Chapter 9 Justin
JUSTIN
Nick was a mastermind when he wanted to be. He’d gotten the post taken down from the Rumor on the Ridge page within an hour. Too bad there were already fifty comments by that time and probably plenty of screenshots.
Justin closed his locker and walked out of the gym with his chin down. The department knew when they hired him there was a chance he’d be photographed doing anything and everything. Chief said it was fine, as long as it didn’t backfire on the force.
“Hey.”
Justin looked up as Neenah approached, already wearing workout clothes.
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “There’s someone waiting for you in the lobby.”
Justin looked behind her at the long hallway, then back to her. “Is it—”
“It’s not her.” Neenah’s eyes squinted as if she were sorry to break the news.
Caroline hadn’t called after his flower delivery. Neenah warned him not to get his hopes up, but the rejection burned just the same. He couldn’t keep showing up and delivering things to Caroline’s work. She was too professional to let her private life affect her business, and he respected that.
“It’s her brother.”
Justin rubbed a hand through his hair and took the time to slowly turn a three-sixty and process the news. This day had always been inevitable. He just hadn’t planned on having the come-to-Jesus meeting this morning. “Which one?”
“Jordan,” Neenah whispered.
Great. The older and more serious of Caroline’s brothers had showed up at the police station for a chat. It was going to be a fantastic day at this rate.
Justin nodded. “Thanks for the warning.”
“Anytime. Maybe he’ll understand,” Neenah offered with a crinkle of her nose.
The scoff came out before Justin had a chance to wrangle it in. “Slim chance, but I’m about to find out.”
Neenah pointed toward the gym. “I’ll be here if you need backup.”
Justin bumped her shoulder with his. “Thanks. I hope I don’t need it.” No one with half a brain would underestimate Neenah. She packed plenty of punch in a tiny frame, and Justin wouldn’t want to be on her bad side.
Sure enough, Jordan Taylor sat in a gray chair against the wall in the lobby with his arms crossed over his chest. One foot tapped a quick rhythm on the tile floor.
It didn’t take an investigator to know he was itching for a fight. Surely, he wouldn’t have picked the police station for this chat if he thought things would get messy.
Jordan stood as soon as Justin entered the room. Caroline’s brother gave him a once-over before lifting his chin.
Justin stopped a foot and a half in front of Jordan and extended his hand. “Jordan Taylor, I heard you wanted to see me.”
“You heard right.” Jordan didn’t reach for the offered hand. “Is there anywhere we can talk in private?”
Justin nodded. “Let me secure a conference room.” Linda at the receptionist’s desk confirmed that Room B was open, and Justin led the way down the hall.
Once they were inside the room, Justin gestured to one of the seats at an oval table.
Jordan waved a hand. “I’ll stand. Let’s cut to the chase. Tell me exactly what you were doing with Caroline.”
Justin took a calming breath before answering. “Where do you want me to start?”
“The beginning,” Jordan ordered.
Rubbing the back of his neck, Justin searched for the words to explain it all in the best way possible. “I think Caroline should be here for this.”
“She’s at work. I want to know your side. Start talking.”
Here goes nothing.
“We met about thirteen years ago.”
Jordan shaded his eyes with a hand. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Trust me, if I could say anything else right now, I would. We were in a relationship for almost a year.”
“You’re lying. There’s no way Caroline was seeing anyone—especially you—and no one knew it.”
“Skye knew. I think she was the only one,” Justin added.
“Why would she hide that from us?” Jordan asked, his voice booming against the concrete walls.
“How would you have reacted? Kinda like you’re taking it right now?” Justin asked, raising his voice to match Jordan’s.
“Yeah. Kinda like this!” Jordan threw his arms out to his sides. “What were you two thinking?”
“I can’t speak for her, but I was thinking about how I loved her.”
Jordan’s hands balled into fists. “Don’t you dare—”
“Dare what? Tell the truth? You asked for it. It wasn’t a game, and we both knew what we were doing. I loved her. I still love her.”
Jordan took a step closer, but Justin held firm. “Oh yeah? What changed? And why is there a photo of you at her bakery floating around online? She doesn’t look like she’s in love with you.”
His grip tightened on the edge of the table until his knuckles went white. Nothing about Justin’s feelings for Caroline had changed, but circumstances had taken the happiness away from them. “It’s a long story.”
“You better start talking,” Jordan ordered.
“I got drafted! Dom was put in prison. I couldn’t ask her to come with me because her family needed her. She had dreams here, and no matter how much we wanted it to work, it didn’t.”
Jordan scoffed. “You thought she would go with you? She’s been dreaming about owning that bakery downtown since she was six years old! She can’t go two days without seeing Mom. Caroline loves it here.”
Justin slowly nodded, and his voice lowered as he said, “Exactly.”
Jordan threw up his hands. “So she wouldn’t come with you.”
“I didn’t ask her to come,” Justin admitted. The tightening in his throat was all too familiar. It choked the life out of him whenever he remembered losing her. Whenever he remembered hurting her and leaving her to face things alone.
“So, you sit here, claim it was love, but you left her behind.”
Tucking his chin, Justin knew when he’d lost. He’d been the loser long before Jordan showed up. He said goodbye to Caroline years ago, and that was all that mattered. “Yeah. Pretty much.”
“No,” a female voice said as the door opened.
Alicia Carver—well, Alicia Taylor, now—walked into the room and took her place by Jordan. She wrapped her hands around his arm before looking at Justin. “You had your reasons, didn’t you?”
Justin didn’t speak. He’d hoped to get the chance to talk to Alicia about all of this, and he’d even prayed she’d help him get through to Caroline. With Jordan as hotheaded as a Tasmanian Devil, there was no chance of that happening.
“I talked to Nick this morning,” she explained.
Wow. That was fast. He’d expected it to take at least a few days to get in touch through her team.
“He told me the plan,” Alicia said. “Count me in.”