“With her father?” I clarify.
“Yeah, just him and her.” He nods.
“So, he wasn’t doing the same to Aunt Debby, just my mother.”
“I can’t be sure yet. But I think it was just your mother.” He scratches at his chin.
I don’t think Aunt Debby was affected at all, from what I can remember she had nothing too bad to say about her parents other than they were strict. I really believe if she knew about that she would’ve been more understanding about my mother’s disappearance and would’ve tried to help her before the asshole died in that car crash.
“What about the crash that killed them?” I ask. “Are we sure the fucker was dead?”
“Nothing I found is official.” Travis rubs his cheek.
“At least this is before Moore and his cronies.” I shake my head.
“We have a few more totes,” Adri cuts in. “They belong to your grandfather’s office.”
“Thank you for what you’re doing.” I smile at them both.
We sit in the Mercedes waiting for Shay to finish her shift. We decided to take this car since my Hummer is pretty well known around here and we want to catch her off guard. She hasn’t done much today except scroll on her phone and greet people as they came in, but her phone is her main time consumer.
“She doesn’t seem to be very happy about whatever the fuck it is she’s looking at.” Emmett says.
“You’re right.” I agree as I see the furrow between her brows and the nervous looks she keeps making.
“What the fuck is this girl messed up in?” He murmurs.
“We’re going to find out today.”
“I hope it doesn’t fuck shit up even more, we already have so much shit to do.” Emmett grumbles.
“Keeps things interesting though.” I chuckle and then laugh harder as he shoots me a scowl. “That face can’t intimidate me, it belongs to the girl I’m going to marry. If anything you look so adorable.” I reach over and pat his cheek.
“I’m getting plastic surgery.”
“Your loss,” I chuckle. “That face is gorgeous.”
“Fuck, that’s true.” He rubs at his chin and throws me a grin.
I slap his chest and point out the windshield, “she’s getting her shit. Looks like her shift is done.”
“I’m ready.” He says as he rubs his hands together.
Shay steps out of the gym and shades her eyes with her hands as if she’s looking for someone. I put the car in drive and pull up right beside her. Emmett pulls his baseball cap down over his face and opens the passenger door.
“Get in.” He tells her gruffly.
“What?” She asks with a slight tremor in her voice. “Who are you?”
I lean across the center console and look out at her. “Shay, we need to chat.”
“Fuck, Vin.” She says on an exhale and gets into the passenger seat. Emmett hops into the backseat and we pull out of the gym parking lot.
“Where are you taking me?” She asks.
“Just to the park. That way we can sit and chill.” I tell her.
She remains quiet as we drive to the park I once took Travis. I do notice how nervous she is as she wrings her hands in her lap. That’s good, it won’t take much for me to convince her to tell us everything.
Emmett leans up from the backseat, placing his head between us. “Can I give you some advice?” He says to Shay.
She turns her head to look at him and nods.
“Good. Tell us what we need to know. Help us and we’ll make sure you’re good.”
I see the angle he’s working here, good cop to my bad and fuck him but I think he’s onto something here. With his big ass green-blue eyes and thick black lashes, he might just suck her in.
She nods and he flops himself back against the seat. Our eyes meet in the rearview and he winks. Little bastard.
I pull into the park and we all get out of the car. Shay follows us to the bench but I notice she keeps looking behind her.
“What’s up?” I ask and her head snaps around to look at me.
“N-nothing.” She stutters and drops her head to her shoulders. “Someone has been watching me.”
“What?” I ask as I also look around our surroundings. “Why?”
“Because Vin, I know some shit and when I tried to inform Ember last time, I got in trouble.” She whispers.
“You’re going to tell us now and I promise we will protect you.” Emmett tells her.
“Oh yeah?” She turns and looks at him. “How will you protect me?”
“We’ll figure it out, we’re not fucking liars.” I growl.
“What do you want to know anyways?” She asks.
“It’s about coach Halbert-“ Emmett begins but Shay cuts him off.
“-You need to look beyond that.” Her voice is small.
“Then tell us.” I tell her as I lean my elbows onto my knees.
She turns and looks me in the eye. “It’s who’s connected to Halbert.”
“Okay…” I draw out.
“Marlana’s mom.” She whispers as her eyes dart around the park. “She used to be a… an escort.”
“A prostitute?” Emmett cuts in.
“Sure,” she shrugs. “She was friends with Halbert.”
“And?” I prompt her.
“She had some high end clientele around here. Rich folks. I saw her once, in a car at the mall parking lot… with your dad.”
Her confession has my head reeling, I thought I couldn’t be surprised anymore with the shit my father was capable of, but I was fucking wrong.
“And?” I wave her on.
“I told Marlana…” her head drops against her chest as she inhales. “I didn’t know she was a prostitute until then. Marlana confessed Robert was her mother’s number one customer.”
“Fuck.” Emmett growls and gets up to pace. “Everyone is connected here.”
“I only met Marlana’s mother once and she looked normal.” I say as I scratch my chin. “What’s her name again?”
“Tonya.” Shay groans.
“Sounds familiar.” I say as I try to
