The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The First Collection by Frost, J (great novels .txt) 📕

start to clear the table but Daddy waves me back into my chair. “You’re taking it easy tonight, little girl. Jiro and I will tidy up while Theo has a word with Laurel.”

Laurel’s Dom wipes his mouth, stands and helps Daddy pick up the dirty plates.

“If it’s okay,” Laurel says quietly. “I’d rather talk out here.” She reaches over and takes my hand. “I’m okay with Emily and DirtyGurl hearing. I mean, they don’t have to stay if they don’t want to, but I’d feel better if they did.”

“Of course,” I tell her.

“Emily, come here,” Daddy says from near the sink.

I give Laurel a reassuring smile before I disentangle my hand and pad over to Daddy. He won’t make me leave Laurel all alone when she’s scared, will he?

He holds his hand out to me and when I take it, walks me into his office, and closes the door behind us.

“Laurel was gang-raped,” he says quietly. “After she left the Fire Island party. Will you be okay if she decides to talk about it?”

I consider for a moment, because I don’t want to sound glib. “I’ll be okay, Daddy. I want to support her.”

“That’s my sweet girl.” Daddy pulls me against his chest and kisses my forehead. “I want to support her, too.”

He hugs me for a moment before he leads me back to the table, where Theo is already asking Laurel questions about the Fire Island party. He didn’t waste any time, did he? Mean man. I slide back into my chair and take Laurel’s hand.

“What time did you get to the party?” Theo asks Laurel.

“I honestly don’t remember. Best guess would be mid-afternoon. We’d had lunch already.”

“What did you have for lunch?” he asks.

She shakes her head. “Sorry, I don’t remember.”

“Did you take a pill before or after you ate?”

“Usually after. They’d started to bother my stomach if I took them without food. But I don’t specifically remember.”

“When did you start drinking?”

“That morning. We had mimosas with breakfast. Long Island Iced Teas with lunch. Gin when we got to the party.”

Theo taps his pen against the notebook in which he’s making notes. “Would you say you were drunk at any point?”

“Yes, but not until later. After Rick left, we went back to the party and I did a couple of vodka shots with Dovie. Probably four or five. I remember the room started spinning. Dovie went and found me some crackers. After I ate them, I took another pill and lay down on the bed. That’s when Dovie hooked up with that guy. I was in and out while they were going at it.”

“But you were awake and aware while you were having sex with Mr. Errol?”

Laurel nods as Jiro sits down on her far side. Daddy takes his seat next to me, wiping his soapy hands on his T-shirt.

“In the weeks leading up to the party, how much did you generally drink in a day?”

“It varied depending on who I was with and what I was doing, but I’d usually down a shot or two with breakfast, have cocktails at lunch and then have two or three bottles of wine at night.”

“Would you say you were constantly drunk?” Theo asks.

“No, I’d say I was rarely drunk but always buzzed. Whenever the happy started wearing off, I’d have another drink.”

“And the pills?”

“Fifty milligrams four times a day. I was trying to keep it under two hundred milligrams a day so my doctor didn’t think I was addicted. That’s why I started mixing the Tramadol with booze. The pills alone didn’t take the edge off anymore.”

“What edge?” Theo asks.

Laurel glances at Jiro. He nods and puts a hand on her shoulder.

“As much as you’re comfortable with, petto.”

Laurel takes a deep breath, holds it for a moment, then lets it out. I recognize the calming technique; Daddy uses it a lot with me. I squeeze her hand and she squeezes back.

“I was molested by someone close to me when I was in high school. I had a lot of trouble dealing with it. Then I broke my leg and the doctor gave me the pills and when I was high, it didn’t hurt anymore. No more flashbacks or nightmares. I felt empty, but at least I wasn’t hurting.”

I squeeze her hand again and she gives me a small smile. That smile makes my heart ache for her. She looks so fierce and strong on the outside, but inside, there’s such terrible pain. I glance at Logan. He’s watching me and as soon as I meet his eyes, he leans forward and puts his arm around my shoulders.

“Do you need a break, baby doll?” he whispers to me.

I shake my head, not wanting to abandon Laurel. I imagine that my fingers are sharp talons, that wings the sapphire of DirtyGurl’s hair are folded against my back, and that smoke curls from my nostrils. I’m a dragon, strong and fierce, standing with my dragon-friend.

“How long were you on the pills?”

“Nearly three years.”

Theo looks down at his notes. “And you finished college and worked that whole time?”

Laurel nods. “I was a high-functioning addict. And the motto at the Frist Group is work hard, play hard. A lot of my co-workers got along with me better when I was using.”

“How did you get the job at the Frist Group?” Theo asks.

“That’s not relevant,” Jiro growls. “Neither is what happened to Laurel in high school. Get to the point.”

Theo taps his pen on his notebook without meeting Jiro’s eyes, then nods to himself. “Okay. Before the Fire Island party, had you participated in kink?”

“I’m not sure exactly how you define kink. I hadn’t done formal scenes.”

“Did you know what a safe word was?”

“Yes,” Laurel says firmly.

“Did you establish a safe word before the scene with Mr. Errol?”

“No, and I don’t really consider what happened with Rick a scene.”

“No? Why not?”

“He gave me the pain I asked for, but that was it. He didn’t dominate or humiliate me. None of the kind of thing you were