Fireball (Cheap Thrills 1)

Speaking of which – looking over his shoulder at the door, I frowned at not seeing his constant shadow there watching us.

“Where’s the wicked witch of Hades?”

“Oh, she relocated,” Hurst informed me, sitting back and locking his hands behind his head as he stretched out in his chair.

“What, did Satan ask for his sidekick to come home already?”

Chuckling as he let me go, Dad took a step back and looked me up and down, frowning at whatever he saw. “Something like that,” he agreed looking at me thoughtfully. Whatever it was that was going through his mind was pushed to the back as he sighed and gave me a gentle push back toward my own chair. “Sit down, son. We need to talk.”

The last time he’d said those four words to me, it had been to tell me he’d married the woman, so hearing them now didn’t fill me with joy. Jesus Christ, please don’t let her be pregnant. Biologically, she was old enough for that to not have been the case, but I wouldn’t put anything past her.

“If you’re going to spill any news about impending births, don’t bother. I don’t want to…”

Holding a hand up, Dad stopped me mid-sentence. “I’m sorry, Dave. So fucking sorry. I…” he paused and took a deep breath. “I couldn’t tell you why I married her, and when things started to come out I could only tell you part of the story, and it’s been eating away at me. I haven’t been able to see my son because of it, and when you become a father, you’ll understand how painful that is.”

Staring at him in confusion, I looked over at Hurst to see him doodling flowers on the sticky note pad on my desk. Realizing he was giving us time while also giving us both his silent support, I turned back to Dad. “What do you mean?”

“The part which wasn’t a lie was that I was working on a case based on Luli’s involvement with the group who scammed men out of their divorce settlements. What I couldn’t tell you was that five years ago, a man called Marty Simpson committed suicide after being scammed by them, and his ex-wife demanded an investigation into the group, partly funded by her. She’d hired a PI who was the one who discovered that some of the key members of the group lived in the States, even though it was headed by the guy in Greece. One of those key members was Luli Wang. Because the suicide and scam had happened in our jurisdiction, we were pulled into the case, and it was decided that I’d go to her last known location – Vegas. We disguised it as a men’s weekend away, and after we found her in a casino, we placed high bets to get her attention.” His mouth twisted slightly as he looked away from me. “I was the one she focused on because I placed the largest ones. When it looked like she was losing interest, I bought her a few drinks, and pretended to marry her.”

Well, fuck my ass with a cactus. I didn’t see any of this coming.

As the story progressed, and he described how he’d done the job and encouraged me to move away, even asking the Chief of Police to look into me getting the job here while he wrapped up the case, I realized exactly how Tabby felt finding out my secret. The betrayal and hurt spreading through me was huge, but I also felt sorry for him being put in that position and having to live that life. Lies by omission weren’t the same as all out lies by intention, but they still hurt badly, like you hadn’t been trusted to know the truth by someone you cared for and who you yourself trusted deeply.

When he got to the part where Luli had been arrested yesterday, thanks to Ben Bakake (yes, he laughed at the name too) uncovering information, and her daughter of all people providing the rest in exchange for a mere year off the sentence they were aiming at for her, I closed my eyes with the relief that flooded me. I had my dad back. There hadn’t been a day hadn’t gone by where I hadn’t missed the man and wished I could just pick up the phone and talk to him, regardless of what I told myself or how pissed I was at him marrying her. It hadn’t just been down to the fact that I knew he was doing a job with Luli that had stopped me, it had been hurt and pride that had done it too.

As he wrapped it up, finishing with how she was facing charges and how she’d reacted when she’d found out that she wasn’t legally married to a police officer like she’d thought, I grinned wishing I could have seen it. That grin dropped though when I realized it was down to this case that I’d lost Tabby. No, that wasn’t fair. I’d lost her because I’d been a dickhead who hadn’t told her the truth upfront like I should have. She’d already been through enough in her life, and even though she hadn’t witnessed what her dad had done, she’d felt the betrayal from it too. I’d only added to that by being a stupid asshole.