Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I didn’t think it was a big deal.” Chad says, casting a horrified look at the body.
“Right,” I say, rolling my eyes. “You just agreed to carry an unknown object ‘cause a buddy told you to. You know that’s how people wind up dead in Mexico with things up their butts, don’t you?”
“Brandon said this would be fun! He’s always looking for the next thrill. I never know exactly what he’s got planned.” He leans forward, pulling at the strands of dirty hair hanging over his ears.
“What about the part where you’ve both been following Willow?” Jack grills, standing over Chad with his arms folded, looking fierce.
“Brandon’s informant told us to shadow Willow. He dared me to try to get a date out of it, made it all seem like another part of the game. But then…” Chad whimpers, pushing his palms into his eyes.
“Then, what?” Jack prompts.
“I dunno man—then Brandon started acting weird, disappearing, trying to get in contact with someone. He had a SAT phone he kept pulling out…”
Jack walks over to Brandon’s body, reaching into his pockets and patting him down, looking for a phone. “It’s not on him.”
That would have been too convenient, I guess. I push myself up to stand, Jack’s eyes tracking my movements as he continues to question Chad.
“You never told me what you’re doing off-trail.”
“Brandon said things didn’t go as planned with this artifact we were supposed to transport. Again, he made everything sound like an adventure.” Chad rubs a hand roughly over his face, letting his head fall back.
“Two little rich boys,” Jack mutters, scoffing. “What’s the bet I’d find a long list of things daddy’s money has made disappear?”
Scorn lights Chad’s eyes as he scowls back. “You’ve done your research.”
“Did you see anything else that could be useful,” Jack continues, ignoring his insinuation. “Anyone he acted strangely toward?”
Chad’s excuses are drowned out by my own thoughts bouncing around frantically in my head. How the hell did I get myself into this mess? Chad thinks we killed Brandon, which means the police will at the very least hold us for questioning.
Talk about wanting adventure—I found it on a grand scale. My parents are going to love getting that call when I’m in a jail cell.
This is really bad.
My gaze flickers to Jack, whose eyes haven’t left me. That beautiful frown holds a new edge of concern, and I wonder if he’s this intense in regular things like board games or watching sports. And then another thought flings itself at me.
“Jack, I don’t look good in prison orange.” My eyes widen. “It’s just as bad as gray, and it’s not the new black. Not everyone looks good in black, anyway. Do you think they’ll let me order my own uniform in prison? In a softer orange, maybe more peach—”
“Hey…” Jack is in front of me, interrupting my rambling and grounding me with the weight of his hands on my shoulders. “You’re not going to jail. You didn’t do anything.”
“But he thinks I did.” I toss a glare at Chad before bringing my gaze back to Jack. “Maybe…maybe I should tap out. You can call a helicopter or something. I’ll hand myself over and tell the police everything.”
Just walk away, Willow. Get out before you fail again.
His mouth arches in a tiny grin. “I don’t think Uber does helicopters yet. And you’re forgetting you’re with a man of the law who knows you’re innocent in all this.”
Maybe that’s my problem, though. I’ve skirted around it, but let’s be real, Jack is the hero of this story. I’m the laughable sidekick that he humors because she’s cute and helpless.
“Do you think I’m useless, too? That I haven’t done anything to call this hike a success?”
My thoughts are spiralling, yelling at me to retreat.
“Willow, look at me!”
“I should leave. This is too much. I’ll try a different hike. This one is clearly a write-off. I mean, look at what’s happened—threatening notes…bullets…a dead body!”
“Hey.” He dips lower, trapping my gaze. “Whoever is behind this killed Brandon. That means they’ll do worse to protect themselves. You stay close to me. We’re finishing this hike, and we’re solving this thing together. You will finish this hike the way you wanted to, with your head held high.”
“But—”
“If you quit now, you’ll never know what you’re capable of.”
Chad is still cowering against the rock wall as Jack’s hands slide up from my shoulders to cup my jaw, and I grip his shirt, aching to nestle into his arms and the safety they promise. I inhale a shuddering breath. He’s right.
Ugh, why is my default instinct to run?
But Jack is right. This is just one more bump in the road. I’m not letting another challenge chase me away from accomplishing something big.
He pulls me into his chest, curling himself around me and welding pieces of myself to him.
This man has me yearning for long-term things like never before.
Every other relationship has felt like a chore, like I had to prove my worth to keep them interested, or it was just a mutually beneficial arrangement until it no longer served both parties.
But this? This is like falling into a cloud and landing in something that can only be described as safety.
He’s safe. I can be myself with him. And I don’t know if I’ll recover if he decides I’m not worth it by the end of this. These revelations could not have happened in weirder circumstances. This scenario is completely wild and ridiculous, and not what I had planned for my life.
“What about me?” Chad questions, breaking the silky bubble wrapped around us.
Jack lets me go, and I nearly mewl in protest. “You’re getting a flight out of here with your buddy,” he tells Chad as he pulls out his phone.
Chad groans.
“You’re involved in this, and you needa be questioned.” Jack lazily types out a message. “Plus, you’re a liability, because you know too much, and I’m guessing whoever killed Brandon wants to make sure you don’t talk.”
“I’m not ending up like him.” Chad gulps, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb as a shudder wracks his body.
Not so macho now, is he?
“That’s exactly why you get a nice flight out of here,” Jack grumbles.
“So, um, what are we going to do with him in the meantime?” I grimace with a nod around the corner where we left Brandon’s body. Being so close to it got…weird.
“There’s a heli on the way to deal with it. But we need to wait for it so I can update the crime scene team.”
“This is messed up, man.” Chad pops to a stand, running a hand through his hair, fists balled.
Jack is in front of him in a second, gripping his shirt and towering over him. “What’s messed up is how you were an accomplice to some shady crap and harassed and stalked a woman. Were you also trying to get into her hotel room a couple nights ago?”
“What? No! I swear I didn’t do anything,” Chad protests, raising his hands innocently.
“That’s kind of the problem, see.” Jack pulls him closer with one hand, his aversion to the contact evident in every tensed muscle as he scowls at Chad.
“You did nothing, just went along with it. You’re an accomplice.
So unless you want a long stay in one of those orange jumpsuits Willow just mentioned, or you’re eager for a body-bag ride out of here with Brandon, you’d better do what I say.
Got it?” The energy pulsing from Jack is palpable at this point.
Chad swallows and waits a beat before he finally mumbles his agreement through clenched teeth.
Jack releases a sulking Chad and stalks over to me, his hand coasting down my uninjured arm and gripping my hand like the contact is the antidote to the discomfort he just felt after that confrontation.
“You okay?” he questions.
“Peachy,” I squeak out.
“You should eat something, take some meds again.” He lifts a hand to tuck my wayward hair behind my ear.
“I’m good. But I could do with some food.”
He lifts a brow, interrogating me with his stare.
“And the meds,” I add with an eye roll.
Jack turns to crouch beside his backpack, and I finally let out the silent wince I’ve kept crumpled in my chest. My body feels like I’ve been used as a pinata, but the only thing threatening to spill over is a mental breakdown.
Even though I’m struggling, keeping the extent of that quiet is my only method of holding Jack’s freakout at bay.
Because every time he thinks he’s let me down, those walls around him only get stronger.
And I desperately want to dismantle every brick.