Page 32 of Ex-SEAL Bad Boy

She stays silent. The mood has changed.

“I’m not expecting an answer right now,” I say. “Think about it, and let me know if you still want to go through with this.”

I take her hand and help her off the swing.

We approach Ocean Avenue, which runs parallel to the beach, and my “spidey senses” are tingling.

That’s what we call that sixth sense you get when you’re in the military and sense something is wrong.

There is a car in one of the parking spaces that line the beach, and there’s something off about it.

The windows are tinted way too dark. I thought I had spotted it behind us as we walked to the beach but I wasn’t sure at the time.

I’m not paranoid, and I wonder if we’re being watched. But why?

I haven’t revealed my doubts about this project to anyone except Sophia, and that was just now.

Maybe my father had assigned someone to keep an eye on me to make sure I followed through with my task.

More worryingly, maybe Harrison Whitmore was alarmed that I had pushed the lawyer so hard to set up the meeting with him.

Maybe he doesn’t want to talk to me at all, worried that I might figure out what is really going on.

I need to be on the lookout and tread carefully. So far, I have not given them any reason to worry.

That might change soon. Very soon.

14

SOPHIA

There is still one thing I want to know.

I have to find out what Ethan hid about Melanie’s sister. I draw the line at men hurting women, no matter what. There are no excuses.

We reach my front door, and I turn to him, looking at him squarely.

“There is one thing I need from you before we proceed. I know you don’t want to discuss it, but this is a deal breaker for me.

“What happened between you and Alexa Farrell?”

“Tell me,” I insist, pursing my lips.

“You don’t have any idea, do you? The reason I don’t like to talk about it is that the cheating—that was on her—at least at first,” he begins.

“You probably don’t remember Paul Anderson; he was a few years ahead of you in school, a classmate of Liam’s and mine. He had a thing for Alexa and even tried to steal her from me. Of course, he was no threat. I had the looks and the money.”

“Except one night, when I was out of town at a football camp, Alex got drunk at a party and ended up fucking Paul.”

“And you know that wasn’t the bad part. I mean, it was, but no, that bitch called me while she was fucking him, told me how much she was enjoying herself while I was out of town.”

“I bet she never told you or her sister that part, did she? I mean, being cheated on is one thing, but no one makes Ethan Blackwood a chump. That’s part of why it’s so embarrassing to admit it.”

I stand there, my mouth agape.

“Oh, she swore up and down she didn’t remember any of it. She was supposedly blackout drunk. And I was pissed off at Paul, but it seemed like Alexa was the one to initiate it.”

“It was wrong of him to try to have sex with her if she was drunk.”

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