CHAPTER 11
I should have known better. Until now, it’s been such a quiet, peaceful day, but as a shadow falls over my shoulder, blocking out the sun, it’s clear that’s going to change.
My skin draws tight. My heart thumps hard against the ground beneath me, like it’s trying to punch a hole in the earth for me to hide in.
All I can think is, I should have known better than to be in such a vulnerable position.
I continue staring at the page I was reading, though I no longer see the words on my Kindle screen. I have to remain calm. I have to keep it together. I have to conceal my fear.
Slowly, I turn my head until I can see the figure looming over me. Like an eclipse, the body has been cast in darkness, the face nothing but a dark outline against the bright sky, but what I can tell is, it’s a man. Tall, like Jake. Not as broad, but still muscular.
I set my Kindle down, freeing my hands. Place my palms on either side of me. Keep an eye on the intruder as I push my torso up off the blanket and swing my legs around until I’m in a sitting position.
If this person knew who I was and intended to harm me, they wouldn’t have allowed me to do that. Because now, if I have to draw my weapon, it’s going to be a lot easier to aim before I fire. Which I really want to do.
Whoever this is, they’re uninvited. They’ve hiked halfway across the paddock to find me. And the way they’re just standing, staring at me without saying a word, is giving me the creeps. Then the man shifts his weight, and like a magician waving a wand, his face is revealed.
“Julian?” I ask, squinting up at Jake’s colleague, the other senior partner at the corporate law firm of Myers and Kleinman. “What are you doing here?”
“The real question is, what are you doing to Jake?”
I open my mouth to snap a response. We’ve been over this before. Only, before I bark my reply, I realize that this time he didn’t ask what I was doing with Jake, but to him. Icy fingers prickle up my spine at the implication.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, this whole thing with you testifying against his mom. It’s messing with his head.”
“How so? What’s he said?”
“He hasn’t said anything.”
“Then how—”
“Because I’ve worked with the guy for over a decade and in all that time, he’s raised his voice on maybe half a dozen occasions, all of which were warranted.
But I just saw him completely ream out an intern this morning for a tiny mistake.
One that was understandable, considering it’s not the kind of law we do. ”
“What do you mean by—? Sit down, you’re making me nervous.
” I wait until he’s settled reluctantly on the blanket beside me.
He runs his hands over the legs of his slacks, eyeing the grass like it’s a creature he’s never seen before and he’s worried it might spit.
Turning to face him, I say, “Explain reamed. What exactly did he do?”
Julian stares at me with a shocked look on his face. He reaches up and touches his own cheek, mirroring where my bruise is.
“What happened? Did Jake—?”
“What? No! Jake would never.”
“Then what?”
“I interrupted a meth head robbing a pharmacy.”
His expression is unreadable as he gives me a long look. Finally, he says, “It’s like you’re a magnet for trouble.”
“You’re not the first person to tell me that. Now, I want to hear about what Jake did. He yelled at an intern?”
Julian presses his lips together in a way that suggests he wishes he hadn’t said anything. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he was just upset because you got hurt.”
“But Jake yelled?”
Julian nods.
“What did the intern do wrong? You said Jake had them working on something that involved a different form of law. What kind?”
“It’s nothing.”
“You came here because you thought it was. So tell me.”
He looks away, frowning as he says, “It was the contract for his mother’s new counsel.”
“He’s hiring her a new lawyer?”
“Yes. A whole team of them, actually.”
I don’t know what to say. Or how to feel. All the times Jake said he wasn’t upset about his mom, that she deserves what she gets—were those all lies? My stomach gurgles as I shift on the blanket, trying to ease the sharp sensation of having had a knife lodged between my shoulder blades.
“I was surprised. I mean, not just because of you two, but because after he spoke with his dad—”
“Wait. He spoke with his father?”
“Yes.”
“And told you about it?”
But not me. That makes even less sense than hiring a defense team for his mom. He hates his dad. Refuses to be in the same room with him. The one time I suggested he give the man a chance to make amends, he shot the idea down so fast I practically got whiplash.
It’s almost like Julian and I are talking about two different people. Or maybe just the two different faces the same man shows each of us. The thought makes me feel ill.
“Do you know what his dad told him?”
“To forget about his mom. That he was better off without her.”
And yet, that’s not what Jake decided to do, is it?
“Is that thing safe?” Julian asks.
I follow his finger to where he’s pointing at the raccoon, the kit walking across the blanket toward me.
This morning, after the vet examined her—as I suspected, the sanctuary’s newest rescue is a girl—I brought her out here, under a tree in the paddock to play and get some fresh air.
Though she’d climbed up onto a low bough to sleep, it appears that naptime is over.
The more time I spend with her, the more convinced I become that she’s somebody’s pet. The way she climbs into my lap now uninvited, and curls up, making herself comfortable, further supports this theory.
“I think so. But I’ve only known her for about twenty-four hours.”
“And you aren’t… worried?”
Not about the raccoon, but I can’t say the same about Jake.
“She’s fine. She won’t touch you.”
I stroke the raccoon’s back absently, frowning into space. What’s Jake’s goal? What does he intend to achieve by hiring a new defense team for his mother? The answer seems obvious, and yet, hadn’t he told me just last night that prison was where she needs to be? It doesn’t make any sense.
Unless Julian is lying. My gaze slides sideways to where the man sits.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have. I’m just trying to… be a friend, I guess.”
To me or to Jake? And to what end? Though I don’t know this man well, my past experience with him suggests that he only takes actions that he stands to benefit from.
So what is it that he hopes to gain? Is he here to try to drive a wedge into my relationship with Jake? Or to tell me that, like my own gut keeps saying, the man I love is struggling right now?
Julian leans forward, peering into the distance. “Is that one of those mini goats?”
Stephano must have just now realized we have a visitor, because he’s dancing across the paddock toward us.
“Yes. And I’m warning you, he already considers you his property.”
I watch as the tiny goat frolics directly over to Julian, puts his front hooves on the man’s knee with total disregard for what are probably very expensive trousers, sticks his tongue out, and baas at him.
“Is this… does this mean he likes me?”
“Hey, what’s going on?”
I flinch, startled. Replay Jake’s voice in my mind as I look over my shoulder at him, forcing a smile. Had he sounded stressed? Upset? No. I’m fairly certain that tightness in his tone was suspicion.
“I saw your car parked out front,” he says to Julian.
He’d seen Julian’s car, didn’t know where either of us was, and yet he’s wearing jeans and a T-shirt, so he obviously took the time to change before finding out. That’s not like him.
“What’s the occasion?” he asks. “It isn’t like you to make house calls.”
He takes a seat close beside me, one arm stretched almost possessively across my back, hand braced on the blanket. Though I turn toward him for a kiss, he doesn’t seem to notice, his steely gaze still fixed on Julian.
“I was looking for you, man,” Julian says. “Didn’t know where you went after you took off earlier. I thought I’d find you here.”
“And when you didn’t, what?” There’s a challenge in Jake’s voice.
Julian shifts uncomfortably. He puts a hand on Stephano to keep the goat from climbing onto his lap. “I figured you’d show up eventually, so I thought I’d wait.”
“Well, I’m here now. What do you need?”
Julian’s eyes flit between me and Jake. He clears his throat. “I have that, uh, paperwork you were worried about earlier. In my car. I know you were in a rush to get it executed.”
Jake’s expression softens as he nods. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”
Something at my core clenches. If Julian’s talking about the contract for Jake’s mother’s new lawyers, that means Julian was telling me the truth. And that he doesn’t want Jake to know he told me.
Suddenly, I’m exhausted. I lean back against Jake’s arm, resting my head against his shoulder. It’s only then, when I feel how rigid his muscles are beneath me, that I realize how tense he truly is. But why?
Because he’s upset that Julian and I were here alone, talking on a blanket? Because he’s worried that I’ll find out about the lawyers he’s hiring to defend his mom? Or is there something else—something worse—that he’s keeping from me?