Chapter 12

Emma

I didn’t bother to come out of my room for breakfast. Or for lunch. I buried my head in my pillows, refusing to climb out of my warm comforter and greet the day. The world was a cold place, and I just couldn’t deal.

I can’t believe he did that to me.

I’d thought Jack was different. He’d shared things with me, and I thought he was opening up to me. It had given me hope, had allowed the crush that I’d carried in high school bloom into something more.

I’d thought we had something going on between us, thought we’d established some kind of fledgling partnership. Thought he’d give me a chance to prove I was more than an overblown secretary. Instead he was just like Dad and Matt, thinking he knew everything and that he had to keep me sheltered for my own good.

He wants to keep me locked up while he has all the fun. But that hadn’t stopped him from making love to me. It had been the most sensual and hot experience of my life. Until he’d given me the cold shoulder.

What had been the best sex of my, albeit sheltered life, had turned into the most horrible post-coitus decoupling I’d ever experienced. Although I hadn’t been with many guys, none of them had told me that I’d ‘had my fun’ afterward and said I needed to leave the hard stuff to the menfolk.

Fucking asshole! Why are the sexy ones always the biggest bastards?

It was after noon by the time I dragged myself out of my bed. The shower restored some of my sanity. Trying to push away the sadness that was smothering me, I clung to my anger. Fuck Jack Walsh if he thought he could tell me what to do. I won’t let him ruin my weekend. If he can’t handle me, then he doesn’t deserve me.

I climbed out of the shower, dried and groomed myself, then dug through my closet for something to wear. I settled on a bright sweater and a pair of jeans. Then I made my way out of my room and into the kitchen. Dad had settled in there, reading the newspaper.

Kissing him on the forehead, I told him I was going out. He barely acknowledged me, engrossed in the news of the day. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Yet another man who wanted to ignore me.

Christmas was only a week away, and I’d done next to none of my shopping. This was as good a thing to do as anything else, and an excuse to get out of the house and into the public, where I could at least go through the motions and pretend I wasn’t dying on the inside.

Inside the mall, I tried to let the seasonal music and bustle of the crowds soothe me. I’ve always enjoyed Christmas. It was fun to try and find the perfect gift for someone, to show them how much they mean to you. I told myself that it was time to push past my misery and throw myself into the spirit of the holiday.

When I get home, I’ll decorate the tree, maybe make some gingerbread men cookies for the office.

I’d try my hardest not to bite the heads off each of them.

I floated around the stores, managing to find a few nice things for Dad and Matt. I had to check myself when I found a leather jacket that would look phenomenal on Jack. If he was my boyfriend, I wouldn’t have hesitated to buy it, excited to see how it hugged his muscled frame.

But he wasn’t my boyfriend. He was a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am jerk wad, and he didn’t deserve any gifts for the way he’d treated me. Maybe it was all made worse by the fact that I’d never had that kind of experience before. The guys that had braved the twin threats of my father and brother weren’t the one night stand type.

I didn’t think Jack was either. Apparently, I was wrong.

My mood soured by the reminder of Jack’s shitty character. I made a few purchases for my father and my brother then got the hell out of the store. The leather jacket remained on the rack.

On my way out, I glanced across the mall at the movie theater entrance. I was surprised to see a familiar form entering the theater. It was Jack, and he was following some overweight guy, out of sight.

It was Jack’s day off. Maybe he’d decided to see a movie. He was from Savannah, so it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that he’d rounded up one of his buds and they were here to catch a matinee. Still, Jack didn’t seem to have much of a social life. Even in high school, Matt had been about the only guy he’d called ‘friend.’

My curiosity slowed my steps. I dawdled, debating what to do. It wasn’t like I wanted to talk to him, not after the way he’d treated me. A half-formed thought of me acknowledging him, then blowing him off in front of his friend tantalized me for a moment. But that wasn’t me. I wasn’t that desperate for attention, was I?

On the verge of shrugging it off and leaving the mall, I froze when I saw someone I recognized. It was one of the men from the picture on Jack’s phone, one of the group of guys who’d been hanging out in the alley. What was he doing here? Could it be a coincidence?

Before I could hesitate and talk myself out of it, I walked towards the theater. Buying a ticket to a random movie, I entered and positioned myself behind a 3-D movie poster of a gigantic shark. From here, I could see the action without being seen.

The alley guy stopped at the concession stand to pick up some snacks, but instead of heading into a theater, he hung around the small arcade beside the concessions stand. It was almost twenty minutes later, almost long enough for me to give up, before I saw Jack and his overweight companion come out of a theater. The big guy headed for the bathrooms, Jack following in his footsteps.

Outside the bathroom door, Jack’s companion turned around to address him. At first, I couldn’t hear what he was saying, nor could I make out how Jack responded. But then the overweight man raised his voice, almost shouting that he didn’t need anyone to hold his dick for him.

I recognized the voice and put two and two together. It was Dexter Jansen, the bossy prick that was in the running for our most annoying client ever. That meant Jack wasn’t here for a hang session with his bro. He was on the job.

Jansen turned and pushed his way into the bathroom, and for a moment Jack stood there, obviously debating how to proceed. He decided to ignore the man’s advice and entered the bathroom after Jansen. I stood there, behind the poster, my eyes peeled on the bathroom door.

That’s how I noticed the familiar-faced guy go in after them. The possibility of this being a coincidence was getting slimmer and slimmer. But what could I do? How could I warn Jack? He’d told me that I should give up my investigation. What would he say if he caught me here?

I could leave now, go back to my car, drive home and try to ignore the shock that had gone through me when I’d seen Jack. Just the sight of him put my body on high alert. It would be best to avoid him, to avoid the situation all together. Just go home, wrap the presents and put them under a tree, pretend I hadn’t seen anything.

Instead of moving, I stood there, watching the bathroom door. I couldn’t quit now, not when events were unfolding right in front of me. Maybe I could find out who the man in the picture, now the man in the bathroom, was. It might give us a lead on the meaning of the information in the ledger.

The opportunity was too good to pass up. From my vantage point behind the shark poster, I waited, watching to see what happened next.