“No,” she said, boldly holding my stare, “not until you hear me out.”
“I’ll drive off with the door open,” I warned her, one hundred percent serious. Anything to get her away. Away from me, away from my car…mostly away from me. The more I looked at her, the prettier she became.
Fucking terrible thoughts.
“Fine,” she said, sounding like she was pouting.
I thought she meant fine as in she was going to give up and leave, let me be, allow me to drive off and pretend like this meeting never happened, forget her face in its entirety, but I was wrong. So, so fucking wrong I could do nothing but sit there in shock at what she did next.
She hoisted herself up and crawled over me to get to the passenger seat, knocking her bag against my head as she went.
I held in a grimace at the feeling of hard textbooks slamming against my temple, turning my head to the side—away from her—and wondered just what the fuck kind of joke this was. Some kind of cosmic let’s all laugh at Jacob moment? I might’ve had patience before, but after these last few years…I didn’t anymore.
“All right,” she said, dropping her bag between her knees and reaching for the seatbelt. “Let’s go. Wherever it was you’re running off to—”
“You could’ve just crawled into the car of a serial killer,” I told her, slowly turning my head to look at her. The cool air from outside blew in; I refused to shut it on principle. The moment I closed that door would be the moment my willpower crumbled and I accepted whatever job she had.
Money was money, after all…
No. I didn’t work with kids, and I meant it.
“Are you?” she asked. “No? Then okay, I think I’m good right here.” She buckled her seatbelt, obstinate to the fucking extreme. “I need your help.”
And I needed eight hundred dollars by Friday to make rent.
I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. I really didn’t want to entertain the idea of working for this girl, but when faced with no other options, what the fuck else was I supposed to do?
After sighing yet again—I had the feeling I’d be doing a lot more sighing after I said what I was about to say next—I looked at her hard and said, “A thousand dollars, and I’ll help you with whatever you need.” I hated saying it, but I needed the cash, and if this girl was serious about hiring me, she had to fork it over and pay for it.
Desperate. I was fucking desperate, and I hated myself for it.
Hmm. Maybe it was time to leave Midpark. Clearly, this place hadn’t done me any favors, and it didn’t look like it would let up anytime soon.
Marie’s eyes widened—and here I thought they couldn’t get bigger. The eyes gave her an innocent, naive quality, but the rest of her was too flawless to belong to an eighteen-year-old. “I don’t have a thousand with me.”
“Then get it, and meet me back here on Thursday.” I reached for my door, yanking it shut, slamming it. Glaring at her, I added, “Unless you’ve changed your mind and no longer need my help?” I had no idea what this girl needed my help with, but it would at least pay my rent for this month.
The other two hundred? Food, because you needed that shit to survive.
Her jaw set, and she stared at me with defiance in her gaze. “I’ll get it.” She said nothing else as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she moved toward the diner, getting off the parking lot.
With one hand on the shifter, I stared at her for a bit too long before putting the car in reverse and driving away.
She was just a means to an end, I told myself as I drove back to my apartment. If she belonged to one of the rich families around here, a thousand was just a weekly allowance. She’d be able to get it, and I’d make my rent. At least for now. What the future held in store for me was anyone’s guess.
I let out a groan as I went up to my place. I’d installed new locks after my place was broken into—though I supposed they weren’t new anymore, but still. Multiple deadbolts, each with different keys. I figured by the time it would take someone to unlock them all, someone else would come strolling down the hallway and see them.
Even after all this time, I still didn’t know how those devilish twins had gotten so good at what they did, but it was a moot point now. None of it mattered. They were gone and I was here, somehow.
Somehow still here.
The story of my fucking life, really.
I pushed inside, and after I locked each and every lock, I tossed my keyring onto the counter in the kitchen. As I walked down the hall, I slipped off my shoes and worked to take off my jacket, tossing it into my bedroom. I went into the bathroom and closed the door, instantly gripping the vanity’s counter as I stared at myself in the mirror.
I looked like shit, I thought. My face looked more haggard than I remembered it being, but maybe it was just this place. Me, trying to make it here when I should’ve walked away all those years ago. Why didn’t I? What made me stick around?
The truth…the truth was nowhere as pretty as the rest of Midpark was.
I pushed off the counter, starting to unbutton my shirt. I had to turn away from my reflection when my shirt opened to reveal my torso, or more specifically, the one part of it I never wanted to look at. The part of me that reminded me of my mistakes, my lies.
The only time I let myself think of what I did was when I was in the shower, when I had the water pelting my back and washing away the day’s filth. Even then, it was too much, for I shouldn’t think of it at all.
My feet brought me over the tub’s edge, and I pulled the curtain closed before starting the water.
Underneath it all, I was just as scarred as the next person, just as battle-hardened. I used to be a better person, but that was before Zane, Thorn, and Celeste. Before I lost my job—the one thing I’d wanted growing up.
Almost absentmindedly, I touched my lower abdomen. Where sculpted muscle sat, scarred flesh was also.
Hell. Even back then, when I was just a cop trying to do his best when given such a high-profile case, I was a liar. I just used to hide it better.
One day at a time. That’s how I had to take this. Relax, cool off, simultaneously hope and pray that girl both got the money and didn’t. If she didn’t get the money, I’d figure something out.
I always did.
Chapter Thirteen – Jaz
One question that plagued my mind while I was walking home was: how the hell was I supposed to come up with a thousand big ones? It wasn’t like I was an heiress, a daughter of one of these Midpark families. I was an outsider, and being an outsider, I didn’t have cash overflowing from my vagina. Nope. The only thing I had in my vagina was…
Well, let’s not get into that, because my thoughts would only lead to Archer. Maybe even Vaughn.
Heck, or maybe even that ex-cop…
Needless to say, my hormones had suddenly jumped into overdrive here, and I was so not here for it. The only thing I was here for was figuring out mysteries and deciding whether or not my mom and I were safe here.
It was dark by the time I arrived at the house, talked to the guard for him to open the gate for me, and walked up to the house. Ollie was home already—strangely—and Mom had just arranged our leftovers at the dining table. Ollie had taken his meal up to his study, which he usually did.