AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After making her wait for a full minute in hopes that Damien will get here sooner rather than later, I say, “Yes, you know the other person.”
She presses on, asking me yet another question to try to uncover the truth without Damien. “I see, and do I happen to like this person?”
She’s using her journalistic skills to try to get to the bottom of this, just as I predicted she would. If I tell her the truth, she will probably guess it was Jake, but if I lie, it will only anger her when I eventually tell her the truth.
The truth is coming as soon as Damien joins us. I just need her to be patient and understanding.
I stare into my best friend’s gaze and see everything but patience and understanding.
Making her wait another full minute, I eventually give in and answer her question. I just hope Damien is already on his way to us. “Typically, no. You do not like this person.”
“Ooh, intrigue. Okay, so it is someone I don’t like who is somehow blackmailing you.”
Her eyebrows furrow in concentration as she is scrolling through everyone she knows in her mind, trying to figure out which person is responsible for all of this heartbreak and drama.
“I never said I was being blackmailed.”
Although, I can’t deny it because that is exactly what Jake is doing to me.
Her chuckle is soft and quiet as she rolls her eyes. “You didn’t have to say the word outright. If you can’t tell me, your best friend, or Damien, your lover, then it has to be blackmail. There is literally no other option, at least not in my books.”
I join in and laugh with her. “Well, you would be right.”
This is the first time I have laughed since Jake confronted me that night. It feels nice yet strange and forbidden in my time of darkness.
Damien’s voice sounds from down the hall, causing Mara and me to turn around to face him. “What is Mara right about?”
Mara cuts in and answers for me. “It’s blackmail. Shae is being blackmailed by someone I don’t like. That’s all I’ve been able to pull out of her while we were waiting for you.”
Damien rolls his eyes and lets out a sigh. “Well, yeah, what else could it have been? Obviously, someone who knows about me and my relationship with Shaela. I just don’t know how they were able to figure it out because we were careful.”
Not that careful. We had sex in his car in broad daylight, but I’m not going to correct him.
I’m more curious as to how Damien figured it out so fast without me telling him? Has he known all along, or did he piece things together this morning after Mara and I barged into his classroom and she demanded answers from him?
Damien digs a key out of his pocket and unlocks the office door before stepping inside and turning on the light.
“Well, lack thereof.” Mara says quietly as we watch him take the seat behind the desk.
I walk into the office and take one of the two seats across from Damien as Mara follows and closes the door behind her to give the three of us a little privacy.
Damien’s eyes narrow as his dark gaze stares at me, demanding answers.
Chapter Nineteen
No more lies. No more excuses. No more half truths.
From here on out, it’s only the truth. The entire truth, no matter what.
I swallow loudly, trying to gather my thoughts and figure out where to begin.
“I had to keep quiet and not tell anyone what was going on. I’m really sorry for all of this, but as you two have already guessed, I am being blackmailed.”
My nervousness is causing my stomach to tighten. The contents of my breakfast threaten to come back up.
“By who? Who is doing this?” Damien demands. His tone is authoritative and aggressive and doesn’t leave room to negotiate.
I feel like a child being reprimanded. A child just sitting here as still as can be waiting for a punishment that I know I deserve.
