“I need to talk to you.” My voice was rougher than I would have liked, but this wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have.
“Okay.” She closed the door behind me and followed me in the kitchen, her steps hesitant.
“Is Max here? Kari?” I asked, looking around.
She shook her head, her ponytail bouncing. “Nope. Just me. What’s going on? I’ve been trying to call you.”
“I know. I didn’t want to discuss this over the phone.” I sat down at the table and motioned for her to join me. She pulled out a chair slowly and sank into it, her eyes never leaving me.
“What’s going on?” she repeated.
I blew out a breath and caught her up on the events related to Simon.
“Cane,” she said, her eyes wide in horror as a realization of what I was getting at hit her full force. “The day I wore the shirt … first of all, I never wear that shirt. Kari despises it. I’ve had it forever. That day when we went for a walk, I felt like someone was watching me.”
My stomach lurched, bile hitting my esophagus.
That motherfucker was watching her!
Her jaw dropped open and she visibly shivered. “When we got home,” she swallowed, looking around the room. “Cane, when we got home that afternoon, the back door was open.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I narrowed my eyes, in complete disbelief that she wouldn’t find that just a little fucking important.
“Because I thought I was paranoid!” She looked around the kitchen like she was thinking. “And the night at the bar! I felt it then, too. That whole night, I just felt like something was wrong. I even thought I saw Simon standing there.”
“You should have told me this!”
“Well, maybe if I had known everything that was going on, I would have! You didn’t tell me anything!”
I watched the clarity wash over her eyes and I braced myself for her reaction.
“I’ve been walking around every day with no idea. I was completely vulnerable!” She gasped. “How could you let me do that, Cane? I … I don’t even know what to say!”
I had never felt so stupid.
“You’ve been trailed for a while now, Jada.” I tried to keep my voice controlled, flat, to avoid incensing her any further. I watched her reaction.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Her jaw dropped further and I winced.
“I’ve had someone following you, making sure no one got to you.” I sighed, feeling defeated for the first time in a long time. Maybe ever. “He works for the PI company I hired to go after Simon. It’s the same one that helped me when Dad died.”
“How could you not tell me this? Cane!”
“I didn’t want to worry you. I didn’t know if this shit was from Simon or a coincidence, if he was after you or me. I didn’t know anything for sure, Jada.”
Her eyes were as wide as saucers. “I can’t believe you didn’t even tell me.”
“Look, this is my fault. My life is one fuckup after another. I should have never went after you like I did. You don’t deserve this.” I hung my head. “I didn’t want you affected by all of this if you didn’t have to be, baby.”
“Well I obviously am! Damn it, Cane!”
My shoulders slumped forward. I was exhausted in every way possible.
“I need you to go out of town for a few days until we can find Simon. Something is going on and until we know what, I want you out of the way.”
“Oh, so now you get to come in here, spill your guts, and then tell me to leave?”
“Jada, please.” I met her eyes. “This is for your own good. Don’t make me pull crazy shit to get you out of here, because I will. You know I will.”
She crossed her arms against her chest, eyeing me coolly. “Just a few minutes ago, it seems, I was telling you I loved you. And now I sit here and wonder what relationship I’ve even been in because obviously my reality and yours have been very different.”
“Come the fuck on.”
“You were all angry that I didn’t tell you Decker had called me, yet you keep this entire thing from me for weeks! Pot calling the kettle black, don’t you think?”
“Stop with the Max bullshit.”
“Don’t even go there right now, Cane!” She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. “At least Max is honest.”
“Oh, you think Max didn’t know about this? Think again, babe.”
Jada sprang up from her chair and paced the kitchen. “So what? I go out of town and you come with me?”
I shook my head. “I can’t go, Jada. I have to be here.”
“How do I know you’ll be okay?”
I smiled. “Because if you are okay, I’m okay.”
JADA
I marched into the offices of Alexander Industries with a renewed purpose the next morning, wearing the orange dress that Cane loved.
Max had been delegated to find me a flight and it left that afternoon, much to Cane’s dismay. I had insisted on seeing my father the night before and telling him goodbye, since he had been feeling ill and I had no idea when I would be back.