She had been smart enough to text Kenneth and say she left Charlesburgh and was on her way home so he wouldn’t worry and maybe show up at her place, too. That would have been a nightmare. But she didn’t feel relieved. She felt guilty.
She took a deep breath and she gripped the steering wheel after placing the car in park in her driveway. Looking up, she saw Max and he opened her car door for her.
“Are you okay?” were his first words to her. Not What’s going on? Who was that man? Explain the trouble you’re in. It was how are you and she swallowed hard but couldn’t get out the words.
She waited there a moment and now Tazer stood beside Max, squinting his eyes and seemingly concerned.
“I didn’t call your guardians, and I could have. I suggest you’re a hundred percent honest with Max and me,” he said, and she nodded and then got out of her car. They followed her into her house and she offered them something to drink before they stood by the counter and waited for her to speak.
“I don’t know where to start,” she whispered, her hands shaking as she kept busy arranging and rearranging the fruit in the fruit bowl. Max covered her hand and she locked gazes with him.
“Just explain who the man in Charlesburgh was and what and whom you’re obviously running from. I know you use your mother’s maiden name, but even with that, someone could probably track you down. What is going on?” Max asked.
“Back in New York almost two years ago, I was in a relationship with a man and things…got bad,” she said to them.
“He was abusive?” Max asked. She nodded.
“He was controlling, manipulative, and powerful when it came to weakening my defensives. Plus, he was good friends with my boss, a person who got me freelance paralegal jobs. In Manhattan, with some of these high-profile cases or just regular cases where more paralegals are hired on to do research and such, he got me jobs. I got more jobs than anyone else, not only because I’m good at doing research but because my boss, Jerry, had a bad habit and Skip, my boyfriend, had connections.”
“He was addicted to drugs?” Tazer asked, taking a seat at the island.
“He was addicted to a lot of things, sex included.”
“Sex? You mean prostitution?” Max asked.
She knew what was probably going through their minds.
“I wasn’t a prostitute so don’t think that for a second. Skip had connections in lots of areas but he was low end, not high end. I didn’t even know he had those connections until I started putting things together at work and I analyzed comments Jerry would make to me. I had a feeling something illegal might have been going on, but when I asked Skip, he told me nothing was illegal. That he knew a lot of people. So for the right amount of money he could get great tickets to sold-out shows, concerts, and dining venues. You name it, he could get it. But then I realized one night as he talked about these women and describing them to the color of their eyes and the size of their breasts like they were being ordered, that something was wrong. I confronted Skip. I accused him of cheating on me.”
“What did he do?” Max asked.
“He denied it. Then I saw more things, and Skip was getting more protective of me, especially around Mickie and even Jerry. Then he was hitting me more. You know, just knocking me around because, or being rough. I was so angry with him I told him I didn’t want to be with him anymore and that I was leaving. He smacked me around good. Things happened, and I was done with him.”
“What do you mean things happened?” Max asked.
She looked at him and felt the tears in her eyes. “He did things to me. Threatened me in a way that I won’t talk about.” They both squinted their eyes at her, and Max took a deep breath and released it.
“Does this have something to do with why you won’t accept the Pace men as your guardians?”
“Yes.”
“And?” Tazer pushed. Of course she would have to pour her soul to them.
“And because I saw what happened to C.J. when Cameron came hunting Caroline down, I won’t let Skip, Mickie, and their crew of shit come after Kenneth, Sam, and Bender. I won’t. The best place they can be is far from me.”
“Because these men will come looking for you now that they know you’re still around?” Max asked.
“Because they think I belong to them.”
“What?” Tazer asked, looking shocked and angry.
“You need to explain more to us, so we know the level of danger you’re in,” Max said.
“Let me explain it to you like this, Max. Skip didn’t like to share me with anyone, not even my friends that I lost by the way because he devoured all my time when I wasn’t working. One night, when something went down, and it had to have been pretty bad, everything changed. Skip was kissing me and telling me how sorry he was. That he was going to make it up to me. That I just needed to do him one favor. He just kept repeating it and then next thing I know he has me tied down.” She started to cry.
“What happened? Did he rape you?” Max asked her.
She sniffled and looked to Tazer and then to Max. “Please, I can’t talk about it. I just can’t get past it. I’ve been going into Cambridge to see someone. I go every Sunday.”