Chapter 5 #2
I trailed my gaze down her neck, counting three dainty gold chains shimmering on her tanned chest. Then, I counted the rings on her slender fingers—two on one hand, her thumb and index finger, and three on the other hand—on her middle finger and two on her ring finger.
The rings were simple and silver, contrasting with her nail polish. Black, of course.
She didn’t look like someone this could happen to, and I knew that was a stupid conclusion because bad things happened to everyone, but damn.
Her father was a U.S. Attorney, for fuck’s sake.
Shouldn’t a man like that protect his daughter?
Murder the guy who looked at her wrong? Save her? Cherish her? Love her no matter what?
"What do you want with my father?" Jade asked, trying to hook me like I did to her.
I couldn’t look away from the way her cheeks rounded softly when she smiled, and that dangerous little premonition sparked inside me again. This whole kidnapping plan better not burn in a raging fire.
Because I began to feel comfortable with her. Because being around her wasn’t horrible. Because I had to force myself to look away. Because I kept asking questions…just so she could keep talking, and I could keep listening to her voice. And that was a precarious spot I’d placed myself in.
Besides the obvious, she was objectively a knockout with her big green eyes, luscious hair, and tanned legs, she was also just herself. Unapologetically herself. She also smelled really good.
Andrei’s last words sounded in my head, but I closed my eyes to rush past it. Instead, I returned to her last question. “I can’t tell you and you should stop asking.”
"Why can’t you tell me? What am I going to do? Swim home? I'm a strong swimmer but not like that. And I'm afraid of sharks." She sounded a little embarrassed, giving me another glimpse into her personality.
"I may tell you eventually,” I conceded for some reason, but just then, my phone buzzed on the table, and Gianna's name popped up. This was getting too much. Was she legitimately losing her mind now? She'd never acted this way before.
"Is that your girlfriend Gianna again?" Jade asked, jutting her chin out in the direction of my phone.
"No. None of your business."
"Oh, I see. So only I have to share personal details and you're going to continue being an asshole?"
Of course. Now that Jade had her energy restored, she was back to frying my brain.
I sighed and gave the most succinct explanation possible.
"She's an ex who’s persistent. You ready to go?
" I moved the conversation along, but Jade melted into a smile from the satisfaction of the information that fell into her lap.
"Aww. Look at us!” She reached over and tapped my forearm, like I was an old friend. “Both stalked by our exes. I guess it happens both ways!"
"She's not stalking me," I responded immediately, but then I thought about it—maybe she fucking was. How did she end up at the same club as me last night? Surely, it wasn’t just a random coincidence. "She's just persistent.” I sipped on my now warm drink, trying to swallow my discomfort.
Jade nodded slowly, not believing anything I said. "She's just an ex,” I reassured her, hoping I wasn't reassuring myself. Because I knew the truth: Gianna wasn’t just an ex. She was an unhinged ex.
"Why has she called you so many times in such a short time? Is she like Xavier? Obsessed and unstable?"
I delayed the answer, knowing that if we continued talking, we could stay together a little longer, and I didn’t lie in the car—I had time.
"You can tell me. It's like speaking to a stranger on a train," Jade added mysteriously. "Once you let me go, hopefully alive and not in a casket, none of this will matter. You and I live our separate lives."
Lived. That was in the past. Now, our lives were intertwined, and it stung me that she thought I’d ever send her home in a casket.
I was just exhausted; it must have been that, because I was suddenly drowning in regret.
I regretted trapping this young woman. Regretted dragging her out of that club like cattle.
Regretted pulling her hair last night and scaring her half to death.
We should have just killed Moretti. That seemed much easier now.
"Gianna’s an ex who I've been trying to break up with for a year now.” I pocketed my phone, giving Jade my full attention.
“But it’s been difficult. She accosted me at the club last night.
She’s manipulative and a liar, and she threatened me yesterday.
She said she’s going to the cops to accuse me of laying my hands on her.
She said that I’ve been abusing her. But here she is, calling again. "
Jade observed me silently, as if calculating something. Finally, she asked, "Did you ever?"
“Did I ever what?"
“Abuse her?”
“No! Why the fuck is that always the first thought?! Do you think all men are fucking like that?" Jesus Christ, this conversation was taking a weird turn.
"Not all men. But always men," Jade spoke somberly.
"It's hard to decipher the good from the bad. Even your own boyfriends turn on you. Often, that happens often. Men who you learn to trust, men who you’re vulnerable with, men who say one thing but do the opposite.
Men who trick you with their kindness and lure you into their dark, deep traps of pain and humiliation.
So forgive us all, women, Alex, if we don't trust men. "
For the first time since fate threw Jade and me together, she spoke in earnest. There was no humor, no sarcasm, no attempt to irritate me. She was dead serious. She was speaking from experience.
"I'm ready to go back to prison." The heaviness of her words pressed onto my conscience, but she switched the subject so easily, not knowing that I was now entangled in her story.
Images of Knox trying to rape her were flashing inside my brain.
She must have been so scared. And all alone—not even her father to turn to.
Jade rose from her seat and I followed suit, but unexpectedly, she froze mid-way to straightening out.
"Uh-oh."
I waited for whatever else she was about to throw my way, but she just stood there, clutching her glasses to her chest, the look of distress on her face growing by the second.
“What?”
A few seconds escaped, and then Jade bit her bottom lip, her cheeks now blooming into a deep pink.
"Um-m,” she stammered. "I-I may have had a bit of an accident."