Page 35 of All In Good Time

He smiled and shook his head. “That’s a shame. It must be hard to grow up without a real strong male figure to teach you how to show proper respect.” He shrugged, faking pity. “That is a father’s role after all. I’ve, unfortunately, seen too many kids led astray without it. They start acting wild, disobeying. Start getting into business that isn’t their own.” He took another sip, but his eyes locked to hers the whole time.

She couldn’t bring herself to look away, no matter how much she wanted to, because the tone in his voice made her hair raise. His words hit her, cracking through the armor she’d built around the sensitive topic. He wasn’t the first to say something like this. Her breathing was getting heavy, and the pit in her stomach grew rapidly by the second.

He smacked his lips, taking his time to set the mug down on the coffee table. Becca’s nails dug into her arm as the silence grew suffocating. He was waiting for her to say something.

“It wasn’t easy,” she finally choked out, her heart aching at the admission.

“No, I bet it wasn’t.” He studied her, and she felt the pieces of her strength slipping through her fingers. “Say, we had some uninvited guests the other day in our home. Nothing too important, but certainly quite annoying. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Her entire body sagged.

He knew. Oh god,he knew.

He wasn’t asking, he was testing, seeing how much she would admit. Seeing how much she could hide. He’d come here knowing that. He’d come here and asked about her mom when he already knew she was gone. He’d come here asking about her dad when he could see by the pictures that he was absent.

He knew she was the one who’d called those people, and he knew she knew where Derek was.

“I don’t know,” she said. Becca was not good at this. She had never been good at this, and it was going to cost her.

He smiled, nodding. “I’m sure you don’t.” He stood up, leaving the half-empty coffee mug on the table. A dark ring formed on the wood where he’d spilled some. He didn’t wait to be shown out, and Becca was forced to follow behind him as he made his way to exit.

He paused, right before he opened the door, to turn to her.

In a moment that would sicken her for weeks, his hand came down on her shoulder in a heavy grab, disguised as support.

The same hand that had made Derek bleed, the same hand that had put bruises on Mal—that same hand patted her firmly on the shoulder.

She was going to be sick.

“If you see Derek, feel free to reach out.”

Then he was gone, walking out the door and closing it before she could respond. She didn’t move until she heard the car start and the crunch of gravel as it pulled from her driveway and away from the house in the opposite direction of where Marty was parked.

She collapsed into a crouch, her hands holding her balance against the ground as bile rose in her throat. She blinked away heavy tears, choked back aching sobs.

Tenminutesalone in the same room with that man had rendered her into this state.

She couldn’t imagine the lifetime Derek had lived.

14

January 1985 | Before

Marty wanted to watchStar Trek, and as much as Becca groaned and hissed about it, she went with him to rent it for their weekend movie.

Despite the film being his pick, he seemed far from interested in it. Ultimately, she watched it more than he did, since he was too busy whispering questions to her throughout the first half hour.

“How did you meet him again? Other than school, I mean.” He pretended to have his eyes on the TV, but she could see the way he observed her from the corner of them.

Becca groaned. There had been a small hope he would try not to dig, but it was long gone.

“It was after the Halloween party thatyouleft me at. He gave me a ride.” It was the truth, but it left out so much between seeing him and actually getting the ride.

But the answer wasn’t enough. Why did she get a ride from him? What happened afterward?

Howcouldshe explain what happened afterward? That she gave him her number with the offer of him reaching out whenever he needed her. Marty would jump to the same conclusions he had before.

Part of Becca felt bad that she had to hide such big details. Not only did it make it harder for Marty to understand, but it kept him in the dark of the full extent of their association. No matter what she chose to do, it would hurt one or the other. But it would hurt Derek more, she was sure, so she kept it quiet.

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