Page 155 of One Bad Idea

Now, that made me pause. "They did something?"

"Oh yeah." She gave a humorous laugh. "And, they did it in ski masks."

My stomach lurched. "Ski masks?"

Chapter 57

We were still in the driveway, and I was still staring. Cassidy nodded. "Yeah, remember this morning, when you told me that Jaden had left a ski mask on your desk?"

I did remember. She'd been telling me about her date with Jax, and I'd been too down in the dumps to be decent company.

I'd tried my best to hide it, but had failed miserably. When she'd asked me what was wrong, I'd offered up some half-baked complaint that Jaden was always leaving stuff on my desk, including that ski mask on Friday night.

It was hardly the whole story, but lying by omission seemed a lot kinder than crying on Cassidy's shoulder, especially when she had more than enough problems of her own.

I gave a tight nod. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well," she said, "they went over to my mom's place and…" She bit her lip. "I'm not sure how to put this, but they, uh..." She paused, like she simply couldn’t find the words.

Now I was dying to know. "They what?"

"Well, you know how Dominic's in the hospital?"

Her mom's boyfriend?

Ihadheard something to that effect. In fact, just last night, Cassidy's mom had called repeatedly to complain about it. But she was such a drama queen that I hardly ever took her seriously.

Last night had been no exception.

Next to me, Cassidy still hadn't replied to my question.

"Well?" I said. "What happened?"

She cleared her throat. "They, um, put him there."

They?

Meaning Jax and Jaden?

I felt myself swallow. "What do you mean?"

As I listened, Cassidy went on to tell me that on Friday night, the two brothers had apparently lurked outside her mom's apartment and jumped Dominic – that pimp of a boyfriend – when he'd ventured outside.

As she talked, I tried to put everything into context – the mask, the brothers, the fact that Jaden had made no effort to see me on Friday night.

Was that why? Because he had plans of a different sort?

Cassidy concluded by saying, "It was kind of a masked mugging, except they didn't really mug him, because they didn't steal anything."

My mind was still whirling. "Well, that's unfortunate."

"Oh, so youwantedhim robbed?"

"Definitely." I thought of all the harm that could've come to my friend. "And roughed up, too."

Cassidy gave me a look. "Well, heisin the hospital, remember?"

Good.