Chapter 87

Hal

Hal’s eyes flickered open, and he was immediately greeted by the welcome sight of Jesse’s blue eyes watching him intently. He gave her a smile and tightened his grip around her, bringing her close to his chest and pressing a kiss to her head.

“Hey,” he said, his voice dry but much less tired than it had been before.

“Hey,” Jesse repeated. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” he answered. He shifted his weight and released her so that he could stretch and yawn. He blinked his eyes, still heavy with sleep, but he did have to admit that he felt a lot better. His headache was nearly gone, and he felt like a new man after having finally gotten some sleep.

“How long was I out?” he asked as he turned back to look at Jesse.

“A little under three hours,” she said, giving him a soft smile.

Hal blinked, but he wasn’t too surprised, considering that he hadn’t slept even a little the previous night.

“Did you sleep any?” he asked her, raising his hand to brush his fingertips along her cheekbones.

“A little,” she said, but Hal didn’t believe her. Her eyes were still filled with worry, and he was sure she had been up the entire time he slept, watching over him.

Hal grunted and sat up in the bed, wincing a little as he used his bandaged hand to help him. Jesse was immediately beside him looking down at his hand.

“Is it alright?” she asked him, her eyes searching his face.

“Yeah, it’s okay,” Hal said. “I’ll probably change the bandages here in a little bit.”

Jesse nodded, and she seemed to relax.

They lingered in silence for a moment, and Hal took that moment to collect his thoughts a little bit. As he recalled what had transpired between them when she arrived at his home, he realized that they had never really talked about her meeting. She had gotten caught up with his hand, and he had forgotten to ask her about how it had gone.

“So how did your meeting go?” he asked her, turning to face her.

Hal saw her stiffen, and he frowned.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, tilting her chin up to look at him. “What happened?”

Her eyes seemed wary as she looked up at him. Hal worried that the interview hadn’t gone very well and that it was weighing heavily on her.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” he assured her.

“No, it’s not that,” Jesse shook her head. “It’s just … it wasn’t really an interview.”

Hal frowned, confused.

“What do you mean?” Hal asked, searching Jesse’s face to try and guess what had happened.

“The blog that I thought I had an interview for,” Jesse started, “was actually a subsidiary company of The Edge. And the meeting was actually with Elaine.”

Hal blinked and felt himself become more than a little uneasy. He felt his anxiety well up within himself, and he worked hard to keep it at bay so that he could have a rational conversation with Jesse. The last thing he wanted to do was fly off the handle and make everything into a much bigger issue than it actually was.

“Well, what did she want to meet with you about?” he asked, working to keep his voice level.

“She asked me to go back to The Edge,” Jesse said.

Hal considered it for a moment.

“Is that what you want?” he asked her softly.

Jesse laughed a little bitterly.

“That’s not all she wanted,” Jesse said and looked up at him with a sad expression.

Hal stiffened and waited for her to further explain.

“She said she wanted me to write the article about you that she had asked for in the first place,” Jesse said, her voice tight. “The one that I had copped out of. She offered me a raise and a better position if I just wrote the article.”

Hal clenched his teeth and remained quiet, trying not to jump to any conclusions. His heart pounded in his chest and he felt his headache begin to roar back into his head.

“Did you take the job?” Hal asked her, hoping that her answer was the one that he need to hear.

“Of course not,” she said. “I told her no. She told me that this would be my last chance, but I told her no.”

Hal felt a surge of relief.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, though in truth he wasn’t sorry in the least. The last thing he wanted was for Jesse to be working for that snake of a woman.

“That’s not all,” Jesse said, and Hal frowned, once again tensing up. “She tried to blackmail me.”

Hal froze, a dark feeling of anger simmering just beneath his skin.

“She what?” he seethed, his voice soft.

“She had photos,” Jesse said, her voice barely audible.

“Photos?” Hal pressed, wanting a little more information than that.

Jesse seemed to hesitate.

“Photos of us,” she elaborated. “At the cabin, and … and in the pool.”

Hal’s stomach dropped, and he felt a little caught off guard. He had been absolutely certain that nobody would know they were at the cabin.

“How?” he asked, bewildered and confused.

“Phillip,” Jesse said softly. “Elaine told me he tipped her off.”

Jesse’s voice was quiet, and Hal released a growl as he threw off his covers and stalked up and down the room. He was enraged that one of his own employees had had the nerve to tip off the press about their location.

Firing Phillip would be simple enough. But undoing the damage these photos would do to Jesse’s reputation if they were released was another issue altogether.

For now, though, he had to deal with the issue that he actually had a solution to.

Hal moved to his bedside table and picked up his phone, dialing Adam’s number.