Page 175 of Voices

Guess there’s no escaping them now.

I’m sitting in the pickup area in a wheelchair while Lily fills me in on her day. Apparently, Noah has moved on from trying to get with her and is now dating a freshman who looks like she stepped out of a Playboy magazine. Fake tits and all.

I see Shane’s truck pull up and jump out of the wheelchair.

“Hey, you’re supposed to be sitting. Nothing strenuous, remember.” Lily reaches for me. “You have weakened lungs, a massive cast, and dizzy spells,” she chastises.

I might have lied to the nurse about having those. Not sure if being dizzy would have kept me here but a week was enough for me.

“I’m fine.”

Shane appears and opens my door. “Hook your right arm around my neck and I’ll lift you in.”

He kisses me once I’m seated and buckled in. “Love you.”

He’s been kissing me a lot this week and I can’t say that I’m not enjoying it. He was affectionate before but now anytime we’re near each other, he gives me a kiss and always needs to be touching me.

Lily waves as she heads to her car while we pull away.

We’re quiet as we pull out of the parking lot but, I’ve had a question lingering in the back of my mind since I’ve been remembering more from that night, and I can’t keep it in anymore.

“Did you kiss Katie at the party,” I ask softly while looking down and playing with the string of my hoodie.

“What? I haven’t been with her in over a year.” I see him look at me out of the corner of my eye. “Baby, I’d never cheat on you. You know that, right?”

I nod slowly. “Yeah, but I saw a picture of you guys and it looked like-”

“She was drunk,” he interrupts, “and was hanging all over me. I was making sure she didn’t fall and hurt herself.” He stops at a red light and turns my chin so I’m looking at him. “I love you and only you Charlie Alexander. No one in this world could ever change that.”

I fight back tears because I know he loves me and would never do that. It just felt like he picked her over me in that moment.

“I know. I’m sorry,” I whisper.

He wipes away the tear that escapes and leans in for a kiss. “No more crying, remember? We have each other and that’s all we’ll ever need.” He kisses my forehead before turning away and continues driving when the light turns green.

“Is there any news about Conrad?”

He and Ryder filled me in on how Ryder’s dad is putting together an investigation on Conrad for not only sexually assaulting me but other young men as well.

Shane blows out a slow breath. “There’s a warrant out for his arrest but so far they haven’t found him.”

My heart sinks. I don’t want to live in fear, knowing he’s still out there somewhere.

“But,” he squeezes my thigh, “there are cameras everywhere these days. So, it’s only a matter of time before one of them spots him up, and then he’ll have evading police added to his sentence.”

That makes me feel a little better. He’s not smart enough to hide from the police without my father’s help.

This brings me to ask an even harder question.

“What about Franklin?” My heart beats faster knowing he’ll do everything in his power to manipulate his way out of being accused of anything.

He smiles as he glances at me. “It turns out he hired the wrong guy to review his financials. Well, wrong for him but good for us.” He winks. “Jeremy Conway was hired by your father a little over a year ago and throughout the year he has been documenting multiple fraudulent accounts as well as years of tax evasion.”

“He stole money? Why would he do that when he has millions of dollars?"

Shane shrugs. “Greed? Either way Jeremy reported everything to the IRS when he heard about what happened with Conrad.”

I bite my lip. “So does that mean he’s in prison?”

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