Page 100 of The Fallen Man

Jessica laughed again. Vince came around the corner and stopped in his tracks.

“What’s he doing here?”

Jackson turned to face Vince. He’d never officially met the big, ex-football player.

“He’s here to pick Katie,” said Jessica. She glanced at Jackson nervously—he wasn’t the only one who had caught Vince’s tone.

“Fuck no, he’s not. Get out.”

“What?” Jackson had no idea how he was supposed to respond and he smiled awkwardly.

“You think this shit is funny? You can’t mess with Caitlin like this. Get out.”

“Hey, has anyone seen my coat?” asked Katie coming into the room. Jackson smiled. She had put her hair down and was actually wearing lipstick. She always looked gorgeous, but lipstick told him she was making an effort for him, and he reveled in that. “Oh! Hey! You’re here.” She smiled at Jackson. “Vince, have you met Jackson? Jackson Zane, this is Vince Ramano.”

“Zane?” repeated Vince, pivoting to look at Katie. “He told you his name was Zane?”

“It’s the name that comes up on my phone,” said Kate with a laugh, as she spotted her coat on a chair and came toward him.

“Yeah,” said Jackson awkwardly, realizing that he’d never actually covered that with her. It hadn’t seemed important and he kind of assumed that everyone knew who his family was. “I got the phone number before the name change went through and now no matter what I do they can’t seem to correct it on the caller ID.”

“Name change?” repeated Kate, frowning at him. “You changed your last name?”

“To my family’s name.” Jackson had the feeling of shifting sand under his feet—like the ground was eroding out from underneath him as he stood.

“Tell her,” ordered Vince.

“What?”

“Tell her your name!” barked Vince.

He suddenly didn’t want to say it. He didn’t know what was wrong with his name, but he didn’t want to. He looked at Katie, who was waiting with a worried frown. “It’s Deveraux,” he said, with a shrug.

Her face went white. Her mouth opened and closed. “Why would you…” Her voice was a whisper. He reached out for her, and she stumbled backward, eyes wide. “Don’t touch me. Why would you do this?”

“Katie?” He reached out again, and she flinched away, turned, and ran from the room.

Jackson took a step after her, but Vince put out a hand and slammed him backward. Jessica looked at both of them and then ran after Katie. A decade ago, Jackson would have started punching, but now he tried to use his brain.

“What did you do?” demanded Jackson.

“Me? Me, no I didn’t do anything,” said Vince. “I’m not the one who put Absolex in the national spotlight. The Deverauxes did that. The Deverauxes tanked the stock. The Deverauxes left her family destitute. And when her dad cleaned out her college fund and committed suicide, well, the way I figure it, the Deverauxes did that too. I didn’t do anything but pick up the pieces. This is on you.”

Jackson felt the pieces click. “No,” he said, not wanting it to be true. “She’s not... She’s not Caitlin Granger. Her name is St. Cloud.”

“Her mom’s third ex-husband’s name. She’s been using it to avoid all the creditor’s still trying to collect on her parent’s debts.”

Jackson looked at the empty doorway where Katie… Caitlin had gone. Katie wasn’t coming back.

“Get out,” said Vince.

Jackson took a deep breath. Nothing he had to say was going to make this situation better. He turned around and left.

17

Evan

The Condo