Call
The phone woke Nick. He reached for his nightstand, but the blankets twisted around him and prevented him from grabbing the phone.
It continued ringing. He finally pushed them aside. By the time he grabbed his cell phone, it had stopped.
He grumbled and checked the caller ID.
Corrine.
Great. What did she want? Could she just not get enough of his voice? His ex hadn’t called him this much since they were married. Not even in all the time since Hanna had moved in with him.
He returned the call, wishing he could just ignore it. If something was wrong with Parker or Ava, he had to know.
“What was so important that you couldn’t answer my call?” Corrine answered.
He ignored the question. “What do you need?”
“Something happened to Ava last night, and I thought you should know.”
Nick’s heart thundered against his ribcage. “What? What happened to her?”
He recalled her inappropriate Halloween costume and feared the worst. As a cop, he’d seen everything, and horrible images flashed through his mind.
“An older boy tried to take advantage of her at the party.”
“Tried?”
Please let that mean that nothing actually happened.
“He groped her, and she told him no. He didn’t stop, so she screamed. Some other kids came to the bedroom, and he finally stopped. It could’ve been a lot worse, but it wasn’t.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“She’s shaken and resting.”
Nick clenched his fists. “I didn’t ask how she’s doing. I said to let me talk to her.”
“Ava doesn’t want to talk about this. She didn’t want me to know, but Parker told me.”
Nick took a deep breath. “What kind of party did you send them to?”
“A kids’ party, Nick. It was at the house of one of her friends.”
“Wait, you said the guy is older. How much older?”
“I knew you’d freak out.”
Nick saw red. “Freak out? You haven’t seen me freak out, Corrine! Answer my question now, before I fly over there and force it out of you.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Don’t do this, Corrine. Don’t twist my words. Just tell me what I want to know about my daughter. How old was the boy who groped her?”
“Fifteen.”
“Two years older than her? Are you pressing charges?”
“No, we—”
“No?” Nick jumped to the floor and paced. “Have you lost your mind? The kid is a predator in the making! Forget in the making. He already is one.”
“He apologized and said it was a lapse in judgment.”
“You think?” Nick shouted. “Listen to me, Corrine, and listen good. Either you take action against the pervert or I will.”
“This is why I didn’t want to tell you. You’re overreacting. It was just a case of kids being kids. The boy was testing boundaries, and now he’s learned his lesson. He’s probably the last boy alive to ever do that again.”
Nick struggled to think clearly. “How can you defend the jerk?”
“You know how these things work, Nick. We file charges against him, and he’s labeled a sexual predator for the rest of his life. Think about that.”
“Think about this. Next time he does something stupid like that, there’s no record that he’s done it before. He’ll get off scot free and think it’s okay. What will that teach his friends? Before you know it, Ava’s in a school full of boys who think they can do whatever they want to girls. Is that what you want for her?”
Corrine sighed. “You’re taking this one incident too far.”
“Am I? Have you forgotten that I know how these things work? I see this kind of crap every day. Sexual predators don’t change.”
“He’s not a predator! He’s just a kid who made a mistake. I knew I never should’ve brought this up.”
“Don’t try to manipulate me into responding the way you want me to. I’m not letting this go, and I’m not overreacting. Do something about this, or I’m flying in. Today.”
“Please don’t.” Was that begging in her tone?
“What’s going on?”
Corrine’s voice quieted. “He’s Dave’s son. That’s how I know his motives.”
Nick punched the wall, leaving a dent in the drywall. “That miscreant is your boyfriend’s kid? Are they living there?”
“I told you he doesn’t live here.”
“Wait, you also told me he doesn’t have any kids!”
“No, I just never mentioned them to you.”
Nick balled his fist and aimed for the wall again, but stopped himself this time. “I’m pretty sure you told me he has no kids. You lied. What else have you lied about?”
“Nick, would you get ahold of yourself? You’re totally overreacting.”
“You’ve lost your mind! I’m acting like any sane father would who has just been hit with this load you dropped on me.”
“Ava’s fine, Nick. I just thought you should know what happened. That’s all. I knew you wouldn’t be happy, but honestly, this is a lot worse than I ever imagined.”
“Don’t do this,” Nick warned. “Like I said, I’m not overreacting, and I’m not letting this go. Let me talk to Ava, and you can use that time to figure out how you want to handle this.”
“She’s resting.”
“You actually expected to have this conversation without me talking to Ava?” Nick exclaimed. “I don’t know why this surprises me. Put her on the phone. You can explain why she needs to talk to me.”
“Really? You’re going to do this to her? After all she’s been through!”
“You just said she’s fine!” So many thoughts pulsed through Nick’s mind. “Either Ava’s okay, and she can talk to me or she’s not. What is it?”
“You win. I’ll get her.”
“I win? You call this winning?”
“Hold on, Nick.”
He paced, taking deep breaths. He needed to be calm when he spoke to Ava. If he sounded even the slightest bit upset, she would probably shut down and not tell him anything.
Corrine made a habit of trying to keep Nick from getting too involved with the kids, but this was taking it too far. Ava needed protection from that kid, but it seemed like Corrine was far more concerned with protecting Dave and his miscreant kid.
“Daddy?” Ava’s voice came through the phone. She hadn’t called him that since… Nick couldn’t remember.
He took a deep, silent breath to steady his voice. “Hi, honey. How are you doing?”
“Did Mom tell you?”
“She told me some jerk kid gave you a tough time at the party last night.”
“So, you already know.”
“I want to hear it from you. Tell me your side.”
“I… I… Do I have to?”
“Ava, sweetie, I need to know what’s going on. You have to tell me everything.”
She sighed.
“I’m not going to judge you,” Nick promised. “You didn’t do anything wrong, but even if you had, you didn’t deserve anyone touching you without your permission.”
Silence.
“Are you still there?” Nick asked, struggling to keep his tone calm.
“If you already know everything, why do I have to tell you?”
“I’m your dad. I need to know what happened, so your mom and I can decide what the next step will be.”
“But she already said—”
“We haven’t decided anything. If you don’t feel comfortable talking over the phone, I can fly out there. We can talk in person.”
“No, you don’t have to do that.” She sighed again. “I was at the party with Parker, as you know.”
“Yeah.”
“I… well, everything was going fine until some older kids showed up with a bunch of beer.”
Nick wanted to wring Corrine’s neck. Hadn’t she checked into what kind of party she was sending the kids to? He took a deep breath. “Go on. I’m not going to be mad at either of you. What happened next?”
“Then kids started drinking it. Things got really crazy.”
“What does that mean?”
“They…” Ava’s voice trailed off. Soft whispering sounded in the background.
“Is your mom telling you what to say?” Nick asked, careful to keep the demanding tone out.
Ava didn’t respond.
“Ava?”
“I need to rest.”
“Did she tell you to say that?”
Ava didn’t say anything.
“Tell her I’m booking my flight out right now. I’ll see you soon, honey.”