Page 116 of One Bad Idea

This was beginning to be a habit.

Even now, I still didn't know if I was annoyed or grateful. Probably, I was mostly confused.

And now, Stuart was saying, "At least he wasn't a psycho like Jaden Bishop."

Through gritted teeth, I said, "For the last time, he'snota psycho."

Just then, the squeal of tires made me pause. I looked toward the front of the apartment. The way it sounded, the noise had come from the street directly below our front window.

Stuart said, "What was that?"

Already, I'd jumped from the chair and was striding toward the window. I shoved aside the curtains and looked out onto the street, only to hear myself gasp.

"What's wrong?" Stuart asked.

Isodidn't want to say.

But I did know one thing. I might need to reevaluate my claim that Jadenwasn'ta psycho.

Chapter 43

I was still clutching my phone and staring out the front window. In the street directly in front of our apartment, Jaden was leaning down toward the driver's side window of an unfamiliar white sports car.

The way it looked, he was exchanging a few words with the driver, whoever the person was. From here, it was impossible to see who, exactly, was behind the wheel, but unless Jaden was talking to himself, there had to besomebodythere, right?

On the phone, Stuart asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

Jaden was dressed in the same clothes that he'd been wearing at the club. In the dim streetlight, he looked dark and dangerous – and embarrassingly, sexy.

Stuart said, "It didn't sound like nothing. What was that? A car crash?"

I bit my lip.What on Earth was he doing here?

I didn't want to speculate, but it was pathetically easy to guess who might be driving that white car. I recalled Jaden's warning that the creep from the club had a tendency to show up where he wasn't wanted.

But that still didn't explain what Jaden was doing here. I mean, he had no idea I'd shown the guy my license.Had he?

Stuart said, "Allie? Are you still there?"

"Uh, yeah. But I've gotta go, alright?"

"Why?"

"Because something came up."

Or rather, something was going down – meaning me. With barely a goodbye, I ended the call and rushed toward the apartment door. And then, I practically flew down the stairway that emptied out onto the front porch.

I emerged outside just in time to see Jaden literally yank the guy out of his car through the driver's side window and then slam him back against the driver's side door. The guy gave a little scream – or maybe that was me.

Cripes, it was probably both of us, screaming in stereo.

Even now, I was rushing toward them, wondering what on Earth was going on.

Jaden was gripping the guy by the lapels of his jacket and saying something too low for me to make out.

Sure enough, it was the guy from the club.