my brother’s tombstone and my body. She lifted an arm, running her fingers down my cheek, lightly touching the stubble there. “Even though what happened is horrible,” she whispered, “I don’t think you’re bad, Jacob. I mean, David?” She puckered her lips, taking on her usual spunk. “What do I call you now?”
“Jacob,” I said. I might’ve been born David Hall, but he was dead now.
“Jacob,” she repeated, nodding. “You’re not evil, Jacob. You’re not bad. You might have a little darkness in you, but I think we all do.” Jaz paused as she glanced over her shoulder at the two stones, the names on them. “What your mother did to you, what she let her boyfriend do…it was wrong. You had no one else to help you, so you did the only thing you thought you could.”
My shoulders suddenly felt so very heavy. “I wanted to die with them.”
She turned back to me, pressing her chest against mine, leaning into me, breathing me in as she hooked her arms around my neck and lowered my face to hers. “I’m glad you didn’t,” she whispered. “I’m glad you’re here with me. I’m not going to let you go.” Those lips found mine, pressing softly upon me, backing up her words.
Even knowing the ugly truth, Jaz wasn’t going to let me go. Hearing that, feeling her hold onto me, made my insides warm and my heart content. I didn’t know how she’d respond, but I never…I never thought…I guess I just thought she already had two psychos too many around her, that she’d decide she didn’t need me to add to their number.
But I was wrong. This girl still wanted me, and I’d be damned if I ever let her go.
When the kiss ended, she murmured, “Thank you for telling me the truth. Not many people do, in Midpark.”
“Technically,” I said, “we’re not in Midpark.”
Jaz lightly swatted at my chest, but she didn’t pull away from me.
Well, since we were speaking the truth now…might as well go all out.
“There’s something else I have to tell you,” I muttered, frowning and causing her to tilt her head, her black hair blowing around her face in the wind. She was a beautiful sight, even now. “You’re not going to like it.”
Jaz matched my frown with her own. “You’re not married or have any secret girlfriends, do you?”
In spite of myself and where we stood, a chuckle left me. “No, nothing like that.”
She calmed. “Good, because, if that had been the case, I would’ve flipped shit.” Never one to mince words, even if it was unladylike.
Fuck being ladylike. I’d take her as she was: wild, free, and tempting beyond all belief.
“Someone contacted me, hired me for a job. They didn’t give their name, but their money was real, and as long as I kept information coming, they’d keep paying me.” I pulled away from Jaz, rubbing the back of my neck. “I wasn’t in a good place when you came to town, Jaz. I needed the money.”
“Yes, I remember you charging me an exorbitant sum,” she mused.
Around Midpark, that kind of money was easy money. A weekly allowance for an eighteen-year-old heiress. But she wasn’t an heiress. Just a girl who’d stumbled into someone else’s mess and made it even worse.
“I tried to look them up, tried to reverse search their email address, but nothing came up. I started calling him Mr. Anonymous.”
“Okay,” she said, “and what does all of this have to do with me?”
“Mr. Anonymous wanted me to keep tabs on you.” I paused, let my words sink in. I could tell Jaz was immediately freaked out—and rightly so—so I went on, “He was the reason I followed you to that party.”
Her expression read serious, and yet bitterness laced with her words as she muttered, “Well, I guess I should thank Mr. Anonymous for that, then.” She folded her arms across her chest, nothing more than a thin hoodie around her back. The weather had begun to look up. Midpark winters were never really that harsh to begin with.
“I’m not working for him anymore, but…I’ll admit, it did go on longer than it should’ve,” I finished, already berating myself worse than she ever could. It wasn’t a proud moment for me, when I realized I was in love with Jaz and spying on her for someone else. The very opposite.
“Jacob,” she shook her head, “what if Mr. Anonymous is whoever is trying to set me up? Have you told Ollie about this?”