#####OQ#####

Ned

Ned groaned as he woke up. Oliver knelt beside him. "Easy, Ned, you fell out. Fainted, believe it or not."

Riley snickered. "Seems to be going around today. I feel like we're back in JR High."

"Fuck off, Riley."

"Back at you."

"Where's Sharon? I need to explain, to talk to her." His head pounded as he attempted to sit up.

"Easy. She ran after Adrian. Probably worried he's going to do something stupid since he just got the shock of his life." Riley shook his head. "Got to say, I'm shocked too. So you're Adrian's dad?"

"Looks like it. And that makes three of us. I honestly didn't know he was mine. I thought he belonged to Glover. Shit! Why did I listen to that note?" He cradled his aching head.

"Care to enlighten me what you mean by that?" Riley dared him.

Ned frowned and Oliver glared at him.

"I'd appreciate a hand up. I'm not as young as I used to be. And no, just like school, our relationship's still none of your damn business. I need to talk to Sharon and as soon as possible. Shit, where's my phone?"

Taking Oliver's outreached hand, he rose to his unsteady feet and patted his pockets and came up empty. Unsteady, he headed into his office.

His phone lay on his desk, and he snatched it up.

Quickly thumbing his way, he found Sharon's number and hit send, his gut tight, aching.

"Come on, pick up, damn it. Pick it up. Just pick it UP!"

But the phone went straight to voice mail and it took all he had not to throw the phone against the wall.

Instead, he left a message. "Sharon, please, call me. I have something to tell you. It's important. Call me just as soon as you get this. And don't talk to anyone about what happened today. I mean anyone."

He sent the call again and left another message. "Sharon, pick the damn phone up."

"Okay, Ned, spill." Oliver stood in his doorway, leaning on the door jam, his massive arms crossed in front of his chest. "I sense something's wrong other than you just found out you're a dad." He held his hands palms up. "Not saying that's not a shock but you're acting like you're upset about something else. Can I help."

Riley's head popped up behind Oliver's shoulder. "Yeah, what's going on? He's right you're acting like something's seriously wrong. Talk to us! We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong."

He hung his head before looking at the two men.

Dare he tell them?

He'd kept this secret a long time. A very long time and he'd missed her a long time.

Maybe he needed to take a chance. Maybe he could finally have what he wanted. Maybe this could all work out. But that was a hell of a lot of maybes.

He nodded. "Okay, you're right something's wrong, been wrong a long time. And, I'm going to take a chance. Riley, I want to be your client, want to hire you."

"My client?" The man looked puzzled.

"Yeah." His gut burned, and he opened his bottom drawer and took out his antacids.

Shaking four of them into his hand, he threw them in his mouth and chewed as the acid crept up burning his throat.

Just talking about this had his stomach churning.

"Okay, call my assistant and set up an appointment."

"Nope, I mean right here and right now. I want client, doctor confidentiality and right now, or I can't tell you anything."

"You're worrying me." Riley ran his fingers through his dark hair as he stared him down.

"Believe me. I haven't even started. And Oliver," he nodded. "I've looked you up, and I figure you've got a lot of secrets, so you won't have a problem keeping a few more."

The tall, solid, man shook his blonde head. "Whatever you need. I'm here for you."

"I figured as much. Okay, I'm going out on a ledge here, and I'm going to trust you both. But if you cross me, I'll swear you're lying. Understand?"

His throat closed up almost choking him as both men nodded.

Standing, he cleared his throat then walked over and locked the locker room door before he turned to pace. "Fell free to pull up a chair, I'm going to tell you a little story."

But, he couldn't sit.

No, there was no way he could sit.

Instead, he paced back and forth.

"I fell for Sharon the first time I saw her. She was the one. And yeah, Riley, you called it. She fired me up from about second grade and she slammed into me in the lunch room and dumped her tray on me. I caught her before she hit the floor and it was like the angels sang, and I saw a halo every time I looked at her. She's made for me. It just took her years to figure that out."

"More like she had demon horns. She hated you." Riley fell back into a chair and grinned. "But I believe it. You two rubbed each other. Put you both in the same room and sparks flew."

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe I didn't know then I worked to piss her off to begin with, but by the time we were in JR high, I damn sure knew she was the one for me. And she spent a lot of time working at pissing me off. Flirting with guys in front of me. Running hot then cold. Then the Grover thing happened and she got pregnant. I wanted to kill them both while his baby grew in her body."

He sighed and shook his head. "God, I was a fool."

"Old news." His school friend waved his hand. "She married Grover and you left. Fast forward to you coming back, probably on leave, and somehow getting her pregnant with Adrian."

"It wasn't that simple. I wish to God it was."

"Go on." Oliver threw the team's clothes and towels in the industrial washer and added soap and pressed the start button.

"The day Sharon and Grover's got married, I took it in my head I'd break up their wedding. I didn't give a fuck she carried his kid. All I knew was she belonged to me, and I wanted her. And, yeah, I was young and dumb. I thought I could walk right up and take her. Jesus, talk about being stupid."

"What happened?" Oliver frowned. "I don't see a happy ending."

"You're right. I pulled up to the church in my old beater, and they were waiting for me."

Riley leaned forward on his blades. "Who?"

"Sherriff Jelly Belly and three of his goons. I'd forgotten who her daddy was."

"Jelly Belly?" Oliver questioned.

"It's what the teenagers called him. Don't remember his real name. Shit, I haven't thought about Jelly Belly for years. He didn't do what I think he did?"

"Oh, yeah, he did. Sharon's dad practiced law around here. He had old money, and me," he stabbed his chest then gave a wave. "Me, I was nothing but white trash from the wrong side of the tracks. Not son-in-law material to say the least."

"I think I can see what's coming." Oliver frowned and straightened.

"Yeah, needless to say, I never made it into the church. They were waiting for me. Sharon married her rich quarterback, and three of them beat the shit out of me, while Jelly Belly watched. Then they threw me in a trunk and I woke up handcuffed to a leaking steel water pipe in the dark basement with slits for eyes and my head swelled up and my ribs broke."

"No way." Riley shook his head.

He threw two more antacids in his mouth and chewed. "Yeah, and I learned to be thankful that pipe leaked."

Oliver turned and walked to the ice machine and got a cup of ice.

"I never knew. I thought you left over losing her to Grover." Riley rubbed the back of his neck.

"No one did. I disappeared into that basement."

Crewing ice, Oliver swallowed and nodded. "They must not have wanted to deal with your corpse. You're a lucky man."

"Morbid much?" Riley cocked his head at Oliver.

"No he's right. They starved me for days. And no one came to save me but they didn't kill me."

"What about your parents?" Riley ask.

"My parents looked for me but there wasn't much they could do, since the law had me locked up. Guess I was lucky since after a few weeks of starving and beating me, a man I'd never seen before made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

He looked down hating this part of the story.

"Go on. Finish it." Oliver encouraged.

He swallowed bile. "A man I'd never met gave me choice. I could leave, join the armed forces or my entire family would die. He was very clear that ropes burn and he'd make sure they were awake when the house went up."

"I can't believe this. Threaten to burn them alive in our town? People did this in our home town?"

"You think I'm making this shit up?" He glared at Riley, his chest tight.

"Well, no, but we are small town USA here. We have bar fights, drugs, domestic stuff, DWI's, teenagers in trouble, petty thief, shoplifting but you're talking kidnapping, arson and premediated murder."

"I know exactly what I'm talking about. I've stayed away for years because a man I've never before or since made sure I understood I'd never get to have her, that if I didn't listen, they'd kill her too, that she would be better off dead than with me. And he'd burn her too."

"Why didn't you tell someone? Jelly Belly right?"

"I didn't dare. The asshole lit a portable blow torch and gave me this to remember him by." He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled down his wife beater to show the puckered melted skin about the size of a deck of cards right above his heart. "Told me that was nothing compared to what my family and Sharon would feel."

"And you had her name tattooed on the scar? Do you want me to analyze that?"

"Don't bother. I was drunk and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was after, shit, it was after Adrian. She doesn't know and I'd like to keep it that way."

"Which means you're not planning to get back together with her."

"Too dangerous. I still have family and Sharon."

"Finish the story. How did you get out?" Oliver growled.

His stomach clenched and he gagged but didn't throw up but he could still smell his flesh burning. "Then he beat the shit out of me one more time. I woke up dumped me in a ditch about fifty miles from here. Inland."

"It seems like small towns have secrets too." The man crunched more ice, while he rubbed the back of his neck.

Looking at his shoes, he said forcefully, "Yeah, so I chose the Navy. And I honored the promise I'd never approach Sharon again. I wanted her to live."

"Adrian kind of makes it look like you didn't honor that promise." Oliver gave him a slight grin.

He reddened knowing he'd done wrong.

"Yeah, you're right. I came back five years later. The first time I'd come home in all those years, and Sharon's father had died earlier that year. Heart attack. The asshole, sheriff retired and moved to Florida, and I thought it safe. But I still didn't approach her. I looked." He waved his hand. "Okay, yeah, I stalked her but I didn't go near her. I kept my distance."

"But?" Riley grinned. "Rewind to Adrian's the spitting image of you. Somewhere there was some touching going on."

The memories hurt but he pushed on.

"Yeah, it was the 4th of July, 1999. Hot as hell and she found me at the town picnic. She was still a looker in that tight red, white and blue dress. I knew she'd divorced Grover and given his kid up to his mother. And when she pulled me away from the crowd, I admit I didn't fight her. We danced in the dark." He looked at his shoes and noted they were frayed and needed replaced. His left foot was breaking the toe out of his shoe.

Just like Adrian.

Fuck him for remembering that.

"And?" Riley pushed.

"Well, one thing lead to another." He raked his hands through his short graying hair but he wanted to pull his hair instead. "She's in my blood. What can I say? I'll admit I have had problems walking away from her. I always have."

"I understand. Believe me." Oliver grinned. "Felicity's the one for me. I couldn't walk away from her if someone paid me or beat me and believe me, in the beginning, I tried."

"Yeah." Riley nodded. "And Anna means the world to me. She's willing to love me when I've got a few problems. Look we've both understand. You just know sometimes when she's the right one."

"Right. Well, we holed up the entire time in her small apartment. Best week of my life." He paced and rubbed his gut. "But when my leave was over, I had to go back to the ship. We parted on good terms. I made promises to her. She made promises to me. I promised to send for her, and she promised to come."

He rolled his head and his neck popped.

"What happened?" Oliver stood and paced too.

"I went back to ship, and I wrote her but she didn't answer. I wrote again and still nothing. I requested leave to come back and got shut down cold. I called and her phone had been disconnected. I was ready to go insane. Then after my fifth letter, I finally got an answer." His stomach knotted, and he wanted another antacid but knew he'd eaten more than enough already.

"An answer?" Riley stood now on his blades. "What did it say?"

He reached for his wallet and pulled out a well-worn picture and note.

"That was seventeen years ago. Seriously you still carry her answer? I knew you had it bad in school. Now I know how bad."

"It reminds me that I was young and dumb and stupid. It reminds me of the cost and why I have to stay away. Here read for yourself." He handed the papers to Riley and paced.

Oliver looked over Riley's shoulder as the man read, "She's Hester. Use your head, Hawthorne. Remember your word, your choice. She played you AGAIN. No more chances."

"That's a picture of her and her ex coming out of her apartment after I came back from leave. Needless to say, she cheated on me. And there were ashes in the envelopment."

"Ashes?" Riley shook his head.

"Yeah, burnt paper. I walked away for good that time. I wrote her telling her it was over. Blamed myself that I didn't want a serious relationship, hoping that whoever was still watching us would get the message too."

"Did they?"

"I don't know. What I do know is right after that I got transferred to China, then a year after that to Spain and a few other ports too, and finally to Alaska. That's when I retired. It's beautiful up there but I can't take the cold or the endless days and nights."

"This is unreal. Ashes? Talk about jacking with someone's mind. Smart though, very smart." Riley shook his head, and Oliver took the note.

"Can I take a picture of this? Felicity has a knack for finding out the truth."

"I don't know if I can chance that. I still have a brother and two sisters and they have families. My younger sister still lives in town. And now Sharon and Adrian." He stabbed his finger through his hair while his gut burned.

"I promise no one will know. You can trust me."

"I thought no one would know after her father died. But someone hates both of us enough to cheat me out of all that time."

"Maybe it's time we got to the bottom of this."

"We?"

"Yeah. I'd like to help you if you'll let me. Adrian needs a father figure, Ned."

"Yeah, we." Riley nodded. "And maybe it's not too late for you and Sharon. Maybe you could patch it up with her."

Okay, I'll trust you, both. But Sharon's a wild card. I don't know what she's going to do. Who'll she'll contact. I need to talk to her.

Oliver moved and spread the note and picture out on the desk. Quickly, he took pictures and from all the clicks, Ned knew he'd sent them to Felicity.

The man handed his papers back, and he carefully folded them and placed them back in his wallet.

Riley's phone rang and the man swiped his phone open.

"Yeah, Anna. Slow down. I can't understand you. Are you hurt? No. Good. Shit. Hold on for a second."

"Ned." Riley found his eyes.

"What?"

"Brace! It's not good."

"Brace. Shit, why? What's happened now?" Sweat popped out on his forehead.

"Adrian's wrecked his car on the bypass. Anna's on scene. He flipped end over end, car's a total loss. Anna's worried because Felicity's gotten out of the car to go help and so's Sharon. And, Ned, the car's smoking."

"Smoking? Is Adrian still in the car?" His body went cold.

Before he could finish the words, Oliver moved, the locker room door slamming in his wake.

Seconds later the sound of a motorcycle starting and roaring away filled the air.

Ned looked at Riley.

"Damn, he's fast." Riley raked his fingers through his short hair and put the phone back to his ear. "Anna, looks like Oliver's on his way."

"I'm going too. I have to know what's going on. Here, lock up." Not waiting for a reply, he slung a set of keys Riley's way and hurried out the building.

Palming his phone, he swiped his way down to her number and his finger had a tremor as he hit send.

Climbing into his Chevy pickup truck, he cranked the engine as the phone rang repeatedly in his ear. "Pick up the damn phone, Sharon. Pick it up."

But instead he got her machine.

Ending the call, he threw the phone into the seat and slammed the accelerator.

#####OQ#####

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