Page 87 of Let Me
Caden’s face has crumpled.
He looks like he might sink to his knees.
“That’s not the whole story, now is it, darling?” Rolland says.
Then he grabs me, tugging me down into his lap. I squirm in his grip, hitting him in the chest, again and again.
Caden rushes toward me, and Benji is on his feet, but Rolland pulls something from his blazer.
A gun.
A fucking gun.
He holds it, pointed up, and I still in his lap.
Caden and Benji both are frozen in place, Caden’s eyes darting from me to Benji and back again.
“Put that down,” Benji says, but it’s the first time I’ve heard fear in his words.
I can smell Rolland. Too much cologne and alcohol on his breath. He strokes his hand down my hair, over the thin material along my tank top over my back. My legs are stretched out on the couch, draped over him.
I don’t dare move.
My eyes are on the handgun.
“The whole story is better,” Rolland purrs, and his hand goes lower down my back. I can barely breathe.
“The whole story is that I used that little bit of blackmail to make sure she never got too far from me.”
Caden shakes his head. He’s a few feet from us and I know he wants to close the distance. He wants to run to me. His chest is heaving beneath his crisp white shirt, but he doesn’t dare move.
“What are you talking about?” he asks.
I know what he’s talking about. I know what Rolland is going to say, and it makes this all the worse. One more part of my betrayal that even Caden won’t understand.
“I’ve always felt the tension between both of you. When you came home for holidays or on the weekends. I could practicallytasteher pussy and how wet it got for you.”
“You sick fuck,” Benji says from beside us.
Caden’s eyes are murderous.
“I knew you felt the same about her. And Jack…” he sighs. “Jack was never going to marry her. Jack couldn’t help himself. Couldn’t make himself happy. There was no way he could make her happy.” Rolland looks at me and leans in, inhaling in my neck, breathing me in.
My entire body is shaking.
The gun is still aimed at the ceiling, and I don’t dare move.
His hand is just above the waistband of my shorts.
“It was me that she needed. I never planned for her to run to me, from her fucking slut of a mother. But I’m so glad she did. Because with that video, I made her come to me, over and over again these past few years. Because I couldn’t stand the sight of her getting away from me.”
“You…” Caden breathes. His eyes go from me, to his father, and back again to me. “Is that true?” he asks quietly.
I nod and take a shaky breath. I feel Rolland’s eyes on me. “I wanted to tell you, Caden,” I manage to say. “I wanted to tell you.” A sob tears through me, but I bite my lip, holding it in. “I wanted to so bad.” I shake my head, the grief clawing at me. “I really did.” I can barely breathe, but I push the words out. “I’m so sorry I never did. That night…I was in shock. This is why…it’s why I left Jack.”
There’s no sound in the room but my own muffled sobs.
But then Benji speaks.
