Chapter 25 Zander
Waiting for Spencer and Jade was worse than I imagined it would be, which is saying something because I thought it would be pretty bad to begin with.
After we dropped them off at the Ross manor, Rick took us a few streets over and parked the car so we could wait and still be close.
Originally, we had planned to leave the neighborhood.
With how stuck-up everyone around here is, it wouldn’t be unheard of for someone to call the cops on a suspicious-looking car that's been sitting in the same spot for a few hours.
Rick calls Trent and explains the situation. Trent agrees that we should stay where we are, letting us know he’ll handle anything that comes through.
It’s strange. Rick could have called any number of people that we commonly deal with at the station, but he picked Trent. Even stranger is the fact that neither of them so much as gave a lick of attitude about this. I can’t remember the last time they got along so well.
My lips upturn in just the tiniest hint of a smile that I can’t make myself drop. I knew Jade was good for all of us.
“What?” Rick asks, hanging up the call with the click of a button on his steering wheel without even looking my way.
I shake my head, looking out the window. “Nothing,” I say with a chuckle, and I hear him huff, but he lets it go.
Time moves at a fucking snail's pace, and even knowing it won’t help, I can’t stop myself from looking back at the clock every few minutes. I feel like we've been waiting for hours, but it's only been about thirty minutes, and I’m already losing my mind.
I need a distraction.
Pairing my phone, I pull up Spotify to shuffle through some music, hoping to at least take the edge off for a while.
It doesn’t.
Instead, it does the opposite. So much of my music I’ve shared with Jade that damn near every song only makes me think of her.
Fuck.
“You play something,” I tell Rick after three or four songs. Maybe his music will be better, less about Jade and more about just listening.
He doesn’t respond, but he pulls his phone down from the mount, and after a few seconds, the song switches to something that’s not from my playlist.
Rick and I have some similar tastes in music, but it’s not quite the same.
Whereas I listen to a bit of everything, his taste has always been more hardcore.
Rick likes his music to scream at him. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind that, but it’s not all I want.
I prefer a vast variety, something that can fit any mood I’m in, and I have a lot of moods.
Maybe that’s why Rick only listens to angry music. He is a grumpy bastard.
The change in music works, helping me enough that I lay my head back on the seat and close my eyes. Usually, with this type of mission, I’d be quick to take a nap to pass the time, but not this time. No, this time sleep evades me, no matter how hard I try.
A few songs go by, and the distraction wears off all at once when a song I know catches my attention. I reach forward and turn it down before looking over at Rick. He sits as if this is any other mission, but I can see the tense set of his shoulders and the tick of his jaw.
He’s not fooling me.
Rick looks over at me in confusion when I turn the music down.
“You showed her this, huh?” I ask, and while the question is vague, I know he understands when his eyes widen just the slightest bit—oh yeah, got ‘em.
“It was on when we went to the store,” he says in defense. I don’t buy it, but I really don’t have a reason not to, other than it feels like a lie. So I let it go, leaning back in my seat again.
“It’s one of her favorite songs, you know,” I tell him with a smile.
Two hours. It’s not so long when you think about dinner, especially not in this neighborhood. Everything here is over the top and takes forever. Everyone wants a chance to show off.
However, it is too long considering Jade is in that house with someone like Randall. Someone she hates, who has the ability to terrify her if what the guys said is to be believed.
My leg bounces, and even though the movement started as a distraction, it's not doing anything for me now. I pull out my phone and send off a text to Jake, desperate for some kind of update.
I probably shouldn’t, but I can’t stop myself.
A minute later, my phone dings with a notification, and I damn near drop it in my haste to open the message.
She’s fine. Spencer is talking with my father. I’m showing her the music room.
My phone dings again, and a photo loads in.
Jade stands in front of a wall of instruments, seemingly lost in thought, as she stares at what appears to be a violin on the wall. I make a mental note to discuss it with her later.
“Zan,” Rick's voice pulls me from my thoughts, and I turn my attention away from my phone to look at him. The disapproving look on his face doesn’t faze me. I already know what he’s going to say. Hell, I knew what he would say before I sent the text, but I did it anyway.
“It’s fine, Rick. They aren’t even with him,” I tell him, waving off his concern.
Rick always worries too much, so I can’t imagine this would be any different.
“See.” I turn the phone to show him the photo that Jake sent me, in hopes it will offer him some peace of mind. Instead, his face only falls further.
“What?” I ask, looking back over the photo for something I might have missed, but I see nothing.
When I look back at Rick, the concern still mars his features before he looks away.
“He shouldn’t be taking pictures of her. Especially if she isn’t aware,” he says, and while his voice is tight, I can’t disagree with the statement.
Shit.
Now that he’s pointed it out, I don't like it either.
Rick’s phone dings next, quickly pulling his attention to whatever or whoever it’s from, but my mind’s still on Jake and this stupid picture now.
Delete that.
I send back before I can put much thought into it, only to regret it after I’ve already hit send. I don’t want him to know he’s gotten to me.
She won’t like it if you have that without her knowledge.
I say, hoping to amend it, but it still feels fucking stupid, and I can’t help but groan as I reread it.
My phone dings with his response.
She won’t like it, or you don’t?
I grip my phone hard enough that my knuckles turn white.
Before I can type out a response to that, which would have been a very detailed threat, my phone dings again with another message from him.
It’s gone. You and Rick can both chill. I wouldn’t have even taken it if you two would stop breathing down my neck.
My grip loosens, and I let out a sigh of relief before his words really register, and I turn to look at Rick.
He must feel my gaze because he turns to look at me, his brow arched up in question.
I say nothing, instead turning back to my phone to scroll through some random social app, hoping to pass the time.
I don’t need to call him out. It’s enough to know he was concerned about her, too.
Rick can try to keep his distance from Jade all he wants, but he’s not fooling me.
Hell, I think the only person he might have a chance of fooling is Jade, because I would bet money he doesn’t even believe his own lies at this point.
Three hours.
That’s how long it takes before Rick finally gets a message that has us heading back to get them. By now, it’s dark, and I’m fucking starving, but I keep my complaints to myself as we wind back through the neighborhood to Ross Manor. We can get food later once we have Jade back and away from him.
“Text Trent and let him know we're done,” Rick says right before we turn onto the street, and I hurry to do so before we pull up. He sends back a thumbs up, and I get the feeling he’s busy.
No way he won’t want details about today.
I have no doubt he’ll be reaching out later for them, or maybe he’ll just ask Jade.
They’ve been spending a lot more time together lately.
I half expected them to be outside waiting when we pulled up, but they're not. I also expected us to wait for them outside, but when Rick shuts the car off and pops his door open, I don’t hesitate to follow suit.
“Did Spencer say something?” I ask, falling into step with him as we head to the door.
He doesn’t look at me, but I see him shake his head from the corner of my eye as we take the stairs to the door.
Rick stops outside the door and glances at me with his hand on the knob.
“No, Jake did,” he says, pushing the door open without so much as a knock before taking off down the hall like he owns the place.
A smile splits my face as I rush in after him, but it’s not a happy expression.
No, I’m anything but happy right now, but this smile is a mask that’s always done me well.
It shows people just how unhinged I really am.
Gives a glimpse of the crazy that lives just beneath my skin and usually has them running scared.
While I doubt it would work on Randall, he needs to know just what he’s fucking with.
He might be the mayor and have certain protections that’ve kept him out of our reach.
Until now, it was a matter of whether we wanted to draw that kind of attention to ourselves.
Randall is an asshole politician, but he wasn’t the worst we dealt with.
At least I hadn’t thought so, but judging by the way Jade talks about him, I’m starting to think we missed something.
It doesn’t matter, though, because if he thinks he can fuck with Jade and keep skating by, he’s got another thing coming.
We split up. Rick takes the stairs, but I turn to the doors that lead into a staff kitchen. Growing up with money and parents like mine taught me one very valuable lesson: the staff hear everything.
The moment I push through the door, all heads turn to look my way. Most look away just as quickly. I look from one person to the next before my eyes land on an older man who I would bet is the most senior of the staff, judging by the way he holds himself.