Page 144 of One Bad Idea

"No. Because of the thing with his parents."

"So, I take it they're not together?"

I nodded. "Exactly."

Her brow wrinkled in obvious confusion. "But lots of people have divorced parents."

"Yeah, but their divorce was weird. They don't even live in the same state." I leaned forward. "And get this. Half of the family hardly talks to the other half. It's like they don't exist or something."

She shook her head. "I'm not sure I get what you mean."

As she listened, I told her the little I knew. Apparently, Jax and Jaden had four other brothers who lived up in Michigan. Supposedly, their dad lived there, too. But as far as their mom, I'd heard nothing at all.

Jaden never talked about her, not even when I asked. In truth, he hardly talked about his family at all, and it was pretty obvious that it was a sore subject.

Pushing aside those gloomy thoughts, I looked to Cassidy and shared something about Jax that she might not know. "Do you know he hates coffee?"

She blinked. "He does?"

"Sure."

"But—"

I smiled. "But that can't be true, because you keep seeing him at that coffee shop?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Right. Because he only goes there to see you."

"Oh, stop," she said. "You're not serious."

But I was.

And finally, after filling her in on the details, I gave her the news that it wouldn't bemetaking her to get her things.

She took it as well as could be expected, but I could still see the worry in her eyes. She was too nice for her own good and hated to cause trouble.

But me? I wasn't like that, which is why I found myself in the office late Friday night, long after everyone else had gone.

I wanted answers.

But all I found were more questions when I discovered the strangest thing on my desk.

Chapter 53

I stared down at the thing.A ski mask?

I tried to think. According to our secret schedule, this would've been the week formeto leave something forhim, not the other way around.

After Wednesday's argument, I wasn't even sure that we were still doing that. In reality, I wasn't sure about a lot of things. Today was Friday, which meant that we'd normally be spending the evening together.

But neither one of us had mentioned it – probably because we were too busy glowering at each other over the past couple of days.

But the mask – it confused me, and not only because of the change in schedule.

All of the previous gifts – or whatever they were – had some hidden meaning, usually a private joke that only the two of us would understand.

But the mask meant nothing to me. As I stood silently behind my desk, I wracked my brains, trying to figure it out.