The Truth Within (Pelican Bay 3)

“Stop,” I said gently, because he was talking so fast that he wasn’t taking any breaths. “Just take some deep breaths, okay? I swear to you, I’m not mad at you, Riley, and I don’t expect you to pay me any money. In fact, I’d like for you to stay here with me until we figure some stuff out, okay?”

“Really?” he croaked.

“Really,” I said. “Ford and I have plenty of room and you’ll love Walter… that’s the friend who’s coming to stay here with us. And obviously Puddles is okay with it,” I said as I motioned to the dog who was wriggling on her back trying to get the focus back on her.

Riley laughed a wet laugh and wiped at his nose with the edge of the blanket. Then he started petting her again.

“Riley, we don’t have to talk about this now, but if you’re okay with it, can you answer one question about the man you were with in those pictures?”

Riley paled, but nodded. “Okay,” he said quietly.

“Did he hurt you? That day or any other times you were with him?”

“No,” Riley said. “I let Mom and Dad believe that it wasn’t my choice, but it was.”

I didn’t point out that at fifteen, Riley wasn’t old enough to make that kind of choice, especially if the other party had been an adult. And my gut was telling me it had definitely been a grown-up. Probably one Riley trusted. He’d mentioned wanting to protect the man, that he’d loved him…

“He said he cared about me… that he couldn’t stop thinking about me and that he wanted to be with me more than anything. He said… he said he loved me.”

“Were you with him more than once?” I asked, since Riley didn’t seem completely against talking about it.

He nodded in response. “Those, um, pictures were from the first time. He asked me to meet him at a motel and he took those pictures with my phone so he could show me how pretty I looked while… while I was doing that to him.”

I already wanted to kill the fucker for laying his hands on a fifteen-year-old boy, but hearing Riley not even be able to use the words oral sex was just another reminder of how vulnerable and innocent he’d been.

How the hell had I missed it? Whoever had preyed upon him had clearly had time to establish trust with the teenager.

“He told me to delete the pictures after he showed them to me, but I didn’t… I just, I wanted to remember the moment. I, um, it… it hurt when he… you know, but he said that was normal and that he’d loved being with me and that I was really beautiful and stuff. I just… I didn’t want to forget that part of it, you know?”

“What happened with him?” I asked, though I really just wanted to know who the asshole was so I could kill him.

“He was really mad about the pictures. I felt so guilty for letting my parents believe it was you so I told him I had to tell the truth. He… he said he’d lose his job and maybe even go to jail if I told anyone. He said you were a cop and cops always protected each other so you wouldn’t get into any trouble. I… I knew that wasn’t true, but I loved him. He’d talked about us running away together so we wouldn’t have to hide anymore so I just hung onto that… I thought I could tell the truth before he and I left. He kept making it sound like it would only take a few days. Then it was a week, then two. And then I saw you at that hearing thing at the lawyer’s office and I just wanted to tell the truth but I knew I’d let it go on for too long. I knew you’d never forgive me and my parents would hate me and I just… he was all I had. And then I didn’t even have him anymore.”

Riley began to cry again. I pulled him forward and held him against my chest. “You will always have me, Riley. Please don’t cry anymore. I swear, I’ll make everything okay again.”

He nodded against my chest and then curled his fingers into my shirt.

“I’m so sorry, Cam. Please don’t hate me.”

“Never. I could never hate you.” I kissed the top of his head. I held him for a long while after that and it was only when I could see his eyes starting to drift closed that I rubbed his back and said, “How about we call it a night?”

He nodded.

“Can you stay here for a couple of minutes while I make you a sandwich so you have something if you’re hungry tonight?”

He nodded again. Puddles sat up and began licking at Riley’s chin. It made him smile. I gave the dog a little pat under the chin. “You really will fall for any guy you see, won’t you?” I said to the dog. She looked at me innocently, then began licking my finger. Riley laughed.