Stalker
Payne’s offer of resources if either woman needed someone to talk to had barely faded away before Jess’s invisible muzzle disappeared.
“I can’t believe this shit! You’re all acting like poor Daya.
Can’t you see, if she’d been honest and told our parents or me, Marshall would’ve been in jail.
Then you accuse me of being culpable because I didn’t know what he was doing.
How could I? I wasn’t his keeper. I wasn’t with him every second of the day. ”
“So you’re going to sit there and tell us there wasn’t even a hint of what he was,” Bull fired at Jess.
“That you never got an uneasy feeling about him or his actions,” Payne remarked.
“Or that he never made remarks that made you pause and think it wasn’t right?” Bear chimed in.
You could tell Jess hated how they were firing those at him, but a couple of subtle flinches told the real story. My brothers and I caught them. We were used to watching for them.
“There were signs. I saw you flinch. Tell us. What made you uneasy? And why didn’t you mention those things to your parents or warn your sisters?” I jumped on him.
“I didn’t flinch. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” Jess blustered.
“Don’t fucking lie to us. We know when someone is lying.
You have no idea how many people we’ve had try to lie their way out of shit.
They don’t succeed, and neither will you.
The fact that you’re Daya’s brother and Stryder’s cousin gives you protection with us, but only to a degree.
You started this mud-slinging, blame game.
At least have the guts to tell your secrets regarding Webb,” Payne demanded.
“Payne’s right. You’re lying to us. Why?
Does it not show you in the light of a hero?
There’s no way, if he were your best friend and you had spent all that time with him over the years, that you didn’t suspect, see, or hear something that made you uneasy.
Hell, you may’ve even called him on it. Did you mention it to your parents?
I bet not, or they wouldn’t have welcomed him into their home,” Predator added.
“Mom and Dad adored Marshall. They thought of him as a second son, so I know you didn’t say anything to them,” Daya stated.
“Did you ever question why, after years of refusing to come back to Tennessee, he suddenly moved out of the blue and came back?” Bull asked.
“He said he wanted to be closer and that his job out there wasn’t getting it anymore. He preferred a pay cut and being around friends than the money and no close friendships out there,” Jess defended.
“Sounds suspicious to me. So, tell us what he said or did that made you wonder?” Bear asked.
Over the next ten minutes, we took turns pestering him with that question.
We framed it several different ways. Jess kept denying it as his temper rose.
Finally, Payne went over to him. Jess watched him warily.
Payne leaned over and whispered in Jess’s ear for a solid four minutes or more.
As he did, we watched the emotions and color fluctuate on Daya’s brother’s face.
They settled on resigned and pale. Payne walked back to his chair and sat down with a bland look on his face.
Jess’s eyes darted around the table and then the room before resting on his fisted hands that were clenched together on top of the table.
His voice was reedy when he began talking.
“When we turned thirteen, we were typical boys obsessed with girls. As we got older, so did our admiration. It wasn’t anything more than what other boys our age did.
It wasn’t until we were nineteen and in college that he made me feel funny.
We were out, and a group of girls was giggling and prancing around the mall.
Their bodies were beginning to form, and they were dressed to attract boys’ attention—typical teenage stuff.
Marshall remarked on one of them, how he’d tap that.
I could tell from looking at them that they were young, probably no older than fourteen.
I pointed that out to him. He shrugged and said, so what.
“I admit, it bothered me. I brought it up to him a couple of days later. He told me he was only joking, and he didn’t go for little girls.
I let it go. College was fun for us, and yes, we both dated and slept with college girls.
He was never one to have a dedicated girlfriend for long.
He’d be with them for about three months, then move on to another.
If he was into young girls, why date and sleep with ones our age? ” Jess asked.
“I manage Warriors’ Haven, and I’ve heard a lot of stories. I need to ask. Thinking back, those college girls he dated, did they have younger sisters in that age range of thirteen to fifteen? Did he spend a bunch of time at any of his girlfriends’ homes?” Demon asked.
Jess’s mouth opened, closed, and then we watched the wheels turn. A sickened expression spread over his face. He gulped.
“Of the ones I knew the best, yes, now that you mention it, they did have younger sisters. Motherfucker! Do you think he only dated them to get access to their sisters?” he asked in partial disbelief.
“Before I answer that, one more question. Did he ever remark on young girls after that first time?” Demon asked.
“He always seemed to spot them and point them out to me. He never made any sexual comments, but it was like he was on the lookout for them. Older women rarely got his attention,” Jess confessed in a low voice.
“I think that he went for girls with younger sisters. Once he got access to them, it would be easier for him to groom them, as he did with Daya and Brighton. He’d make threats of what would happen if they told.
For those who did, like when he was in North Dakota, he found ways to scare them into recanting, or even paid them off.
He was thirty when he hurt Brighton. I bet he dated women older than him in North Dakota, didn’t he? ” Demon continued.
Jess thought, then nodded. “And they all had young teenage daughters,” he croaked.
“I think you have your answer. So, before you blame Daya for not telling someone, why didn’t you catch a clue or mention his first comment to your parents? Or at least never gave him a chance to be alone with either of your sisters?” Bull asked.
Jess slumped over with his head in his hands. “Son of a bitch!” he yelled.
He sat there lost in his thoughts. I figured that, at that point, pushing him to apologize to his sister was moot. But he would do it and soon. If not, we’d have a goddamn problem.
“Bull, is there anything else you want to know? If not, I think Daya could do with a rest. And Breezy has shopping to do with Sage and Aspen. If you do, Predator or I can stay and fill you in more,” I offered. The two women had had enough.
“No, I believe that’s enough for now. Daya, it was very brave of you to tell not only your family but also the six of us. We’ll keep it confidential, and the other members won’t be told about it,” Bull offered.
“No, I think that they should know. I’m over hiding it and beating myself up in silence. Now that my family knows, there’s no reason to conceal it. You have my permission to tell them. Who knows? It might be pertinent in some way when we deal with him,” Dayanara said tiredly.
“Thank you for your trust. You two, take her back to your rooms and let her rest. Brighton, I hope you have fun shopping. Though I gotta warn you, if they’re anything like Devyn, they’ll wear you out.
I’d forgotten how women can shop after my Harlow moved away.
Then I got Jocelyn, and Devyn became my daughter, and bam.
My damn legs almost fell off the first few times I was crazy enough to shop with them. ” Pres told her.
We chuckled. Devyn was technically his stepdaughter, but he treated her the same as he did his natural children.
“You wait until Corinne is old enough to shop, Pres.” Demon snickered.
“I’ll be too old to go. She’s six, and I’m turning sixty next year. You trying to kill me? God, she can drag her twin brother, Caeden, along with her and take Devyn and Jocelyn. I’ll give her my card to use.”
The joking about shopping helped to ease the tension in the room.
A couple more minutes of light banter, and then we were dismissed.
Jess slowly walked out ahead of us. Stryder was next to him.
He guided his cousin to the clubhouse’s door, then outside.
I briefly wondered where they were headed, but decided not to worry.
Daya was my concern. Predator and I took her back to his room. We’d ensure she was okay there.