Page 122 of Bring Me To My Knees

“Excuse me, Mr. James, I’m Detective Boggs. May I have a word?”

I glance up from the booth at the diner to see a large, intimidating man standing in front of me. My mind is running wild trying to think about what I’ve done that could possibly warrant a conversation with a detective.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. I just want to talk. Can I sit?” he asks.

I nod and he sits down across from me.

“We’ve been conducting an investigation on a Shane Ashford. Do you know him?”

I eye him suspiciously because he obviously knows that I know who he is.

“He’s my girlfriend’s dad,” I tell him.

“Your fake girlfriend, right?”

My body freezes. There are only three people that know this relationship is bullshit. Me, Riley, and her father.

“It’s okay, we know all about it.”

“Okay…” I trail off, not sure where this is going.

“I’ve come to ask for your help with something.”

That’s when I got involved with an internal investigation into Riley’s dad and his relationships. They told me to contact them if I felt like he was losing control, and after Marley’s accident, I did just that. I couldn’t take the chance on anyone else’s safety.

I never told any of them about how he was blackmailing me with the videos and images of my mother, because I didn’t want her involved in a police investigation that she had no say in. I also never told them about how he was paying for her care. I had to keep some things to myself.

I put the car in reverse and head home. I can finally come clean to Mitch and Marley about everything, and I can’t wait to know what it feels like to finally get the real truth off my chest. I can only hope that they will forgive me and understand.

* * *

When I walk inside, they are nowhere to be found. I go from room to room with no luck. I’m mentally exhausted after the day I just had, so I flop down on the couch, leaning my head back against the cushion, staring at the ceiling.

“That’s not what happened, and you know it…” I hear Marley’s voice fill the room.

“It is, too. You were young, you wouldn’t even know,” Mitch says.

“This is hilarious,” Delaney says.

“What’s hilarious?” I turn around in my seat, putting my arm on the back of the couch.

“These two, fighting about their childhood,” Delaney says, smiling.

Marley freezes on the spot, her eyes traveling over my body.

“You’re back? And you’re okay?” she asks, breathless.

“I am.”

She runs over, jumping into my lap. I hear Mitch groan in the background.

“Please, don’t do this to me,” he says.

“You’re such a drama queen,” Delaney says, smacking his back.

Marley peppers my face with kisses, cupping my cheeks with her hands.

“What happened?” she asks in-between kisses.

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