I let out a huff. “You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Oh. You mean in front of your ex.” It’s not a question, it’s an accusation. “What do you expect me to think now that I know you snuck off to see him while I was gone?”
As I feel my defenses going up, I fold my arms across my chest. “I didn’t sneak.” Okay maybe I did a little.
Troy glares at me and then to my surprise, he sighs and rubs his hand over his face. “If you want to go back to him, just fuckin’ tell me.”
My heart stops, drops and rolls. My head spins and everything in me recoils at the thought. Every bit of anger and self-righteous indignation vanishes in that instant.
“Oh my God, no. No.” A sense of despair and desperateness overcomes me as I press myself up against him and slip my arms around his waist. “How could you even think that? I love you. You have to know that it’s always been you.”
“Then why—”
“Em told me she saw him. And I thought that if I told him about us before he actually saw us together… And I didn’t want him to think that there was anything going on with us when he and I were dating.” I sigh. “I didn’t want a repeat of what happened with Melissa.”
Seconds tick by as Troy stares in to my eyes. His expression is somber, his gaze intense. Slowly, a smile spreads across his face. “Well I’m sorry to tell you, but I don’t think it worked.”
I let out a dry laugh. “Gee, ya think?”
He cups my face in his big hands. “So does that mean you’re done trying to spare Johnson’s feelings?”
I nod fervently.
“And does that mean we’re going to go back to our table, and enjoy the rest of our night with our friend?”
I smile and nod again.
He leans down and kisses me slowly, deeply, his tongue curling with mine. I’m flushed and panting when he lifts his head.
“And does that mean you’re giving me a blowjob tonight?” His nostrils flare in arousal, his eyes hooded.
My hand trails to the small of his back and over his butt. I give it a squeeze and whisper, “Consider yourself 3 and 0.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
What I don’t like about this trip home is knowing I’ll be sleeping alone. Lack of sex could become a big problem. A fact Troy started grousing about two days ago.
Do you realize we’re going to have to sneak around to have sex? We’ll probably have to book a room at a motel or something.
Believe me, I’m no happier about it than he is. Like my ex-roomies, I need my daily fix or I get very cranky. And no one wants that.
Yes, we’re both legally adults but there’s no way our parents would be okay with us “sleeping over”. Especially now.
On the plane, we debate if it’s too risky for him to sneak me into his room after our parents turn in for the night. My house is out of the question because I have to set a good example for my young, impressionable sister who looks up to her older siblings. It’s almost laughable when you think about it. We haven’t seen our families in six months, and top on our list of priorities is trying to figure out when and where we’re going to have sex.
We’re still mulling over our choices when our flight lands at O’Hare two-and-a-half hours later. I text my brother to let him know we’ve arrived, and he’s there at the curb, waiting for us after we’ve collected our luggage.
“You look great,” I say, squeezing him in a warm sisterly hug.
Jake is what other guys call a chick magnet, and girls call eye candy. I’m his sister, so the whole eye-candy thing is lost on me. I’ll just say my brother is a very good-looking young man. He inherited his killer blue eyes from our mom, and his tall, lean build from our father. Needless to say, he’s a huge hit with the girls.
Grinning, he hugs me back. “So do you.”
He turns to Troy next, his hand thrust out in greeting. “Heard April is finally giving you a shot.” He pauses before saying, “Now don’t screw it up.”
Troy laughs as he pumps his hand and then slaps him on the back. “Not a chance.”
And it’s with that ease that my brother accepts the change in our relationship. It does help that they’ve always gotten along. Troy always tried to make it to as many as Jake’s baseball games as he could.
The ride home isn’t too bad. We manage it in under an hour. Troy stops in to say hi to my mom but he only stays a few minutes. Jake is his ride and my brother has places to go and eager girls to see. And understandably, Troy’s impatient to see his mom and vice versa. I promise to drop by later to see her. Right now they need some quality mother-and-son alone time.
My mom and I spend my first hour home catching up at the kitchen island. She’s thinking about getting a part-time job now that Mandy is in school all day. I really hope she does this time. She said the same thing when Mandy started the first grade, which was two years ago. The problem is my mom doesn’t have any particular skills. She has only the most basic computer skills and she hasn’t held a job in almost twenty years.
My mom is tall, blonde, blue-eyed and at forty-eight, still very attractive. She fell head over heels in love with my dad when they met in college. I’d heard her parents had not been happy, but by the time Vic had come along, they’d done a complete one-eighty.
“Okay, Mom, I’m going to unpack now,” I say, slipping off the stool and bringing our conversation to a close. Not only that, I’m getting tired and a nap is starting to look good right about now.
Mom sighs and smiles lovingly up at me. “I guess I should get dinner started.”
I kiss her on the cheek and leave her to that.
Despite my intention to unpack first, the second I see my bed, I’m overcome with fatigue. I park my suitcase next to the door and walk over to my neatly made bed and crash.
***
The crash of my bedroom door hitting the wall startles me awake. Before I can roll over, I’m accosted, and in the clutch of a giggling, blonde, blue-eyed whirlwind. She’s nothing but trouble.
“April, you’re home,” she cries, her skinny arms tight around my neck.
Laughing, I return her hug and pepper kisses on her flushed cheeks. “Hi honey. I missed you.” I’m not ashamed to say that I spoil her. She’s such a good girl. She’s sweet and kind and has such a big heart.
“I got a new dress for Jake’s graduation. Do you want to see it?” she asks, her eyes glowing with excitement.
“Of course.”
That sends her dashing off to her room. She returns with the dress and two summer outfits our mom bought her. I fuss over her new clothes and give her my full attention until Mom calls her downstairs to do her homework.
After she’s gone, I take a quick shower and then pull on a pair of white denim shorts and a red crop top. While I’m putting away my clothes, my thoughts turn to Em. I’d tried to convince her to come home with me, but she’d refused, insisting she’d be perfectly fine by herself.
But she’s not fine. She hasn’t been herself since the night we went to Zenith’s. I think something happened there that she’s not telling me. Since pressing her is an exercise in futility, I’m waiting until she’s ready to come to me.
I’m digging my cell phone from my purse to call her and let her know we arrived safely when it starts ringing. My heart flutters at the sight of Troy’s gorgeous face dominating the screen.
“Miss me already?” I tease in greeting.
“April.” That’s it, just my name. Spoken with such heaviness my body stiffens in a heightened state of alert.
“Troy, what’s wrong?”
He doesn’t respond. All I can hear is deep, measured breathing. My anxiety climbs.
“Troy! Troy, what’s wrong? Where are you? Did something happen?” Fear has me by the throat as sure as if it had literally cut off my air.
He sighs a long drawn-out sigh, and in that one sound, I hear weariness, exhaustion, despair. “I’m at the police station.”
“What?” The question bursts from my mo
uth loud and shrill. Springing off my bed, I clap my hand over my mouth.
“Not me,” he quickly adds before my imagination can take off at a dead run. “I mean the FBI agents wanted to ask me some questions.”
“FBI?” I swallow hard. My hand clutching the phone starts to shake.
What. The. Fuck?
I don’t even know how to compute that because it doesn’t make sense.
He sighs again. “Yeah, it’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it when I pick you up. But the gist of it is that my dad’s been arrested for financial fraud.”
April doesn’t take her eyes off me as she slides into the passenger seat of my mom’s SUV. The dazed look on her face tells me she’s still suffering from shock.
Join the club.
I’d come to pick her up as soon as I’d left the police station. Nate had insisted that I go. He’d stay with mom and take her home after they’d finished questioning her. My dad, on the other hand, will be the one member of my family not coming home tonight.
“Okay tell me. What is going on?” she demands, fastening her seatbelt.
I put the car in reverse and pull out of her driveway. “That’s as much as I know right now. I haven’t had a chance to talk to my dad and my mom just keeps saying it has to be a misunderstanding.”
Her eyes widen in surprise. “She’s at the station?”
I nod. “They asked us all to come in for questioning. Nate’s with her now.”
April takes a deep breath and runs her hand through her hair. “I don’t understand. Why were you talking to the FBI? Why would they want to talk to you?”
I shake my head, confused. Every time I blink, I pray I’ll wake up from this nightmare. “They asked me a bunch of questions about shit I don’t know anything about. Financial investments is my dad’s thing, not mine. But because I worked at the office part-time that one year in high school, I think they thought I knew more about the business than I do.” All I did was file papers the whole time I was there. I hated that job. Talk about dying of boredom for twenty hours a week.
After I’d graduated high school, I told my dad I didn’t want to go into the family business, even if I didn’t make pro after college. He’d been disappointed that neither of his sons wanted to follow in his footsteps, but he’d seemed okay with my decision. Actually, more like resigned to it.
“They thought you knew what?” she asks.
I pull out onto the main street before answering. Don’t ask me where I’m going. “I guess whatever they arrested my dad for.”
“But what exactly are they saying your dad did?”
I shoot a glance over at her. “They’re saying he operated a ponzi scheme,” I reply in a flat voice. Brusque and to the point.
She inhales a sharp breath. “Like Madoff?”
“Yeah, like him.”
“Jesus Christ,” she says under her breath. After a pause, she asks, “Do you think your dad would do something like that?”
“No. Which is what I told the postal inspector guy. But then, I don’t know. I don’t know what evidence they have against him. All I know is he’s being charged with twelve counts of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and a bunch of SEC violations.” The list is dizzying. I don’t even know what they all mean. All I know is that the offenses are serious. Nate said that if they get the charges to stick, Dad is looking at serious jail time.
“Mail and wire fraud?” April repeats, looking just as bewildered by the charges as I did when Nate ran them off to me. She sits back in her seat and stares straight ahead.
I can’t think of anything else to say.
“Has your dad hired a lawyer yet?”
I nod. “Some guy my grandfather knows. He says he’s good.”
“Your dad’s father?”
“No, my mom’s.” Both of my grandparents live here in Illinois. My mom’s father used to be a judge in Cook county. He retired twenty years ago, but he still has a ton of contacts in the business.
We go silent for a bit. I know what I need to tell her but I can’t get the words to form in my throat.
“Where are we going?” she asks, only now realizing we’re not headed in the direction of my house.
I shoot a quick glance at her and shrug. “Nowhere. I’m just driving.”
She nods in understanding. “Why didn’t you want me to say anything to my mom?”
Shit, here it comes. “Because my mom wants to tell her herself.”
April only knows half the story. And I hate to be the one to have to break the news to her. Right now, she doesn’t think it can get worse, but it absolutely can and will.
“They’ve frozen all my dad’s personal and company assets.”
Her brow furrows. “Does that mean your parents have no access to their money?”
“It means that everyone who has their money with the company doesn’t have access to it. And if what they’re saying is true, their money is gone.”
“All of it?”
I nod. “Pretty much. And my mom’s freaking out because she says she won’t be able to pay the bills.”
I glance over at April again, and glimpse the dawning realization of just how bad things are. How bad they’re going to get. “Can they do that?” she asks, her voice rising in pitch.
“I’m sure they can do pretty much whatever they want. As far as they’re concerned my dad’s a thief. Everything we have is considered ill-gotten gains.” I didn’t know much about financial fraud before, but boy did I ever get a crash course in it today—one I wish I never had to learn.
“The house, the cars, almost everything my parents own could be taken.” Nate had explained it all to me and Mom.
April looks stricken, like her world had just been rocked to the foundation. And I know her distress is for us—for me. That’s not going to last long. “Oh my God, Troy, I’m so sorry.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Don’t feel sorry for me because that’s not the worst part. Your mom and dad have their life savings invested with my dad’s company.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Troy’s announcement leaves me reeling. Breathless. Stunned.
“What?”
Troy’s sigh sounds as if he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I think I knew at one time that they’d invested some money with my dad. But it’s not the kind of thing I remembered, ya know. I sure as hell didn’t know your dad had invested all of their retirement savings. Mom told me today.”
My mind is spinning, and breathing just became much more difficult. I’ve never hyperventilated in my life, but I think I now have an idea what it feels like.
Breathe. Breathe. I gulp in as much air as my lungs can hold. This can’t be happening. It can’t.
I shake my head, complete and utter denial setting in, in an attempt to keep my life on the path I know. On the path that makes sense. Saving me from a future I can’t accept. “Then there’s got to be some sort of mistake. Your father wouldn’t do this to them. No way.” Not that I think he’d screw strangers out of money, but I know damn well he’d never do this to Mom and Alan. No way.
“God, I hope not. I’m going to see him at the jail tomorrow. The lawyer told my mom that he won’t be arraigned until Tuesday.”
Jail. Lawyers. Arraignment.
My parents losing all the money Alan had put away for his retirement.
It’s like I’m living in an alternate universe. My heart feels like it’s beating a hundred beats a minute, the rush of blood pounding loud in my ears.
I look over at Troy and view his profile. “What if it’s true?” As much as I pray it’s not, a niggling sense of doubt is starting to do a job on me. The FBI raided the company’s offices. Something had to trigger the investigation in the first place. They must have evidence to justify arresting his father.
“I don’t know. I honestly don’t know what we’d do,” he replies, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Do you think it could be someone else in the company? The CFO
or someone else who has that kind of access to the money?”
His shoulders lift and fall in a shrug. “I don’t know. But regardless of who took it, it won’t make the money any less gone.”
“Did they say how much of the money was taken?”
“Nate said most of it.”
My heart drops. “What if they put the money in an offshore account or something like that?”
Troy throws me a look that suggests he thinks I’ve watched Margin Call and Arbitrage one too many times.
Well, whether I’m grasping at straws or not, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Anything is possible.
He stops at the stoplight across from the mall and turns to me. “I have the money my mom’s folks put in an account for me. It’s not a lot but I told her she’s welcome to it. And I know Nate’ll do whatever he can.”
I wonder what kind of financial shape my Mom and Alan are in. If you’d asked me two hours ago, I would have said our family is well off—big house, nice cars, money for extras. Now I’m wondering if they invested more than just Alan’s retirement with Troy’s dad, like some of their savings? Or did my stepdad invest part of his retirement somewhere else? I can only hope.
“I have some money too.” That money—my nest egg, my safety net—is every dime I’ve saved since I started modeling. It’s what I thought I’d have when I graduated and started a career. That money is the one thing that gave me a sense of financial independence that my mother has lacked most of her life. With that money, I wasn’t going to be my mother. I’d be able to take care of myself. And I’m not going to lie, it’s not easy to hand it over. But if my mom and Alan need it, it’s theirs. My family’s solvency comes before my own future financial security.
Troy stares at me and in his gray eyes I see helplessness and turmoil.
Reaching across the console, I gently stroke his arm. “I know. I know. But we’ll get through this. We all will.”
***
I unlock the front door, and turn to give Troy the I’m-home-safe wave. He beeps the horn in response before driving away.
Always Been You Page 25
