Blaze (Steel Brothers Saga 21)

And it wasn’t until Donny Steel that I truly believed that was never me.

“Donny?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I want to tell you everything. I want to tell you why we didn’t come to you with the evidence.”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“I want to tell you anyway. You opened up to me about something that was bothering you. What you tried to do with the energy board. I know how difficult that was for you, and I’m so glad you were able to stop it.”

“Yeah, but not before Brendan’s place was trashed.”

“I know, and that’s a horrible thing. But you did the right thing in the end, and I want you to know why Rory and I did not.”

“All right.”

“First of all, if something really terrible had happened to Diana, I’m sure we would have done the right thing.”

“We’re all very lucky that she was fine.”

“I know that. I also want you to know that we got the evidence because we were being mercenaries. We wanted the reward money.”

He swallows audibly.

Probably not my finest moment, but I want him to know the truth.

“I hope you don’t think less of me for that.”

“Callie, we offer rewards for a reason. Because people need money. Money gets results. It’s not a crime to want to collect on a reward.”

“Thank you for understanding. Anyway… We got the evidence, as you know. But then…”

“It’s okay.”

“Pat got two girls from the junior class to help him. One of them was Brittany Sheraton.”

“Dr. Sheraton’s daughter?”

“The veterinarian. Yeah.”

“Go on.”

“Somehow, Pat found out what we did to him. We’re not sure how. But he found out that we had his confession, so Brittany and her friend Kayla sent us a text saying they had extra information.”

“And you went?”

“Yeah, but we had backup. Rory went, and I stayed hidden, to make sure she was okay.”

“But she wasn’t okay.”

I get up. “No. They tranquilized her with something, I watched her fall to the ground, and then, when I ran after her, they zapped me as well. The next thing we remember is we woke up in the shed behind the baseball field. We were still dressed, but…”

Donny’s jaw clenches. “Damn it! What the hell did they do to you? Are you all right?”

“We’re fine. Neither of us showed any evidence that we had been assaulted in any way. Other than being tranquilized. I was a virgin at that point, and I didn’t have any pain or any blood. Rory wasn’t a virgin, but there was no evidence that anyone had raped her. However, there were”—I gulp down a surge of stomach acid—“photos left with us. Full-color photos of the two of us naked, our eyes closed.”

“I’ll fucking kill him.”