The Exposure (The Submissive 9)

“Come on. Get up and get dressed. After the police leave, we’re getting you cleaned up. It’s time to be a man.”

Two car doors closed outside the apartment. She looked out the window. “They’re here.”

She made sure Jake was up and getting dressed before she left to join Luke in the living room. From the voices she heard, the officers were inside. It was time not only for Jake to grow up. It was time for her to do so as well.

“Meagan?” Luke called.

“Coming,” she replied, and walked down the hallway toward her

future.

* * *

It took a hell of a lot longer than Luke anticipated for everything to settle down. The Taskmaster, or Ted, had been belligerent to the police. After the police took him away, Jake took a shower while he and Meagan straightened up the apartment. Then he drove Meagan and Jake to a nearby rehab facility where Jake enrolled himself for treatment. Luke waited in the car while they took care of everything and couldn’t help but notice the peculiar look on her face when she came back to his car. He wanted to ask her what the cause of it was, but they had so many other things to discuss, it didn’t seem like the best time.

Without asking, he drove to her place. It wasn’t what you would call neutral, but he thought it was a better option than his place. For her part, Meagan was simply silent.

It wasn’t until he followed her to her door that she voiced any concern. “Are you coming in?” she asked with a lifted eyebrow.

He nodded. “We need to talk.”

Her lips tightened, but she opened the door and ushered him through. She didn’t stop in the living room, but continued on toward the kitchen. “I don’t know about you,” she called over her shoulder, “but I need a drink. Wine?”

“I’d like something a bit stronger,” he admitted. “But wine will do for the moment.”

She handed him a glass when she made it back from the kitchen and sat down as far away from him as possible. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I’m sorry for how I acted when I found out about the blackmail.”

She shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize. It was all me. I should have told you.”

“Maybe. But who’s to say how I would have reacted? It might have turned out a lot differently and then we wouldn’t have these.” He reached into the messenger bag he’d brought in with him and pulled out the pictures.

She may have been hesitant to talk to him, but she was insanely curious about her photos. She shifted a bit closer to him. “Are those . . . ?”

“The pictures I’ve selected for the book. Yes. Come have a look.”

He spread them out on the coffee table so she could see them easily. One at a time, she picked them up and studied each one. He’d been around models enough to know there were two types: the ones who found fault with everything about their bodies and those who thought themselves flawless. He hadn’t been around Meagan years ago when she’d seen her pictures of their shoot. He wondered which camp she fell into.

She put the last one down. “Not bad.”

“That’s all you can say?” He picked up one from the night she had the formal gown on. With the moonlight and her wistful expression, it was a stunning portrait. “This is fucking fantastic.”

“You did an amazing job.”

“Thank you, but I had a lot to work with.”

Her delicate smile was enough to let him know she wasn’t as unaffected by his praise as her next words would have him think. “The thing is, when I look at these pictures, I see a woman who was keeping secrets.”

Her response left him momentarily stunned. But of course that would be what she saw. “Meagan . . .” he started.

“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t make excuses. I was wrong. I just . . .” She blinked away tears. “I just didn’t want to ruin what we had and instead I messed it up even more.”

“It might have been messed up, but it’s not unfixable.”

She looked up in surprise. “You want to fix it?”

“I’d like to try.” He stood up and walked to where she sat and took a seat beside her. “I think what we have is worth a second chance. Let’s face it. I haven’t been a saint in this entire ordeal.”

“Yeah, but at least your screwup was years ago. Not like mine.”

“You were being threatened and you wanted to protect your brother. I can’t fault you for either of those things.”

“Funny thing, that.” She took a long sip of wine. “Wanting to protect Jake.”

“What’s funny about that?”

“I told him about the blackmail while we were waiting for him to be admitted today. You were in the car.”

And it had taken damn near forever. He thought she’d never get back to the car. For a minute, he thought maybe she’d decided to admit herself for something. “Right. I remember.”

She finished the wine in her glass and told him about the fires. He sat silently, just listening.

“Ted got him drunk one night,” she said, after she’d told him almost everything. “It was the anniversary of Dad’s death, but Ted didn’t know. Jake was miserable and feeling guilty and told him everything. Cleansed his soul, he said. Fucker e-mailed me the first time the very next day.”

Luke thought it odd that Jake had been so bothered by it, but he never talked to the one person who knew he’d set the fires. As far as he knew, the two siblings had never discussed it. “Why didn’t he cleanse his soul with you?”

“Oh, you know. I was the perfect one. With the awesome job and great house. I had it all together. I didn’t need anything of the sort.” She winced.

“There’s something else, isn’t there?” he asked gently.

She nodded and he waited for her to tell him. Finally, she took a deep breath.

“My father died because of the last fire Jake started.” She got only those words out before stopping and looking at him. He was shocked speechless and simply nodded for her to continue. “I was able to talk to him, at the hospital . . . before.”

He reached over and took her hand. She squeezed his in a silent thank you.

“He told me he knew what Jake had been doing. He covered it up because he didn’t want people to know his son was the one starting fires. Then he made me promise to look after him. And I’ve tried. Heaven knows, I’ve tried. I’m just . . .”

He stroked her hand with his thumb, afraid if he said anything, she’d stop, and from the way it sounded, she needed to tell someone what she’d been keeping inside all these years.

“What else could I do?” she asked. “I had to keep quiet. My father died a hero and if I’d told people what really happened, he won’t be seen as that.”

“And Ted decided to use your guilt as a way to get to me.” He hated the man even more. “I’m sorry, Meagan. Not only for not listening before, but for what your father did to you. That’s a lot to put on a teenage girl.”

She sniffled. “My mom didn’t even know. It feels so good to finally tell someone.”

He pulled her into his arms and whispered, “I promise from now on, you can tell me anything and I won’t judge you or hold it against you.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

He held her for several minutes, basking in the simple joy of having her in his arms again and how thankful he was he hadn’t lost her. When she pulled back, he reluctantly let her go.

She bit her lip and glanced out the window. “Is it bad that I still don’t want it public? I don’t want to tarnish his memory at the station. Not for something that happened so long ago.”

He’d always prided himself on being truthful. Honesty was the best policy and all that. But sitting next to Meagan, he questioned the usefulness of being completely honest in regard to this issue. So many lives had already been impacted by Jake’s actions and things were looking as if they would finally settle down. What would be the point in resurrecting it?

“No,” he finally said. “I don’t think it’s wrong.”

She let out a deep breath. “If you think I should pursue it, I will.”

“I think you should let it be. The only regret I have is that Jake didn’t tell you he’d confessed to Ted. If he had, maybe it wouldn’t have gone as far as it did. You would at least have known who you were dealing with. Maybe you could have stopped it earlier.”

“True. But like you said before”—she picked up the picture he’d held up to her earlier—“not only would we not have this picture, this book, but we wouldn’t have memories of the night this was taken.”