The UN Series Complete Box Set

by Shantel Tessier

  She takes in a deep breath. “It was my last night at Larry’s. I walked in and ran into him. I asked Holly why he was there.” She swallows nervously. “She said she had called him in so I could have the night off. She wanted me to just relax and enjoy the party.”

  I nod remembering our plan for her not to have to work. But I don’t remember Holly mentioning a Jeremy filling in her spot.

  “You called and I walked over to the restrooms to talk to you. Holly was in the bathroom. After we went back up to the bar Missy said Jeremy had made her a shot. I noticed it didn’t look like ours.” Her eyes look over at Tate nervously before they come back to mine. “I wanted to test it,” she says quietly.

  “Test it how?” Parker asks.

  She looks down at the floor and speaks. “I made Missy a new shot and asked Jeremy to join us.” She swallows nervously again as she eyes the kitchen floor. “I gave him the one that he had made for Missy.”

  “How is that a test?” Tate demands also sounding irritated. She needs to get to the fucking point.

  She doesn’t answer his question instead she continues her story. “We waited about ten minutes then we all went to the freezer where he was. I asked him if he was feeling okay. He told me yes then asked me why.” She pauses for a long second. “I told him I gave him the shot that he had made Missy. He freaked.”

  When she doesn’t continue I ask, “Freaked how? What did he do?”

  She takes in a slow deep breath. “He shoved me against some boxes and started choking me,” she says quietly as her eyes fill with tears. Not tears of her remembering it. Tears of having to confess something she kept from me.

  My hands tighten to fists down at my sides. “What the fu…?”

  “Wait,” Parker interrupts me. “Why would Jeremy be mad you gave him Missy’s shot?”

  She looks panicked for a second, and she turns to run away, maybe walk away. I don’t know, but I don’t let her. I grab her by the arm and spin her around. “Tell us,” I growl. “Quit fucking stalling.”

  “He had drugged it,” she cries jerking her arm out of my hold.

  “What?” Tate barks, standing from his chair. “How do you know that?”

  Tears fall down her cheeks. “I told you. The shot looked different, cloudy. He had told her it was the same thing we were drinking, but I knew something was off. It didn’t look right.” She shakes her head.

  I turn around and pick up the folder. “None of that is in here,” I state still trying to figure this out.

  She looks at it in my hands. “It should be. I told the officers everything.” She instantly cringes when she says that statement.

  “You’re lying. Why are you lying about something this fucking important?” I yell not able to hold onto this anger anymore.

  “I didn’t tell him that he had drugged me too,” she screams at me.

  I grab her by her arms and pull her up against me. “He had slipped something in your drink that night as well?” I ask shocked.

  She shakes her head. “He had admitted to drugging me before,” she says as tears continue to slide down her cheeks.

  “When? Who the fuck is this guy, anyway?” Tate asks coming to stand by us.

  I let go of her and take a step back from her. How could she keep something like this from me? And how did I not see it?

  “His name is Jeremy. I don’t know his last name. We first met him when we went to our first Rams game together. He was our bartender at our hotel the night before the game.”

  I reach over to the folder and grab it before I spin around and throw it across the kitchen. Papers go flying all over before they land in various places throughout the kitchen.

  She starts crying harder knowing I’m pissed. “How could you keep this from me?” I ask somewhat of a whisper. “Especially after what Jax did to you?”

  She starts rambling uncontrollably. “I got a call from the officer while we were in New York, he said Jeremy had pled guilty, and I wouldn’t have to come in and testify. The other officer had found the drugs in his pocket. There was no way he could have denied it.”

  Parker instantly jumps from his stool and falls to his knees in the kitchen. He starts to pick up the papers as he reads over them in a frantic state. “What other officer?” he asks still reading them over. “It doesn’t mention another officer.”

  “There were two. He pulled a baggie of pills out of his pocket when the officer patted him down,” she says quickly.

  “I’m telling you. None of what you have said is written in this police report,” he states angrily.

  I place my hands on the counter and take a deep breath with my head bowed. What the fuck is happening? I want to strangle her myself. I’m so fucking pissed at her.

  “What do you mean none of what I’ve said is written there?” she asks crying.

  “It means the officer lied,” I say through gritted teeth. “And an officer only lies if he wants to keep something quiet.”

  “We each wrote a statement,” she cries. “Explaining what we did.”

  Parker stops shuffling through papers and looks up at her. “There are no statements here. It says they have been lost.”

  I look at her, and she has her arms wrapped around her waist as she shakes her head quickly.

  “What else did he say?” I ask, hating that I have to continue asking these stupid question. She should just be telling me everything. Instead I have to drag it out of her.

  “Nothing.” She looks up at me, and I narrow my eyes at her. “I swear,” she whispers as her body trembles.

  She’s lying. “You’re lying.” She’s fucking lying to my face about some piece of shit asshole who drugged her and tried to drug her friend. Those thoughts hit me like a ton of bricks, and I almost stumble.

  Drugged her.

  Josh had been right the morning before the game when he speculated that our bartender had drugged her. I shrugged it off because I thought that was impossible. I had been right there. I only left for two minutes to use the restroom.

  I grab my keys on the counter and walk around Parker, who is still trying to read through the form. I don’t know why. It’s all a fucking lie. As I storm out of the kitchen she comes up behind me.

  “Where are you going?” she asks with panic in her voice.

  “I’m leaving,” is all I say.

  She grabs my arm, and I spin around to face her. “Unless you have something else to tell me.” I stare down at her, and I see the fear in her eyes. I don’t know if the fear is for me or for what Jeremy had also said to her.

  She shakes her head and takes a step back with tears rolling down her face. “I promise, that’s all,” she sobs. “Please don’t leave.”

  “You think I don’t know you? I know you’re lying,” I snap.

  “So you’re going to walk away from me?” she asks wide-eyed but doesn’t correct me.

  How can I stay and look at her when she’s lying?

  “You should know. You’re the best at walking away.” It was a low blow, I know it. It was either that or do something I would regret. I need air. The house all of a sudden feels too small as her sobs fill the hallway.

  “How can you be mad at me when you lied to me about Tate and Jax?” she asks and her voice rises.

  “They’re not even close. Tate being your brother has nothing to do with your life being in jeopardy,” I snap.

  “Jax did,” she shouts fisting her hands to her side. “Maybe if I would have known more I wouldn’t have been caught off guard when he popped up.”

  I have nothing to say back about that. I spin around and make my way to my car. Not much longer after that I find myself sitting in the parking garage at the firm. I make my way up to my office, thankful everyone has already gone home. As soon as I walk into my office I loosen my tie before yanking it off along with my jacket. I make my way over to the scotch that my father gave me for our wedding. I grab the bottle and yank off the lid.

  I lean up against the wall and slide down unt
il I’m sitting on my ass. I pull my knees up and place my head on them. I try to get what just happened out of my mind. I know I should have stayed. She just admitted that this guy had drugged her and tried to drug her friend but I couldn’t. If I know Parker, he’s as good at his job as I am mine. He’s probably still kneeling on the kitchen floor trying to connect the dots, if there are any.

  I lift my head and take a gulp of the drink before I hang my head again. I leave my head down when I hear my office door open. I take a deep breath hoping it’s not her. I’m just not ready for this blow out that we are going to have.

  “Parker said this was where I could find you.”

  I let out a crazy laugh when I hear Tate’s voice. I lift my head, and he is looking down at me with a frown on his face.

  “Sam is upset,” he says.

  My eyes harden. “Well, I’m pissed.” I know she has a problem with letting others in, but to not tell me this? How fucking stupid could she be?

  He sits down on my couch and eyes me for a few long seconds before he speaks. “I’m pissed off at her too,” he admits leaning back on the couch. “I’ve called Missy like twenty times. She won’t answer.”

  “Have you even spoken to her since Vegas?” I know the answer, I don’t know why I fucking asked.

  “No. But I would say now is the time to put that shit aside,” he says angrily.

  “I’m pretty sure she did that after the second you were finished using her.” I cringe from my words. “I’m so…”

  “It’s the truth,” he interrupts me. “Don’t be sorry for telling the truth.”

  I tip the drink back and take another swig before I hold it out to him. He takes it without a word.

  “How did we get here?” I ask not really expecting an answer.

  “I don’t know.

  I think back to that night at Larry’s.

  She seemed happy. All the girls seemed happy to me. “You were right,” I say remembering more and more from that night. “When you thought Missy was drunk that night. She had been.”

  He nods his head. “Sam told me she made her take that drink, otherwise Jeremy would have been suspicious.”

  I lean my head against the wall as I recall another part of the night.

  “Hey, do you remember that night that we went down to the bar at our hotel with Courtney and Josh?”

  I nod my head. “I left you for five minutes, and you went up to the room.” I smile.

  “Yeah.” She swallows. “I wasn’t feeling well.”

  “I know.” I reach up and push a few stray hairs behind her ear. “I tried to help you get undressed and you said you were going to get sick. So, I carried you to the restroom.”

  “I got sick?” she asks, pulling back a little bit from me.

  “Yes. You don’t remember that?”

  “No, I just remember waking up in the middle of the night looking for some Tylenol, and I finally found my purse in the bathroom.”

  I remember placing her purse on the floor when I set her in front of the toilet.

  “Did we have sex that night?” she asks, surprising me.

  “No,” I respond, slowly. “You were sick. Sex was the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to take care of you.” My answer causes a smile to spread across her face. She steps back up to me and wraps her arms around me again.

  “Fuck. I was so stupid,” I say as I jump to my feet and start to pace. “It was right there. She asked me if we had sex the night before the Rams game. She didn’t remember that she had gotten sick.” I run a hand through my hair. “How did I not see it?”

  “No one could have seen it, Slade. You didn’t even know that this Jeremy guy even worked there,” he says remaining on the couch.

  “Exactly. If I would have known, I would have recognized him from the hotel.”

  What all had she said happened that night that wasn’t on the report? She said that there were two cops and that one had pulled drugs out of his pocket.

  My head snaps up to look at Tate. “She said he had drugs.”

  “I can call my contacts again,” he says casually.

  Again! Just the thought of what Jax had done to her has me fisting my hands to my side.

  Then a thought hits me. “Jeremy,” I breathe trying to control my thoughts.

  Tate nods slowly. “That was the guy’s name.”

  I shake my head. “No.” They have to be connected.

  “What are you thinking?” he asks tilting his head.

  “Jeremy starts with a J. He drugged her back at the Rams game and then tried to drug Missy,” I continue, adding everything up. “Angel swore that there was someone else there with Jax in that house when he drugged her. Dallas said that Jax lived with a guy who went by J.”

  Tate shoots to his feet as well. “But we didn’t find any info on a guy named J. And the only drug that was in her system then was ketamine. Sam said that he slipped a pill in Missy’s drink that night at Larry’s.”

  “It has to be connected somehow,” I mumble thinking aloud.

  I fire up my computer and pull out my cell calling my brother. If I can get the employment records for Jeremy, that will give me someplace to start. I place it on speakerphone as it rings, setting it on my desk.

  “Hello?” he answers sounding tired.

  “I need to speak to Holly.”

  *****

  Holly didn’t tell me much. She was a fucking mess. I guess Angel had called her and informed her of what went down. She and Micah were fighting just as bad as we were over what they kept from us. So I got nothing.

  I walk into our house a couple of hours later and find Parker sitting in the kitchen still going over the paperwork.

  “Find anything new?” I ask looking down at him.

  He shakes his head. “Every single word is a lie.” He drops the papers in his hand onto the counter.

  I’m silent for a few second before I turn to walk away. “I’m going to bed. You might as well stay.” I look down at my watch. It’s been two hours since we found all this out. “It’s late.”

  “Slade?” I hear his bar stool move against the floor as he stands up.

  I turn to face him. “What?”

  He pinches the bridge of his nose before he speaks. “I’m sorry that I was the one…” He pauses gesturing to the papers that lay all over the countertop. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.”

  I stand there narrowing my eyes at him. “You’re sorry that you found out something that I should have already known?” I ask irritated.

  “Yes. I mean…”

  “No. She should have told me the very second it happened,” I shout still furious.

  “What could you have done?” he inquires. “You’re not a cop.”

  My eyes bug out. “Are you serious? Maybe I could have saved her from being taken from me. What if this Jeremy guy is the second guy she remembers? He could be the J that Dallas told us about.” His eyes widen, and his mouth goes slack. “Yeah,” I emphasize, “maybe she wouldn’t have been drugged a second time. I understand you don’t love anyone but yourself,” I spit making him frown. “But I love her more than my life, and I’m trying to protect her. I could have made sure the asshole really went to jail. Fuck, he had pills on him. Did she even stop to think of how many other women he had done this to? I fucking doubt it,” I snap. “She just wanted to take care of the shit all on her own because that’s who she is. Samantha doesn’t need help from anyone.” I say her name with venom, and it feels foreign on my tongue. She’s always been Angel to me. I run my hands through my hair trying to calm down.

  “I’m sorry.”

  My head snaps over to the entrance of the kitchen as she stands there with tears running down her face, her hands on her growing belly. It reminds me of how I found out she was pregnant. By blood work done after rushing her to the hospital after finding her drugged. It brings back that anger full force. “Go back to bed,” I say dismissing her.

  “I just want…”

 
“I don’t care what you want.” I turn back to face her, and she flinches at my harsh words. “How does it feel when someone doesn’t care what you want or how you feel?” I ask taking a step toward her. “All I want is for you to tell me when something important happens,” I snap. “He drugged you. Then he tried to drug your friend. Does that not mean anything to you?”

  A sob comes out before she places a hand over her mouth.

  “Jeremy is not in jail. Hell, he’s probably that other voice you hear when you have nightmares of what Jax did to you. Dallas was right all along.” Her eyes go wide, and I curse myself. She didn’t know that Dallas told us about a guy named J.

  “You said that there wasn’t anyone else,” she cries. “You made me think I was crazy.”

  “Slade?” Parker calls from behind me.

  “No. She needs to know this,” I say staring down at her. “He’s been free since the day you called the police on him. Do you know how many others he has probably drugged since then?”

  “I did it for you,” she screams fisting her hands down at her sides as tears continue to slide down her face. “I kept it from you because I know what you’re capable of. I don’t want you in jail or dead. He is messed up with the wrong people, Slade,” she says softer. “I didn’t want you to do something for me that you would one day regret,” she cries. “I was fine. Missy was fine.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “How was I supposed to know they were going to release him?”

  I look down at her, and her eyes look hopeful that I might cave and take her in my arms and tell her it’s okay. That I understand why she did what she did. But that would just be another lie in our marriage.

  I lean down and place my face in front of hers. “Don’t try to cover up your mistake with more lies. You didn’t do it for me. Quit playing me for an idiot.”

  With that I walk around her and walk to the door that leads to the basement. Once through it, I slam it and lock it behind me. I make my way down to the old office that I turned into a bedroom.

  Once I slam that door, I turn around and punch my fist through it. “Fuuuccckk,” I scream. I place my hands above me on the door frame and take in a few deep breaths. It was all right there. I could have prevented what Jax did to her. I could have saved her from the bruises, the scars, and the nightmares if she had just told me about Jeremy. I would have investigated him, found his connection to Jax, and taken them both down. Now, well, now I don’t know what the fuck to do besides be pissed off at her for not telling me. And the shitty part is that she probably never would have told me.