Chapter 40
Forty
“I don’t like this,” Ryan grumbles, turning in his chair so he can face me.
“I’m not a fan either,” Logan says, rubbing the back of his neck. Hannah glances across the table and rolls her eyes.
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not consulting either of you.” I shrug a shoulder before raising my glass of wine to my mouth. “I’ve already made my decision.”
It took me a couple of days, but I decided I need all the help I can get if I want to finally end this nightmare Braden dragged me into.
“What if it’s a trap?” Ryan asks, concern edging his voice. “Did you think about that?”
“I’ll be with her,” Hannah says. “Plus, we are meeting with her in a public place in the middle of the day.”
When I suggested inviting Hannah and Logan over for dinner tonight, Ryan was thrilled.
Not about the actual cooking part, but we did okay making spaghetti for our friends.
I don’t care what anyone says, heating frozen meatballs and jarred pasta sauce is still cooking.
The garlic bread is a little burned, but the Caesar salad was a hit.
Now, he’s catching on that this dinner was also strategic. I wanted Hannah here to back me up when I told him I was going to Bracken Creek to meet a random woman who claims to be dating Braden.
“I want to hear what she has to say. She was the one who was searching for me, not the other way around,” I explain patiently.
“I don’t get it,” Logan says, looking between Hannah and me. “Why would she want to meet you?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly, “but I’d like to find out.”
“We could come with you,” Ryan suggests. “We can be there just in case.”
“No, I need to do this part myself. Besides, what if she doesn’t want to talk if you’re there?”
“We could follow you and park across the street,” Logan suggests.
“You’re ridiculous.” Hannah shakes her head and places her hand on his thigh. “We will be fine. I survived ten years without you, and nothing bad happened.”
“Don’t remind me,” he grumbles, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair.
“I promise we will go to Bracken Creek, find out what she has to say, and come right back. No side quests.”
“We can share our location with you if you’re really paranoid,” Hannah suggests, trying to ease their minds.
“I don’t like this,” Ryan repeats, scowling.
“You don’t have to like it.” I clasp his jaw in both hands and kiss him on the lips. “But you need to accept it because we’re going.”
On Saturday morning, Hannah and I pull to a stop in front of the diner where Jade suggested we meet. This is the only time that worked for all of us. Shutting off the engine, she turns to me.
“Are you ready?” she asks, securing her curly hair in a messy knot on top of her head.
“As I’ll ever be.” I puff out a breath. Reaching for the door handle, I open it and step out onto the sidewalk.
“You’ve got this.” She gives my arm a reassuring squeeze.
Once inside, I look around the mostly empty restaurant and spot a petite blonde sitting alone in the corner booth facing the door. She’s young—very young. I’m not one to judge because Ryan has a decade on me, but she can’t be a day over twenty-one. What is Braden thinking?
She glances up when she hears the bell above the door and raises her hand in greeting.
“Here goes nothing,” I mumble under my breath.
“Do you want me to come with you or wait at a different table?” Hannah asks.
“Come. Please.” As the week passed, I questioned my decision to meet, and don’t want to do it alone.
We walk towards her, and she stands. “Hi. I’m Jade.
” She extends her hand to shake, then thinks better of it and drops it to her side.
“I recognize you from your social media,” she says quickly.
“I’m sorry, after I talked to your friend, I did some more internet sleuthing and started putting some pieces together. This is awkward.”
“For both of us.” I slide onto a bench seat, and Hannah slides in beside me.
“What friend?” she whispers. I shake my head quickly. Hopefully, she forgets that part. I don’t want to lie to her, but I also don’t want to betray Meg’s trust.
An older waitress with striking silver hair comes to the table as soon as we are all seated. She pulls a pen and notepad from her apron pocket and asks, “What can I get you? Do you need to see a menu?”
“I’ll have a coffee,” Hannah says, then looks to Jade and me. We both nod, and she says, “Make that three. Does anyone want anything to eat?”
“No, thanks.” The thought of food right now makes my stomach turn. Coffee is going to be pushing it.
“I’m good, thank you.” Jade shakes her head quickly.
“Sure thing. I’ll be back in a jiffy with the coffees.” Tucking her pad away, she turns on her heel and hurries away.
“I’m Hannah.” She smiles disarmingly at the young woman across from us, then nudges my foot.
“And yes, I’m Beck. But you know that,” I mutter. “I’m glad you could meet us today.”
Jade bites her bottom lip and glances down at the table before meeting my eyes.
“Me too.” She quirks the corner of her mouth. Taking a deep breath, she begins. “First, I would like to apologize.”
“I don’t know that you need to. I suspect you got caught up in something out of your control.”
“Maybe, but I also feel like I may have been complicit.”
“When did you meet Braden?” I ask, picking anxiously at my cuticle.
“I met him about a year ago. Here, actually,” she says, looking around the room. “I was working part-time while going to school, and he used to drop in a couple of times a week with his friends for lunch. He was cute and funny, and I liked the attention.”
“I’m not immune to his charm,” I say dryly. I suppose I funded their meet-cute too.
“I’m sure you’re not.” She frowns. “He stopped coming in for a few weeks, but I didn’t think much about it because he told me he was going on a road trip.”
I glance over at Hannah out of the corner of my eye, and she subtly nods her head. Jade just confirmed what I already suspected. He was talking with other women, plural—and who knows what else—before we broke up, and not just online. Fuck him for constantly making me feel like I was crazy.
“Then, out of the blue, he started showing up regularly again,” she continues.
“Alone. He told me the trip fell through, and he found a construction job locally. In retrospect, I should have questioned how much he was working considering how often he randomly stopped by in the middle of the day to see me.”
The waitress returns to the table and slides our mugs in front of us with a bowl of creamers in the middle of the table.
“If you want anything else, holler,” she says, walking back towards the coffee station behind the counter.
“Thank you,” Jade calls after her.
“So, when did you start seeing each other? Dating?” Hannah prompts, stirring sugar into her mug.
“Back in the summer sometime. It was very casual. Dinner, movies, drinks. That suited me fine, to be honest. I didn’t want a boyfriend, just a little fun.” She cringes and looks down into her mug.
“What changed?” I take a sip of my hot drink to soothe the itch in my throat.
“He used to spend the night once, twice a week at the most, but over the past month he’s been here more often than not.
He started asking to borrow my car. Conveniently lost his bank card more than once.
The red flags really started waving when he started raving all the time about his crazy ex trying to get revenge. ”
“That would be me.” I huff and tip my head towards the ceiling. I’ve always been the villain in his story.
“I’m sorry that I believed him even briefly,” she apologizes, and I know it’s sincere.
“It’s not your fault, Jade. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I need to know the rest.”
“He told me you were stalking him. Randomly showing up at his house. Calling him. Texting. Making accusations and calling the police on him.” Quieter, she says, “He said you weren’t taking your medication and needed professional help.”
“Of course he did,” I mutter, wiping my red lipstick from the rim of the cup with my thumb.
“He said he was going to get a restraining order if it continued.”
“Fucking asshole,” Hannah mutters, picking up her mug.
“I wish I had thought of that sooner.” I roll my eyes. “Could have saved myself some grief.”
“I was with him when a police officer questioned him about some vandalism. He said he was with me. I was caught off guard and just nodded my head like an idiot backing up his claim. I have no idea where he was.” She rests her elbows on the table and cups her hands over her mouth. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you for telling me. Do you mind if Mason—that’s the police officer you spoke to—reaches out to you again? I don’t think anything will come of it, but it’s important that it’s on record.”
“Of course not. I’ll do whatever I can to help.
” She riffles through her purse by her side.
“I also brought these with me. He left them in a dish beside the door.” She plops keys on the table and pushes them towards me.
“I’ve been very busy for the past couple of days looking for evidence that he’s shady.
When I was going through the glove compartment of the truck, I found the ownership and insurance papers. It’s still under your name.”
“Because it’s her truck,” Hannah snorts. “The fucker wouldn’t give it back to her.”
“Seriously?” Her brown eyes widen as she pushes them closer to me.
“Here, take them. Some guy in a black Escalade picked him up outside my building this morning. He was excited, said he wouldn’t be back for a couple of days if things went well.
Your truck’s parked behind my building. I can show you. ”
“But what about you?” I ask with concern. “He will lose his mind if it’s not there when he gets back.” I would hate for anything to happen to her because of me.
“Don’t worry about me,” she tries to assure me.
“As soon as we agreed to meet, I started putting plans in motion. After he left, I blocked him on all my socials and on my phone. I’m going to my parents’ for a few days, maybe a week.
I haven’t decided. He doesn’t have a key to my apartment, and it’s a secure building.
If he causes any problems, my next-door neighbour Mitch will put the fear of God into him before he calls the police. He can’t stand him.”
“Few people can.” Hannah scrunches her nose.
I pick up the keys and weigh them in my palm. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you. So much.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m just doing my best to make things right,” she says, taking her last sip of coffee. “Do you want to go get your truck?” She places a twenty-dollar bill under her empty mug and stands.
“Fucking right I do.”