Chapter Seven
Jonesy
I’m sitting at the airport, waiting for the flight to butt-fuck-nowhere, Ohio.
Katie and I are traveling to meet Connor Maddox’s family today.
It’s just the two of us, and we have some set questions that the police want us to ask, as well as a carefully curated list that Katie says she has refined over the years of interviewing family members.
As I’m waiting at the gate, I’m in my civilian clothes. There’s no real need for me to wear my uniform, and it attracts a bit of attention, which we don’t want. I’ll put my uniform on when we meet the family.
I watch Katie dithering about in one of the stores.
I know she sees me; she just doesn't want to spend any more time with me than she has to, which is fine by me. This is the most time we will spend together since college, when we were pretty much inseparable. All our classes, studying in our free time, meals, then one of the group would host movie nights or something. But it’s been years.
And now we don’t have the buffer of Alfie, Caleb, and Lottie to help us.
We’re either gonna kill each other or fuck it out of our system.
My money is on the former. And the sting of disappointment is ever present, needling its way between my ribs. Fucking it out would be way funner, and it could lead to us actually reconciling. Even if she won’t ever see me as a romantic prospect, we could at least be real friends again.
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I pull it out to check who’s calling, a silent prayer that it isn’t Tilly or the colonel.
Alfie’s name appears on my screen, and I answer immediately.
“Hey, bud.”
“Jonesy, how are you?” He's so formal, even though being with Mia has softened him, he still sounds like someone who’s about to perform a dental procedure.
“Not bad, just at the airport. We’re heading to Ohio for a few days for the case I’m working on with Katie.”
“Ah, yes. How’s that going?”
“Learning a lot about what Katie does. Don’t tell her this, but it’s fascinating. She’s damn good at her job.” I glance at her, picking things up and placing them back down, over and over. She looks so pretty today, especially when she’s trying to avoid me.
“Why do you sound surprised?”
“I don’t know. It’s Katie. I didn’t realize she could be professional. She fights with people all the time; she should have been a lawyer.” Lies. She was always the smartest in our class, beating out the rest of our friend group every single time.
“She fights with you all the time. Katie and I never fight.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure. I know what she’s like. Always ready to argue, you can’t convince me otherwise.” I cough, swallowing down my pride. “I was gonna ask, did you know if she was seeing someone?”
“Why?”
“I got the vibe that she was seeing some beefed-up guy from her work.”
He sighs, pausing for a moment, which tells me two things. One, Alfie-stick-up-his-ass-Adams knows something about this guy, and two, he doesn’t know if he should tell me about it. Both equally make my blood boil.
“I don’t think she’s dating anyone right now.”
Okay . . . not the response I was expecting.
“You don’t sound sure.”
“I am sure,” he says ambiguously. “Jacob . . .”
“Jacob? Am I in trouble right now?” I laugh. What started as an army nickname has stuck. None of the dinner club call me Jacob . . . except maybe Katie if she’s really pissed.
“I just want to reiterate that this is not a good time for you to be doing this Katie/Jonesy dance that you two do. Katie could do with some support right now, and if you’re not able to provide that at her place of work, her career, then you should think about bowing out.”
Jesus Christ. I feel like he just poured hot wax over me. The sharp stinging of my skin setting me on edge.
“Is she sick?” Panic seeps into my chest, but Alfie must sense it and thankfully answers quickly.
“No, nothing like that. She’s just been having a hard time. You need to go easy on her.”
“She’d kill me if she thought I was going easy on her.”
“Well, be your normal self whilst also helping her with this case. I mean it, Jonesy. No pushing her limits right now.” His voice is so stern, like a headmaster giving a lecture about right and wrong to a student.
I love Alf, but he’s had a sense of responsibility on his shoulders that started when he was younger.
Being with Mia has helped, but he’s a meddler; he can’t seem to keep his sticky beak out of things.
“Can you tell me what's going on?”
“Not without betraying her trust.”
Well, I know he sure as shit isn’t going to do that.
Alfie’s as loyal as they come. I’ll have to try to figure it out myself, but it must be bad if Alfie is willing to tell me this much.
Nothing's been mentioned before now, but given that we’re spending all this time together, Alfie feels the need to intervene.
“Was there a reason you called?” I snip, irritated to be left out of the loop in our friendship group, yet again.
“It’s Mia’s birthday. We’re going to have a second dinner club night at Lottie’s this weekend. Will you be back from Ohio in time?”
I watch as Katie picks up a murder mystery paperback, rolling her eyes before placing it back down. I can’t imagine her reading something like that when her whole day revolves around crime.
“I’ll check with the boss and let you know. It’s only Wednesday. I can’t imagine we’ll be there for more than a few days.”
“Be nice. And let me know. Mia likes Cabernet. I’ll send you a link.”
“Yes, Daddy.” I laugh.
“Jesus, Jonesy. Don’t call me that,” he huffs, uncharacteristically hot-headed.
Perhaps Mia calls him that. I shake the image at the thought of my friend naked.
Christ, I need to get laid ASAP. Images of Katie on her knees, cherry lips pouting at me as she strokes me, flash behind my eyelids.
Her whispering please as I feed her my cock, every single inch.
No.
Not Katie.
I can’t entertain thoughts of her like that, not when she’s made it clear how much she despises me.
Even if she asks if I’m okay outside interview rooms, even if there’s clearly something going on that I don’t know about.
I need to take on board what Alfie says and be there for her.
Build up my character again so she doesn’t just see me as someone who broke her heart and then pissed her off for eight years.
Even if no one else has ever compared to her.
I close my eyes, and she’s all I see. Just the thought of her on her knees makes my mouth water and my cock swell.
Because Katie is the most intelligent, most beautiful woman I’ve ever met.
Even when she riles me up to the point of combustion, I’d do anything for her.
She’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and I’ve hated myself ever since I got back from Afghanistan and met the heartbroken Katie who didn’t show her sadness; she showed her fury.
And I did that to her. Me, the person she trusted enough to kiss on an old couch in a frat house after years of flirting around a psychology textbook.
It was the best kiss of my life, and nothing has even come close since.
“Are you listening to me?” Alfie’s snarky tone snaps through my memory. I blink, pushing away thoughts of a girl who has absolutely no interest in me.
“No. I have to go. I’ll let you know about Saturday.”
I hang up, adjusting myself as Katie saunters over.
She’s wearing loose-fitting jeans with a tight white long-sleeved top with a sweetheart neckline.
The belt around the waist of her jeans cinched in her middle, emphasizing the curve of her .
. . well, everything. Her tits are perfect.
They’re significantly more than a handful; I just can’t help but stare.
And I know I’m not the only one. I spot another guy licking his lips, and I stop my eyeballing to give him a death glare.
She takes a seat next to me, flicking her long red hair over her shoulder as she bends down to reach something in her purse, giving the creep an absolute eyeful of her cleavage.
“Could you put those away, please? You’re making every guy in here pant.”
She sits up, looking around the room and then at me, a vicious scowl replacing her previously neutral expression, and I already regret my comment.
But there’s more; she looks hurt and a little embarrassed.
It’s not her problem that the men in this airport haven’t seen a woman as beautiful as her.
It’s not her fault I’m incapable of being a prick after Alfie literally just told me to behave myself.
She says nothing, gets up, and leaves the gate with her wheelie carry-on suitcase and her purse. I’m half expecting her not to come back. I’ll have to conduct the family interviews alone when I have no clue what I’m doing, all because I can’t keep my mouth shut and play nice.
My knee is bouncing, and I’m ready to give in and call her when she returns.
But now she’s changed. Her long red hair is pulled up into a loose, messy bun, tendrils of hair framing her face that give me no emotion at all.
If she’s furious, I can’t tell. She looks blank, dead, like I mean nothing.
She’s wearing a large Elwood University hoodie, which is so big it covers her ass, giving her no shape at all.
Her black leggings are tight, though. It’s her go-to outfit for our dinner club.
I hadn’t thought about it much over the years; I figured she just didn’t like dressing up, preferring comfy loose clothing, but now I’m worried it was because of comments like the one I just made.
At college, boys would comment on her figure all the time.
I half think part of the reason she studied so hard was to prove she wasn’t some bimbo with big boobs, coasting off her good looks.
If I think about it, when I first met her, she wore nice outfits.
Hell, I was attracted to her; her body was so perfect and luscious. Every part of her, a perfect handful.