Always (Follow Me #6)

Chapter Forty-Five

Skye’s expression softens. Hearing all of this is difficult for her. I get that. It’s more difficult for me to tell her. To let myself think about it. I’m doing this for her. Only for her.

I wouldn’t for anyone else. She has to know that. I never loved Addie.

“Was she in love with you?”

“She thought she was.”

“She said that?”

“A couple of times, while she was stalking me after the incident. Contrary to popular belief, I do have feelings. I just don’t wear them on my sleeve. I felt bad for her, but I wasn’t in love with her. Besides, what she wanted to do was dangerous. It was easier for me to just nip it in the bud.”

“Lesser men might have stayed with her for the money.”

“Lesser men might have. I won’t say it didn’t occur to me, but if I was ever going to be rich, I wanted it to be on my own terms.”

“And it is.”

“It is,” I echo.

But that’s a half-truth. And now I’ll tell her why.

“Braden?”

I sigh. “The story’s not over, Skye.”

She swallows. “All right. Go on.”

…

The day after I called the police, I got a visit from Addison’s father, Brock Ames. Instead of Addie waiting by my pickup after work, Brock stood there, dressed to the nines in a tailored gray pinstripe suit and smoking a pipe. I inhaled the cherry bark fragrance. Nice, but smoking wasn’t something I’d ever do.

“Mr. Black.” Brock emptied the ashes from his pipe onto the ground and held out his hand. “I’m Brock Ames.”

“I know who you are,” I said.

“Then I suppose you know why I’m here.”

“Can’t say I do.”

“I’d like you to drop the charges against my daughter.”

“Mr. Ames, your daughter has been stalking me. She shows up here by my truck after work, not unlike you did today. She shows up at my home. She calls me at all hours of the day and night. It needs to stop.”

“I don’t think formal charges are the answer.”

“Really? What is the answer, then?”

“Drop the charges, and I’ll make it worth your while.”

“What are you going to do? Ship her off to Europe or something? She’s eighteen. She’s an adult.”

“In the eyes of the law, yes, but she’s still a very young girl.”

I met Brock’s gaze. How did one tell a father what his daughter was capable of? “Don’t try to tell me she doesn’t know what she’s doing. She knows exactly what she’s doing.”

“What if I told you”—Brock cleared his throat—“that I’d have you arrested for sexual assault?”

“I’d tell you to fuck off.” I hadn’t assaulted Addie. Everything was consensual. Despite my words, though, my nerves skittered. Brock Ames was a powerful man.

“Addie will testify that you assaulted her and she lost consciousness,” Brock continued.

My fingers curled into fists. “That never happened.”

“Do you think that matters?”

Chills swept over the back of my neck. “You fucking bastard…”

“Easy, Mr. Black. I can see you’re an intelligent man.”

“We went to the ER. She corroborated what I told the doctor.”

“And she can easily say you coerced her into her corroboration.”

“So you’re saying you’ll blackmail me if I don’t drop the stalking charges? Is that what this is about?”

“Blackmail is such a negative term,” he said, grinding his pipe ashes into the blacktop with his Italian leather?clad foot. “I prefer to think of this as two people making a deal.”

“A deal where you have all the leverage,” I said through clenched teeth.

“You may find it interesting to know that Addie thinks she’s in love with you. She doesn’t want to make any assault claims.”

“Then why are we having this conversation?”

“Because she will make the claim…if I threaten to cut her off.”

Money. Rage gripped me. It all came down to money. If I ever had money in my life, I would never use it to control others.

Fucking never.

“So we’re back to blackmail, then,” I said.

“Not necessarily. We’re back to the drawing board where we’ll make our deal.”

…

“How did you not punch his lights out?” Skye asks.

“Trust me. It was difficult,” I say, “but that would have only made things worse.”

“I never found any record of any charges against you or against Addie.”

“When you were nosing around,” I say.

“Well…yeah. You know I was curious. But I haven’t looked recently, Braden. Believe me. I made a decision to respect your right to tell me in your own time.”

“I know.” I smile.

Skye has come a long way. So I need to finish the story. Tell her this part of my past. Once I’m finished, she’ll understand why I can’t talk about it…and why I’ve sworn her to secrecy.

“So what ultimately happened?”

“We struck a deal,” I say. “A deal that changed my life.”