Blond hair loose, dressed in a long dress, she looks like a fairy.
An evil fairy.
I stop and face her. I’m on a roll. “You. I don’t believe Jesse came onto you. Not for a second.”
She shrugs, her mouth downturned at the corners. “I never said he did.”
I gape at her. Words are failing me. I never thought she’d admit it.
“You and everyone else assumed he was the one who flirted with me and kissed me. You have no faith in him, and you’re right not to.” She pushes off the wall and sighs. “I’m doing you a favor, don’t you see? Jesse is like me: he doesn’t like attachments. He’s not the kind of boy you need.”
“But I’m the kind of girl he needs,” I say, finding I believe the words as they spill from my mouth. “And even more importantly, he’s the boy I love. So I’d appreciate it if you stopped getting in the way.”
Looks like the strangeness of the day isn’t yet over, but damn, saying those words to the bitch’s face sure felt good.
Chapter Twenty
Jesse
Weaving through the familiar narrow streets and back alleys, I try to ignore the feeling I’m being followed, because that’s just… paranoia. Nobody’s behind me when I turn.
Except for a tall shadow that vanishes behind a dumpster.
Still… No. Just no. Get your shit together, J.
Jason is having a quick smoke behind the Golden Dragon, a new Chinese restaurant near his usual spot. He gets up when he sees me, a dark brow arched, and whistles. “Man, who pissed on your parade?”
I pull out my pack of smokes and light up, then rub at the stubble on my chin. “Aren’t whores supposed to be sensitive and empathic and not ask such stupidly blunt questions?”
“Really?” He looks impressed. “I guess I never got the manual that came with the job. Neither did you, from what I recall.”
I give him a half-hearted grin and suck the bitter smoke deep into my lungs. I’ve smoked so much in the past two weeks my mouth tastes like acrid ash and my voice is rough like sandpaper.
“What brings you over here?” Jason’s eyes glimmer over the lit end of his cigarette. “In my empathic whore role, I’d ask if it’s woman trouble, but not in your case. So what’s up?”
I frown. “And if it is? Woman trouble?”
He laughs long and hard, choking on smoke. “Okay. That was a good one.” He throws his cigarette to the ground, steps on it, and coughs. “Almost got me there with the serious face, dickhead. One day, though. I have hopes for you, pretty boy.”
One day that has come and gone.
“Just checking on you,” I mutter. “S’what friends do.”
“Yeah, well. We’re doing okay. Though I was gonna come find you. Rumor has it you reported Simon.”
“I did.”
Jason does a double-take. “The hell you did.”
“What? You said I should. In fact, if memory serves, you said if I don’t do it, more people will get hurt.”
“Shit. I thought it was just rumors.” He shrugs. “Not that it makes any fucking difference.”
“What do you mean?” My cigarette has burned to the filter, scorching my fingers, and I throw it away. “A difference to what?”
“To Simon knowing you repo
rted him.”