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Oh, he wants to play like that?
I turn the intensity down for Allie just enough so I can handle this asshole.
“What’s up, Teddy?” I ask. He stopped at the bar and I scoot my ass down while he barks his order at the bartender. “Thought I told you to stay away from Allie.”
Ted gets his drink with ice. It smells disgusting and strong. He throws it back with ease. “I told you he won’t let you have her.”
He’s clearly been drinking by the subtle slur in his words. He’s still coherent, though.
I turn up the level of fun between Allie’s legs again.
I watch her from the corner of my eye while she struggles to sit still. “Why, exactly, does it matter to you or to Mark that she’s with me? She doesn’t belong to any of you.”
“It’s her and it’s you.” Ted gets a second drink and tosses it down his throat like water. “He needs her to not ask questions and for you to play your part.”
Oh, so he’s an honest drunk.
I pull up a chair and settle in for a moment. Allie is going to have to wait—not that she’s miserable. I can see that clearly from here. If she’s good, I’ll clean her up with my tongue after this.
“He doesn’t want her to ask questions about what?”
Ted looks at me from the side. “The accident.”
“How are you two even connected? Is it Kat?” I wouldn’t be surprised if they were sleeping together. He flat out told Allie Kat was prettier.
“It doesn’t even matter, and it’s none of your business.” He rolls his eyes and mumbles under his breath. “Lucas fucking Kennedy. Should have known. No wonder Kat was so fucking psycho about you and her after she found out.”
Kat is enraged in general, especially if things don’t go her way. “Did you even care about Allie? I’m genuinely curious, Theodore. She had this whole thing cooked up in her head that you were it for her.” I poke his arm, and that seems to annoy him. “What am I missing here? You hit her, right? You hit Allie?”
He scowls at his empty glass on the bar. “Her dad would have liked her to end up with the responsible kid she grew up knowing. She would have moved away with me and Tom would have followed wherever we went.”
What the hell?
Ted spins with the ice cubes in his glass with his finger. “Mark approached me when I was sixteen and planned to run for office in a few years. He needed community support and Tom is a pillar in the community.”
I’m starting to hate Mark. “And Tom hates Mark.” I don’t know if Tom has that much pull around here, but if Mark is worried about that, maybe he does. Well-known coach everyone knows and loves? Everybody knows Allie, too.
Maybe people trust Tom more than anyone else.
Still, that doesn’t add up.
“Does Tom ever talk about his wife’s medical treatment?”
I frown and watch Ted throw back another drink. Ted turns his head, finds Allie, and looks back at me. “Mark’s wife and Allie’s mom were in some experimental drug group together. One was supposed to get the experiment, and the other got the...” He waves his hand around while trying to place the word.
“The placebo?” I think that’s the word for it.
Ted snaps his fingers. “Yeah, that.”
I think I know where this is going. “Mark paid them off, didn’t he?” Corrupt son of a bitch. And Tom isn’t that stupid. He’s probably known all this time and never said a word. “Tom’s wife was supposed to get that medicine and Mark had it changed somehow.” I’m pretty sure that’s illegal and against some kind of oath or something those people take.
I’ll be asking Tom about that.
Now I’m wondering if it was Tom that got me my job or Mark. Pretty convenient timing if Ted was supposed to propose and take Allie away or whatever.
“I wasn’t driving the car,” he says. “It doesn’t matter. Look at the room, Lucas.” Ted points a shaking finger over to where Mark and his wife are standing together like the perfect couple. He’s shaking hands with everyone, including John.
“That’s Judge Leason. Mark got him in his position and was his biggest donor. Next to him is Al Woodson. He works in the District Attorney’s office. Whatever you think you’re going to do with that file you stole, it won’t matter. Mark owns everything in this town, and once Tom is gone, he’ll have what he needs. Support from every angle. You just need to get back in line where he wants you or he’ll make your life a living hell. Trust me on that one.”
