No answer.
No answer from his apartment either.
That’s when I decided to try The Jameson Group. It was the only other place I figured Jerico would be on a Monday morning.
“He’s not here,” the receptionist says smugly, and I blink my eyes to clear the haze of this weekend’s memories.
My lungs deflate with disappointment that I’m not getting my answers or the opportunity to try to mend my broken heart with the true story behind why Jerico did this.
“Trista?”
I turn to see Kynan standing just inside the entrance, having clearly just walked in. “Kynan,” I say distractedly, still immersed in the discontent welling within me. “Hey.”
He looks good, but Kynan McGrath can’t look bad in my opinion. And his eyes, which are always light with amusement and a free-spirited attitude, appraise me with a sympathetic warmth.
That means he knows what happened on Friday and probably has some answers.
“What are you doing here?” he asks causally as he walks toward me. From the corner of my eye, I see the receptionist lean forward to place her forearms on the desk, which I’m betting makes her deep cleavage deepen even further. Kynan doesn’t spare her a glance.
I can’t tell him in front of this woman why I’m here, so I go with what pops into my mind. “Jerico said I could have the receptionist job here, and I came to find out when I start.”
“What?” the receptionist screeches as she sits up straight in the chair. I don’t turn to look at her, keeping my eyes directed at Kynan. He smirks at me, knowing I did that on purpose, and then takes my elbow.
“Let’s go discuss this in my office. You can tell me why you’re really here,” he says with amusement, and then he turns to the receptionist. “Hold all my calls.”
“Kynan,” she snaps at him, and I’m shocked by the temerity of her tone. “Is my job in jeopardy?”
He gives a nonchalant shrug. “That’s Jerico’s call, not mine.”
“But… but…” she stammers.
“You can ask Jerico when he gets back,” Kynan assures her as he starts leading me to another steel door that has a security keypad on it.
“But he’s not going to be back for a few weeks,” she calls out.
“A few weeks?” I come to a halt and turn to look at Kynan. “Where is he?”
“On a plane to the Congo,” Kynan says smoothly as he punches in a code at the door.
After he opens it, he sweeps his arm toward the opening to indicate I should precede him, but I’m stunned and rooted to the floor. “The Congo?”
Kynan’s hand goes to my lower back and he gives me a soft push forward. My legs move even though my head is spinning, and I let him direct me down a maze of halls that I really don’t pay attention to until we come to a conference room that has a long table that probably seats around twenty. On the far end of the wall, there are six large monitors and I wonder what they’re used for in this line of work.
Kynan closes the door before turning to me. Without any pretense or polite consideration, he says, “Now why don’t you tell me why you’re really here?”
“I’m here about the job,” I say stubbornly.
“You’re here about Jerico,” he counters.
“Fine,” I snap, the stress and pain causing me to be a bit cranky. “I want to know why he did what he did.”
“And what exactly did he do?” Kynan asks as he crosses his arms over his chest and leans against the door.
“You know what he did,” I tell him. “I saw the look on your face when you spotted me out in the lobby. You know.”
Kynan shrugs. “You’re hurt. I get it. But explain to me exactly what he did to cause that.”
“He… he…” I stumble over my words, because Kynan is now making me doubt Jerico did anything nefarious at all by his laid-back attitude. But then I get my bearings and hiss at him. “He recorded us having sex. To show my brother.”
“But he changed his mind,” Kynan says smoothly.
I roll my eyes. “Just stop it. Don’t try to defend him. You know the intent was wrong and deceitful—”
“And you’re very hurt and pissed off,” Kynan interjects. “You want answers.”
The air in my lungs whooshes out, and I deflate. My eyes drop to the floor—gleaming maple hardwoods—and I whisper, “I want answers.”
Next thing I know, Kynan has pushed off the door and pulls a rolling chair out from the table. “Sit. I’ll tell you why he did it.”
“You will?” I ask as my eyes snap to his.
He nods as I sit down, taking the seat beside me and turning so we face each other. “I’m telling you only because I know Jerico wanted you to know the entire story before he left, but he wanted to give you some space so you could calm down a bit.”
“So he went to the Congo?” I ask, suddenly remembering that info. “And what’s in the Congo?”
“Famine, war, and disease,” Kynan says. “Raping and pillaging. Africa is a mess.”
I cock an eyebrow at him. “And Jerico’s going to bring peace to the country?”
Kynan grins at me. “He’s taking a team to help reclaim a natural gas plant that’s been taken over by rebels.”
My breath gushes out again, this time with fear. “Is he safe?”
“Of course he’s not safe,” Kynan chastises, as if I should know better. “But he’s good at what he does. I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
I nod, swallowing hard, but the thought of Jerico dying has distracted me now.
Thankfully, Kynan gets me back on course. He doesn’t pull any punches, either. “He’s in love with you. That’s why he couldn’t go through with his plan.”
My entire body jolts. It’s the last thing I ever thought I’d hear Kynan say. My heart squeezes painfully because I doubt what he said, so I ignore it. “I want to know why he was going to do it in the first place. He said it was for revenge against Jayce. What did Jayce do to him?”
“Are you sure you want to know?” Kynan asks me bluntly. “Because this could change everything in your life. It could make you hate your brother, or it could make you get past your anger to give Jerico another chance.”
I snort at both suggestions because I don’t give a shit about Jayce, and I can’t imagine what could ever make Jerico want to do something so vicious to me just to get revenge. “I’m sure.”
“Jerico was engaged years ago,” Kynan says, and this startles me. I thought the man was relationship averse. “Her name was Michelle. They were weeks away from getting married when Jerico came off a mission to find your brother and Michelle in bed together.”
I wince, because that just sucks for Jerico, but then I flush with renewed anger at this revelation. My voice quakes with anger. “He was going to show pornographic images of me to my brother just because Jayce was bumping uglies with his fiancée?”
That asshole!
Kynan rolls his eyes at me. “Please. Jerico would never stoop so low.”