Chapter 55

Jake slammed the door behind him. He looked around. "Where is he?"

Startled, I shot to my feet. "Who?"

"Vince."

"He's gone," I said.

"So he was here?"

"Yeah." I made a sound of annoyance. "Who told you? Trey? God, what a tattle-tale."

Jake's voice was flat. "A tattle-tale?"

"Yeah. Totally," I said. "Because I would've told you myself. And, just so you know, I didn't let Vince inside, if that's what you're worried about."

"You think that's the problem?"

"Well, obviously, there's some sort of problem."

His jaw clenched. "You could say that."

"Oh for crying out loud," I said. "Whatever you're thinking, that's not it." After all, it wasn't like Vince had propositioned me. Well, not sexually anyway. "Get this," I said. "He offered me a job."

Jake gave a hard laugh. "A job. Now that's funny."

Funny how? Did Jake think I wasn't qualified or something? Okay, I knew Vince's job offer had nothing to do with me. But did Jake really have to be so scornful about it?

My gaze narrowed. "Why is that so funny?"

"Because," Jake said, "a couple minutes ago, someone called my cell."

"Yeah? So? What'd they say?"

"They claimed," Jake said, "that they just saw you."

"Where?" I looked around the penthouse. "Here?"

"No. In the elevator." His jaw tightened. "Giving Vince a blowjob."

My jaw dropped. "What?"

In front of me, Jake said nothing.

"Who said that?" I demanded. "It wasn't Trey, was it? Because that's not funny."

"No," he said. "It wasn't Trey. And you're right. It sure as hell wasn't funny."

Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to me. "Wait a minute. You didn't think it was true. Did you?"

He glanced toward the front door. Just outside that door were the doors to the elevator. Just what was going through Jake's head?'

"Jake," I snapped. "I'm waiting for an answer."

As if shaking off an ugly image, he turned toward me. He shook his head. "No."

"No, what?"

"No." His voice was quieter now. "I didn't think it was true."

I gave him a good, long look. "Are you sure about that?"

His expression softened. He strode toward me and wrapped me in his arms. "Baby, I'm sure."

In spite of the turmoil, or maybe because of it, I leaned into him, suddenly exhausted. "Then why were you so mad?"

He spoke into my hair. "Because I wanted to kill him."

I pulled back to look up at him. "Vince?"

"No." A dose of sanity seemed to return, and I saw the barest hint of a smile. "Okay. Maybe him too. But mostly that dick who called me." The smile disappeared, and his voice became raw. "And that wasn't the only thing he said."

Oh God, there was more? My stomach churned as I asked, "What else did he say?"

"Things I'm not gonna repeat, that's what."

That was probably a good thing, because honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. "And you have no idea who it was?"

"No."

I gave a weak laugh. "It was probably Bianca, disguising her voice or something."

"No. It wasn't her."

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"Because when I got that call, I was with Bianca."

I stepped back from his embrace. "What?"

"Just finishing up some business, that's all."

For some reason, this set my teeth on edge. "After that scene yesterday?"

"It's done," he said. "So don't worry about it."

"You know what?" I said. "You say that way too much."

"What? Not to worry?"

"Yeah," I said. "Because maybe, there are some things that I should worry about. And maybe when you hide stuff from me, it just makes me worry more."

"Hide stuff?" he said. "Like what?"

Where to begin? The thing with Debbie? Jake's shady connection to Rango's boss? That weird phone message from my old roommate?" But all of those things were way too complicated to say in a sentence or two. So I pointed to something simple – the suitcases. "Well, like those for example."

Jake looked toward the cases. He said nothing.

"They were never lost," I said. "Were they?"

He returned his gaze to mine. "You want the truth?"

"Obviously," I said, "since I'm asking."

"Alright. Here it is." He glanced at the pair of suitcase. "Back at Maddie's place, when you were packing that stuff, I saw the look on your face."

"What look?" I asked.

"You hated that stuff. Every damn thing you threw in there."

"Not all of it," I said.

"And it made you feel like shit. And then I felt like shit. So I decided to fix it."

At his crazy logic, something in my heart melted. "That's really sweet," I said. "But you didn't need to hide them."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah. Positive."

"Uh-huh," he said. "Suppose I wanted to buy you things for no good reason. Suppose I wanted to dress you up and watch you smile. Suppose I wanted to wipe that worry from your face—"

"I look worried?" For some reason, I hated hearing that. Never in my life had I been a worrier, and I didn't want to become one now. Still, the last few weeks had definitely taken their toll.

In front of me, Jake didn't answer. He was right, of course. I was worried right now, especially after Maddie's phone message.

Jake's eyebrows furrowed. "What is it?" he asked.

With a sigh, I pulled my phone from my pocket. "There's something you need to hear."

Silently, he waited while I scrolled through the screens to reach my voicemail. When I found Maddie's message, I set the phone on speaker-mode and hit play.

As that message played, I studied Jake's face, hoping to see some reaction. There was none, until it reached the part about someone trashing my old bedroom. His jaw tightened, along with the muscles in his neck and forearms. But his face remained oddly expressionless.

It wasn't until the very end, when Maddie called me a whore, that I saw his composure break. "You just got this?" he said.

I nodded.

"Come here," he said, reaching out for me. When I didn't move, he stepped forward and gathered me into his arms. I didn't resist. I couldn’t. I didn't want to.

He squeezed me tight. "You know it's not true, don't you?"

I leaned against him. "Which part?"

"The last part. And I'm not gonna say it. Because it's not what you are."

"I know," I sighed. "But still…"

"What?"

"She does have a point."

"No. She doesn't."

I pulled away to look at him. "But what about the other stuff? About someone trashing my bedroom? Does that surprise you?"

He shrugged.

I stared at him. "Don't tell me you knew that was going to happen."

"'Know' is a pretty strong word."

"So you, what, suspected, that was going to happen?"

When he didn't answer, I took another step backward. I stared up at him. "What about Maddie?" I asked.

"She's full of shit," he said. "Just like I told you."

"I mean," I said, "why didn't you warn her?"

"Because no one's looking for Maddie."

As we spoke, something else was dawning on me. It was something I didn't want to think about. But I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Amidst all the other questions, there was something I absolutely needed to know.

"Jake?" I said.

"What?"

"Why exactly am I here?"