Mess Us Up – Jaxson Kidman Page 0,29

than I love anything in this world.

Jeff

I fold the letter and look at myself in the mirror.

“Holy fuck,” I whisper.

Jolie’s father is fucking one of the chefs that cook all their food.

And he’s planning on running away with her.

I have to read the letter again to make sure my eyes aren’t messing with me.

They’re not.

Jolie’s father is tied into gambling, debt, money, and an affair.

And somehow Jolie ended up so innocent in the entire thing.

She just lived as normal as she could, going to law school… until she met me.

I look at the plane tickets next.

Two first class tickets to Hawaii.

And he’s leaving in two days.

I look at myself in the mirror again.

It makes sense.

He’s going to grab all the cash out of the drawers and fly off to Hawaii with his mistress. He’s going to go off the grid the best he can and just go around the world.

Willing to leave his wife behind.

Willing to leave knowing his daughter is missing.

What an asshole.

I fold the letter and put it back in the envelope.

The plane tickets are still on the dresser.

Then my eyes go to the drawers.

An idea comes to me.

I walk to the closet and open the door.

I find a small leather bag and I curl my lip when I get back to the dresser.

I fill the bag with the cash and then put the plane tickets on top.

After I zip the leather bag shut, I close the drawers and leave the bedroom.

I leave the house the way I came.

I’m as careful as I can be to not trip any lights or alarms.

I take the leather bag full of cash and go to my car.

What I just did… wasn’t part of the plan.

It’s risky and can cost me my life.

But I don’t care.

I just want Jolie to know the truth about everything.

10

JOLIE

I wake up and Mac is sitting in a chair in the middle of the room.

Smoking a cigarette.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything so sexy in my life.

And by sexy I mean… you know… wrong, bad, evil, that kind of thing.

I should jump out of the bed and run to the door and scream for help.

But it’s Mac and I can’t do that.

He’s sitting in the chair and there’s a bag on the floor between his feet.

On his left leg is a phone.

I rub my eyes and pull the covers with me as I move.

Not that I would mind if the covers fell and Mac came back to bed again with me.

“Mac…”

“It’s still too early to be awake, sweetie,” he says.

The sun has filled the room but that doesn’t mean it’s morning time for Mac and his crew.

I blink a few times and yawn. “What’s going on?”

Mac grabs the phone off his leg and stands up. “New phone. A real one, sweetie. Just don’t go crazy with it yet. You can get in touch with Violet if you want. As long as she keeps things under the radar.”

He hands me the phone and kisses my cheek.

It’s a new, fancy phone.

Not some cheap flip phone that can’t do anything but call and text.

I put the phone on the nightstand.

Mac goes to get the bag and he brings it to the bed.

“What’s that?” I ask.

“You should probably get dressed, sweetie,” he says. “As much as I hate to fucking say that.”

“Okay…”

“You’re going to want to see what’s in the bag,” he says. “Trust me.”

I inch to the edge of the bed and take the top cover with me.

I wrap it around my body like a towel.

First things first, I need to pee.

Once I’m done, I wash my hands and then I find fresh clothes.

I’m groggy and my head is begging for coffee.

Back in the bedroom, Mac is sitting in the chair again.

His cigarette is gone.

His eyes follow me as I walk to the bed.

“Can I open it now?” I ask.

“Go slow, Jolie,” he says. “And you have to listen to me.”

“Okay,” I say.

The bag looks a little familiar.

I unzip it and the first thing I see is money.

A lot of money.

I look at Mac. “What is this?”

“There’s something else in there too.”

I open the bag again and I see tickets.

Plane tickets.

Two plane tickets to…

“Hawaii,” I say. “Seriously? What is this, Mac?” I gasp. “Did you do something crazy? Are you asking me to run away with you to Hawaii?”

I swallow hard.

My heart is pounding.

The truth is if that’s what Mac is asking then my answer is a quick and resounding YES.

I’ll go anywhere with him.

Anywhere. Anytime.

Mac slowly stands up