didn’t dump you. We work too closely, and you agreed. Why screw with our friendship. We should’ve never gone there. And don’t tell me what I’m supposed to be.” Olivia was a friend, a good friend. Not only a friend, but also his department connection. He shouldn’t have gotten involved with Olivia; he should’ve listened to his better half, which wasn’t the half he’d been thinking with at the time. The same went for Kinsley, too. But with her, he was thinking with only his heart. He wasn’t completely comfortable with thinking that way, but he didn’t seem to be able to change the fact that Kinsley had captured that part of him.
“Ah, huh. Sure, you’re worried about our friendship. A limo will pick us up at the airport. We’ll be joining Xavier at a restaurant near his morning meeting. Later tonight, he wants to have dinner with us. His wife Angela is coming, Nick too. He wants us to socialize a bit with Nick and see what’s going on in his head about the situation.”
“Doesn’t this family ever talk to one another?”
“They haven’t been close in the last few years. He and Nick rarely talk now. Nick knows nothing about you watching Kinsley.”
It was odd that Nick hovered in the background unaware that his wife was being watched on the instruction of his father. With the disjointed relationships in this family, Wayde wasn’t the only one he would be focusing on. “Something’s not right here, and I want to find out what that something is.”
The crook in Olivia’s lip and her ceiling bound eyes confirmed—she was annoyed. “Jackson, I simply think an overly concerned father-in-law is making up for his son’s apparent lack of interest. You’re digging for something that doesn’t exist.” She flipped open a magazine. “A simple case of a grandfather wanting to be apprised of what’s going on with his grandson. That’s what this is. Period.”
“Checking in on someone to determine they’re safe is one thing, but monitoring all their conversations? C’mon Olivia, I’ve been doing this a while. If Xavier were her husband, I might be more inclined to agree with you. Something’s eating at me with this case.”
“Something? Or someone?” The pages of the magazine she was reading snapped as she flipped them.
He snubbed her comment.
She stopped flipping pages and glared at him. “All I can tell you is if Xavier is interested in what’s going on, he has good reason. You’re probably thinking he has a lot of money, so he must have an ulterior motive, but he’s not like that. He’s a straight shooter, one of the most honest men I’ve ever met.” She closed the magazine calmly and turned to face the window.
They fastened their seat belts to prepare for takeoff, not bothering to try to talk over the jet engines. Both appeared to be glad for the relief.
When they were in the air, he turned to her and asked, “So, what other information do you have on the family?”
“I told you, not much. I did meet Kinsley once though, at a benefit for some trauma center.”
He ignored her disgusted expression. Olivia could be that way when the conversation wasn’t about her. “Well, what did you think of her?”
“I’m not sure. She’s one of those women.” With a half roll of her eyes, she made her opinion clear.
“One of those women?”
“You’ve seen the type. Elegant, walks around like she’s crystal and all the other women are cheap plastic.”
“Ha, your claws are showing.” He made a sound like an angry cat and laughed. He knew his teasing and flirting drove women crazy, but it was just his way. The tension it created kept conversations from getting too deep. If a woman needed more than that, she needed more than he could give her. Until Kinsley. He couldn’t think of anything he wouldn’t want to give her.
She peeked around at the other passengers who appeared unaware of their conversation, and elbowed him in the side.
~ ~ ~
Not long after dozing off into her fantasy, Kinsley woke up. A mixture of dread and happiness washed over her. After discharge, she’d be with Max, which would be wonderful and put her mind at ease, but she’d go back to Wayde’s God-awful house. She wondered how she’d ever stayed for three months. The past seemed so hazy now. She sat on the side of the bed, staring at the wall across from her. For a long time, she kept her focus on the wall in an