I cock my head to the side. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. It happened, and then I wasn’t sure this morning the second I saw you.” He’s tense about it, I’ll give him that, and I’m definitely one to tease when I see him have this sort of reaction about something, but I’d never want him to feel badly about doing what feels right. Especially when we’ve already established that there’s something brewing between the two of them, as well as the four of us.
My lip quirks up on one side. “I think you need him in a different way than you need me… or Echo, for that matter.”
“Yep, I think you’re right.” He’s quiet for several seconds after that, running a hand over the back of his scalp, before slowly nodding. Clearing his throat, he meets my gaze again. “But I didn’t drag you out here to talk about that. I know when something’s not right with you.” He narrows his eyes on me. “Stop trying to distract me from whatever it is.”
I clench my teeth, knowing he’s not going to let this go. He knows me too well. Allowing the perturbation I’m really feeling to flow, I bite out, “I haven’t let go of this whole thing with Megan. Whether she was involved in those images showing up here or not, I don’t have a fucking clue. She may not even know they were taken. I’m going to go see her while you’re doing your pre-fight shit. Get some motherfucking answers.”
Wilder eyes me. “I’d encourage you not to give that bitch the benefit of the doubt. You know she’s likely to fuckin’ lie if it was her, right?” He works his jaw to the side. “Are you sure it’s worth it to go see her? I assume you were involved in how she landed there.”
A pissed-off sigh trails from my lips as I nod. “I’ll know if she’s lying.”
“Where are you going?” Echo slowly enters the room, then cringes when we both look up, but don’t answer. “Oh, shit. Is this a private conversation? I can—” Her eyes ping back and forth between us, and she pivots, ready to leave us be.
“No, it’s fine.” I let out a sigh with my eye roll. “Just going to the women’s prison, that’s all.”
Echo’s eyes widen, like maybe she regrets asking in the first place. “Oh.”
Wilder practically growls, “He’s hoping to speak to Megan.” Both the tone of his voice and the accompanying grimace reveal he isn’t happy about it.
“Did you have something you wanted to say?” I cock my head to the side, studying him, my eyes connecting with his dark ones.
He runs a hand through his hair. “I just wish you’d wait until I could fucking go with you, you know?”
My gaze flicks to Echo. “What if Echo came with me?”
An hour later,Echo and I are flying down the highway in my S2000. My stomach is in knots, so I haven’t said much. The pretty redhead beside me hasn’t opened her mouth either, but I can tell she’s dying to say something from the way she’s been studying me out of the corner of her eye.
Finally, she gives in, shifting in her seat to partially face me. “Beckham, can I ask you what you meant by something you said last night?”
I glance at her, noting the questions written all over her face before returning my eyes to the road. I release a heavy sigh and nod. “Yeah. Go ahead.”
For interminable seconds, Echo doesn’t speak. It’s unnerving and has me wondering what the hell is going on in that astute brain of hers. She catches onto things quickly, but she also lets them stew inside her head until she has no choice but to let it rip. I’ve noticed this about her from the beginning. She holds out her hand across the console, and I take it, allowing her to pull it to her lap, where she runs her thumb over the skin on the back of my hand. A moment later, the question erupts from her. “What did you mean when you said you’d made sure she paid?”
“Is that all? I thought you were going to ask how she convinced me to let her use a strap-on to fuck me at age fifteen.” I huff with uncomfortable laughter.
Echo practically chokes at my words, sputtering. “We didn’t even talk about that, you goof. And I definitely wouldn’t have asked about it. But since you brought it up, my assumption is she’d been grooming you all along, so I have no doubt her skills of coercion are fucking fantastic. Just like any other pedophile’s would be, nasty as it is to think about.”
I squeeze her hand. “Yeah.” Pausing for a moment, I decide to let it all hang out. This girl has seen the worst of me and hasn’t run. “Okay. So, when I got that initial hint from—” The second the thought of the Sin Keeper pops into my head, my mouth snaps shut.Fuck.The way I’ve been conditioned not to talk about anything surrounding the Sin Keeper is fuckin’ astounding.
“The Sin Keeper,” she finishes for me. “I’m not scared to say his name. So far, he’s kinda pulled me in and left me hanging. Whatever. I wasn’t ever told not to talk about it, so…” She gives a flick of the hand that’s not holding mine. “I’ll do what I want until I’m told otherwise. Continue, Beckham.”
I chuckle. “You’re a piece of work, Echo Madden.” She gives a little shrug as she slides me a wink, then gestures that I should keep talking, so I clear my throat and get back to it. “Anyway,when I was informed I needed to look at the ‘object of my obsession’ more carefully, I knew there had to be something to it, some reason why I needed to focus on her after I was already so fucking done. And keep in mind, at that point, the invitation to SIN was new. I didn’t know if I wanted any part of it.” I take a deep breath. “I couldn’t leave it be. In my heart, I knew it was something I had to do, so I followed her from her home to her nannying gig. I watched through a window as she sodomized a boy. He was probably around twelve. Same age I was when she was hired as my nanny.” I swallow roughly, noting that Echo appears calm on the exterior, waiting patiently for me to continue, but also how her grip on my hand is increasing by the second. “I needed proof and was really fucking nervous at first because I wasn’t sure what to do about what I was finding out. I took photos that day, and it weighed heavily on me, worrying what she was doing to that child. So, the next day, I broke down and took the evidence of her crime to the police department. I couldn’t handle the idea of her getting away with it. I was scared shitless, but I also realized that the case would be stronger if I came forward with what she did to me, too. I testified against her, which did the trick, but my father was mortified I would out my involvement with her. He hasn’t spoken much to me since.” She’s quiet for so long, I glance over at her. “You okay?”
She blinks, shaking her head as if she was off somewhere else. “This all happened your freshman year?”
“Yeah. It made things rough coming into SIN, having to spend a portion of my time dealing with legal hassle. But… the kid in the other family is getting counseling now, and I think he’s going to be okay.”
“Have you had counseling, though?” Echo questions, her eyes full of concern.Gah, she’s so fucking sweet.
“Yes. The counselor at my high school was good to me. After Megan left, I was traumatized and came to realize what we hadwasn’t normal. Mrs. Anderson would bring all the students in to talk once a semester—I don’t know whether she spent extra time with me because of something I was putting out there or what, but I had all these feelings bottled up inside and she gave me a safe space to be on days I couldn’t fucking handle what was in my head. She never had a clue what had actually happened until I outed Megan with the evidence I collected.” I draw in a shaky breath, glancing at Echo from the corner of my eye. “I did see Mrs. Anderson for a short time the summer after I graduated. She’s a kind woman and continued to help me even after I was no longer a student at the high school. Never billed my dad for it, either. I have a feeling she knew my dad wouldn’t want to pay for therapy for me.” I shrug. “But yeah. She’s always been there for me anytime shit gets to be too much. I shoot her an email, and she’ll respond within a few hours.”
A hard swallow works down the delicate column of her throat. “That’s really good.” She pauses for a moment, wetting her lips. “And as a mother, Beckham, it”—she positions her free hand over her heart—“I appreciate that you didn’t sweep that under the rug.”
Up ahead, the women’s penitentiary looms. “I couldn’t. She was clearly sick. Out of control with it, too. That poor kid was younger than I was, and she was already touching him in ways no grown woman should touch a child.”
Pulling into a parking space, I cut the engine and unhook my seat belt, turning to face Echo. “Thanks for coming with me.”
