Page 78 of Wicked

Deep voice. Authoritative. Preening.Shephard.

Fuck.

Fuck.

My phone rings, startling the hell out of me.

I glance at the screen. It’s Ken. I cool my temper. It’s not Ken I’m pissed at.

“Hey, man.”

“Ryker, I have the information you asked for. Thanks for your patience and understanding, son.”

“My condolences.” A death in his family. I never want to know what it’s like to lose a parent. “What do you have?”

“It’s not good. The information was hard to come by. I had to make a trip to Chicago.”

“Add the expense to your bill.” I’ll gladly pay him for the extra effort. He does it to keep me and my family safe.

“Ryker, this girl . . . She’s dangerous. You need to cut your losses, kid.”

I rise off the couch and pace. “Spill.”

Big sigh. “Something happened to her when she was seventeen. The records are sealed, but I was able to correlate the time frame with what happened to her friends and her boyfriend.”

Friends? Harper never spoke of friends.

“Her boyfriend was convicted of forcible rape and assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to five years in prison. He’s due to be released next week. Your girl’s friends, guys she hung with, friends of her boyfriend, Sam Taylor, were shot and killed by his older brother, Shephard Taylor. He claimed it was self-defense. That the guys pulled their guns on him when he saved a girl from rape. He found her off an anonymous tip sent to him personally.”

“That’s what’s in the police report?”

“Yes.”

“The girl’s name?”

“Redacted for her safety. Strange thing, the victim refused a sexual assault exam.”

Forcible rape. Yet, Harper was a virgin.

“Could she have refused because she was untouched and that might have swayed a judge to hand down a different sentence that doesn’t include rape?”

“Son, there’s a different question behind your ask, and let me fill you in. The definition of rape changed a few years ago and includes oral. Do you understand?”

Good God, I do. “What else?”

“Your girl’s uncle responded to the call after Officer Shephard Taylor. One of the perps was down but not dead. He shot Officer Garrix. After Harper Garrix buried her uncle, she went to live with Officer Mike Ramirez and his family rather than enter the foster care system. She was a few months shy of her eighteenth birthday. Officer Ramirez was the responding officer when Harper’s father murdered her mother and her mother’s lover in cold blood.”

What Ken says confirms everything Harper told me of her life after her uncle’s death. Soon, Ken will affirm the next truths. Harper went to live with Shephard. They later moved to Prescott for Harper’s college education and to be near her uncle’s best friend, Detective Pete Greene.

But I’m not prepared for what Ken tells me.

“When she turned eighteen, she went to live with Shephard Taylor. Ryker, they . . . they filed for a marriage license.”

“She’s married?” My world tilts off its axis. Complicated. Innocent kiss. I love you. None of it will right my fucked-up world.

“They never married. The license expired. Ryker, you need to let this one go. She’s nothing but trouble. A complication you don’t need. Your dad bragged the scouts will be at your game tomorrow. This is your time to shine, son. You’ve worked hard for this. Your dad, your mom, they’ll be proud of you, kid.”

That’s the thing. My parents are already proud of my accomplishments. There’s no need to prove anything to them. But I have everything to prove to the girl who owes me some goddamn answers.

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