Uncontrollable (45 page)

 “Test it how?” Parker asks.

 She looks down at the floor and speaks. “I made
Missy a new shot and asked Jeremy to join us.” She swallows nervously again as
she eyes the kitchen floor. “I gave him the one that he had made for Missy.”

 “How is that a test?” Tate demands also sounding
irritated. She needs to get to the fucking point.

She doesn’t answer his question instead she
continues her story. “We waited about ten minutes then we all went to the
freezer where he was. I asked him if he was feeling okay. He told me yes then
asked me why.” She pauses for a long second. “I told him I gave him the shot
that he had made Missy. He freaked.”

When she doesn’t continue I ask, “Freaked how? What
did he do?”

She takes in a slow deep breath. “He shoved me
against some boxes and started choking me,” she says quietly as her eyes fill
with tears. Not tears of her remembering it. Tears of having to confess
something she kept from me.

My hands tighten to fists down at my sides. “What
the fu…?”

“Wait,” Parker interrupts me. “Why would Jeremy be
mad you gave him Missy’s shot?”

 She looks panicked for a second, and she turns to
run away, maybe walk away. I don’t know, but I don’t let her. I grab her by the
arm and spin her around. “Tell us,” I growl. “Quit fucking stalling.”

 “He had drugged it,” she cries jerking her arm out
of my hold.

“What?” Tate barks, standing from his chair. “How
do you know that?”

 Tears fall down her cheeks. “I told you. The shot
looked different, cloudy. He had told her it was the same thing we were
drinking, but I knew something was off. It didn’t look right.” She shakes her
head.

 I turn around and pick up the folder. “None of
that is in here,” I state still trying to figure this out.

She looks at it in my hands. “It should be. I told
the officers everything.” She instantly cringes when she says that statement.

“You’re lying. Why are you lying about something
this fucking important?” I yell not able to hold onto this anger anymore.

 “I didn’t tell him that he had drugged me too,”
she screams at me.

 I grab her by her arms and pull her up against me.
“He had slipped something in your drink that night as well?” I ask shocked.

She shakes her head. “He had admitted to drugging
me before,” she says as tears continue to slide down her cheeks.

 “When? Who the fuck is this guy, anyway?” Tate
asks coming to stand by us.

I let go of her and take a step back from her.
How
could she keep something like this from me? And how did I not see it?

 “His name is Jeremy. I don’t know his last name.
We first met him when we went to our first Rams game together. He was our
bartender at our hotel the night before the game.”

I reach over to the folder and grab it before I
spin around and throw it across the kitchen. Papers go flying all over before
they land in various places throughout the kitchen.

 She starts crying harder knowing I’m pissed. “How
could you keep this from me?” I ask somewhat of a whisper. “Especially after
what Jax did to you?”

 She starts rambling uncontrollably. “I got a call
from the officer while we were in New York, he said Jeremy had pled guilty, and
I wouldn’t have to come in and testify. The other officer had found the drugs
in his pocket. There was no way he could have denied it.”

 Parker instantly jumps from his stool and falls to
his knees in the kitchen. He starts to pick up the papers as he reads over them
in a frantic state. “What other officer?” he asks still reading them over. “It
doesn’t mention another officer.”

 “There were two. He pulled a baggie of pills out
of his pocket when the officer patted him down,” she says quickly.

“I’m telling you. None of what you have said is
written in this police report,” he states angrily.

 I place my hands on the counter and take a deep
breath with my head bowed.
What the fuck is happening?
I want to
strangle her myself. I’m so fucking pissed at her.

“What do you mean none of what I’ve said is written
there?” she asks crying.

 “It means the officer lied,” I say through gritted
teeth. “And an officer only lies if he wants to keep something quiet.”

“We each wrote a statement,” she cries. “Explaining
what we did.”

 Parker stops shuffling through papers and looks up
at her. “There are no statements here. It says they have been lost.”

I look at her, and she has her arms wrapped around
her waist as she shakes her head quickly.

“What else did he say?” I ask, hating that I have
to continue asking these stupid question. She should just be telling me
everything. Instead I have to drag it out of her.

“Nothing.” She looks up at me, and I narrow my eyes
at her. “I swear,” she whispers as her body trembles.

She’s lying.
“You’re lying.” She’s fucking
lying to my face about some piece of shit asshole who drugged her and tried to
drug her friend. Those thoughts hit me like a ton of bricks, and I almost
stumble.

Drugged her.

 Josh had been right the morning before the game
when he speculated that our bartender had drugged her. I shrugged it off
because I thought that was impossible. I had been right there. I only left for
two minutes to use the restroom.

 I grab my keys on the counter and walk around
Parker, who is still trying to read through the form. I don’t know why. It’s
all a fucking lie. As I storm out of the kitchen she comes up behind me.

 “Where are you going?” she asks with panic in her
voice.

“I’m leaving,” is all I say.

She grabs my arm, and I spin around to face her.
“Unless you have something else to tell me.” I stare down at her, and I see the
fear in her eyes. I don’t know if the fear is for me or for what Jeremy had
also said to her.

She shakes her head and takes a step back with
tears rolling down her face. “I promise, that’s all,” she sobs. “Please don’t
leave.”

“You think I don’t know you? I know you’re lying,”
I snap.

“So you’re going to walk away from me?” she asks
wide-eyed but doesn’t correct me.

 How can I stay and look at her when she’s
lying?

 “You should know. You’re the best at walking
away.” It was a low blow, I know it. It was either that or do something I would
regret. I need air. The house all of a sudden feels too small as her sobs fill
the hallway.

 “How can you be mad at me when you lied to me
about Tate and Jax?” she asks and her voice rises.

 “They’re not even close. Tate being your brother
has nothing to do with your life being in jeopardy,” I snap.

 “Jax did,” she shouts fisting her hands to her
side. “Maybe if I would have known more I wouldn’t have been caught off guard
when he popped up.”

I have nothing to say back about that. I spin
around and make my way to my car. Not much longer after that I find myself
sitting in the parking garage at the firm. I make my way up to my office,
thankful everyone has already gone home. As soon as I walk into my office I
loosen my tie before yanking it off along with my jacket. I make my way over to
the scotch that my father gave me for our wedding. I grab the bottle and yank
off the lid.

 I lean up against the wall and slide down until
I’m sitting on my ass. I pull my knees up and place my head on them. I try to
get what just happened out of my mind. I know I should have stayed. She just
admitted that this guy had drugged her and tried to drug her friend but I
couldn’t. If I know Parker, he’s as good at his job as I am mine. He’s probably
still kneeling on the kitchen floor trying to connect the dots, if there are
any.

 I lift my head and take a gulp of the drink before
I hang my head again. I leave my head down when I hear my office door open. I
take a deep breath hoping it’s not her. I’m just not ready for this blow out
that we are going to have.

 “Parker said this was where I could find you.”

I let out a crazy laugh when I hear Tate’s voice. I
lift my head, and he is looking down at me with a frown on his face.

“Sam is upset,” he says.

My eyes harden. “Well, I’m pissed.” I know she has
a problem with letting others in, but to not tell me this? How fucking stupid
could she be?

He sits down on my couch and eyes me for a few long
seconds before he speaks. “I’m pissed off at her too,” he admits leaning back
on the couch. “I’ve called Missy like twenty times. She won’t answer.”

 “Have you even spoken to her since Vegas?” I know
the answer, I don’t know why I fucking asked.

“No. But I would say now is the time to put that
shit aside,” he says angrily.

 “I’m pretty sure she did that after the second you
were finished using her.” I cringe from my words. “I’m so…”

“It’s the truth,” he interrupts me. “Don’t be sorry
for telling the truth.”

I tip the drink back and take another swig before I
hold it out to him. He takes it without a word.

 “How did we get here?” I ask not really expecting
an answer.

“I don’t know.

I think back to that night at Larry’s.

She seemed happy. All the girls seemed happy to me.
“You were right,” I say remembering more and more from that night.“When you
thought Missy was drunk that night. She had been.”

He nods his head. “Sam told me she made her take
that drink, otherwise Jeremy would have been suspicious.”

 I lean my head against the wall as I recall
another part of the night.

“Hey, do you remember that night that we went
down to the bar at our hotel with Courtney and Josh?”

I nod my head. “I left you for five minutes, and
you went up to the room.” I smile.

“Yeah.” She swallows. “I wasn’t feeling well.”

“I know.” I reach up and push a few stray hairs
behind her ear. “I tried to help you get undressed and you said you were going
to get sick. So, I carried you to the restroom.”

“I got sick?” she asks, pulling back a little
bit from me.

“Yes. You don’t remember that?”

“No, I just remember waking up in the middle of
the night looking for some Tylenol, and I finally found my purse in the
bathroom.”

I remember placing her purse on the floor when I
set her in front of the toilet.

“Did we have sex that night?” she asks,
surprising me.

“No,” I respond, slowly. “You were sick. Sex was
the last thing on my mind. I just wanted to take care of you.” My answer causes
a smile to spread across her face. She steps back up to me and wraps her arms
around me again.

“Fuck. I was so stupid,” I say as I jump to my feet
and start to pace. “It was right there. She asked me if we had sex the night
before the Rams game. She didn’t remember that she had gotten sick.” I run a
hand through my hair. “How did I not see it?”

“No one could have seen it, Slade. You didn’t even
know that this Jeremy guy even worked there,” he says remaining on the couch.

“Exactly. If I would have known, I would have
recognized him from the hotel.”

What all had she said happened that night that
wasn’t on the report? She said that there were two cops and that one had pulled
drugs out of his pocket.

My head snaps up to look at Tate. “She said he had
drugs.”

 “I can call my contacts again,” he says casually.

Again!
Just the thought of what Jax had done
to her has me fisting my hands to my side.

 Then a thought hits me. “Jeremy,” I breathe trying
to control my thoughts.

 Tate nods slowly. “That was the guy’s name.”

 I shake my head. “No.”
They have to be
connected.

 “What are you thinking?” he asks tilting his head.

 “Jeremy starts with a J. He drugged her back at
the Rams game and then tried to drug Missy,” I continue, adding everything up.
“Angel swore that there was someone else there with Jax in that house when he
drugged her. Dallas said that Jax lived with a guy who went by J.”

Tate shoots to his feet as well. “But we didn’t
find any info on a guy named J. And the only drug that was in her system then
was ketamine. Sam said that he slipped a pill in Missy’s drink that night at
Larry’s.”

 “It has to be connected somehow,” I mumble
thinking aloud.

I fire up my computer and pull out my cell calling
my brother. If I can get the employment records for Jeremy, that will give me
someplace to start. I place it on speakerphone as it rings, setting it on my
desk.

 “Hello?” he answers sounding tired.

“I need to speak to Holly.”

Holly didn’t tell me much.
She was a fucking mess. I guess Angel had called her and informed her of what
went down. She and Micah were fighting just as bad as we were over what they
kept from us. So I got nothing.