Chapter 6 Zander #2
My concern isn’t necessary, though, because as Jade's eyes move across the table to meet his, her smile morphs from happiness to mock challenge, and I can see the mirth sparkle in her eyes.
Oh, this is going to be interesting.
The rest of the dinner is uneventful. Clair tries to make small talk but isn’t very successful.
After a handful of questions for Jade that she can’t possibly answer, like ‘would you like to go to school’ and ‘what’s your favorite meal,’ she gives up.
The food’s fantastic as always, though, so I stuff my face, and so do the guys.
Jade, on the other hand, eats very little. I thought someone as malnourished as her would be starving. Instead, she takes less than half the food I did as a first serving and still only eats a small bit of it before waiting for everyone else to finish.
Rick continues to throw dirty looks her way whenever he thinks he can get away with it, but I notice, and Jade also seems to.
Spencer seems overly focused on his food, almost as if he can ignore her into not being there.
For the last few minutes of dinner, James talks about work, letting us know all about the sex trafficking leader Trent was able to bring into custody. The guy talks about him like he’s his prized son, and it takes everything in me not to roll my eyes; if only he knew Trent had fucked it up.
Rick completely ignores him. He’s more than used to this and couldn’t care less. His dad always wanted him to follow in his footsteps and go into law enforcement, but that isn’t what Rick wanted, and Rick never does anything he doesn’t want to.
I keep waiting for Jade to add to the story for us to have to find a way to explain being there or shut her down. But It never comes, and by the end of dinner, Spencer and Rick look almost as confused as I feel.
Jade thanks Clair and James for the food and for allowing her to stay here before a yawn overtakes her.
“Oh dear, you must be exhausted. You’ve been up for so long. Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Ever the worrying mother, Clair jumps to attention.
“No, it’s okay. I’m fine, really.” Jade holds her hands up to soothe her, but now that I’m looking, I can see the clear signs of exhaustion all over her face. She did a great job of keeping it hidden.
“Boys, could one of you please show Jade to her room? She will be taking over the guest room across from Zander.”
Oh shit, she’s going to be rooming near me. I’m not sure if that’s great or terrible, though I’m smart enough to realize it could have been worse if they had decided to give her one of the basement rooms with Rick.
“I’ll show her,” Rick says as he pushes away from the table. He gets up and heads out of the room and down the hall towards the guest rooms without so much as a glance back to see if she’s following.
Jade stands and follows him after pushing her chair in as if she’s in no hurry. Rick’s going to have to try harder if his goal is to intimidate her. As soon as she disappears around the corner, I turn to look at Spencer.
“Come on, let's make sure he doesn’t kill her,” he says under his breath as he stands. I do the same, and we follow after them, throwing a quick thank you to Clair as we go.
By the time we get down the hall to them, Jade is in the room looking around, her eyes filled with what I can only describe as wonder. She drops down on the edge of the bed with a bounce, her smile still a permanent fixture on her face.
Rick stands just inside the door, his arms folded, leaning against the wall, looking upset at the world.
I can’t imagine what has him so pissed off as he watches her simply enjoying the space.
As soon as we enter the room, Rick kicks the door closed behind us.
Jade’s eyes track each of us while continuing to explore.
“I’ll ask you again. Why are you here?” Rick all but growls at her, and I can’t help but sigh. He’s still on this, huh?
“I told you I was invited,” Jade repeats as she gets up off the bed and heads to one of the other doors in the room. It’s her ensuite bathroom. All the rooms on this floor have one, but judging by her reaction, you would think it was a room full of gold.
“If you have an issue with me being here, you should take it up with your mother. I can always find somewhere else, but I won’t be the one to turn down her hospitality.
” She turns away from the bathroom and walks right up to Rick, tilting her head up to look him in the eyes before she pokes him right in the chest. “So either tell her so I can go or get used to me being around.” Her face is blank for a moment, and seeing her without a smile makes her seem older, harder somehow.
It lasts all of two seconds before her smile returns.
She drops her hand back to her side and walks over to her closet, pulling out an oversized shirt I was sure I had donated a few weeks ago.
Looking down at her clothes again, it finally clicks why they seem familiar.
I’ve seen Clair in them before. The shirt she has in her hands now is one of the old band tees I had put in Clair's donation box.
While it sucks she doesn’t have anything of her own yet, I’m actually happy Clair has that box now that it’s getting good use. Of course, she wouldn’t have anything with how suddenly she showed up; nobody knew she was coming until she was here.
At least, that’s why I tell myself I’m happy. The smile on my face has nothing to do with the fact that the shirt is mine.
Well, was.
“Well, if that’s all, I’m going to go to bed now. But, if you decide you’d like to yell at me for anything else that’s out of my control, you know where to find me,” she says over her shoulder before she begins undressing, pulling her shirt up over her head.
Oh shit, why is she just undressing with us in the room like this? I’m not complaining exactly; even so, it seems odd, considering her and Rick were just arguing. I open my mouth to say just that, but Rick beats me to it.
“Jade!” His voice comes out less growly this time and even has a hint of concern. Jade must hear it, too, because she drops her shirt and turns back to face him.
“What?” She pauses, her shirt halfway up so that the bottom of a black bra is peaking out.
“You shouldn’t just undress in front of people.”
She drops her shirt, her cheeks turning an adorable pink, before she nods.
“Sorry,” she says, her voice low, barely more than a whisper. I want to punch Rick for being so hard on her. Instead, I glare at him. He has the decency to look minorly ashamed even if he doesn’t offer her an apology the way he probably should.
Instead, he turns and leaves. Spencer follows him without a word, but I can’t make myself go, even knowing I probably should. I linger for a moment, unable to leave her when she still looks so sad.
“Don’t worry about Ricky. He’ll come around.
He just doesn’t like things that are out of his control.
Give him a few days. You’ll see he’s really a big teddy bear,” I tell her in a low voice, just in case the guys are lingering in the hall.
It’s kinda true, but also not something I think he would want me to be broadcasting.
She looks up, her lips turning up in a small smile. It's forced, but still better than the sad look she had before.
“Good night,” I tell her as I head out and close the door behind me.
When I get into the hall, Spencer and Rick are both missing.
I assume we don't have any business to handle tonight. Despite the fact that I slept for the better part of the day, I still feel exhausted. I rub a hand over my face and decide to talk to them tomorrow about everything. I'm not sure what's going on, but we need to discuss it. She might not have said anything to Rick’s parents about our involvement tonight, but that doesn’t mean she won’t.
I flop down on my back in the middle of my bed with a groan. Why the fuck does everything have to be so damn annoying all the time? Can’t we have one quiet day?
A soft knock on my door pulls me from my thoughts, and I know right away it’s not either of the guys; we never knock. Maybe it's Clair about something? I go to the door and find the last person I expected.
Jade.
She stands in front of my door in my old shirt, which falls to her mid-thigh—her very bare mid-thigh. Her hair is out of the twin braids, hanging loosely down her back, reaching almost the end of the shirt.
My eyes get stuck to her bare legs before I can stop myself, but once I look at them, I can’t force myself to look away. It has nothing to do with how nice her legs are, though. I mean, her legs are very nice, but it’s the scars that litter them that hold my attention.
Most of them look old, but I also notice she has a few bruises in random spots that are newer based on the fact that they are still there and have yet to start fading.
Just looking at them has me clenching my fists as anger pulses through me.
With some effort, I manage to pull my eyes away and look back at her face.
If she notices me staring, she doesn't say anything. Instead, she smiles up at me, and I unclench my fists.
“Sorry. I know it’s late, and you're probably going to bed, but I just wanted to return this to you.” She holds out her hands, and I look down to see what she could possibly be offering me.
My knife!
My gaze snaps back to hers so fast that I have to look back down again to make sure my eyes aren’t playing tricks on me.
Nope, it’s still there.
How the fuck did she get my knife?
I open my mouth to ask her, but she extends her hands to me in an offering. I scoop my knife out of her hands before she drops them back down to her sides.
She smiles up at me, and it almost seems timid. “I’m sorry. I took it last night because I thought I might need it, and I didn’t have another option, but I didn’t need it, so I wanted to return it.”
Again, her cheeks flush with embarrassment, and I can’t find it in myself to even be upset, though I want to be.
She stole from me, and of all the things she could take, she took my favorite knife. But she did it to keep herself safe, and she’s giving it back even though she didn’t have to. I would have never connected it missing to her, not in a million years.
I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. When was the last time I was speechless? The guys would never believe it.
Fuck, neither of the guys would believe she stole it, either. That’s my thing! I’ve been lifting shit off people since before I was a teenager. Not only did she get my favorite knife, but she did it so well that I never even knew it was missing.
Before I can get my shit together, she turns and walks back to her room, closing the door and with me standing in my doorway like a dumb ass.
Leaving me wondering, who the fuck is this girl?