Read Online Prince Charming Wears a Badge by Lisa Dyson - Free Book Online

lie. She knew exactly what he wanted her to say.
    â€œWhy didn’t you two get along?”
    â€œI don’t know. She hated me the minute she walked in the front door of my house.”
    Dr. Hammond wrote something down. “Did she bully you?”
    Callie hesitated. “Yes. You could call what she did bullying.” With all the cyber bullying going on these days, Callie could only imagine how much worse Wendy’s treatment of her might have been if they’d had social media growing up. Texts and emails were bad enough in those days.
    â€œWhat kind of things did she do?”
    â€œCan’t we talk about something else?” Callie really didn’t want to relive her childhood with him.
    â€œI think we’re finally making progress,” he said. “Tell me what Wendy did to you.”
    Callie inhaled slowly. Her hands were at her sides, off camera, while she sat on her bedroom love seat for their session. He couldn’t see her hands fist and relax.
    â€œWhat didn’t she do? She called me names, she played mean tricks on me, she spread lies about me. She even spit on me.” She’d done even worse things, but Callie didn’t want to delve into them.
    â€œThat must have been very upsetting,” the doctor said in his calm voice.
    â€œNo kidding.” She couldn’t help her sarcastic tone.
    â€œDid you do anything to retaliate?” he asked.
    â€œI didn’t dare. If I’d tried, she would have worked twice as hard to hurt me back.”
    â€œWhat about telling your father and stepmother? Didn’t they step in to discipline her?”
    That was a joke. “No, they didn’t do anything to stop her.”
    Dr. Hammond’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? You told them what was going on and they didn’t handle it?”
    Callie shook her head. She swallowed the lump in her throat before speaking. “I told my stepmother about what Wendy did once and she told me to stop being a baby and if I told my father I’d be punished.” Her stepmother’s form of punishment. Something else Callie didn’t want to recall.
    â€œSo your father didn’t know about your stepsister’s treatment of you?”
    â€œI went to him once, and he said he’d take care of it, but Wendy continued to harass me.” Her dad had talked to Wendy but she’d gone immediately to her mother, who’d then punished Callie for telling her dad. Her stomach tightened. That was the first and last time Callie had gone to her father for help.
    â€œYou didn’t go back again to tell him it hadn’t stopped?”
    â€œIsn’t our time almost up?” she asked instead.
    His gaze went to where he kept a clock across from his desk. “We have five minutes left.”
    She needed to change the subject away from her family.
    â€œYou didn’t answer my question,” he persisted.
    â€œWhat did you ask?” She knew very well what he’d asked, but her mind had gone blank when it came to changing the subject.
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell your father that your stepsister was still bothering you?”
    Bothering her? That was definitely whitewashing the situation, but she didn’t correct Dr. Hammond. At least not today with five minutes—or less—left in their session.
    She sucked in a breath. “Because I got punished for telling on Wendy.” Her hands fisted at her sides.
    Dr. Hammond made a notation and looked up as he asked, “What kind of punishment?”
    Before she readied herself to answer, his phone rang. He held up one finger. “I’m sorry. I usually have my phone turned off. This must be an emergency.” He picked up his cell phone to look at it. “Yes, I’ll have to call this person back right away.” He pressed something on the phone and the ringing ended. “Let’s stop here for now and we’ll pick it up next week at the same time. Does that