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I considered the fact his father had been a bully. Called him a faggot. Had his treatment over the years caused Jasper to feel ashamed of his desires?
“Congratulations on your success,” Troy said, pressing himself against Silas and bringing my focus on the present. Thoughts of feminine clothing and whatever wounds my boyfriend still secretly lugged around could wait until we had privacy.
“I wouldn’t have it without you and Silas,” I assured him. “Thank you.”
“We’re happy to have you on the payroll,” Silas said, handing me a folded piece of paper.
Working for Silas was a dream come true. The other three people on my team seemed handpicked to act like a well-oiled machine—which we did. We had put together a long-term plan to drag a failing start-up business from the cliff of bankruptcy, and with Silas’s slight tweaks and his Midas touch, he not only bailed them out but sold the company for a ridiculous profit.
I’d never seen a bonus check like the one I unfolded.
“Holy fuck.” I gulped, focus jerking up to his appreciative gaze.
“Thank you for your hard work and dedication to making me money.”
I barked a laugh at Silas’s statement, loving the playful smirk that lessened his intensity. “Glad to be of service.”
How often had I’d claimed those words earlier in the year while on the clock for Elite? Like my life at the time, the statement had been a lie. But with Silas? I’d never been more grateful to fulfill my role in his company. Sitting in an office and some days working remote from home satisfied me ten times more than feigning a persona and offering up my dick for some random guy who’d paid to be stuffed full.
Sure, my weekly hours for Silas tended to be triple if not quadruple of those with Elite, but I wouldn’t have traded my new job for anything. A sense of accomplishment filled me on a daily basis, and with Jasper’s dedication and love, as well as Zeke’s continued therapy sessions, I enjoyed more emotional highs than lows.
The four of us stood and bullshitted for a little while before the elephant in the room became a topic of conversation. Leave it to the lawyer to mention Joseph’s upcoming trial.
“Will you go?” Troy addressed me.
Jasper had asked me the same a few times. While I wanted to gloat in watching Joseph lose hope about escaping the charges against him, I had no wish to relive the night I’d been the one tied to a bed, drugged, and sexually assaulted.
Rarely did a day pass that I didn’t have a memory flit through my brain about Joseph Delaney and all he’d done to me, but they no longer tilted me off my axis. I’d learned to redirect my thoughts when they became overwhelming thanks to Zeke and the “toolbox” he’d given me. I’d gained a level of stability I hadn’t known existed, and I finally felt comfortable in my own skin. Learning to accept my feelings was a life-altering feat. Intentional shutdowns had become a thing of the past.
But facing Joseph could very well bring an emotional shitstorm I wasn’t sure I could withstand.
I wanted to though. Fuck, how I lusted to hold his gaze, let him see that I’d found my footing, that Jasper continued to cradle the heart he’d attempted to carve his name into. Joseph had forced me to share his blood, but he would never own my soul in the way Jasper did.
My innermost parts as well as the physical body protecting them all belonged to my partner.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I said.
Jasper squeezed my hand, a silent assurance that he had my back no matter what I chose.
“Is Detective Jenner still after you to press charges?” Silas asked. “If they have a second man’s almost identical story added atop the first victim, there’s no way Delaney will be able to get his son another slap to the wrist rather than life behind bars.”
“He just called again yesterday,” I said, “but I haven’t changed my answer.”
Joseph’s past record had come out in the media—drug possession, battery, and more than a few harassment orders against him. While Detective Jenner wasn’t able to share details with me, I’d read through the lines during our phone conversations.
The death threat texts I’d received the night Joseph showed up at Jasper’s were almost identical to the other victim’s. The detective had hinted that a video also contained damning evidence—of myself showcased as a casualty of Joseph’s unlawful kinks as well. I had been identified, but again I declared I wouldn’t press charges. Nor would I take the stand.
Without my testimony or coming forward, Joseph would get twenty years at the least if found guilty of the District Attorney’s charges. Was it enough?
Did he deserve to rot the rest of his days behind bars? Absolutely. But I was comfortable in the life I’d found. I just wanted to work, go home to the man I loved more than life, and crawl beneath the covers with him after cooking our dinner together.
Jasper didn’t lean either way. He supported my decision, same as Micah.
“And the DA?” Troy asked. “Surely they would be pushing to get you on the stand if those videos you told us about showed your face.”
“Reluctant witness,” I stated, expecting he would understand since he knew about Elite. The defense would probably dig into my past and crush me to a bloody pulp. I’d done research since filing that order. It had been for the best I’d never gone after Joseph.
Shitwouldhave hit the fan.
