14. Lily
14
Lily
Two days, and we would be going on a date. I don’t know why I’d been so nervous to ask him out, especially since we’d been living together for a month. Tommy loved talking with Jacob and telling him about his day. I knew that when the coast was clear, Tommy and I would need to move out. I took a deep breath and counted to ten. The future would come in time, and I needed to stop worrying about things that weren’t in my control.
Tommy and I had sat down a few days before and talked about Jacob. I explained that he was just a friend who was helping us out for a little while. I didn’t want Tommy to get his hopes up that we were going to live with Jacob permanently. Tommy had questioned why Jacob didn’t want us to stay and I knew then that he was getting attached. It’s going to break my heart if he cries when we had to leave.
I glanced at the clock and realized ten minutes had passed since I called Jacob. He sounded stressed, I hoped he would tell me what happened when he arrived at work. Tonight, we were going to watch another Marvel movie. Jacob couldn’t believe Tommy and I hadn’t seen any of the films, but it wasn’t because we didn’t want to. Going to the movies cost a lot of money, and we never had cable. Hell, sometimes we didn’t even have a working TV.
Tommy and I spent our time reading. Each week, we would go to the library and check out new books. Even though we had a TV and cable now, I kept up the same tradition. I wanted Tommy to read a little each evening, but we still planned to watch Captain America .
Jacob was getting into movie night a little too much. The night before we watched Iron Man, he came home with a full Iron Man costume. That was when I put my foot down. I loved that he wanted to buy Tommy toys, but he already had more than he needed.
Tommy wasn’t the only one Jacob tried to spoil. Every other day when Jacob finished his run, he would bring me flowers to put in my room. He’d caught me smelling a flower in Central Park one night when the three of us had gone for a walk, and he’d asked me what my favorite flower was. The next day, I had a dozen pink roses.
Kat had called earlier in the week to say they’d lost the tail on Greg, so Jacob was extra careful. Greg had been out of jail for almost two months, but the only things we’d heard from him were a couple of nasty emails he sent Jacob. I could feel my face turning red thinking about how he described what he did to me when I lived with him. Jacob didn’t get disgusted like I imagined he would. Instead, it fueled his anger toward my ex.
Antonio spoke with the chief of police to find out what had happened. The chief didn’t know, and they were still investigating why Greg was released. The officer didn’t release him, the court did. Try, The officer who contaminated the evidence still has not been found. The paperwork in regard to the release he said he saw had magically disappeared. Antonio thought whoever helped Greg had the police on their payroll.
The place Greg was staying was owned by a shell company that had been sold many times by other shell companies. Whoever had assisted him had lots of money, or maybe he knew someone connected to dirty dealings. The only reason anyone would need so many shell companies was if they were hiding something.
When Kaylene came through the doors, I practically leaped from my desk, excited to talk to someone. When Jacob wasn’t in, nobody came to his side of the executive offices, so I hadn’t seen a single person all day. Kaylene had been stuck working the front desk again this morning and part of the afternoon, so we weren’t able to have lunch together, and Sasha was busy putting her finishing touches on the software. They planned to launch the new satellite into orbit on Sunday night. One thing I knew from living in Florida was that launches at night could be seen from miles away and left a pretty stream of fire through the dark night.
“How was working downstairs?” I asked my friend.
“Sucks like always. We can’t keep anyone in that job for more than a few weeks. I’m going to talk Jared into hiring two people.” She had started with NSS by working the receptionist desk downstairs, but when the position working for Jared opened, she took it. Every time someone called out down there or left, Kaylene was stuck doing both her job and the front desk job.
“Do you think he’ll go for that?”
She let out a sigh and placed a small envelope on my desk. “If he knows what's good for him. I think I’m going to run my idea by him this afternoon. He had to go into a meeting without me. Whenever he has questions after the meeting, we normally go over them, and sometimes I can help. Well, when I don’t go, he has to contact someone else for something he might’ve missed. Let’s just say he’s going to be in a bad mood because I wasn’t upstairs today.”
“Ask for a raise while you’re at it. Jared would lose his shit if you left.”
Kaylene looked down the hall toward Jared’s area. “He would figure it out.”
“Wait. You're not thinking about leaving, are you?” I panicked.
Kaylene’s shoulders slumped, and her smile faded. “Sometimes you have to do what’s best for yourself.”
I grabbed the envelope off the counter and set it next to the other mail I had to open. “If there’s something I can help with, let me know. I love working with you. I can’t keep Sasha in line without you. Hell, who’s going to get between Sasha and Jared when they get into their tech-talk fights? I don’t understand a third of what they’re talking about, yet they seem to insult each other somehow.”
Besides Kat, Kaylene and Sasha were my only close friends. Growing up, I never had friends because my parents were crazy and didn’t like any of the other kids’ parents. The kids I was allowed to make friends with at the church were strange, and I never got along with them. Greg had befriended me in high school, and I latched onto him because I wanted a friend. He understood my parents and helped me keep our friendship a secret. And no matter how much I hated him, he’d given me Tommy, the best thing in my life.
“I’m going to ask something, and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Do you have feelings for Jared?”
The light in Kaylene’s eyes dimmed and her frown deepened. “It doesn’t matter what I feel. Jared will never be in a relationship with anyone. He doesn’t believe in love.”
But I’d seen the way he was with my son and his brothers—he loved them. He just wouldn’t open his heart up to anyone who could leave or hurt him. Jacob and Jax would never leave Jared and would always be there for him. I’d overheard him ask Jacob if he worried that I would leave. I’d hurried away before I could hear the answer, not sure if I was ready to hear Jacob not wanting us around. I knew I was getting too attached. “Sometimes you need to break down the outer shell.”
Kaylene smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Some people’s outer shells are unbreakable. I’m not leaving anytime soon. I think working downstairs today put me in a bad mood. I did notice you had a bright smile on your face when I walked in. So tell me something good.”
I grabbed a piece of mail from the side and opened it while I talked. “One of the moms at Tommy’s school asked if he could come over for an overnight stay Friday. Tommy’s eyes lit up when she asked. It almost broke my heart when he said he’s never gotten to have a sleepover before. I told the woman I would think about it and let her know when I picked Tommy up today. When I got to work, I had Kat look into the family.”
Kaylene shook her head.
“You would do the same thing if you had a kid. I have friends who can find information, and if it keeps my son safe, I’ll use every resource I have.”
“So is the family clean, or are they serial killers?”
I tossed a crumpled-up piece of paper at her. “Smartass, their background check came back clean. Kat had whoever did the check go a little deeper than we needed. She gave me a copy of their credit reports and every trip they’ve made in the past three years.”
“Now who’s the creepy person?” Kaylene laughed.
I shrugged. “I don’t care. I feel better knowing he’ll be safe.”
One could never tell by looking at someone’s outside what kind of person they were. Growing up, my family looked like the perfect movie family with a perfect house and beautiful cars. Dad went to work and supported Mom and me. The things others didn’t see were the late-night radical church lessons. My father didn’t follow the bible, and the people he was friends with took what was preached and twisted every word to fit their lives. Actions mattered, and those could be faked.
“So the smile from ear to ear was about a playdate?”
“That and I asked Jacob out on a date.”
Kaylene walked around the desk, wrapped me in a hug, then stepped back. “I’m so happy for you. I assume by the smile on your face that he said yes?”
“Yep, and I have no clue what I’ve gotten myself into.”
Kaylene took a seat in the other chair behind my desk. “You’ve lived together for a month. What are you so scared of?”
“I haven’t slept with anyone except Greg.”
“Take it slow and talk to him. You need to stop comparing him to Greg. He’s not Greg, and I know Jacob hasn’t done anything to make it seem like he is.”
“You’re right.”
“I’m always right.” She smirked. “Now, I need to go save my boss from himself.” She got up and walked back down the hall.
She was right. I needed to get Greg out of my head. He was an evil person. I grabbed another piece of mail and opened it to find invoice for Jacob to review. The next yellow envelope, the one Kaylene had handed me, was heavy. I didn’t think to ask her where it came from. There was no return address on the front.
I cut through the thicker paper, and two stacks of hundred-dollar bills dropped onto my lap. A white piece of paper was wrapped around the stacks. I pulled the paper back. My heart started to beat quickly when I read it:
Dearest whore,
It seems you’ve been playing house with what is mine. I think the money in the envelope will be enough for keeping his bed warm. You have until Sunday to leave. If you tell Jacob about this, you will regret it.
My hands shook as I read the letter again and again. It wasn’t signed, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out who the message came from. Tears streamed from my eyes. Every time I thought things were starting to align and the craziness from my life and Jacob’s was gone, another incident occurred. Will she ever go away, or will she continue to do things until I leave him?
I had to decide whether he was worth sticking around for. I had my son to think about. The tears came faster as I thought about having to tell my son we needed to leave. Where would we go? I had saved the money I’d made over the past month, and we could stretch it if we went to live in a small community with cheap rent.
Jacob came up behind me. “What are you reading?” His voice was full of concern.
“Nothing.” I tried to hide the letter, but he was faster and grabbed it out of my hand.