Page 13 of Silver Fire

“What hang-up?”

“Thanks, Beth,” Sophie said sarcastically. “For your big mouth.”

“What happened to you?” Derek asked, concern washing over him as she got more agitated.

“Forced seduction by a twenty-six-year old pervert on a sixteen-year old Sophie. That’s what happened.”

Sophie shot out of her chair, her eyes flashing angrily. “Adam was not a pervert! He did not force me. Shut up!” She ran from the kitchen and slammed into the guest room.

Derek was speechless.

“Damn it,” Beth muttered, standing up to go after her friend. Derek stopped her.

“She looked like…” Derek trailed off. He was deeply troubled by how Sophie’s demeanor had changed dramatically.

“—like she was sixteen again? Yeah, happens every damn time whenever she has her Adam Carter meltdowns,” Beth sighed.

“What exactly happened with Adam Carter?”

Beth looked at Derek contemplatively, as if weighing what to tell him.

“I need to know what happened to her, so I can help her.”

“You look sincere enough,” Beth replied, suddenly serious. “Adam Carter abducted Sophie in Georgetown when she was sixteen. According to some of her friends, he had been stalking her. Before she was able to file a restraining order on him, he took her. Disappeared for three months.” Beth paused when Derek cursed.

“Go on,” Derek prodded brusquely.

“Sophie hasn’t told me all the details,” Beth said carefully. “But I did my own digging. Her mother used all her resources to find her. Besides, Theresa Cassidy had enough clout in DC so her daughter’s case wouldn’t get shoved under cold cases. The authorities tracked them down to a remote cabin. God, when they busted in, they had just had sex. Sophie was devastated when they dragged the fucker away.”

“Classic Stockholm.”

“Yup.” The reporter nodded. “The problem was, she was highly impressionable at that age and she believed herself to be deeply in love with him. So much so that she lashed out at her mother and cut off all communication with her afterward. Up to now Adam has had a hold on Sophie—reaching out from his fucking grave.”

“She doesn’t want another man to touch her?”

“Subconsciously,” Beth clarified. “She feels nauseous whenever she gets intimate with other men.”

“I’m trying hard to believe this, but are you telling me she has not had sex in—”

“Thirteen years,” the reporter cut in tersely. They both remained silent for a beat before Beth added. “There’s also something else.”

Derek stiffened at the reporter’s grave tone.

“There was evidence Adam used bondage and dominance to condition Sophie—”

The rage exploded out of him. “Fuck! That sick fucker!”

“The investigators found a slew of—”

“I get the picture,” Derek said abruptly. “I’ve done those things, but there’s an unwritten rule where participation should be consensual. There’s a level of trust. And damn it, not ever with a minor.”

Derek felt Beth’s eyes bore into him. “I’m telling you this, Lockwood, because I think you’re a wild card. Sophie responds to you. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing, I don’t know. What I do know is I wouldn’t want her to escape one hell only to get trapped in another.” She paused, before adding, “You can’t handle her complications, walk away now. Because if you fuck her over, I’ll cut up your balls and feed them to my cat.”

Derek leaned back in his chair.Christ, did he want to go through the wringer? Because that was what it would be like with Sophie. He was already feeling those blasted chest twitches whenever she was around. He did not do complicated.

* * *

All three agreedon an unspoken truce. Beth left to go interview one of her sources for an exposé she was running on a prominent political figure in Washington. Sophie frequently worried about her friend. A bloodhound when on the scent of a story, Beth had her own fair share of death threats.

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