Exposed

ExposedBook 3 - Darkest of Portland SeriesDena Crawford-NiblerCrawford-Nibler Publishing Copyright © 2023 Dena Crawford-NiblerAll rights reservedThe characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. To Kama. Thank you for always being such an enthusiastic supporter. Contents Title PageCopyrightDedicationNote from the AuthorChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28Chapter 29Chapter 30Chapter 31Chapter 32Chapter 33Chapter 34Chapter 35Chapter 36Chapter 37Chapter 38Chapter 39Chapter 40Chapter 41Chapter 42Chapter 43Chapter 44Chapter 45Chapter 45The EndAcknowledgementBooks In This SeriesBooks By This Author Note from the AuthorHello, dear readers!This book can be read as a stand-alone, but it's recommended to read the first two books as well as the prequel for a deeper understanding of the characters and their histories. Also, you'll want to avoid spoilers! You can find all my books, including the published novels I have unrelated to the Darkest of Portland series, on my website: www.denacrawfordnibler.com.Indie authors really depend on reviews to sell our books, so if you enjoy this book I would really appreciate a review or star rating!Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this installment in the adventures of Callie and Xavier!Dena Crawford-Nibler Chapter 1Callie got the text late on a Thursday night. She’d just drawn a nice hot bath with Epsom salts and candles lit on the bathroom counter, filling the room with soothing scents and gentle flickering light.She needed to relax. It had been a horrible day. In her job as a CPS investigator, she’d been through a lot of sad situations that haunted her, and she’d developed a thick enough skin that she could help the kids without being dragged into the pain and trauma they experienced. It was a necessity in this job.But Callie was human, and as much as she loved what she did, it was just too much sometimes. She had to use every skill in her book to let the stress go so she’d sleep without nightmares tonight.The message chased away any chance of sleeping at all that night, nightmares or not.It was a simple video, and Callie pressed play without realizing that it was something she never wanted to see.Trevor Alberty, one of Callie’s dear friends, was naked and locked in an embrace with another man.The shock that hit her like a freight train wasn’t because his partner was a man. She’d already known Trevor was bisexual. She’d met a former boyfriend, commiserated with him through the bad breakup with a girlfriend, and encouraged him to find love again with someone of any gender. It was no surprise for him to be with another man.The surprise was getting a video of it.Callie hurriedly pressed pause as Trevor began kissing his way down his partner’s chest. It was a violation to see her friend in such an intimate moment, and she couldn’t imagine a situation where Trevor would ever send her such a thing. It couldn’t be from him, and it couldn’t have been sent with his knowledge. He never would have allowed it.She immediately placed a call to Trevor, trying to scrub her mind of the snippet of the video she saw. No answer. The phone rang until she reached his voicemail, his young and cheerful voice inviting her to leave a message. Instead, Callie immediately hung up. There was no way to describe what she’d just seen in a voicemail. That required an actual conversation.She looked again at the message, her eyes avoiding the frozen screen of the video. The number wasn’t saved in her contacts and didn’t look familiar. It was clearly an Oregon number— it had a Portland area code—but other than that, it was unidentifiable. She quickly searched it on Google, finding nothing.Someone clearly wanted to remain anonymous.Another text appeared on her screen, and tension froze Callie’s body until she saw that it came from one of her closest friends, Angie Sarson.Can I call? I need to talk to you ASAP.Callie immediately felt nauseous. It looked like her night wasn’t going to get any better.Angie answered on the first ring, her voice as breathless as if she’d been sprinting.“I got a video of Trevor having sex,” she said bluntly. “Pretty sure he wasn’t the one who sent it.”“I got one too,” Callie said. Tears were welling up in her eyes. Trevor was a sweet guy, and it looked like someone was trying to humiliate him. She couldn’t imagine who. Trevor was one of those people that everyone liked.“We need to find who did it. Trevor’s going to be so upset. Have you tried to call him?”“I did, but he’s not picking up.”The call waiting ping interrupted their conversation, and Callie glanced at the screen to see her friend, Xavier Ramos, was calling her.“Xavier’s calling me; he may have talked to Trevor. I’ll call you back.”Xavier didn’t get a word out before Callie cut him off.“Angie and I both got the video too,” Callie said. “Have you talked to Trevor?”“He won’t answer. I’m going to his place in a minute. It’s bad though, Callie. Luke texted me to tell me someone sent it to every precinct in the city and greater Portland through email. And I’m guessing many of Trevor’s personal contacts too, if we all got it.”Callie’s heart dropped to the pit of her stomach, and she felt sick. Luke Benton was a detective based in Happy Valley, a suburban area bordering Portland. He didn’t even work in the same county as Trevor. If the video had gotten all over the city, that might be the end of Trevor’s career. Things were better than they used to be, but holdovers from less enlightened days died hard.