“I don’t smoke much. Only when I’m bored or stressed.” He doesn’t have to explain which he is now. Taking a drag and blowing smoke out, angling his head so it doesn’t come my way, he sighs. “Alicia wasn’t at her friend’s last night. She left her phone there in case you checked.”
My eyes widen. “The little—”
“Mary!” Grumbler’s voice is sharp. “There’s a lot more to come. Swallow your anger and just let me tell you.”
“Where was she?”
“With Owen.” Now I start to stand, but Grumbler snakes out his hand, his strong long fingers reaching around my wrist and imprisoning it. “Sit down, Mary.”
I huff, as it seems I have no choice but to do as he says. Then I proceed to listen to one of the most painful things I’ve heard in my life.
At some point Grumbler releases my hand, stubs out his cigarette, and is my side of the bench. I’m sobbing in his arms without realising how I got there.
He rocks me for a few minutes, as I try to come to terms with what my baby girl has gone through.
“She needs her mom, babe. She needs you to be strong.”
“How could she have been so stupid?”
He moves slightly, creating a small gap between us and holding me by the elbows. Staring intently into my eyes, he gives it to me straight. “Was she stupid? Owen, a twenty-four-year-old man for fuck’s sake, created the perfect date, the perfect setup to convince her he was the man she could give her body to. A hotel room, her favourite food, flowers… How was she to know the whole thing was a setup?” He pauses a moment, raising a hand to brush back a strand of my hair. “He made it a young girl’s dream. How was she to know what a lyin’ motherfucker he was? How does a girl her age know how the world works?”
Through gritted teeth, I try to explain, “If she’d listened to me—”
“What? You’d have warned her she might end up in a porn video?”
That pulls me up. The thought would never have occurred to me. “She tried to send him a topless photo. I caught her and thought I’d put a stop to that. I explained how once that kind of photo is shared, there’s no pulling it back.”
“Which is probably why she knows the significance of how much damage that film could do to her life. A double whammy, as Owen’s betrayal also hurt.”
How can I repair the damage that’s been done? My daughter’s no longer a virgin, and though it was her choice, she chose to lose it to the wrong man. She’s not unique, but I know it will play on her mind for the rest of her life. Though I doubt many men nowadays are virgins and would be hypocrites to expect a woman to be when they were not, she’s lost her chance of giving it to someone who meant something to her. But at the time, she thought she had.
Hadn’t I been thinking about how I wasted mine only recently? Your first time is something you never forget, however much you wish you could. But I’d never had to contend with it being filmed, and that film circulated around. The thought makes me shudder.
“Grumbler. You’ve got to back off. It doesn’t matter about Alicia’s money, and I’ll pay you what Devon was supposed to pay—”
“Don’t want your money!” Grumbler roars. “Fuck, woman, do you think I give a damn about that now?” He pinches the bridge of his nose then looks straight at me once more. “Do you really think they’d have gone to all that trouble just to stop a douche canoe like me asking for what he’s owed? Fuck, no. They’ve got a film, and films like that make money. Your best bet is for us to stay involved, so we can shut that shit down. I promise you, Mary. We’ll get it destroyed.”
“But you can’t even find Devon. How can you find the film?”
“We don’t need to find him to discover the footage, just his trail on the web.”
I’m not at all sure it’s as easy as that. There’s a growing fear in my overactive mind, of people giving Alicia snide glances as they’ve watched her with Owen, getting their jollies at the cost of my daughter.
“Hey, babe. We’ve got this. We’re not going to let it do any permanent harm. If I know my prez, this will become the club’s number one priority.”
I move my head side to side, completely incredulous. “But why should you or your club help? We’re nothing to you.”
“You are now.”
My eyebrows draw down. “I don’t understand.”
He takes hold of my hand and squeezes it gently. “Your girl came to me, Mary. That means a lot. I’m not going to let her down. And you? Well, I want to be there for you, make your world as right again as it can be.”
“Are you saying you want a relationship with me?” I yank back my hand and my voice has gone squeaky.
“Nah.” He looks me right in the eye. “I’m far too old for you, and I’ve never had any desire to take an old lady of my own. We can be friends, though, can’t we? And friends support each other.”
In my eyes he’s not too old, but for now, my focus is Alicia. “Can I see my daughter now?”
An assessing look comes my way. “You got your anger under control, ‘cause that’s what she expects from you? You’ve got the power to hurt her badly.”
I almost snap he should leave the parenting advice to someone who knows what they’re talking about, but deep down I know he’s right. Alicia’s lesson’s been taught already. My focus is on helping her move forward.
After analysing the expression on my face and finding it satisfies him, he stands and holds out his hand to me. I take
