Unleashed

Chapter Sixteen: Drug

Ryker Fox

Lakeside Apartments

"So..what now?" I asked Dexter, trying hard to concentrate on the issue at hand. But all I could think about is Emma Riley  outside, and if she's ever going to forgive me for bringing all this drama to her life.

Dexter  sighed, before getting up from the kitchen table where we sat and walking over to the coffee pot to pour himself another.

"I thought it best to fill you in on everything going on before acting further. Now that I have, I say we contact her directly." He said with an irritation in his voice.

I rolled my eyes. "Contact her and say what?! 'We know what you did last summer?'"  He scoffed at my sarcasm, but I wasn't really kidding. I felt furious, and totally violated. I had no interest in speaking to Sheila.

Dexter  slowly walked back over to the table and returned to his seat wirh his freshly poured coffee as he spoke. "Look, she has to have an angle for all this. Revenge or money are the most likely options. But if we go to the police there's no turning back, it's all public. I want to see if there's a way to handle this quietly."

I shook my head at him and my eyes widened. "Surely you don't mean pay her off? Because that's not going to happen." I said, not being shy to show my annoyance. That was something I wasn't budging on. She's not getting a single cent from me.

"That's not what I'm saying, Ryker. If she really did develop some kind of feelings, maybe we can help her understand the severity of the situation. There will be consequences for her if we were to go to the police for this." He said, sipping his coffee.

I thought about what he said for a minute before I finally understood what it was he was saying. I nodded and pressed my lips together. "You mean intimidate her into letting it go?" I guessed. He shrugged, but I could tell I was right.

"What about what Gina said? About Sheila and Maria in this together..do you think there could be any truth to that?" I wondered out loud. My first guess would be, it's very possible. It would make more sense to me if Maria  was the brains behind this. She just seemed much more likely to think of something like this than Sheila. I wouldn't be surprised if Sheila  was her puppet.

He thought about it for a moment, before finally shrugging. "It's possible, I suppose." He hesitated, and narrowed his eyes in thought.

"But?" I prompted, guessing he had more to say than that. He sighed and wiped away sweat from his forehead.

"But..at this point it's just a theory. We know Sheila posted the video, but we know little else." He reasoned, his eyes filled with stress. "We have to be careful throwing around accusations of things we have no proof of. It could come back to bite us in the ass." He continued, picking up his coffee from the table.

I sighed, accepting his reasoning. He had a point about that. We couldn't drag Maria  into it without proof she knew anything about it. I'm just not sure how to get that proof.

"So..what do you suggest?" I asked, urging him to get to a point. In the back of my mind, I was well aware Gina  hadn't come back in with Emma, and it really bothered me. I wanted to know that all things considered, Emma Riley  was okay.