Chapter 25 #2
I’ve never had such a fierce sexual experience. I’m not sure what to make of it, but I did give as good as I got. I enjoyed it, as evidenced by my intense orgasm, yet I’m also conflicted by how feral Drakos was.
“That was angry sex. What’re you upset about?”
He glares at me as if I should know what’s troubling him. I don’t.
“Drakos, what the fuck is your problem?”
“You don’t know?”
“I really don’t.”
“Why’d you keep him from me?”
I open my mouth but only sputter unintelligible words. I’m mortified, engulfed in fear, and baffled. I shake my head in denial. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“But you do.” His blue eyes blaze with renewed animosity. He stands a few feet from me, still flushed from sex, hands belligerently placed on his hips.
“No, I don’t.” My voice is shaky. In fact, my entire body trembles with fear. Not of Drakos, but of what he’s about to say.
“Noah. He’s my son. Why didn’t you tell me?” He lays it all out there, and his hurt and pain override the anger.
What right does he have to be hurt? He made his decision with absolute disregard to the little boy who’s spent his first six years without a father in his life.
Indignant outrage burns inside me. “Why should I tell you? You already gave up your rights.”
“I can’t fucking give up something I didn’t know about.”
“You did. You signed the paperwork that relinquished all rights to him.”
“I fucking did not. Who said I did? Your stripper sister who moonlighted as a high-end call girl?”
Unable to hold back my temper, I slap his face. “Don’t lie about my sister, you asshole.”
“I’m not lying. You didn’t know?”
“I told you she was a bookkeeper at a casino.” I honestly don’t know at this point what she did. He could be right. I recall the sexy outfits that seemed so out of character for the sister I thought I knew.
His bitter laugh sends chills through me. “So she told you.”
I’m furious he would say such things about my sister. FURIOUS in all screaming caps.
“Get out of here. Now!” I fling open the window of my apartment and throw his clothes onto the sidewalk below.
“What the fuck? I’m naked.”
“Then you might want to hurry before some homeless person grabs your clothes.” I escort his naked ass to the door, but he has the last word.
“You know, I actually thought I was falling for you, but fuck, I’m an idiot.
I should’ve known you’d decimate my heart if I let you.
” He turns and stomps out. I stare at his naked ass until he disappears into the darkness.
Shutting the door, I lock it. I should be laughing at the position I’ve put him in, but nothing about this situation is remotely amusing, more like terrifying.
He’s pretending he didn’t give up his rights, and my fears that he’ll demand custody return full-blown.
He thought he was falling for me?
If he truly didn’t know, what have I done? What did I throw away before I had a chance to explore the possibilities? And Noah? What’s to become of him? What if Drakos is telling the truth, and my sister was lying? After all, she lied about a lot of things.
As alarming as his accusations are about my sister, I’m more rattled by his admission. Thirty minutes ago, I’d have been on cloud nine if I’d thought he might feel the same as I. Now I’m devastated that whatever we had has been destroyed.
I don’t know how to fix it or if I can. I’m barren inside, like a desert with sand stretching for miles with no other living thing in sight.
The Icehawks have left on their road trip, and I’m a hot mess when it comes to Drakos and Noah. One productive thing I can do is investigate my sister’s life and determine which parts are truth and which are fiction.
Carla hired me for a couple more investigative research jobs, and I’m grateful for the work and the extra income.
The downside is I don’t have much free time to go through my sister’s storage unit.
In fact, I don’t have any time at all. I do attempt to call a couple of her old friends whom I met during one of my visits to Vegas.
Neither answer, so I leave messages. The storage unit will have to wait, but I can manage a few phone calls.
I put in another call to the county clerk in Vegas and request any records they might have regarding Drakos’s relinquishing of rights. I looked online but didn’t find anything. They promised to do some research and get back to me within a few days.
I’ve done what I can in the limited time I have.
Gardenia and I go out to dinner with the boys one night and watch the Icehawks defeat Dallas in game one.
I’ve been so busy, I didn’t notice my messages until the next day, one is from my sister’s best friend, Noni.
I call her back immediately. Even though it’s late afternoon, she sounds groggy when she answers.
“Noni? I’m sorry, did I wake you?”
“It’s okay. I need to get out of bed.” She’s grouchy, and I wish I’d waited a few more hours to call.
“This is Aria, Anna’s sister.”
“I know. What do you need?” Noni isn’t exactly rude, but she’s not inviting, either.
I regret calling her, but it’s necessary. “I’ve stumbled upon a few inconsistencies, and I hope you can help me shed some light on my sister.”
“Inconsistencies?” She laughs as if I’m too stupid to live. “Your sister was full of them.”
“My parents and I believed she had a doctorate and worked as a professor and researcher at the university in Vegas.”
“I know that’s what she told you.”
“The university claims she never attended school or worked there.”
“And what’s your point?”
“What was my sister up to?”
“The same thing I was and still am. Making money doing what we do best.”
“And that is?” I tamp down my annoyance, as pissing her off will get me nowhere.
“You really don’t know?”
“I don’t. Care to enlighten me?”
“Anna’s stage name was Delight. She danced at a very exclusive gentlemen’s club and was very popular with the patrons. She was also an escort on the side.”
“Escort? As in prostitute?” I’m sick inside. How did I not suspect this? I visited her in Vegas, yet I never realized her entire life was a fabrication.
“High-end escort who performed whatever duties were required. It’s a lucrative job when you’re as popular as her up until she got herself fired.”
“What did she get fired for?”
“We sign agreements with the club that we won’t fraternize with patrons outside of the club.
Your sister broke that agreement more than once, and they finally did something about it.
She’s lucky they didn’t sue her ass, but they were happy to get rid of her.
She’d become a liability because of her drinking and solicitation of the club members. ”
“How long did she work at that job?”
“She started when she was young, maybe nineteen or twenty, as a cocktail waitress, and quickly worked her way up. Look, I have an appointment. I have to get going. Now you know.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t bother me again.” Noni ends the call.
It’s never easy learning that your sister lived a secret life. But this life? I’m flabbergasted. Anna created an elaborate lie in order to disguise her real profession from her family, and she did it for years, probably since she graduated from high school and moved to Vegas.
Drakos was telling the truth. He met Anna at a high-end strip club. What else is he telling the truth about and what is the extent of Anna’s lies? I’m so confused and sick about this.
And I may have thrown away the best thing that’s ever happened to me next to Noah.
What am I going to do?