Realizing that Sebastian was still blocking the door, Liam switched his attention to the man’s face. “I’m looking for Jaz,” he repeated.
“So you said. She isn’t here.”
“Well, where is she? I need to talk to her. It’s important.”
Sebastian, who’d been leaning with a hand against the doorframe, straightened. He was about the same height as Liam, but lankier and—despite being a rock climber—somewhat awkward on the flat ground. Even if Sebastian wasn’t still recovering from his injury, Liam could lay the younger man out without breaking a sweat. Liam knew it. Sebastian knew it. And yet that didn’t stop Sebastian from squaring off, his arms crossed over his chest.
“You want to know what’s important? What’s important is that Jaz is able to channel what little mental bandwidth she has left into concentrating on tomorrow’s competition. In case you missed the memo, this Clash of the Titans is her version of the NFL. What you did to her—how and when you did it—is nothing short of criminal. So, no, I’m not letting you in. Or telling you where she is. Or mentioning that you were even here. And before you ask, the reason she isn’t picking up any of your calls—presuming you made any—is because I blocked your number from her phone.”
Liam rocked back on his heels. He appreciated that Jaz had loyal friends, but Sebastian didn’t know what he was talking about. Not fully. “Listen.” Liam held his hands out in a calming gesture despite feeling anything but calm. “I know you think you’re doing what’s best, but—”
“Do you care about her?” he demanded. “Did you ever care about her?”
The question hit him like a blow. Liam was used to challenges, but this was personal, and the question somehow made him feel naked. But he answered it anyway. “Yes,” he said without flinching. “And when I told her I didn’t, it was an utter lie. A cowardly one. I care about her very much, Sebastian, and I would very much like to tell her this myself. So can you please help?”
Sebastian regarded him for several heartbeats, his face unreadable. “If that’s true,” he said finally. “If you truly do care, then you’ll give her the courtesy of waiting until the competition is over. For the next forty-eight hours, Jaz needs to keep her head in the game, not be mulling over the changes of your mercurial heart.”
Liam’s jaw tightened. Sebastian raised his chin at the challenge and didn’t back off a single inch.
“All right,” Liam said, switching tactics. “What about all the boxes? Where’s she moving to?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Down the block. Maybe. Or maybe down the coast. I guess you’ll have to wait to find that out until you talk to her. After the climb.”
“You do know I run a pretty decent security company? It wouldn’t take all that much work to track this down, whether you tell me or not.”
Sebastian shrugged again and slipped his hands into his pockets. “True,” he said. “I imagine you can do that. But I guess it all comes down to the question of whether you actually care about her. And if you do, you’ll respect her privacy. And her space.”
Liam drew a long breath and blew it out. As much as he fucking hated to admit it, on this point, Sebastian was right.
36
Jaz
Roman Robillard? What in the ever-loving hell was he doing here? The last time she saw the man, Roman was drunk out of his mind and threatening her and Liam at the Adventure World fair. Jaz’s hand tightened on the handle of her rolling bag as she took a step back from the car and checked her phone messages to ensure she hadn’t missed something. She hadn’t. And yet, here he was, picking her up on behalf of Vector Ascent and the Clash of the Titans.
Roman reached across the seat and opened the passenger’s door. “I know, I know. I probably should have warned you it was me picking you up. But honestly, I was kind of worried you wouldn’t show up and I’d lose my job.”
“You’re working for the challenge?” Taking out her phone, Jaz texted both the main competition administration and Vector Ascent about the pickup.
The car behind Roman’s Camry gave an annoyed honk. “Hey, lovebirds, can you take this reunion elsewhere?” the driver shouted through the open window. “Some of us need to get on with it.” When Jaz failed to move immediately, the man honked again, this time laying into his horn until others joined in.
Jaz flipped the drivers off, waiting for confirmation that Roman was indeed supposed to be there before considering getting into his car. Unfortunately, said confirmation from Vector Ascent showed up a moment later. With a frustrated grunt, Jaz put her bag into the back and got in beside Roman. “What’s your job exactly?”
“Hello, Jaz, it’s good to see you again too,” Roman said good-naturedly. Without the reek of alcohol coming off him, he was much more the articulate athlete who had once dominated Vector Ascent’s marketing campaigns.
“You can’t be too glad to see me when I said no such thing about you.”
“And here I was hoping for something along the lines of I’m glad you don’t have any hard feelings about my having Vector Ascent’s championship slot, and I look forward to working with you this week.”
“How about this one: You outright threatened me, and your cousin tried to kill me with his car, so you’ll forgive my lack of enthusiasm.”
Roman scratched the stubble growing along his jawline. “First things first. Devante is Devante, and I’m me. I love him because he’s family, but he’s always been…obsessive. Unstable. I can’t even begin to tell you what might have been going through his mind when he got into that car. All I can say is that obviously it was nothing healthy. I went to his place to clean up, and he had letter cutouts from newspapers and magazines as if to make those weird anonymous notes from the movies. The man needs help. Period. And I hope that when he’s behind bars, he’ll get it. I am sorry you got hung up in his psychosis, but his mental illness is neither my doing nor my fault.
“As for what I said to you at Adventure World… That one is on me. I’m not proud of cornering you and your lover. I got drunk and stupid. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
He took a turn onto the freeway and studied Jaz out of the corner of his eye. “Also, while we’re on Confession Island, I should also tell you I’m not just the guy Vector Ascent sent to pick you up. I’m also, kind of, the guy they selected to be your climbing partner.”
Jaz leaned her head back against the seat, letting Roman’s words process for a minute. Given that Roman was Vector’s former poster boy, it wasn’t altogether impossible that Vector decided to bring him back. Especially given their recent conversation with her. It actually made sense. But still. Roman?
“All right, let’s have it out,” Roman said with a sigh. “Yes, I’m more than a little devastated that it’s not me leading the pack, but I’ve accepted the reality of the situation, and I do appreciate Vector Ascent giving me the chance to be involved again. And yeah, I imagine if I were in your shoes, not being allowed to pick my own climbing partner, I’d be pretty pissed as well. But again, reality. To Vector, we’re both PR. Nothing more. And we do all have the same goal of winning. So can we call a truce for the next thirty hours?”