Page 52 of A Reluctant Boy Toy
Wounded dignity worked. It always worked.
“Stone is a friend.”
Dad lifted his head. “Okay. Then what happened?”
I only had snapshots of memory.A nice dinner with Stone and Molly. A drinking game and later, messages pouring into my phone. My feed blowing up. A new video showing someone drugging my drink and the feeling of abject humiliation. Fear. Hopelessness. Then…nothing.
Dad rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “You don’t remember taking the golf cart?”
“No.”Had I?
“You don’t remember what you were thinking when you ran the golf cart into a tree?” Fierce blue eyes held my gaze. “Fair warning: There was no indication that you tried to stop.”
Cautiously, I lifted the less painful arm. Touched my face. My cheeks felt raw, and my forehead hurt, but I didn’t seem to have stitches or staples.
“It was foggy last night.” Visibility had been practically zero when Stone had walked me home. “Maybe I got turned around somehow.”
Dad had never looked at me with such desperate helplessness before. I wasn’t sure I could bear it. He leaned forward and let his clasped hands fall between his knees.
“Do you know what a fifty-one fifty order is?”
“I’m…being committed?” I asked with growing horror. “You’re going to—”
“Oh for heaven’s sake, you’re not a lost Bronte heroine,” he said irritably. “Based on an investigation of the scene, the police believe you to be a danger to yourself. You’ll be evaluated by medical personnel. The hospital can keep you for up to seventy-two hours. This, by the way, stays on your record for life. Going forward you’ll never be allowed to own firearms.”
“Wow.” My throat went dry. “That’s kind of harsh.”
Dad pinched the bridge of his nose. “Is nothing serious to you?”
The pillow gave a plastic crackle as I turned away from his glare.
“Can’t you fix this?”
“You know me better than that, goddamnit. I would notfix thisif I could.”
I nodded. I deserved what I got after what I’d apparently done.
“The video that was posted last night wasn’t any of the ones we have.”
His jaw tightened. “I have an investigator looking into it.”
“Will they’ll say I violated the NDA? Will they sue—”
“Let me worry about the legal ramifications of the video.” He brushed my hair out of my eyes. “We’re still trying to figure out who uploaded it and why.”
“Humiliation,” I said miserably. “Or extortion.”
“Probably. They said they have ‘the rest’ whatever that means.” He let out a weary sigh. “It’s too early to speculate.”
“I ran into someone on the shoot yesterday.” The memory of my encounter with Ian Drake chilled me.
“Saturday you mean. It’s Monday now. Molly told me about the photographer you argued with. I remember him well. It always bothered me that we couldn’t get anything on him.”
“I’ve been out of it since Saturday?” I’d lost a whole day.
“You needed rest.”
“If Drake’s the one with the video—”
