Jersey Six - Jewel E Ann Page 0,88

didn’t think you’d grow a pair and do it.

Jersey: Fuck you.

Chris: Love you too. Have a safe trip.

Jersey: Do you?

Chris: ?

She stared at the screen, keeping it tipped away from Ian’s line of sight. Not that it mattered, he seemed content with ignoring her.

Jersey: Love me. If you got all of your memory back tomorrow, and you found out you have a life waiting for you, would you love me?

Chris: Absolutely. If you asked me to leave my imaginary wife and kids for you, I would do it in a heartbeat.

Swiping out of the message screen, she tucked the phone into her bag and tipped her head back, closing her eyes.

As soon as they were in the air, the flight attendant closed the curtain, giving Ian and Jersey privacy. Jersey leaned her seat back. Ian watched her from the wide sofa that doubled as a bed, the bed where they usually had sex.

“I’m not taking my clothes off for you.” She frowned, holding his unreadable gaze.

He blinked a few times, not looking like a man who cared if Jersey took her clothes off for him. “Finish telling me what you were going to say before Max interrupted us. On the record you said, ‘I think I could have loved you.’ There was a but coming. Finish it.”

“Not now,” she whispered, exhausted from a long day. Almost twenty hours without sleep.

“It has to be now.”

“I’ll finish it if you tell me how horrible the thing is you did.”

“Horrible enough to leave that life behind.” For the first time, she could see lines of regret on his face and hear it in his weak voice.

“Tell me.”

He closed his eyes and mumbled, “Not now.”

“Jesus …” Max frowned as they pulled into the driveway.

Half of Ian’s house looked charred. The other half seemed untouched. Chris traipsed through the front yard from the Blevins’s house with Ian’s dogs. Ian climbed out and greeted Lola and Foxy while Chris opened Jersey’s door.

She fell into his arms, her mind riddled with the events and revelations of the previous twenty-four hours. Ian glanced at her, looking like he could murder someone. Jersey didn’t care. His days of killing would soon come to an end, and so would hers.

“I missed you.” Chris squeezed her.

“Missed you too. I’m so glad you’re okay. You had to be freaking out. I mean …” She looked him over when he released her. “Did it trigger any emotions or memories?”

Chris eyed Ian and shook his head.

“Were you here when it happened?”

“Yeah. I heard the explosion, but I didn’t know where it came from. I ran outside, and that’s when I saw the neighbor’s house. I called 9-1-1 while running toward the fire. I had no idea if anyone was home, but I wanted to make sure they got out. The doors were locked, and before I knew it, the side of Ian’s house was in flames.” He spoke to Jersey but kept his gaze on Ian, just a few feet away, the whole time. He seemed distracted by Ian.

“So I ran back over here and rescued the dogs. The fire sprinklers turned on right after I got through the front door. It appears most of the damage inside is from water and smoke.”

Jersey’s gaze followed Ian as he walked around the taped-off perimeter with Shane and Max.

“Hope they know they’re not supposed to go inside until the fire chief gives them permission,” Chris said.

Jersey didn’t respond. Her thoughts felt like sludge.

Tragedy.

Murder.

Shock.

Lies.

Deception.

Love. That was the hardest emotion to handle.

“What’s up with the rest of the tour?” Chris folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the vehicle.

She shrugged. “I think it’s been canceled. I heard them talking about a major setback on top of the already bad publicity. And supposedly his record label could drop him or sue him.”

“Thanks to us.”

Jersey inwardly cringed. Why did ruining Ian feel worse than killing him?

“Had we known this would happen, we might not have had to do any more than sit back and watch fate do its thing.”

Chris chuckled. “Are you kidding me?”

She shot him a squinted look. “What do you mean?”

“Jesus, Jers … I thought we were just role playing for shits and giggles and the proximity of the enemy.” He nodded toward the house where Ian, Max, and Shane were out of earshot.

“What are you—”

He pivoted, putting everyone else at his back, at least twenty yards away. Looming over Jersey, he waited for her to look up at him. “Listen, my very best friend in