I shake my head and try to picture a life without friends, living in some mansion in the middle of a small Virginia town, but I can’t picture it. “How did you turn out so… normal?”
“Lucky,” he says. “I guess. We all made it through relatively unscathed. Although my older brother rebelled a bit and my youngest sister is still rebelling, but we all deal with it in our own ways.”
“Darin must be important to you then. You didn’t have friends growing up, so…”
He smiles a little. “Perceptive. Yeah, well, Darin was my first and best friend. He was the first one to treat me normal.”
I reach out and take his hand. He looks a little surprised but then squeezes his back. “I didn’t appreciate how hard this was for you.”
“How could you?”
“I think I get it a little bit more now.”
“You don’t have to be gentle with me,” he says, his voice low. “I can take it. If you find something, you have to tell me. I need to know the truth about him.”
I nod slowly. “I promise I won’t keep anything from you.”
“Thank you.” He reaches out and pulls me toward him. We kiss for a long, slow moment. He breaks it off and stands. “I should finish some work.”
“Yeah, okay. I need to head home.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow. We can start going over more of those papers soon.” He hesitates. “Did you find anything interesting, by the way?”
“Not really,” I admit. “Some inconsistencies. I’ll tell you about them later. But so far, nothing.”
He doesn’t look relieved. “We’ll keep looking.”
I linger there. I want to tell him that I wish this could be easier. I keep seeing a young Jacob, just a boy, surrounded by nobody but his family and their staff, living a secluded, strange, privileged childhood. I can see how finding a new friend in Darin was huge to him, and it’s amazing he’s stayed this loyal for so long.
And now here I am, trying to destroy him.
But that’s just the kind of man Jacob clearly is. If something’s wrong, if Darin’s lying, breaking the law, doing anything that could jeopardize them both, clearly Jacob has to find out about it… and put a stop to it.
I admire him. I really, really admire him.
And I know I’ll devote more and more to him the more I peel past the layers.
I turn and leave his office, a smile on my face.12JacobI thought it would be weird seeing Darin again.
With all this stuff happening behind his back, I thought I might feel strange around him. I mean, he might be a mobster and I might be working with people that want to take him down. I still want to prove his innocence but it’s all so up in the air.
But as soon as I see him, we fall back into the same old, easy patterns.
He comes over and we hug. “Good to see you,” he says.
“Good to see you, too.” And I really mean it. “How was the trip?”
“Oh, brother, you know me. Easy as pie.” He grins. Darin’s tall, nearly my height, with dark hair perfectly styled. He’s a handsome man, I’ll hand him that, with an easy smile and a charming manner. People have always been drawn to him.
“Take me up,” he says. “I want to see this office for myself.”
“Don’t believe that it’s real?”
“Shit, I believe you. I just want to see it myself.”
I laugh and we get on the elevator together. He leans against the wall for a second and lets out a breath. He has bags under his eyes, which isn’t like him. Darin’s always been a stickler for getting sleep.
“You look tired.”
He glances at me. “Thanks, mom.”
“Just saying.”
“Well, don’t say, you dick. I look perfect.”
I laugh. “All right, fine.”
“Nah, it’s okay, I’m just fucking with you. I didn’t sleep on the plane.”
“Why not? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place you couldn’t fall asleep in.”
“I know. It’s my super power.”
“The worst one imaginable.”
He flexes. “They call me Sleep Boy.”
“Not even Sleep Man? Just a boy?”
“Being true to myself, brother. I know my place.”
We laugh together and step off the elevator. “Seriously, you all good?” I ask.
“I’m all good.” He puts a hand on my back.
We walk into reception and greet Aimee. She smiles at me then grins at Darin.
“There she is.” Darin goes over and kisses her cheek. “Has this guy been good to you?”
“He’s the best,” she says. “Glad you’re in town. How was the trip?”
“Trip was fantastic. I’m a professional at traveling these days.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll catch up with you soon, okay?”
“Bye.” She smiles after him and I can’t help but notice the look in her eyes.
“That girl wants you, my friend,” I say to him.
He laughs. “Been there, done that. She’s a sweetheart, but not my type.”
“What’s that mean?”