Page 143 of Jaked

"No." His voice was quieter now. "I didn't think it was true."

I gave him a good, long look. "Are you sure about that?"

His expression softened. He strode toward me and wrapped me in his arms. "Baby, I'm sure."

In spite of the turmoil, or maybe because of it, I leaned into him, suddenly exhausted. "Then why were you so mad?"

He spoke into my hair. "Because I wanted to kill him."

I pulled back to look up at him. "Vince?"

"No." A dose of sanity seemed to return, and I saw the barest hint of a smile. "Okay. Maybe him too. But mostly that dick who called me." The smile disappeared, and his voice became raw. "And that wasn't theonlything he said."

Oh God, there was more? My stomach churned as I asked, "What else did he say?"

"Things I'm not gonna repeat, that's what."

That was probably a good thing, because honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. "And you have no idea who it was?"

"No."

I gave a weak laugh. "It was probably Bianca, disguising her voice or something."

"No. It wasn't her."

"How can you be sure?" I asked.

"Because when I got that call, I waswithBianca."

I stepped back from his embrace. "What?"

"Just finishing up some business, that's all."

For some reason, this set my teeth on edge. "After that scene yesterday?"

"It's done," he said. "So don't worry about it."

"You know what?" I said. "You say that way too much."

"What? Not to worry?"

"Yeah," I said. "Because maybe, there are some things that Ishouldworry about. And maybe when you hide stuff from me, it just makes me worrymore."

"Hide stuff?" he said. "Like what?"

Where to begin? The thing with Debbie? Jake's shady connection to Rango's boss? That weird phone message from my old roommate?" But all of those things were way too complicated to say in a sentence or two. So I pointed to something simple – the suitcases. "Well, likethosefor example."

Jake looked toward the cases. He said nothing.

"They were never lost," I said. "Were they?"

He returned his gaze to mine. "You want the truth?"

"Obviously," I said, "since I'm asking."

"Alright. Here it is." He glanced at the pair of suitcase. "Back at Maddie's place, when you were packing that stuff, I saw the look on your face."

"What look?" I asked.