phone in front of her and began swiping across the screen. “You recorded it?”
“That’s why I needed you to leave,” she explained, her voice twisting. “I needed him to repeat at least some of what he’d been saying, and I knew that was my only chance to get it.” Her throat shifted with a forced swallow. “To get any kind of proof of who he really is because he makes sure there isn’t any.”
Her stare darted to the side where Butler and Jenn sat before falling back to her phone.
Once she had a video waiting on it, her eyes lifted to mine. “Manhattan . . . Reed, when he cornered me last week, he said he made that entire night disappear—destroyed all evidence of it. That he silenced the strippers that had shown.” Her head shook quickly. “I don’t know in what way, but he said being him had perks, and having Ron as his father-in-law had more.”
“Shit,” I hissed and looked down at the phone when she handed it to me.
“I showed the detective that video. I told him about Manhattan and what Jarrod said—they were already requesting records of that night when they let me go.” Tapping Nora’s shoulder, she leaned close and said, “Let’s go for a walk.”
“Where are you going?” I asked when she stood and grabbed her purse.
A tear slipped free, and she quickly brushed it away. “I can’t be here when you tell them about Manhattan. And she shouldn’t be here for that video.”
“Can we walk to find French fries?” Nora asked as she grabbed up Emma’s hand. “I’m hungry, and fries sound so, so good.”
“Fries, huh?” Emma said with a strained huff as she led her away. “We can try to make that happen.”
I watched them leave over my shoulder before facing where Rowe, Butler, and Jenn were watching me expectantly.
“What’s on that phone?” Butler asked, voice almost wary.
“Today,” I said around the jagged rock forming in my throat because this wasn’t my story to tell. These were Emma’s demons, and I hated the thought of anyone else getting a glimpse of them. “But I need to tell you something first.”
We all sat there after the recording ended. Not speaking or moving as time passed around us.
He was going to take Nora from me.
“Jesus,” Butler said a while later and sat back, dragging his hands over his face.
“He was going to take Nora from me.” My voice was detached as I gripped Emma’s phone in my hand. “He was going to take her just to force Emma into fucking him,” I snapped, standing and pacing away. Turning, I set my glare on Butler. “They were going to give her a fucking record.”
Butler’s head slowly shook, his face twisted in a mixture of rage and disbelief.
“All because—” I gritted my teeth and stalked closer, my voice lowering. “All because he wasn’t able to rape her. All because he wanted her to beg for it. And you tried to make Emma feel like shit for finally saying something?”
“Man, I didn’t know. How the hell was I supposed to know?”
“None of us knew, but you’re the only one who doubted her,” I shouted.
“That’s my dad,” he shot back. “What if it’d been your dad or yours?” He gestured to Rowe. “None of us have good relationships with our parents, but neither of you would’ve accepted that shit.”
My head shook quickly even as I agreed, “You’re right. I probably wouldn’t have.” Holding his stare, I shrugged. “But if my dad had already been arrested? I would’ve had to face the fact that there was proof somewhere. There’s proof now—more than what’s in this video.”
“When Ryan and I went back into the office, Emma said she knew Jarrod from ‘that night in Manhattan,’” Rowe began from where he’d moved to be closer so we could all watch the video. “I got her out of the office and asked what happened there, and all she said was, ‘something that’s going to hurt a lot of people.’” Rowe gestured to where I was still gripping the phone. “She didn’t want this getting out because she knew what it was going to do to you and Leah and your mom.” His stare met Butler and he huffed sadly. “You heard what she said at the end. ‘You’re no longer untouchable.’ She wanted to stop Jarrod and save herself and Ryan from what he planned to do. She used it to keep Ryan from going to jail. And you just ripped into her like she set out to fuckin
g destroy your family.”
“It’s a hard day for you—we get it,” I said softly. “But do you have any idea how fucking hard today has been for Emma?” I set my glare on him as I sank back into the chair I’d pulled up to form our little circle, but he was staring at the floor. “I’m sorry for what you’re going through, but she didn’t deserve the shit you said.”
He nodded slowly. “I’ll talk to her when she comes back—apologize,” he said softly, remorsefully, but still didn’t look up until Rowe stood with a determined sigh.
“Where are you going?” I asked when he pushed his chair back to where it’d originally been.
He hesitated before facing us, his steps slow and his smile strained. And for a moment, he just stood there seeming to weigh whatever was on his mind before shrugging like he no longer cared about the consequences. “Right now, Leah’s in that room all alone. Honestly, we all know Jarrod wouldn’t have been here for her anyway, and she probably knows it too. But your sister is also hurting and about to have a baby, and she’s alone.”
“She’s alone because the staff kicked us out,” Butler said, his tone holding a hint of his earlier warning.
“Yeah, I don’t care. Unless Leah tells me to leave, they can say whatever they want.” Rowe pressed a hand to his chest and released a strained laugh as he looked between us. “I’ve never touched your sister—I swear to God, I haven’t. But I’m in love with her, and I’m not letting her go through this alone.”
With that, he turned and left.
“This fucking day,” Butler ground out as he sat forward and scrubbed his hands over his face. Resting his forearms on his knees, he slanted a questioning look in my direction. “Did you know about them?”
“Not until last night,” I admitted. “Lost it about the same as you did—Emma had to calm me down.”
“Last night?” he asked, the question almost a demand as he straightened. “We were all together last night.”
I lifted my head in the beginnings of a nod. “After you left, the baby started kicking. Leah had Emma feel it and then said the baby was freaking out and told Rowe he had to feel it. She basically grabbed his hand and forced him to. As soon as he did . . .” My chest pitched with amusement. “It was like some kind of bomb went off in the house, stealing all the sound and focusing all the energy on the two of them. They were just standing there, but when I hinted that Leah needed to go, they jumped apart like I’d caught them in bed or something.”
Butler looked even more pissed than before. “So, this isn’t just him?” he asked, confirming what he’d already figured but was clearly hoping he’d been wrong about.
“Apparently not. Emma couldn’t figure out how I hadn’t noticed before.”
“It is painfully obvious,” Jenn said from where she’d been silently sitting ever since I’d begun telling them about Manhattan.
Butler’s eyes went wide as he twisted to look at his wife. “What?”
“The way they look at each other, the way they can hardly speak to each other when other people are near . . .” She lifted a shoulder. “It’s just so obvious.”
“And you didn’t think to say anything?” Butler asked, sounding hurt that she’d kept something from him.
“Honestly, I just wanted to see your sister happy.” Jenn’s eyes lifted to meet mine before falling back to her lap. And after a few steadying breaths, she turned her body toward Butler’s. “I know things about your dad and Jarrod—things that weren’t in that video.”
Butler and I went still.
Butler looked like he was one more piece of news from breaking down.
I was ready for another reason to find Jarrod and tear into him again.
“When we first started dating, they used to say things to me—things that I tried to brush off. But as time went on, it continued and started bothering me more and more.”
“Like what?” Butler demanded.
Jenn’s tongue darted out to wet her lips, her chest caving. “Just about the way I looked. The way you seemed to be happy—as if I knew how to keep you happy. And how they were always ready to properly welcome me into the family—if I thought I could handle them.”
“They what?” he snapped. “My fucking dad? And you didn’t say anything?”
“It’s your dad,” she tried to explain, her voice twisting as if she’d had no choice but to live with what was happening. “You already had such a bad relationship with him and hated Jarrod. We almost never see them because of that, so I just tried to ignore it when we did see them.”
“You don’t fucking ignore that, Jenn. You’re my wife. You tell me this shit, and I take care of it.”
Her head bobbed before shaking. “It’s just words.”
“It isn’t,” Butler argued coldly, but Jenn continued.
“It’s nothing compared to what Emma went through, but I’ll back her up on anything that I can,” she said, looking at me again. “And I think Leah might too, at least on part of it.” She wrung her hands together as she tried to calm her shaky breaths. “Leah came to me when she found out she was pregnant. She couldn’t stop crying—she was absolutely devastated. Even though she never said it, I knew it was because she was worried about what Peter would think when he found out.”
“Jesus, how did we not know this when everyone else did?” Butler asked, eyelids shutting as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“She’d said things to me before—asked me things,” Jenn said uneasily. “Nick, she said I was lucky that you hadn’t turned out like your dad, and she asked if every day was like living in a fairytale.” A soft laugh left her, but it was warped. “I’d laughed then, even though I was and am deliriously happy with you, because she genuinely seemed to want to know, and I couldn’t understand until she started spilling everything about her marriage to Jarrod.”
For long seconds, Jenn just sat there as if she was remembering.
Neither Butler nor I said a word as we waited.
“She asked if we had sex often.” Jenn’s cheeks heated with embarrassment as she quickly continued. “I didn’t know what to say because it’s your sister, and we had never talked about that stuff. But then she told me that she has to have sex with Jarrod three times a week, no exceptions.”
“This isn’t something I want to know,” Butler groaned.
“And he gets to have sex with at least one other woman a week,” Jenn finished, and I choked out a cough as Butler’s eyes grew wide.
“What?” I asked, sure I’d misunderstood.
“She said the first time he’d come home smelling like another woman, he didn’t even deny it, and she lost it. Screaming at him and saying she was going to divorce him. She went to your parents’ house because he wouldn’t leave theirs.” Jenn sucked in a deep breath and looked between us. “That’s when your dad told her that’s what she has to let Jarrod do to be happy.”
“What the fuck?” Butler whispered.
“Apparently, that’s how your parents’ marriage is too,” Jenn explained. “Leah knew that was ridiculous, so I asked why she didn’t just leave him like she’d threatened to that night, and she said, ‘I can’t. I made the mistake in marrying him, and it’s one I have to live with.’”
“That’s bullshit.”
“I know,” she said to her husband. “I tried telling her that, and we’ve had similar conversations when no one else is around, but she says something along those lines every time. Which is why . . .” She let out a ragged breath and gestured off in the direction of Leah’s room. “When Peter moved here, and I noticed the way she was looking at him, I didn’t say anything to you. And when Peter started looking at her the same way a few months later, I decided to keep it to myself because your sister deserves that.”
Butler’s head shook. “No, you needed to tell me this—all of it. We don’t keep things from each other, and you definitely don’t keep things about my family from me. Especially if they’re doing them to you. And, yeah, Leah absolutely deserves to be happy and de
serves someone who isn’t Jarrod, but not that way.”
Jenn made a face. “Nick, she and I talked about it again when you and I got back from our honeymoon because I’d noticed that it was getting harder for her and Peter to stay away from each other. She said, ‘There’s nothing I can. I need to continue filling my role as Jarrod’s wife. Leaving him? Well, there is no leaving a man like him—just ask my mom.’”
Butler looked horrified. “What the fuck, Jenn?”
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I’m so sorry. But she was adamant that I couldn’t tell anyone—especially you. He doesn’t hurt her, I made sure of it. She’s just trapped. She and your mom are trapped.”
“You should’ve told me,” he said firmly.
I stood and grabbed the back of my chair to put it in place, giving them time to work through what Jenn had just shared as I went in search of my girls even though I didn’t have a clue where to start.
But I needed to walk.
I needed time to process everything I’d learned since Emma and I had come back from Florida barely twenty-four hours before.
Lala. Rowe and Leah. Jarrod and what exactly he meant to Emma. What he’d been threatening her with just so he could have what doesn’t belong to him. And all the other bullshit that had just come pouring out.
I could’ve lost Nora . . .
From the wreck. Because of Jarrod and his manipulations. Because of my need to physically destroy Emma’s demons . . .
I lowered my head and drove a hand through my hair as I stumbled back to a wall. My chest twisting up and my lungs aching at the thought of losing that little girl who had captured my heart and become my entire world as if she were my own flesh and blood.
I dropped my head back to the wall and released a pained breath when my phone vibrated in my pocket. My gaze automatically swept the hall and caught on the long, horizontal windows in front of me, leading to a room filled with newborns as I pulled my phone from my pocket.
Dad: Checking in again. Want to know you made it back all right. Your mom’s worried about you and Emma’s grandma and sister.
Lie to Me Page 41
