EPILOGUE - JORDAN
“So you’re probably wondering where the fuck I fit in to all this.”
Ixion just looks at me, blank. “Uh… nope.”
“I get it, you’re confused.”
“Why the fuck am I here?” he asks.
“Like I said, confused.”
“Jordan,” Ix says, looking at his watch. “I got shit to do, OK? So can you get to the fuckin’ point already?”
“You remember that day?”
“Nope,” he says again. He’s pissed. But then again, when isn’t Ixion pissed off at me?
We’re sitting in my office. Darrel Jameson is in the chair off to my left, Ixion is sitting in front of me, and the new guy, Finn Murphy, is standing at the door, looking out the window, keeping watch in case Wells Senior decides to see what I’m up to.
It’s not like I’m hiding this little side business from my father. I’m not. He’s well aware of the whole Your Game business.
But he’s not aware of this game. The one I just played with the FBI.
He has his suspicions though, and I’d like to keep him out of it. Consequently… Finn Murphy takes point at the door.
My phone buzzes and Eileen’s voice comes through the speaker. “Jordan? Sorry to bother you, but you have a call on line—”
“Not now, Eileen. Tell whoever it is I’ll call them back.”
“Sure,” Eileen says. “OK.”
“That day,” I say to Ix. “That day you came in accusing me of playing a game? I’m assuming you were talking about this.” I throw my hands wide. “Right?”
“Dude, I have no clue what you’re talking about.”
“The game, man,” I say, leaning forward over my desk like this will make him understand me better. “The FBI, Finn Murphy over there. Issy Grey, and Chella, and Senator”—I whisper the last part—“Walcott.”
Now Ixion is squinting at me. “Did you kill that guy?”
“Kill him? Jesus fuck! I’m a goddamned lawyer! Why do people think I’m a criminal?”
Ix kinda laughs at that. And that laugh says, Where should I start?
“Well,” I say. It’s my turn to be confused. “What the fuck were you talking about that day? You seemed pretty pissed off. I assumed it was because Evangeline heard something she shouldn’t when she was hanging out with Chella.”
“The game you’re fucking playing with me and Augustine, asshole.”
“You and—Jesus!” I laugh. “Augustine? Shit, I gave up on her.”
“You brought her here,” Ix says. “You brought me here to get her here.”
“Well, that was months ago, man. I’m over her.”
“Are you over me yet?”
The question lingers in the room. Darrel looks kinda uncomfortable. Finn peeks over his shoulder at me.
My phone buzzes again. “Jordan?” Eileen says through the speaker.
“What?” I ask, gritting my teeth.
“She’s refusing to be called back.”
“Who?” I ask, annoyed behind belief.
“Oaklee Ryan? Do you know her? She’s not a client.”
I look over at Darrel and he nods, indicating her game is still in play.
“Tell her I’ll call her back in ten minutes.”
“OK,” Eileen says. “But she’s a little bit pushy.”
Some days I just can’t with people, so I take a deep breath and say, “If I were over you, Ixion, and you were over me, then this conversation wouldn’t be happening, would it?”
“What the fuck do you want from me?” he asks.
“How about some understanding? How about you flick that fuckin’ chip off your shoulder and let the past go? That’d be a great start. How about you fuckin’ forgive me? How about you say, ‘Hey, Jordan, you’re not the asshole I thought you were?’ How about that?”
“Because,” he says, getting to his feet, “you are the asshole I thought you were. That’s why.”
“I brought down a crooked FBI agent, a pedophile rapist, and a corrupt senator in span of thirty-six hours and that’s all you’ve got to say to me?”
Ixion stares at me. Then he laughs. “Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better about you, Jordan. Thanks.”
“Fuck this guy,” Darrel says. “We don’t need him.”
Ix turns, eyes narrow, practically shooting beams of anger at Darrel. “Who. The fuck. Are you?”
Finn isn’t watching the door anymore. He’s watching Darrel. I’m not watching Ix anymore. I too am watching Darrel.
Darrel says—and I’m pretty sure we’re all leaning forward to hear his response—“I’m the truth you never want to hear. I’m the nightmare you never want to have. I’m the goddamned Four Horsemen all wrapped up into one well-dressed ex-FBI-agent who takes down untouchable people as a hobby. That’s who the fuck I am. Jordan didn’t kill Senator Walcott. I did. And Jordan didn’t kill that pedophile rapist, either, he did.” He points at Finn. “Jordan is the game master. He makes the plans, the rest of us execute them. So do you want to be part of something bigger than yourself? Or do you just want to go through life being some walk-on cut-out character who makes no difference whatsoever?”
Ixion just stares at him. And then he opens his mouth to say—
“Jordan?” Eileen says through my phone speaker.
“Jesus Christ, Eileen. What the fuck is it?”
“Lawton Gabriel is here, he’s insisting on—Hey!” Eileen yells, but not to me. “Hey, you can’t go back there!”
All four of us stare at my phone and then two seconds later we can hear Eileen yelling in the hallway outside my door. Darrel draws his gun, Finn opens the door, and then Lawton Gabriel comes rushing in looking like… not himself.
“Dude,” Law says. “Duuuuude,” he says again.
Eileen appears. I look at Darrel, but he’s got his gun behind his back. She says, “I’m sorry. He got past me!”
“It’s OK, Eileen. I’ve got this.”
“And I’m outta here,” Ixion says. And he is. Because he leaves.
I take my attention to Lawton, who is a real cool guy. Fucking loaded real-estate agent. I bought that foreclosed house next to the Botanical Gardens off him last year. He got me a sweet deal. So when I was short a player for Oaklee Ryan’s little Boyfriend Experience game, I asked him to fill in.
“What the fuck is going on, Lawton? Oaklee Ryan just called me, seemingly distressed. And why the fuck are you dressed up like a… a…”
“A thug?” Law fills in, his voice a little bit panicked.
“No,” I say. “Like a hot dude. Is that a… did you get a tattoo?”
“Oh, that’s funny,” Law says, peeking out my door, looking both ways down the hallway, and then closing and locking it. “Real fucking funny, Jordan. Do you have any idea what kind of game this chick wants me to play with her?”
“Uh, yeah,” I say, looking at Darrel, who is laughing. “Little bit of wine, little bit of food, send her flowers at work, maybe some dancing and then cap it all off by taking her to her sister’s wedding or something, right?”
“Uh, no,” Law says. He’s taken up Finn’s position at the window, but I’m pretty sure he’s not on the lookout for my father.
“Class reunion?” I try again.
“No,” Law says. “And when I say no, I mean no to all of that shit. Do you have any idea what she thinks the job of a boyfriend really is?”
I thought I did.
But apparently I don’t.
Because when Lawton tells me what Oaklee Ryan wants him to do as her boyfriend… I can only shake my head and laugh.
She might be my biggest rule-bender ever.
But hey, if you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.
So I look at Law. Sit back in my chair. Steeple my fingers under my chin and say, “Just play, brother. Play your fuckin’ heart out. Because winning might not be everything, but it is better than losing.”
I might have to put that on a poster for Issy Grey.
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