“Does Adam have a family?” I asked.
“I already talked to the police about that.” She sounded so off, and I hated it. But I wasn’t sure what else to do. I was just as lost as she was.
“Can you talk to me about that?” I asked, my voice soothing.
“Of course,” she said, running her hands over her face. “I’m sorry. I kept so much from you, and I didn’t even mean to.”
“Dakota.” I moved the cats back to the box and took Tink from her, putting the kitten with her siblings. I cupped Dakota’s face and then kissed her softly. “It seems like the two of us have been together for ages, at least to me.”
“You’re not alone in that.”
“Good,” I said, oddly relieved. “While it may seem like that, we’re still getting to know one another. We might have been circling each other’s lives for a while now, thanks to our friends, but we’re still learning the basics. And us being thrown into these weird situations has caused us to skip a few steps. You know my family because you’re friends with them. But you haven’t met the guys I’ve been in the ring with yet. You’ve barely met Jeremy, and you talked to him for the first time really earlier. We’re still getting there.”
“I know,” she said, letting out a breath. “Adam’s older than I am. A little too old for back then. I met him when I was sixteen, and he was twenty.”
“Jesus.” I sighed.
“Your parents are amazing. And you know mine weren’t the best. They left me when I was fifteen. Just packed up and left because they were tired of being parents.”
“I knew you were young, but…fifteen?”
“Fifteen and a decently young teenager at that. I was good at school, but I was too young to drive or have a job besides working in kitchens under the table and things. It wasn’t the best life, but I thought I was doing well. But my parents didn’t like that boys started to pay attention to me, and so did their friends.”
I clenched my jaw. “Did they...?”
“No, nothing like that. I know some of our friends have dealt with things like that, but not me. I was lucky. However, guys noticed me. Adam noticed me. He was far too old for me, but I didn’t care. It was part of the allure. I fell for him hard. He did drugs, so I tried them.”
I nodded, but she shook her head.
“Just weed for me. And just once. It made me sick, and I never did it again. Everyone made fun of me and called me names, but I didn’t care. I stayed in school for as long as possible, and I was the driver when everybody was too stoned or drunk to do anything. In the end, between jobs and life, I didn’t finish school.”
“You didn’t have a support system, how were you supposed to?” I asked. “Did you think I was going to judge you for that?”
“You went to veterinary school. You have your practice.”
“And you have your own business. Who cares?”
“You surprise me sometimes. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised when it comes to you.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I couldn’t work and deal with life at the same time while going to school. I was sleeping on people’s couches and staying with friends. The neighborhood we were in, nobody cared that I didn’t have a family. The school didn’t check in. Child Protective Services didn’t even notice. Nobody noticed or cared.”
“I could kill your parents.”
“They don’t matter. I have no idea where they are or if they’re even still alive. They don’t know Joshua exists, and I’m a better person for it.” She paused to let out a breath. “I got pregnant when I was nineteen, had Joshua when I was twenty. During that time, Adam got worse, started dealing hardcore and playing with his version of gangs. They were running other things, too. I think guns, maybe, I don’t know for sure. I was working eighty-hour weeks and on my feet, even six months pregnant. The drunker and higher Adam got, the more violent he became until finally, he kicked my stomach.”
“Jesus,” I muttered. I already wanted to find this man and beat him to a pulp, and her words just made it worse.
“I was fine, I went to the free clinic to get everything checked out, but I was bruised. I had a black eye, and a busted lip. And I realized I was done.”
“Did they help?”
“Most of them didn’t care. The adults around me just saw this runaway teen from the backwoods without a future. Most didn’t offer to help. But one lady did. She helped me get in contact with the authorities. That’s how I ended up with the detective that I hate, but he did help. He may treat me like shit, but he did what he could to get Adam behind bars.”
“How did he treat you like shit?” I asked, even angrier than before.
“I was a means to an end. Adam didn’t get sent away because he hit me but because of the drugs he had on him—hence why the sentence wasn’t long enough. They didn’t get him for any of the weapons or running either. But they got what they could. And me alerting the police helped them put him behind bars. So, Adam blames me. But I got out of it what I could. I got my GED. I had Joshua, I met the Barkers and was able to scrounge up enough for the Boulder Bean. I thought we were doing well. I thought
