Chapter 36
Sadie
Iwake with James curled around me, warm as a furnace, his hand on my stomach. I rest my hand on top of his. He threads his fingers through mine and presses his nose into my neck.
“Morning,” he rumbles.
A loud purring noise starts behind him, and he rolls us both backward as Mr. Karen’s head pops up and he gives it a sleepy shake. James pulls his hand from under the covers and scratches his ears. So cute.
After we called Des and my mom last night, James ordered an Uber, and we headed out to Jersey City to pick up my mom and our suitcases. James muttered grumpily in the car all the way back when he realized I’d moved some of my stuff out.
My eyes drift over to the clock. 7 a.m. “Shit, my mom …”
“She was up at 5:30. She’s gone to work. I showed her how to use the shower and got her phone number, just in case. She flapped her hands and told me to go back to bed, but I made her a coffee to take with her, and she said she’d never done that before.”
“I’ll bet she’s never had a man make her a drink, either.”
He chuckles into my neck. “Or buy her one in a coffee shop.”
“Banana chocolate loaf,” I whisper, and he laughs.
“Mr. Karen was very confused at the early hour. He sat in the middle of the floor with his fur all ruffled and then came back in here with me.”
I shift fully onto my back, and James props himself on his elbow and gazes down at me. My heart does a strange pitter-patter in my chest. James looking vulnerable without his glasses will be the death of me. I rub my thumb across the scrape on his face.
“You’re going into the office injured again.”
He turns his head and kisses my hand, smiling against it. “At least this time it’s not self-inflicted. God, that morning was mortifying. I felt like everyone would look at me and know.”
Talking about people at work knowing about things … “About my resume,” I start. “I want to atone for it somehow, like take a pay cut or something. I feel terrible about it, like I got away with a con.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t. You’re not highly paid as a developer anyway.
We got you through this process, and, to be honest, it’s started to make me think we could find more self-taught programmers who don’t have a college degree.
We’ve probably been guilty of overlooking the more practical routes people have taken.
I might put you in charge of a program to recruit and train people like that. ”
I stare at him.
“But we’ll go through some kind of proper procedure for you, Sadie, so it’s all above board.
” He cups my face. “Please don’t worry about it.
With everything else that’s gone on for us personally, and all the stuff we have to deliver for Samsung, it’s the least of our problems. I take it seriously, but this is at the bottom of our priority list.”
“Okay. But if I don’t meet the standards or start to fall behind …”
“I get it, Sadie. But you’re going to be fine. More than fine. Great, even.”
The girl writes some code to stop her heart from exploding.
He leans down and brushes his lips over mine.
“Apparently, I’ve got a meeting at 8 a.m.,” I mumble against his mouth.
His lips move across my cheek and he groans in my ear. “Are you serious? Finally, things are on somewhat of an even keel, and you’ve got to be in early? Who can I fire?”
“Cath and Roy.”
“Ah.”
“We’re going over the timeline and all the deliverables.”
“Oh yeah, I do remember something about that. I’ve got to report my stolen laptop to the police. Not that I’m holding out much hope of getting it back.”
“Ah, about that …”
“What?”
“I promised Cady you wouldn’t do that as a deal to get your phone.”
He starts laughing as he pulls back and looks down at me, shaking his head. “Badass,” he says with a grin.
I leave James in his boxers, mid-shave, and I’m half a block away from the apartment when I hear footsteps right behind me. Before I can even turn, a hand grips my shoulder. I am so goddamn tired of being accosted in the street. But then a voice snarls in my ear, low and intimate.
“She fucking left me because of you.”
Jake. His fleshy fingers curl around my neck.
I open my mouth and close it again, gasping as his grip tightens.
Fuck, I can’t breathe! This is one of those moments when you wish you’d taken the first aid and the self-defense classes in high school.
In fact, I’m sure I did do both. I lift my foot to stomp on his, and he chuckles, breath hot against my skin.
“You know all that self-defense bullshit doesn’t work if the person who’s got hold of you has got a knife, don’t you?”
He lifts a long, shining blade in front of my face, and my eyes widen on his hand. Holy shit, he’s insane! I’ve never seen him with a weapon of any kind. If you’d asked me, I’d have said he wasn’t dangerous and, overall, kind of stupid. Well, who’s the stupid one now?
“You thought I didn’t know where you lived, didn’t you? Fancy place, this. Been following you for a bit, watching you go in and out. Shacked up with your boss. Good move, girl. He’s gotta be making a mint to afford to live here.”
I gag a few times as I try to force some words out, and he tightens his grip, hissing in my ear again: “I had it good for a while, too, girlie, and you ruined it.” He gives a horrible gurgling chuckle.
“Always knew you’d ruin it for me one day.
You’d look at me with those big gray eyes of yours, and I’d think one day, I’m going to have to deal with that kid. ”
“Jake,” I manage to squeeze out through his chokehold.
“Your mom and me had an understanding. I did what she asked me to do, and she turned a blind eye a lot of the time. Like I said, a good life. You gave her your money, and she passed it on to me.”
He’s clearly not stupid at all. He maneuvered my mom exactly where he wanted her, and she’s got a good radar for people. Somehow, he boxed me in, too.
“Jake,” I choke out, finally, as the pressure on my neck eases slightly. “N-not what you think. I pay rent here. They’re doing me a favor. It takes most of my pay.”
“Why you wasting cash on a place when you could be living with Jakey and handing it straight to him, eh?”
I can’t say it’s because he groped me; that’ll just rile him up.
Even I’m not stupid enough to provoke a guy with a knife.
Particularly one that might be high. “Close to work. I told Mom.” The pressure on my neck eases a little more.
“There are emergencies sometimes—late nights. We’re on call when systems go down.
” I’m making it up as I go along, but that sounds convincing to me.
He grunts. “And you couldn’t do a favor for little old Jakey, eh? That man of yours must have some serious dough.”
“It’s not his place either! He’s looking after it for a friend who’s gone abroad for two years.”
“Why don’t I believe you?” he hisses.
“If you let go of me, I’ll get James out here, and you can ask him.”
“You think I’m letting go of you, you bitch? You got away from me twice already, girl, and that is not happening again till I get my cash.”
“Jake. The company I work for is a small startup. Those kinds of companies don’t make any money until they’re bigger.
It’s in debt up to its eyeballs, funded by a big financial firm.
” I try to wave a hand toward downtown. I have no real idea how Williams Security is financed, but it all sounds plausible.
I swear, Jake didn’t use to go around intimidating people; he’s usually an appeaser. James went out to Queens and talked to this guy, and he thinks I’m mad for going out there. My breath evens out as my brain starts to come back online.
“What’s all this about, Jake? This isn’t like you, threatening people.”
“I got into some trouble,” he mumbles. “I owe some money.”
Fuck. How bad is it? “Drugs?”
“Mind your own business.”
“Look, you can’t keep me in a headlock; people are going to notice. Let me go and let’s talk about what’s going on.”
“Your mom left, that’s what’s goin’ on, and that’s on you. I got no cash if she’s not around.”
I should have thought of that. His piggy banks have disappeared on him, one by one. He never was much for working. He likes drinking and whatever else he gets up to. How big a threat is he? Will my mom and I ever be rid of him? I’ve brought him into James’s life, too. Oh, Jesus.
“You know your boyfriend came looking for you, don’t you?
” Jake carries on. “He promised me your paycheck. So you see, Sadie-bird, I’ve bypassed you and gone straight to the source, but I haven’t heard from him, so I’m back to my original plan to get what I want.
You’re going to find that cash for me, or I’m going to stick a knife in you. ”
“And how are we going to get the money, Jake? Someone has to transfer it.”
There’s a long pause.
“We need to talk to him, girl. Maybe your idea of getting him out here is a good one.”
“Sadie?”
James’s voice comes from behind us, and Jake swings around with me in front of him, his hand still clutching the knife. James’s eyes flick down to it and back to my face. Is he just leaving for work, or did he somehow know?
Jake lets out a harsh chuckle. “Speak of the devil! Just the man I wanted to talk to.”
James scans down my body. “Are you okay, Sadie?”
“Yes.” I don’t like how shaky I sound.
“Where’s my money?” Jake says, and James’s jaw ticks as his eyes move over my shoulder.
To my surprise, he nods. “I talked to the company, and they’re happy to give Sadie three thousand dollars upfront. We can transfer that to you if …”
Jake laughs in my ear. “Three G! Now that’s what I’m talking about! But it’s gonna have to be cash only, my friend.”
His voice has relaxed a bit. Well done, James. Don’t antagonize the man with the knife.
James purses his lips like he’s thinking.
A wail of sirens reaches me from somewhere in the distance, and my eyes flash to James’s. It’s not an uncommon sound in Manhattan, but …
“What do you use for money transfers, Jake?” James says calmly.
I realize he’s been walking toward us as he’s been talking. The sirens are louder now, up on the main street. A couple of blocks away, at most.
“Did you call the fucking cops on me?” Jake suddenly snarls right by my ear.
“No,” James says, and I can tell he’s telling the truth.
But maybe someone else did.
Jake’s moving back now, pulling me along, away from James and the sirens, which are getting louder.
I start to struggle, and Jake shoves me away, down onto the sidewalk.
Pain shoots through my side as I land hard on my arm.
But Jake has already taken off, and my mouth drops open.
I would never have said he could shift that fast if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.
James takes off after him. Fuck! And, of course, he’s so much quicker than a guy with a beer belly who sits on a couch all day.
A cop car screeches to a halt right next to me and two officers vault out, pulling out their guns and running after James.
“Stop! Police!” one of them shouts.
This has got way more exciting than a Brandon Sanderson novel. But now I’m thinking I like reading about these things and not experiencing them in real life.
I prop up on one elbow, breathless, just in time to see James take Jake to the ground, which appears to be pretty painful and not at all like it is in the movies.
The two cops reach where they’re splayed on the asphalt.
I lie back on the sidewalk. Everything is a bit swimmy.
Christ, why would Jake do something like this?
All that trouble in Jamaica Houses, and he never got involved.
“Sadie?”
James’s voice is much closer now, and then the face that I love more than anything in the world looms over me, lips curling in his trademark grin.
“Are you having a rest down there?”
“I … I …” His face is swimming in and out. “James, I …”
God, I feel so strange.
His face goes from sardonic amusement to alarm in a heartbeat, and he drops to his knees and wrenches open my cardigan.
The queen stares desperately at her knight, hoping he can save her.
“Oh Jesus Christ” is all I hear him say before I pass out.