are not friends, Jim,” I say evenly.
“No?” He looks at his wife and they both frown.
“No. I love your daughter, plain and simple.”
Chapter 23
Ryder
Justine looks at me with wide eyes as if she’s surprised I’m telling her parents how I feel. But I have nothing to hide and no one to protect but the woman standing before me.
But Jim doesn’t respond to my statement, and Vicky protectively puts an arm around Justine’s shoulders. “Aren’t you the man who kidnapped our daughter?”
“How do you know that?” Justine asks.
“EXPOSÉ,” Vicky answers. “They’ve been giving up-to-the-minute coverage on you. You went missing, Justine. Everyone has been worried sick.” She begins to sob and Jim pulls his wife into a hug.
“There, there, Vicky. Everyone is in one piece, everything is going to be okay.”
Justine shakes her head. “Not everyone is one piece. Luther has a bloody face and should be put in prison. And I can’t believe you’d believe anything that gossip column wrote. They don’t know anything about this. They weren’t with me the last twenty-four hours.”
“Then tell us what happened,” Vicky says.
“If you weren’t kidnapped by this man,” Jim says, pointing to me. “Why didn’t you call us? Do you know how terrified we’ve been? Poor Eileen has been a complete wreck. She felt responsible for you.”
Justine shakes her head. “No one is responsible for me. I am responsible for myself.”
Vicky shakes her head. “Justine, do you hear yourself? We thought you had...” She starts crying again, and Justine’s shoulders fall, realizing the pain she is causing her family.
But the truth is, this isn’t Justine’s fault at all.
“It’s my fault she didn’t call. We got caught up in the moment and didn’t think about anyone.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” her mom says. “Justine, did you plan to ruin the auction? Do you know how many people are covering this story right now? Every news source in the country is talking about the kidnapped virgin.”
Justine crosses her arms. “Well, I’m neither of those things, so they can stop talking about me.”
My eyes just about pop out of my eye sockets. Is she really talking about her virginity like this with her parents?
Her dad doesn’t seem to follow though. “Are you saying that man Luther took you against your will?” Jim is all choked up, his fists are clenched. He’s on fucking fire. “We were sent here by the police, and they filled us in briefly, but if he hurt you, Justine, you should have an examination by a doctor. This evidence can be used in court when we sue his sorry ass.”
I can respect this man. His focus is on his daughter’s well-being, and it’s clear he’ll do what is necessary to get vengeance.
“It wasn’t Luther,” Justine says. “I mean, if Ryder had taken longer to find me, it might have been, but Luther didn’t touch me like that even though he wanted to.” Justine wipes a tear. “I know you respected my choice to do this auction, Mom, and Dad, but you were right to be worried, to doubt my plan.”
“Once you set your mind to something, Justine,” Jim says. “we know it’s useless to try and talk you out of it.”
“Well, I wish I had listened. If Ryder hadn’t taken me away from the auction, then I would have spent the night with Luther and he is a monster. I owe Ryder everything. He saved me.”
Vicky’s lips are pursed as she listens to her daughter’s story. “So I can kind of see how you are justifying not calling what Ryder did kidnapping, but if Luther didn’t touch you, why are you saying you’re no longer a virgin?”
Justine’s cheeks redden, and she shakes her head. “Mom, really. Do we have to do this?”
“What?” Vicky asks, raising her hands in question. “You brought it up.”
Both Vicky and Justine glance my way and I know there is no keeping this from Justine’s parents.
There is no time to try to get out of it, though, because Jim is already pouncing on me, stepping closer, but I don’t back up. I have nothing to back down for.
“You slept with my daughter?” he asks plainly, his eyes narrowing.
I clear my throat, and Justine tells her dad to calm down.
I’m not tiptoeing around here, and truth is, I think it’s kinda great her parents are so concerned. They care about their daughter, just like I do, and they want to make sure she is okay.
“I did, sir.”
“And was it just about sex?” he asks.
I run my hand