Chapter Nine
Jia
“I think it would look more legit if I came with you,” Anya bubbled, rubbing her bony hands together.
I set my gaze on her and wondered if she was being serious.
She swung herself around in my desk chair in that habitual manner she always did when she got a bright idea. Then the chair creaked as she straightened looking at me with expectancy.
She’d come by earlier, all apologetic for standing me up and not answering my calls and messages the other night. We’d confined ourselves to my room with all the peace offering candy she’d brought.
Apparently, she was no longer with Mike. I was just waiting to see how long she would be able to stay away from him this time.
“You’ll seriously come with me?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.
She tapped away at my computer keyboard and nodded. My very clever best friend had come up with the brilliant idea to go on a cruise to the Mediterranean.
Her plan was for me to take my leave and make my way over to Europe. With my birthday coming up she was sure Pa would be willing to cut me some slack. I wasn’t so sure it would be so easy.
What had happened at the recruitment session pushed me to a place I couldn’t quite describe. I wasn’t talking to Pa. I didn’t know what to say to him.
It was like someone had pulled the wool from over my eyes and I saw the monster within.
The whole situation just made me realize I truly couldn’t stay here and I couldn’t take the time I’d wanted to either to plan. I’d had a very sketchy plan to wait for my birthday in four months but now I felt that was too late. I had to leave sooner.
Last night I looked up flights to Europe and worked out a way to take cash out of my account every week without Pa noticing. Starting this week I’d take out a few hundred dollars and start putting it aside. The type of plan I had brewing would need cash payments. For everything. I was hoping I could maybe make a move in six weeks if I could stick it out that long and if all went okay. A month to six weeks of taking a few hundred dollars out each week could get me close to ten grand. I spent more than that shopping in any one month and Pa spent so much more just on his cars and other vehicles.
So that was it. The goal was ten G’s. Get the cash then split.
That was the first part of the plan.
After the warehouse drama I came home shaking and cried myself to sleep.
It was the first time since Ma’s death that I’d needed to speak to anyone.
Anya was there for me when Ma was killed. When Pa eventually allowed people to see me she was there for me.
What happened the other night was different to that time, however. It was an incident I couldn’t talk about. Couldn’t say anything to anyone, couldn’t share my shock with anyone.
Couldn’t talk about it full stop.
“So what do you think?” She smiled and nodded her head. The blunt ends of her bob brushed the underside of her jaw.
“Anya, I think that realistically, this may be a trip I may have to make on my own. And in the worst case scenario I wouldn’t be able to tell you where I was going.”
That was the reality of it.
Worry filled her eyes. It washed over her pretty face and she moved away from the computer to join me on the edge of the bed.
When she sat next to me I suddenly thought of us as little girls. She’d always come to my house. That would have been my parents’ mansion.
Anya and I had known each other since we were five.
We met in kindergarten and had been friends ever since.
She knew me and more importantly knew who I was. Not just for the fact of me being Jia Marchesi, but she could fill in the blanks too, and just know if there was something I wasn’t saying or talking about, when it was bad.
Earlier when she’d come by, I’d simply told her what Pa had said about Europe and the shit with Armand. I followed that up by telling her I needed to leave.
I’d never expressly said that before.
“Jia, maybe you should think this through a little more,” she offered.
“Yes, maybe I should but how long is that going to take? Thinking things through and coming to a conclusion? Especially when my father seems to be doing all the thinking for me.”
She sighed and pursed her lips together. “Jia, I just don’t want you to do something to make the situation worse.”
“I don’t think it can be any worse than it is. This is me being careful Anya. I have to do something. Whatever that something is… it gives me hope. The cruise won’t work. There’s been too much talk of Europe and angst over Armand. Pa will suspect something.”
“So what would you do? Just disappear one day?”
I smirked without the humor and blew out a ragged breath. That was actually the plan.
She glared at me when I didn’t answer. “Jia, you can’t. I’ll be worried sick. I’d worry so much over you. You can’t just disappear on me.”
“I think I’ll have to.”
“How will you do it though? If it’s not your Pa watching you like a hawk, it’s his men.”
I couldn’t help but think of Xander as she said that. It was the reference to the hawk. Of anyone I’d ever heard being compared to that saying he definitely fit the bill in every essence with his keen eyes.
Unfortunately, eyes that were not on me.
The man told me he was off limits to me. That was really a new one.
“What is that smile for?” She grinned. “I can’t keep up. You’re smiling like you’re thinking about a man.”
“I am. See this whole thing has made me crazy. I’m one of those people who can’t decide what to think about first.”
She giggled. ”You never told me about a man.”
“Because there’s nothing to tell.”
“But the fact that we’re talking about a man signifies you like him. Jia Marchesi doesn’t talk about men she has no interest in.”
I shook my head at her although she was quite right. I didn’t talk about men that never held my interest.
“He’s Pa’s new recruit. Hot like sin but not interested in me.”
“What man with eyes isn’t interested in you?” She actually widened her own eyes like the thought was unheard of.
“Anya I could say the same for you. It’s only because I’m in this slump that I haven’t started on you about Mike.”
She frowned. “I’m trying Jia. It would be easier to say no to him if I’d never fallen for him. I know he’s bad for me and I actually feel proud of myself for turning him down this time. It took me a few days, but I got there and just at the point where he looked comfortable. Like he thought he had me back. We were in a restaurant when I caught him blatantly checking out some woman’s rack. I was sitting in front of him and I just thought, fuck this shit. I can do better. So I did. I’m here and he’s been calling me but I’m not going back to him.”
I listened to her and felt proud too. This was the first I’d heard her sound so strong and determined in what she wanted with regards to him. I guess I could take back the annoyance I’d felt the other night because it had led her to this point.
“You sound like you know what you’re doing,” I encouraged her.