much as it is. Sooner or later, every bird must leave the nest it was born in.”
Something he and I could agree on, though in that analogy, Jaz was a baby bird.
Fucking stupid, because she wasn’t a baby anything.
“Jaz is already in something, whatever it is, and I feel like trying to keep her cooped up will only make things worse.” He rubbed the side of his face, suddenly looking tired. “This town…I really do hate it sometimes.” Before he let himself get lost in his sorrows, he coughed and changed the subject. “Now, your fee. I can pay you weekly. What’s your rate for something like this?”
I had nothing to compare this to; this job would be more hands-on than the one Mr. Anonymous gave me for Jaz.
I shot out a number, “One thousand.”
“I’ll make it two, then. I want your all on this, Jacob. I don’t want you working on any other cases while you’re here. Is that understood?”
Yes, I understood. It gave me an excuse to no longer spy on Jaz for Mr. Anonymous, so I’d take it. Didn’t feel right spying on the girl that was dangerously close to being my girl.
My girl. It might not be right, but I didn’t give a shit. Jaz and I had stepped over the line on a few occasions, and now the line wasn’t even visible anymore. It would be forever blurred, always nonexistent. She was about the only thing in this damn town I cared about, maybe even more than myself.
It was hard to care for yourself when you were dead, but that’s not something anyone else would understand.
Jaz…Jaz didn’t know the truth about me, and I wondered if she’d look at me any differently if she did. She had her psychos, she had her would-be murder-slash-framer, but me? I was…I was different. What I did, what I chose to do—there’s no forgiving that.
After everything was hammered out, I followed Oliver out of his office. “I’ll have a word with Piper. She won’t like the fact that you’ll be alone with Jaz.” Oliver stopped, tossing me a glance as he studied me, as if expecting to read the truth on my face. “You have a history with her. She trusts you. I hope I’m not making a mistake by hiring you.”
He must’ve known something, because the way he spoke it, my history with Jaz, made me think he knew quite a lot.
I decided to take a leap and say, “She’s not the only one I have a history with. I knew your sons were bad from the start, but I didn’t think they’d go as far as they did.”
The light in the hall was off, and Oliver stood a few feet away, his suit looking extra crumpled, like he’d been in it for far too long. He said nothing for a while, letting the silence spread between us, and I bet he thought of his sons, the twin faces that still plastered the picture frames downstairs.
“Then you knew them better than I did,” Oliver whispered, his blue gaze falling to the carpeted floor between us. “They shouldn’t have gotten involved with you. I still don’t understand why they did.”
“They thought something was going on between Celeste and me, and there wasn’t.”
Oliver nodded once. “Right. Nothing between you and Celeste.” He said nothing else, but the emphasis he put on her name made me wonder if he knew about me and Jaz, if this was some attempt at harnessing my feelings for the girl, knowing that I’d do my best to keep her safe and out of trouble.
Or maybe that was just me.
We let the conversation end there, and I trailed after him down the steps, holding myself back as he pulled Piper into the kitchen to talk to her. Piper threw me a dirty look as she went, and I waited a moment before heading into the living room, where Jaz still sat, looking completely out of place.
She didn’t belong in a house like this. She belonged anywhere but here, as long as that anywhere was with me.
God, listen to me. I sounded fucking ridiculous.
Jaz got to her feet when I appeared, and after she threw a look to make sure her mother and Oliver weren’t nearby, she stepped around the coffee table and threw her arms around me, hugging herself to me.
She felt good. She felt…better than good, really. I could easily imagine picking her up and taking her out of this house, back to my apartment,