That asshole would’ve never targeted her if I hadn’t involved her in this case. I couldn’t go to her.
Chapter 26
Jocelyn
“Gotcha,”I whispered, snapping another photo of my client’s boyfriend kissing the man he was cheating on him with. Clucking my teeth, I shook my head. “Mr. Parker, you have been very naughty.”
I took repeated pictures of the two as they sat on a blanket in the middle of Stone Williams Park. It was the second largest park in the city, and since it was a lovely afternoon that Saturday, dozens of people were outside enjoying the weather.
The fact that Mike Parker and his lover didn’t bother hiding their affection for one another made it relatively easy to get the proof I needed.
Pulling the camera away from my face, I glanced around the rest of the park. My gaze kept lingering on the other couples. Some of them held hands while others had arms strewn around shoulders and waists. A few were too busy using their hands as added ammo in their arguments to use them for affectionate touching.
I took a few shots of couples that had nothing to do with my client.
Just because.
After a few shots of random strangers, I turned back at Parker and his lover. I felt terrible for Randy Carson, but I didn’t get that thrill I’d often gotten previously when I got the money shot, as I liked to call it—the indisputable evidence that a spouse or significant other was indeed cheating.
It satisfied me that my services wouldn’t go to waste, but I didn’t gain anything personally from it. In fact, my heart squeezed, and a piece of me wished I had never found out the truth.
Randy would be devastated. He was deeply in love with Mike.
Swallowing the lump that formed in my throat, I glanced down at my phone sitting in the center console. The black screen mirrored my mood. It’d been days since I’d heard much from Don.
We exchanged a few texts here and there, but nothing like our long talks over the phone while he had time at the station. He hadn’t come over after his shift in over a week.
When I asked about his plans for the weekend, he told me he’d picked up an extra shift after one of the guys needed some time off.
I hadn’t inquired too deeply into it, but it started to feel like he was actively working to put distance between us.
It could be another woman.
I tried desperately not to go there, but doubt kept creeping back into my mind, mostly when I was up late and couldn’t sleep. Those long nights when even video games wouldn’t help distract me, I thought about the possibility of Don spending time with another woman.
Maybe what I’d said the night after dinner at my mother’s got to him. What if it had pushed him into the arms of another woman?
A memory of my ex flashed in my mind. We’d been together about four years at that point. He’d been working long hours and canceled three dates over a few weeks.
Finally, I’d gotten fed up and told him that I didn’t feel like he was making our relationship a priority. He’d told me that I was behaving like a selfish, spoiled brat. He was working to secure his legacy and the future of our family. As soon as he’d said that the fight in my withered away. Guilt consumed me for demanding too much of his time.
The truth was, he hadn’t made our relationship a priority. He was too busy screwing the woman he cheated on me with.
I refused to play that fool again.
I thought about it, and the more I did, the angrier I became.
“Screw him,” I said out loud in the empty car. If Don thought it was best to spend his time with someone else, then so be it. I wasn’t about to stop him.
Pain that shot through my chest at that thought that couldn’t stop me from mentally checking out. With renewed conviction, I picked up my camera and continued snapping at the couple.
Minutes later, my phone rang.
“Hey, Hallease.”
“Did you get anything?” she asked.
“Yup. Verifiable proof that Mike Parker is cheating on Randy. I’m about to upload the images to the Carson file.”
