Chapter 36

Jade POV

I leave Dakota alone at my house. He promises he will not leave the house. I hope he is doesn’t do anything stupid like try to contact Melanie or leave the damn house. He has no idea just how crazy she is right now. I am sure her focus is on him, and possibly Tonya too.

I drive across town to my dad’s house. I pull into the drive and park my car behind his. I do not see Tonya’s car. He must have brought her here. I wonder what exactly happened that made him make that rash decision. Please do not be in love with this tramp, dad.

I walk into the house's front door to see the two of them almost on top of each other in the kitchen.

“Dad,” I say.

“Sorry, sweetie, I did not hear you pull up,” Heath says.

“Of course not, you were occupied,” I say.

I walk over to the kitchen bar and sit down with the two of them. I will be pleasant. She is going to help me with this situation.

“What time are you meeting Melanie?” I ask Tonya.

“I am meeting her for lunch at a dinner not far from here,” Tonya says.

“What are you driving? I did not see your car in the driveway,” I ask her.

“Oh, I am going to call a cab,” Tonya says.

“Look, I need you to get her talking. We need her to admit Dakota did not rape her. A bonus would be if she would admit what she did to Luke,” I say to her.

“The missing man from across the water?” Tonya asks.

“Yeah, him, I need to find him,” I snap back at her.

“Is Dakota with you?” Tonya asks.

“No, I have him in a safe place,” I answer her.

“Good, he does not deserve any of this,” Tonya says.

“No, he does not. It does not help that you twisted Melanie all up and got her on fire for him either,” I say to her.

“Hey, she told me she did not want him anymore, then she changed her mind. She said she felt betrayed by him,” Tonya says.

“Let’s hope she puts her focus somewhere else,” I say.

“Like where? On me?” Tonya says.

“I cannot think of anyone more deserving than you,” I say to her in a huff.

This entire conversation is upsetting my dad. “Look, she has agreed to help you; let us be civil, okay,” my dad says.

“I know some of this is my fault, but I did not tell her to accuse him of rape,” Tonya says.

“No, I do not think you did,” I admit.

“Will you be close by when I go to meet her?’ Tonya asks.

“Yes, I will be outside listening, and so will my dad,” I say to her.

“That makes me feel a little safer,” Tonya says. She leans into my dad, and he cuddles her. I feel sick watching Tonya, all of my dad. He is an idiot. She prefers younger men that she can control this will not work out well for my dad. I am not going to say anything until after we get the information we need.

“I need to get you set up with a listening device that she won’t be able to see, I have a tiny pen you can put in your purse, or I can give you a pair of earrings to wear. The earrings provide visual and audio; it is up to you,” I say to her.

“I can wear the earrings that way you have both,” Tonya says.

“Okay, I will get it set up with my laptop,” I say to her.

I leave the two of them and go to my car to get the earrings and my laptop. I am happy she made her choice for the audio and visual. I hope my dad can see what a tramp she is and leave her alone after all of this is over. Plus, I think the visual will do better to free Dakota. One thing Tonya is right about is that he does not deserve any of this.

I get everything together and go back into the house. They are not in the kitchen. Thank goodness, I have had enough of them if I am frank with myself. I sit down at the kitchen bar and begin configuring the earrings to my laptop. I have not used these before, so it might take a minute.

The two of them hurried off to the bedroom. I can hear them, and it is making me sick to my stomach. I mean, seriously, they could not wait until after we take care of business.

I continue configuring the earrings when my phone buzzes. I look down to see it is Dakota. He sent me a picture of himself in the bedroom. He texts * I am bored but doing what I said. Please take care of this soon; I am going out of my mind*

*have some patience* I text him back.

I feel like I am babysitting everyone in this group. The tramp and my dad return to the kitchen after their quick romp in the sack. That was quick, thank goodness.

“Melanie just text me and is on her way to the dinner,” Tonya says.

“Okay, cool, put this on,” I say to her as I hand her the earrings.

She takes the earrings and puts the earrings in her ears. “I will call a cab,” Tonya says.

Tonya goes back to the bedroom to call a cab. “Really, dad, she is a tramp,” I say to him.

“She is a real good person once you get to know her,” Dad says.

“You mean once you start fucking her,” I snap at him.

“Hey, that is uncalled for, Jade. I am telling you, she is a good person; she is just a little mixed up,” dad says to me.

“You cannot fix her, but have fun trying,” I say to him.