Jared stared at the floor, working to even out his breathing.
I touched his arm. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we’ve had enough truth for one night.”
“Do you want to leave?” he asked, concerned.
“No!” I paused to regain my composure. “No. I just meant that maybe we could talk about something else…if you want,” I fidgeted. “Your training, what schools you went to, friends…girls,” I said, a corner of my mouth turning up.
“Girls?” he repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“You know about my utter failure when choosing a boyfriend, and I’m sure you saw the awkward dates I’ve been on.”
“Those were never a good day at work for me,” he said, furrowing his brow.
“It’s only fair,” I reasoned. “You must have had at least one bad date….”
Jared shook his head dismissively. “I didn’t have time to date.”
I wasn’t sure what expression was on my face, but it made Jared’s eyes squint with chagrin. He clearly didn’t expect to talk about his love life, or lack thereof.
“I was focused on keeping you alive. Making mistakes in my family means more than having to say you’re sorry.”
“Never?”
Jared shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “It wasn’t that I never had the opportunity, or that I wasn’t allowed the time…or even incessantly encouraged,”—his face twisted into a disgusted scowl—“I just had my priorities.”
“Should I feel guilty or flattered?”
Jared looked straight into my eyes. “By the time it occurred to me to care about things like that, I already knew you were all I’d ever want.”
I controlled my eyes from bulging from their sockets, but I couldn’t stop my mouth from turning up into a half surprised, half appreciative grin. My eyes focused on his lips again.
“So…why did you bring me here?”
He shrugged. “You said all I had to do was tell you the truth. That was all I needed to hear.”
“When did I say that?” I felt my eyebrows pull in as my mind rewound the night’s conversation.
He hesitated. “To Beth…last night.”
“In my room? How did you hear that?”
Jared sighed and sat taller in his seat, bracing for round two. “Just hear me out before you leave,” he said in a low tone. “It’s my duty to protect you. I can’t do that without knowing where you are at all times. I couldn’t walk around freely in your dorm, so we had to have eyes and ears in place.”
“What do you mean eyes and ears?”
“Your father was meticulous.” He was stalling.
“Spit it out, Jared.”
“When you were accepted into Brown, Jack had cameras installed in Andrews and different places on campus. We tracked the GPS in your car of course, but that had been in place the day Jack bought it. We tracked the GPS in your cell phone as well, and your parents’ house has always been wired.” Jared spoke casually, but he was braced for another outburst.
“There’s a camera… in my room?” I spoke slowly, the anger and shock nearly choking my words.
“No! No, no, no…,” Jared chuckled nervously. “There’s a camera in the hall. We only placed a mic in your room.”
I considered that for a moment, trying to recall if I’d ever done anything embarrassing. Nothing came to mind—I hoped that nothing would.
Jared squirmed. “Just to be clear, I don’t enjoy invading your privacy in that way, but it is necessary.” I pouted as a smile spread across his face. “Well, that’s not true. I enjoyed it last night.”
I tensed, closing my eyes. “What did you hear?”
Jared’s warm hand touched mine. “I heard Beth say that you loved me. And I didn’t hear you deny it.”
My eyes popped open. “You heard wrong, then. I did deny it.”
“I heard you try to convince her otherwise. Are you telling me that I’m mistaken?”
I pulled my hand from his in defiance. I didn’t like being ambushed.
He smiled at my stubbornness. “The second you walked away from me, my choice was clear.” His expression didn’t last long when I didn’t return his smile. “You’re angry.”
“I have no secrets,” I sulked. “Does my mother know about this?”
Jared nodded. I threw up my hands in frustration, letting them smack loudly into my lap. He kneeled in front of me on the floor, forcing me to look at him.
“It was necessary, Nina,” he said, lightly touching my bare knees.
“So that’s how you always miraculously appear?” I was aware that he knew my whereabouts, but I had no idea I was being spied on twenty-four-seven.
“That’s part of it,” he said with the evasive tone I was bitterly becoming accustomed to.
“And the other part is?”
“I’m getting to that.”
“There’s more?” I howled.
“First, since you now know the worst part of it—," I rolled my eyes, “—I owe you an apology,” Jared said.
“I’d say so!”