20. Hazel
Isat in the back seat of the rental car with Jareth beside me. There was no way I’d tell him my heart was in my throat, and I was terrified of this going sideways. Not after I fought so hard to be here. Doubts crept in, making me wonder if I could handle it if things became dangerous.
Sensing my panic, he reached over and took my hand. The simple skin-to-skin connection helped slow my heart rate.
“You don’t have to do this,” he reminded me.
I scooted closer. “I know. You can’t shake me that easily.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
He needed to know I’d keep myself safe so he didn’t have to worry about me. I flicked my gaze to the closed partition with Jareth’s guards stationed in the front seat. “I stay in the car with Tony until you or Dex give me the all-clear. If anyone pulls a gun or shots are fired, I find a way back to the car and… ” I hated saying this part.
“You leave us behind. Say it, Hazel.” His voice took on a flinty edge.
“I leave you all behind.” I wasn’t sure I could go through with it. How do you leave behind someone in danger and only save yourself, especially someone you love?
“You are not trained to defend yourself. If we have to worry about you, we can’t do what needs to be done and get back home safely.”
“I know. And just because I promised to leave doesn’t mean I have to like it.” We didn’t even know what we were walking into, which was the scariest part of this whole thing.
“What’s the cover story we’re going with?” His brisk tone said so much to me.
The moment we left the villa, I saw how he’d shut down. Mentally, I sensed the wall he erected, and physically, his movements were more precise than usual. The feel of him was off. This was the person he thought he had to be, and as hard as it was to admit, part of me wondered if by being here, I’d be able to stop him from doing something he’d regret.
“Hazel.” He gentled his voice.
“We decided to vacation in Bali for Christmas, and Terri said he heard Bill had moved here. We thought it’d be fun to check up on him and say hi.”
He nodded. “We stay as close to the truth as possible.”
Jareth’s phone buzzed with an incoming text. “Just Terri. I told him I’d let him know what we find out.”
I laid my hand on his knee. “I’ve never asked why you don’t call him uncle. Is it because he’s not a blood relative?”
“No, I was a punk-ass kid and decided to address him by his first name after calling him Uncle Terri since I was young. After Dad died, I didn’t want to be close to anyone. It was a way for me to push him away.” He shrugged. The simple movement directly contrasted with the flash of pain that tightened his jaw.
I snuggled up to his side, wishing that my physical comfort could in some way lessen the hurt he still carried deep within his psyche—a hurt I understood. My heart squeezed painfully at the knowledge that Jareth had been building his walls, closing himself off from anything that might hurt him for such a long time now. “I remember him telling me he and your dad were friends for a long time.”
Jareth’s gaze fixated on the passing scenery. “They both worked at a roller skating rink when they were teens and became best friends. Later, Terri started working for the Sultons in the textile factory and pulled my dad in when they were hiring.”
“From what you’ve told me, your dad sounded like a really great guy.” Jareth rarely spoke of his father, and I’d learned to cherish the tiny nuggets of information he revealed over the years.
“He was. My mother left when I was too young to remember her, so it was always just the two of us.”
Anger for the abandoned little boy surged through me. “Did you ever find out why she left?”
“Dad said she was too much of a free spirit to be tied down. He never really got into it.” Jareth glanced at me, his expression a hard mask.
I wanted to run my fingers across his cheeks, tell him a bad joke, anything to make him smile and not have to relive the pain of his past. He was already shutting down. I honestly figured it had more to do with remembering his dad’s death rather than his mom not caring about him.
“I tracked her down after my dad died.” From the flat, emotionless look in his eyes, I already knew it hadn’t gone well.
“She lived a nomadic life, jumping from town to town, job to job. She told me she didn’t have room in her life for a kid and wished me luck.” He scoffed.
I wanted to shake some sense into this woman. How could she be so cold to her grieving son? “I’m so sorry. You deserved better than she gave you.”
He shrugged. “It turned out she was the kick in the ass I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself. I decided I could only rely on myself, and if I wanted to prove to the world my dad had been framed, I needed to be smart enough to uncover it.”
I knew about Jareth’s earlier life. The degrees he held, the businesses he worked for, and how quickly he moved up in rank wherever he was employed. Then, an aging businessman saw his potential and decided Jareth would be his successor when he retired. He made his first million with that company, then invested wisely and purchased additional corporations. He was a billionaire by the time he was thirty. He was a true rags-to-riches story.
I climbed into his lap. His arms shot out to steady me when I wobbled.
“What’s this for?” His voice had already lost that desolate edge. Happiness tugged at me, knowing I had played some small part in that.
“Do you know how amazing you are?” I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed so tight he groaned.
“Hazel, I’m fine. It was a long time ago.” I’d noticed that even though he was casual around Tony and Dex, he didn’t let go of his mean boss persona even in front of them. It made how casual and comfortable he was with me so special, and it proved why he needed me even more. He couldn’t continue to be an island for the rest of his life. He needed connection and friends.
“It doesn’t matter whether it was yesterday or ten years ago. Your mother was a damn fool to deprive herself of all that you are.” I kept my arms around him even as he shifted uncomfortably in my embrace.
He lowered his voice. “You do realize we have an audience.”
“They can’t see or hear us.” I grabbed his cheeks to pull him to me and pressed my lips to his. I wanted to infuse all my love for him into this moment. He needed to know he was everything to me.
He lifted his mouth from mine. “Is that so, Sunshine?” His voice deepened.
I swallowed down my nervousness. “Yes.”
“We’re two minutes away.” I jumped at Tony’s update and the sound of the partition sliding down. With a quick glance forward I slid off Jareth’s lap.
Jareth’s whole demeanor changed. His face hardened once again. Gone was the teasing, sweet, caring man that had cradled me in his arms the night before. That told me he would wait until I was ready.
In front of me was the person most people saw: the ruthless businessman who would do whatever it took to succeed, even if it meant destroying those around him. The man who could instinctively find your weakness and use it against you. And the one who neither needed nor wanted people in his life.
This time, I understood. If he was the one to show a weakness, he might not survive. He had no idea if he was meeting with an old friend of his father’s or the person responsible for his death.
I wasn’t offended when he barely glanced at me as he got out of the car when it came to a stop.
“Dex,” Jareth called out, only meeting my eyes briefly when Dex responded in the affirmative that he would be right behind him.
“I’ll be okay,” I whispered.
The curt lift of his chin broke my heart. He didn’t know what he was walking into, but he was willing to do whatever it took to find justice. I just hoped it didn’t take his soul.