Trigger (Circle of Justice #1)

by L. P. Dover

“I can’t believe this is happening. The boys are beside themselves. Will you be working with us in Charlotte?”

  I shook my head. “Preston will be. I’ll be going back to assisting the Chandler’s.”

  “I see,” he said, smile fading. “I just want to say, I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries before. I didn’t realize you were with someone.” His gaze found my hand. “You weren’t wearing a ring, so I assumed . . .”

  “It’s okay,” I laughed. “No big deal, I promise. I’m sure I’ll see you on stage when I get back home.”

  He winked. “You bet your ass you will.”

  Once they were gone, Preston approached me, his brows lifted. “The guy just loves to touch you, doesn’t he?”

  I rolled my eyes. “He was just being friendly. You used to be the same way with women, if I recall correctly.”

  His gaze darkened. “That was a long time ago. I was stupid.”

  “Yep. You couldn’t see what you had right in front of you.”

  Pulling me to him, his grip tightened around my waist. “I could see, angel. I just didn’t want to fuck it up. You were more to me than just a piece of ass.” His lips closed over mine and I melted in his arms.

  “It’s a good thing you came to your senses,” I breathed. “Are you ready to go back to your house?”

  Releasing a heavy sigh, he let me go. “Hopefully, we find something today. While you look for the diary, I’m going to see who I can track down, and who’s still in the area.”

  Once everyone left the theater, we hopped in his car and headed to his house. It would’ve been easier if they’d had surveillance cameras like Glenn had at his place. Then we could see who broke in.

  When we got to the house, I headed straight for Cameron’s room, while Preston stayed downstairs on his laptop. Opening Cameron’s closet, there were boxes stuffed in the top shelf that contained knickknacks and mementos. The girl also had a ton of shoes too. When I was in high school, I had a couple pairs of dressy sandals and tennis shoes—that was it. I wasn’t a fashionable person, and I had never been homecoming queen material either. I was more into sports, like tennis and soccer.

  I searched through the boxes and found nothing that would help us. Frustrated, I took a break and sat at Cameron’s desk. I’d searched everywhere in her room. The only place I hadn’t looked was her bookshelf, but there were only trophies, and a Bible with her name engraved in the brown leather. I never would’ve pegged the Hale’s as a religious family.

  Gently picking up the Bible, the weight of it felt off. When I opened it, I realized why. “Holy shit,” I gasped low. The whole inside was cut out and another book laid in the middle. I pulled back the cover to the smaller book, and there were pages after pages of what I assumed was Cameron’s handwriting. It had to be her diary. Why the hell would she hide it there?

  Pulling it out, I opened it up to the first page. It was dated back to her sophomore year, and she talked about how she was nervous about cheerleading tryouts, even though she knew she’d make it. There were entries after entries of typical best friend problems, and how amazing it was when she and Adam finally had sex. I felt like I was intruding on her privacy by reading her personal messages, especially when I got to the entries where she’d written about Preston. They were really close.

  Skipping forward, nothing seemed amiss until her senior year of high school. Her writing style had changed, the penmanship aggressive and hard, not the bubbly letters from before. However, I could tell it was still her handwriting.

  October 4th

  I shouldn’t have agreed. How stupid can I be? I’ve screwed up and there’s nothing I can do. If Adam finds out, he’ll never forgive me. He’ll be mad that I couldn’t tell him the truth. What can I do? I can’t tell anyone. He says if I don’t do what he says, he’ll ruin Adam’s chances at going pro. I know he’s telling the truth. I can’t let that happen.

  Heart racing, I moved on to another entry.

  October 17th

  He follows me everywhere. I can sense him even when I can’t see him. He’s waiting for me to give into him. He talked about the different ways he’d ruin Adam’s career if I ever spoke a word about him to anyone. He scares me.

  He says he wants to be with me, to show me what I’m missing. I know it’s wrong, but I find myself excited when he’s near. A part of me is intrigued that he wants me so bad. I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing, but who can I tell? The way I feel is wrong on so many levels.

  November 3rd

  I gave in. At school, he cornered me in his secret spot, like he has on so many occasions. Except, this time, touched me under my clothes. It made me feel dirty. I didn’t want to like it, but I did. He said as long as I gave myself to him, Adam would be free.

  January 14th

  We had sex today. When it was over, I thought my payment would be done. But he said we were nowhere near finished. I’m in a lot deeper than I thought.

  Months passed by, and I watched the affair unfold right before my eyes. She never said his name, but I knew it was someone she went to school with. The guy had brainwashed her into giving in and it developed into something more. It was a Stockholm syndrome type of situation.

  June 12th

  Graduation Day. There’s a party at Adam’s house and everyone’s invited, including him. I don’t know how to act around him when everyone’s around. He finds ways to touch me when no one’s looking. I’ve paid my dues. Any part of me that was excited before has been stifled by fear. I just want my freedom back. There’s something about him that scares me.

  Adam loves me, and I betrayed him to save him. Some days, I find it hard to look in his brown eyes and not feel disgusted with myself. We want to get married someday. How can I do that with all the lies?

  I skipped toward the end.

  September 15th

  I thought things would calm down once I started college, but they’ve only gotten worse. Now that I’m not in high school anymore, there’s nothing to keep him away. He proved that this summer by trying to get me pregnant. I should’ve known he wouldn’t stop there. I wasn’t surprised when he showed up on campus, backing me into an alley between the school buildings.

  He says he wants to marry me, even gave me a ring with our initials engraved in it. I didn’t know what to do with it, so I rushed back to my dorm and hid it with Skittles. He’s lost his mind. I threatened to go to the police if he didn’t leave me alone. He laughed in my face. If I go to the police, Adam will find out everything I did. I’ll lose him. That’s what he wants.

  He wants me all to himself.

  Preston’s footsteps pounded up the stairs and I froze when he entered the room, the diary in my hands. Only, he was too busy looking at his laptop screen to realize what I held.

  “I found a couple of guys my sister went to high school with who moved away and came back. I say we find them tomorrow.” When I didn’t answer, he lifted his head, eyes widening at the sight of the diary. “Did you find it?”

  He marched over to me, and knowing I couldn’t keep it from him, I let him take it. But when he looked down at it, he laughed, but there was no humor to it. “You know, I thought I’d want to know . . . but I can’t bring myself to read it.”

  “That might be a good thing,” I murmured. “I can tell you anything you want to know.”

  Handing me the diary back, he took one look at my face and knew. “She cheated on Adam, didn’t she?” he asked, already knowing the answer. When I nodded, he blew out an angry breath and collapsed on the side of her bed.

  “But it’s not in the way you think,” I rushed to say. “Someone was blackmailing her. She wrote that this person could ruin Adam’s football career if she didn’t sleep with him. After their first time, she thought it was over, but he wanted more.”

  His jaw clenched. “Does she say who it was?”

  I sat down beside him. “No, but I do know she went to school with him. Apparently, after she graduated, he followed her around, showing up unannounce
d at her college campus, but there was nothing she could do. If she went to the police, then Adam would’ve found out what she did. She didn’t want to lose him.”

  “Son of a bitch,” he growled. “She could’ve gone to my father . . . or me. I would’ve protected her.”

  “You were only fifteen,” I murmured, rubbing his arm soothingly. “You weren’t who you are now.”

  “Does she say anything else?” His voice cracked and it broke my heart.

  I could only imagine the effect her words would’ve had on him if he’d actually read them. “She said this guy gave her a ring, that he wanted to marry her.”

  “What?” he growled, jumping to his feet. “Are you fucking serious?”

  I clutched the diary in my hands. “She said she hid it with Skittles? I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean.”

  Everything grew quiet as he stared at me in disbelief. “Did you say Skittles?”

  I nodded. “It’s what she said in her last entry.” He darted out of the room, and I followed him across the hall. “What are you doing?”

  He stormed into his bedroom and threw open his closet door, pushing things around until he got to a box in the corner. Picking it up, he carried it over to his bed, his hands shaking. “Skittles was her favorite stuffed unicorn. I used to make fun of her for sleeping with it. And when she came home one weekend, she gave it to me, wanting me to keep her safe. I never understood why. I just hid it in my closet so my friends wouldn’t see it.”

  Tears fell down my cheeks and I wiped them away. “I can only imagine what your friends would’ve said if they saw a unicorn on your bed,” I teased, hoping to lighten the mood.

  He opened the box, and there inside was the white unicorn with rainbow-colored hair. The fur was a little shaggy now, and the white had discolored a bit. We both stared at it, neither one of us ready to make the first move. Preston was a strong man, but even he had limits.

  Reaching into the box, I carefully pulled the unicorn out. There was a Velcro tab on the belly, where you could open it up. I could feel something inside.

  Preston stepped back, clenching his fists. “Just do it,” he commanded.

  Taking a deep breath, I opened the flap and reached inside. There was a small, black and red velvet bag, tied off with a red sash. I opened it up and dumped the ring in my hand. It was a single, solitaire diamond set in white gold. Heart racing, I looked inside the band, where two sets of initials stared back at me. I never told Preston they were going to be there.

  CRH + NPC

  “Preston,” I whispered, voice trembling as I showed him the ring. “We have his initials.”

  Eyes wide, he snagged the ring from my hand. “Holy fuck!” He ran back to Cameron’s room and frantically flipped through her yearbook. There was no one in the senior class. “God-fucking-dammit,” he hissed, searching through the juniors and sophomores. “Who the fuck is it?”

  He searched and searched, but there wasn’t a student with the initials, NPC. Tossing the yearbook onto the bed, Preston angrily ran his hands through his hair before ripping his laptop open. “If I have to search for every goddamn person in the area with those initials, I will. I’m not letting this bastard get away.”

  While he pounded away on the computer, I grabbed Cameron’s yearbook and sat down on her bed. “We’ll find him,” I soothed, searching through the pictures. I made sure to look at every student’s face, wondering if any of them could be a killer. “Did Cameron and her boyfriend always hang out with the football players?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he growled, huffing as he typed away.

  I skipped to the back of the yearbook, where all the sports teams were. There were a lot of guys on the football team, and again, there wasn’t anyone with the same initials. How the hell did we get to a dead end so fast? That was, until a familiar face caught my attention . . . or at least, he looked familiar. It was hard to tell, since the picture didn’t have a close up of his face. His name wasn’t listed either.

  Dread settled into the pit of my stomach as I flipped through the staff pictures. I wanted to be wrong. However, when I found his picture, I could barely grasp what I saw. “Oh my God,” I choked, slapping a hand over my mouth and dropping the book. I felt like I was going to be sick.

  I looked over at Preston and shook my head in disbelief.

  He looked tense. “What is it?”

  “I think I found him. What’s worse is—is that I’ve talked to him.”

  “I’m sorry, say that again. You’ve talked to him?” he shouted, jumping to his feet.

  I nodded, picking up the yearbook again. “At the café. I’ve run into him twice over the past week.” I flipped to the page. Yep, that was him all right.

  He grabbed the book, eyes blazing as he stared at the picture. The energy in the room spiked and it made me tremble. I wasn’t afraid of Preston, but in that moment, I was terrified.

  “He’s fucking dead!” Throwing the yearbook across the room, he went back to his laptop, shaking in rage. I’d never seen him so angry.

  Coach Nathan Cramer.

  I picked the yearbook up off the floor and found Nathan’s picture again. He looked young, maybe late-twenties, and very handsome. It made no sense how someone like him would have to blackmail anyone to have sex with him. He could’ve gotten any girl he wanted.

  I had no doubt there were plenty of women who’d fantasized about him. He seemed so normal at the café. “What are you going to do?” I asked cautiously.

  Preston pounded away on the computer, then slammed it shut. “The bastard’s going down.” He stood and stormed out of the bedroom. “Let’s go. I have to prepare.”

  “Wait,” I shouted, chasing him out into the hall. “What if he didn’t kill her? I mean, yeah, he took advantage of her and deserves to get his dick chopped off, but that doesn’t mean he did it.”

  “Are you fucking serious?” he snapped, eyes wild. Grabbing my arm, he pulled me into his room, yanking out his desk chair. “Sit.” I sat down and he showed me his laptop. “Do you see that?” he asked, pointing at the screen.

  There were addresses of different cities, all with Nathan’s name attached to them. But every couple of years, he found his way back to Charleston to help with the high school football team.

  “He moved away after he killed my sister and now he’s back again.” Squeezing my shoulders, he swiveled me around, gray eyes storming and dangerous. “I have to do this, Emma.”

  I tried to grab his face, but he pulled away and turned his back on me.

  “You can’t stop me. I’ve waited thirteen years for this.” His shoulders rose and fell with his rapid breaths.

  “I don’t want to,” I murmured, approaching him cautiously. Placing my hands on his sides, I snaked my arms around his waist. “If this guy killed your sister, I’m all about seeking justice. But there’s a reason the police haven’t been able to convict him. You can’t just go out and kill someone without actual proof.”

  “It’s staring us right in the fucking face,” he growled.

  I squeezed him harder. “All I’m saying is, let’s make sure before you go through with this. You’ll never be able to live with yourself if you kill an innocent man.”

  “And how are we going to do that?” He jerked around and stared me in the eyes.

  Taking a deep breath, I released it slowly, thinking I was completely insane for what was going through my head. “We do our own investigating,” I suggested.

  “How?”

  A billion things went through my mind, until I realized the simplest and easiest way to do it . . . but that didn’t mean Preston was going to like it. It didn’t take him long to connect the dots.

  “Hell no,” he shouted. “No. Fuck that. I’m not letting you anywhere near that fucker.”

  Huffing, I pushed past him and grabbed one of Cameron’s pictures off her dresser. “Look at me, Preston. I might not look like your sister in the face, but the rest of me looks almost exactly like her. If I can re
mind him of Cameron, it might trigger something. Did all of the other victims look similar to your sister?”

  By the look on his face, I got my answer before he even replied. “In one way or another.”

  “Then all I need are some of her clothes and perfume.”

  He glared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Do you understand what you’re asking me to do? I can’t just sit back and watch this guy touch you, when all I want to do is rip out his fucking throat. It’s too dangerous.”

  I shrugged. “But it’s all we got. Sure, we could call the police and let them handle it. But if you want to catch him, and you want to be the one who delivers justice . . . then this’ll be the way to do it. Besides, I know you’ll be close by. He won’t be able to hurt me.”

  For a split second, I thought he was going to give in, but then the fire ignited in his eyes. “Forget it. You’re not doing it and that’s final.” Charging out of the room, his thunderous steps pounded on the floor and out the back door.

  If there was anyone who could make him see reason, it was Glenn. Pulling out my phone, I called his number.

  “Emma, you okay?” he answered.

  “I’m fine, but Preston’s not. I need your help.”

  “Tell me what you need.”

  Preston

  My blood boiled. All I wanted was to feel Nathan’s bones crack, as I squeezed the life out of him like he did my sister. I wanted justice, but most of all, vengeance. Emma had lost her ever-loving mind if she thought I was going to let her parade around in front of that bastard. There would be other ways to find answers; I just had to figure them out.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and I wasn’t surprised to see Glenn’s name. “Yeah,” I answered.

  “You need to let Emma help you.”

  Clenching my teeth, I breathed in slow. I should’ve known she’d go to him. “Fuck that,” I snapped. “I’ll just kill the bastard if I have to.”

  “In cold blood?”

  “It’s what I do.”