Papers for Roses

Chapter Thirty Six

Chapter Thirty Six

Wade

"How did you find these anyway?" Megan asked from his side.

"In his closet. Under the window."

She raised a brow. "And what did Ben tell you?"

"Didn't know you're on a first-name basis now," said Wade as he put a tape on the player. "He wanted me to personally gather his, and I quote, important stuff. Before the movers sweep out his mansion."

"Does he now?"

He turned to her. "Is that skepticism I'm hearing? Care to share."

Megan shrugged. "Just wondering. If these tapes held the clues you needed to open the case again, why wouldn't Ben turn this over to the police ten years ago? Why would he keep it somewhere so obvious?"

He asked the same question himself and so far, he had two guesses. It's either his father was completely blinded with rage by the sudden death of his wife and son that he completely missed it all. Or he deliberately ignored it to gain an advantage. He vaguely remembered Ben mentioned that the feud between him and David Carmichael had gone way back. But Wade could be wrong.

"I haven't asked him." Wade looked away. "He's been weak as it is. I don't want him to stress over something he gave up on long ago." Apparently, his backbone shrunk after he was put in jail and finally realized that David was more powerful than he'll ever be.

Megan's eyes softened. "Yeah. I saw."

"I'm going to hit play now."

His fingers itched to touch Megan but he doubted physical contact would be something she'd want after hearing how real this was. He figured it out weeks ago but without Megan distracting him on a daily basis, things became much clearer now.

Megan didn't care about her parents like a lot of daughters would and they didn't care about her in that way either. For her, her parents did their responsibilities—feeding her, supporting her financially, occasional get-together and small talks—and those ended when she was old enough to support herself and to focus only on herself. While her parents, as an attorney and a senator, thought those little things they did were enough.

Hence, she didn't find it in herself to care anything that was politics, avoiding them like a plague.

As Wade thought about it now, he couldn't help but feel a little sadness because of how lonely Megan's life must've been. At least he and his brother had a mother who took care of them and catered to their needs—including emotional assistance.

The penthouse had grown quiet, even the sound of their breathing lowered a fraction as the tape rolled.

"You... you son of a bitch!" The angry voice of a woman filtered the silence. Wade closed his eyes with a wince. "Ignoring me, now, huh? You think playing these games will cease the chances of your wife knowing about this affair?" Emily laughed cynically. "Oh, right. How did you so eloquently put it, fucking each other out of our systems? Did you? Did you fuck me out of your system already? That's why you're ignoring my calls and messages? Thought you had more stamina than that."

A few seconds of silence passed before Emily spoke again. This time, her voice was soft, pleading... pathetic. "How could you do this... shut me down so easily... I..."

All the tapes ended like that. As if she wanted to say something but came up short, then she'll call again, continuing where she left off. Wade didn't know what was the next tape after that for they all appeared the same. He looked at Megan, almost afraid of what he'd find in her face.

Except he didn't find anything that would tell him what was the correct thing to say or do.

Her face was a blank mask. Her eyes were directed toward the tapes in front of them, yet he assumed she was lost by the fog that clouded her vision.

He cautiously reached for her hand, "Hey."

Megan abruptly pulled her hand away, seemingly surprised by his sudden touch. She turned to him, her eyes wide, like she'd seen a ghost. Taking deep breaths, her eyes closed. Wade watched these slowly unfolded, not knowing what to do.

When she spoke, her voice was shaky, "She didn't sound like my mother." She let out a humorless chuckle as if the thought was amusing. "What the hell was that?"

She grabbed the player and removed the tape, hastily grabbing another one. "Why the fuck isn't this opening?"

One of the things Wade noticed these past few weeks of marriage; Megan had little control when it came to her emotions. She would deliberately pick a fight when she was annoyed, cries over little things that made her sad, grins wide all day and literally bouncing on her feet when she was happy. No shame. In this case, she was angry and frustrated—her hands shook, tears welling in her eyes and every word came out from gritted teeth.

"Megan..."

She furiously fumbled around the player, whispering curses into thin air like it would solve her problem. Her arm rose to hurl the player on the opposite side of the room. Wade took it from her hands and gently pried her fingers one by one. She watched, her hands were still quivering and the silence was excruciatingly loud.

"It's not opening..." she muttered on a sob.

"You're doing it wrong."

Wade's eyes were soft as his finger brushed a tear on her cheek. Her bright, blue eyes were now dull and sad. "I hated my Dad all my life for not being around. I should've hated Mom too but she was there... at least, she was there..."

Megan's sob became harder, almost choking on her own tears. His left hand cradled the back of her head while the other gently stroked her back. It wasn't a silent, demure cry of pain. Her cries were loud, her body shook uncontrollably, and her chest heaved as tears after tears soaked his white shirt.

Wade patiently whispered words of comforts, offered little kisses on her head as Megan cried her heart out. Guilt weaved around his chest. He brought her here—wanted her to know how vindictive her mom could be, wanted her to feel guilty over an incident she wasn't aware of happening. He should've left it alone and solved the mystery himself. But he couldn't hold it back anymore. Despite what he was telling himself, he knew she had the right to know about what happened too.

Though, he should've known that the skeletons in her closet would come out and play.

She pulled back, wiping away the tears and snot that ran down her face. "I'm so sorry. My insecurities were very friendly and loved to come out at such strange moments."

She tried to chuckle but it came out as a strangled sob. "Shh." His arms were still around her. He kissed her forehead. "Let's get this over with, shall we? I'm itching to take you out on a proper date."

Megan stiffened, but he could see the obvious flickers of hope in her tears-stained eyes. "Are you now?"

Wade grunted. "Never planned a date, though. I might suck. You have to guide me." She snickered sadly. "Now, now. We're going to play these tapes non-stop. I'm expecting you to hold your anger as much as you can. We'll have better use of that later. Okay?"

Her cheeks reddened by his words. The glimmer in her eyes and the twitch in her lips were unmistakable. She realized what he was doing and Wade didn't have it in him to feel embarrassed.

At least she momentarily forgot the craziness of that fiasco. If only she could reign in with her emotions, he could save the annoying flutter in his chest for thinking later.

Fuck me, sideways.