Nic was easy to talk to. He accepted what she said without mocking her as if she were making a perfectly reasonable request even though she knew she wasn't.
"Can you explain why? What is it about the area that's so special?"
Jade shook her head; she couldn't.
Nevertheless, he said, "I'll see what I can sort out. To be honest, I'm surprised you and Karl didn't manage to come to some agreement. He's a reasonable guy, and you seem like the sort of woman he'd do business with."
Jade wondered what he meant by that comment but didn't ask as they'd reached her car and she wanted to end the conversation with a focus on the trees.
"Right. I hope I will see you around. Do you have a number so I can contact you?" He pulled out a phone. "If I need to tell you good news about your section of woods, or ask you anything."
Jade reeled off her phone number and watched him tap it into his phone. He didn't offer his contact details, and she didn't think she'd have a need for it.
He smiled and waved. She watched him as he retreated back toward the hotel lobby.
Cute ass.
Such a shame he worked for the enemy.
Despite his friendly manner, she couldn't see how he could get any further with Karl than she had. Not unless Nic was going up to the room to offer his tush. The thought made her smile.
Jade couldn’t go home. Not until she calmed down, at least. She got in the car, rested her head against the steering wheel, and squeezed her eyes shut.
Nic was sexy, handsome, sweet and such a charming man. He looked like he'd be a rough sort in his work clothes but he wasn't one bit. He was a total gent, in stark contrast to his boss.
Karl was one of the worst people she’d ever met.
Why the hell did he have to be so attractive? And it wasn’t just his looks. It was his whole confident, cocky, arrogant demeanor. Add all that to his casual approach to sex… Jade was sure it shouldn’t turn her on, and yet she could feel herself aroused just thinking about even though she was in a parking lot.
Not that her arousal ever completely subsided since she'd tugged at that soft closing hotel-room door.
Jade wondered if she’d affected Karl in a similar way.
Maybe Karl had rubbed out thinking about her after she’d left the hotel room.
No. Jade was determined not to think about what Karl might have gotten up to. And not to visualize it.
As much as Jade would never bribe someone with sex—not in real life anyway—Karl fucking her in exchange for a favor was going to become her new go-to solo fantasy.
Followed by fucking the foreman. Why not? Because if Karl could be so casual about how many blondes he took to bed, he couldn't complain if she were equally as promiscuous with dark, handsome strangers.
In her fantasy.
Fantasies don't hurt. But these were the sort she could never tell anyone.
And then she'd bed a woman too.
Hey, if it'd annoy Mr. Suit, she'd take a woman to bed along with Nic for an exciting threesome. Make sure Karl knew about it and that he wasn't invited.
Jade clawed at the leather wrap of the steering wheel, seeking some sort of sensation to stop her thoughts spiraling further into unpleasant senseless chaos. There was nothing wrong with threesomes, but she wouldn't sleep with a couple of people just to spite someone else. She wasn't that sort of person, and she didn't know why her thoughts had taken such a negative path.
She wasn't that person.
And it wasn't going to happen like that.
So far this morning she’d gain no ground on her mission.
She'd, however, confirmed to herself she had one hell of a crush on not one but two men. Two men who were both totally different to each other and totally not right for her.
She wanted a clear head to think about the real problem, but all that kept coming back around was the fact that she couldn’t think of anything other than the kind of sex she wanted with both Karl and now Nic too.
Without the suit, Karl would be an arrogant brute who'd say dirty things while he pounded her hard and fast in positions that made her feel like a slut. He'd take her, and dominate her, and she wouldn't want to say no.
When she'd had all she could take of the cocky boy's arrogance, Nic would offer a softer tender touch.
Focus, Jade, damn it.
There was no denying it, Jade had fucked up that round of negotiations beyond redemption. She couldn't envisage Nic pulling it around. The only saving grace was that she now knew what kind of a person Karl was. There had to be a chink in his armor somewhere, and Jade was determined to find it. If she wasn’t too weak.
She needed to pull herself together and devise a plan.
Going home and facing Lauren was out of the question, and it was still too early for anything in Beaumont to be open. She decided to get moving and put distance between herself and the problem, so she drove. She left Beaumont in the opposite direction from which she’d come. She took to the twisting roads with ease, pushing speed limits and taking turns perhaps a little too sharply. It required all of her concentration. Adrenaline flooded her veins and chased out her misery and bitter disappointment.
As she navigated the road, she felt anything was possible. It wasn’t too late, and she had faith in Lauren. They worked well as a team after all.
Jade spent the morning on the road. She drove to the next town over, then the town beyond it. She came back home the long way, taking roads she seldom traveled and arriving back in Beaumont in mid-afternoon.
Jade stopped at a bar in town. She’d done a lot of thinking without a lot of solving, and she hoped a beer or two would jog her creativity loose and shake thoughts of Karl from her head. With home only a stumbling distance away, she didn’t have to worry about driving—she could pick her car up later.
Jade showed herself to a seat facing the door. The old bar hadn’t changed much over the years—there were days in her junior and senior year when she’d come here with friends to eat nachos and try to con the waitresses into serving them booze without ID. It never worked, of course, but the nachos alone were worth the trip.
Jade ordered a plate of them for herself and a beer to go with it. When the waitress left to place her order, she checked her phone.
Three text messages and one voicemail. Jade bet they were from Lauren. She opened the text messages first, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Yup, they were from Lauren.
Are you okay? You’re not home yet, and I’m worried.
Jade, seriously, are you okay? Call me when you get the chance, okay?
I’m going to try to find you. Where are you? Can you learn to answer your phone? 21st C magic :P
The emoticon was only there because Lauren was trying not to come across as rattled. Jade knew her well enough to know that. She winced and played the voicemail. It was from Lauren, too.
"Hey, so it’s me," Lauren said. "I just spent two hours trying to look for you. I went to the Beaumont Inn but nobody was home, or at least, nobody answered the door. Cana followed your scent back to the parking lot, but that’s where the trail ended. Where are you? Can you please call me to let me know you’re okay once you get to your phone? If you’re not back by tonight, I’m going to call the police. So, call me."
The message ended.
Jade groaned. She pulled up Lauren’s contact information and called her back. If Lauren was that worried, she needed to get in touch with her sooner rather than later. Jade would have to come up with what she was going to say on the fly.
"Jade?" Lauren asked as she answered the phone. "God, you scared me. He didn’t do anything bad to you, did he?"
"Sorry." Jade shook her head. If only Lauren knew the bad things Karl might’ve done if Jade would’ve let him. "I needed to take care of some things this morning that put me out of touch with the rest of the world."
"You didn’t go into the woods, did you?" Lauren asked.
Jade didn’t need to think long to understand her meaning—Lauren was asking her if she’d gone to f
ind the way into another world. She must have been somewhere near people and didn’t feel at liberty to speak candidly. "No, I didn’t. I stayed here. I was driving all morning."
"Oh?" Lauren sounded hopeful. "Why?"
Jade bit her tongue. "I needed to blow off some steam and relax. Things with Karl didn’t go so well this morning, and I became angry."
The silence on the other end of the phone was crushing. Jade wasn’t there to see it in person, but she could imagine the disappointment on Lauren’s face. The way she drew in the corners of her mouth and pressed her lips together, the downward cast of her eyes, the lowered gaze.
"But I’m trying to regroup my thoughts and figure out what to do from here. I’m not giving up."
"Where are you right now?" Lauren asked. "Do you want me to come join you? I don’t have a car, but—"
"No, it’s okay." Jade needed some alone time.
It wasn’t only Karl’s refusal to cease the development project that bothered her—the things she felt for Karl bothered her as well. They’d clouded her mind all morning and made it hard to process anything else.
Why the hell did she have to be drawn to a total asshat?
And if it wasn't for Karl and this damn project, Jade would have flirted without mercy with that nice guy Nic, but in this war that would still count as sleeping with the enemy.
Lauren got immortal warriors, Brenna got bird princes, but Jade?
Jade got disappointment, an asshole and a sweet guy who are both untouchable.
Was that unfair or what…
"Well, if you’re sure…" Lauren seemed hesitant, but Jade wasn’t.
"I’m sure. I’ll be home later, all right? Are my mom and dad giving you a hard time about staying?"
"Not at all. Your mom keeps bringing me food. She says I’m getting too thin." Lauren laughed. "And I’m not complaining. It’s all delicious. I guess living in a more wholesome way is making me lean."
"Sounds like my mom." Jade smiled. It was good to know that even with so much going on, some things stayed the same. "I’m going to finish up here, string my thoughts together, and come up with a plan of action, okay?"
"I’ll try to think of a solution, too." Lauren sounded a whole lot more hopeful than Jade felt. "Text me when you’re on your way?"
"What are you, my girlfriend?"
"I’m rolling my eyes now and hanging up," Lauren announced sarcastically.
Jade grinned. "See ya, babe."
Even when times got tough, there would always be laughter.
As the call ended, Jade clung to that notion and let it soothe her. What happened to the woods wouldn’t be the end of the world, no matter what the outcome. They’d rise above. They always did.
Jade’s food arrived as a welcome distraction. And that was when the hunger hit her. She’d not eaten all day and hadn’t even noticed until then.
Jade lifted a nacho, the cheese stretching thin, clinging stubbornly to the chip until it snapped. Before long, she’d drained half the glass of beer. Bit by bit, life became better. Jade wasn’t ashamed to admit she was a lightweight. The buzz she had going was enough to take the edge off. Just enough to take her mind off the situation at hand.
Jade raked her teeth across her bottom lip and drummed her fingers on the table as she munched. The nachos were as good as back in her high school days. Over the last few years, she hadn’t been back to the bar. When she wasn't working her temporary job in the library, Jade had spent summers with Lauren, hanging out. And since last summer, when she could, Jade went with Lauren to Sparta and sometimes other worlds.
Jade hadn't actually met any of the major ancient gods of Olympus, only some of their offspring, demigods and heroes. Ordinary working people by Olympian standards. Nevertheless, it was still amazing. It sucked that those days might be cut short.
Partway through pulling another nacho free from its cheese prison she noticed the bar door open. Karl stepped through. Jade set the nacho down as their eyes met. Karl looked her over, then shook his head and looked away. He passed the bar and disappeared into a booth.
Jade lost her appetite.
Why the hell did Karl have to be so goddamn attractive?
She knocked back the rest of her beer and slammed down the empty mug on the table. She licked her tongue around her mouth and flopped back in her chair.
Maybe the more pertinent question was, why couldn’t Jade shake him out of her head?
The man was bad news. Developing the forest was his business, but his attitude? That was all personal. He didn’t have to be a raging asshole.
And Jade didn’t have to keep pining for him.
What the hell was wrong with Karl, anyway? He was all mixed messages. On the inside, Jade would bet money that Karl was sensitive and fragile. On the outside, he was abrasive as fuck.
Jade snorted. The more she lingered on thoughts of Karl, the more confused and frustrated she became. The solution was to stop thinking about him altogether—but if they kept running into each other, that would be difficult. Beaumont was the very definition of a small town. Their paths were bound to cross again.
Jade would have to deal with it.
She ran her tongue over her teeth and took out her phone. A few taps later and Jade had sent a text to Lauren.
Coming home now. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Think you can walk to the bar and drive my car back home?
The response came almost right away.
Are you drunk? It’s the middle of the day.
Jade sighed.
I know. Not drunk. A little buzzed. Had one beer. Can’t drive home.
Jade imagined Lauren’s thinned look of disapproval.
Yeah, that’s fine. I kind of miss driving. It’ll be good. Can Cana come?
Yeah. She can hang out in the backseat as long as she doesn’t puke all over it.
Won’t. Promise.
Jade grinned. What an empty promise. She remembered one summer they’d driven out to the beach with Cana, and the dog had been so sick that they’d had to stop three times. It took two months before Jade managed to get the smell out of her backseat.
But she didn’t mind. Not now. Lauren was doing her a favor.
The waitress stopped by her table, and Jade settled her bill. She glanced one last time in Karl’s general direction. The man was still out of sight, but Jade could swear that she felt him.
It was as invigorating as it was disgusting. She shuddered, pushed past the discomfort, and left the bar. Karl’s silver Mercedes Coupe was parked out front. Even though it wasn’t top-of-the-line luxury, Jade knew it belonged to him because no one else in Beaumont could afford a car like that.
Jade momentarily considered leaving a strongly worded note beneath the windshield wiper.
She didn’t. It was better to let it all go.
Jade still hadn’t come up with a plan, but she wouldn't come up with anything when she knew Karl was in the same building. It was probably better to go brainstorm with Lauren.
The more she thought about it, the more evident it became that their only chance to save the woods lay in some other dimension and probably among the gods. If they couldn’t convince Karl to give it up and develop some other place, they could show him why it was so important. Lauren might agree, but Jade doubted it. She felt certain the Spartans wouldn’t support such an idea.
Jade started the trek home. The sooner she talked to Lauren, the better. There was a lot of planning to do and not a lot of time to do it in.
If they wanted to preserve the woods, they needed to take action immediately.
Chapter Six
"Absolutely not." Lauren crossed her arms, eyes narrowed.
"Then what else are we going to do?" Jade lay sprawled across her bed; Cana had sneaked onto the foot of the mattress and lay curled at Jade’s feet. Jade didn’t have the heart to kick her off.
"Not that. Not in a million years." Lauren perched on the bedside. "Anything but take that man to another dimension. It’s not like Sparta's
an amusement park, Jade. There’s a dangerous divide between dimensions that can seriously mess you up if you don’t know what you’re doing. I don’t even like to go through it without the Spartans there with me. It’s easy to get lost and end up somewhere less than desirable."
"So?" Jade blinked. "If we dump him somewhere undesirable…"
"Jade!"
"I know, I know." Jade raised a hand lazily. She blinked again, but this time let her eyes stay shut. "I don’t want to leave him stranded somewhere dangerous. Not really. But if he understood what’s in the woods, he’d see our point and leave us alone."
"I don’t." Lauren sounded stressed. "He’s a businessman, Jade. He’s not our friend. If we take him out there and show him beyond the veil, he’s going to picture dollar signs. He’ll want to develop the woods and take advantage of it. He’ll offer fantastic vacation opportunities and milk the hell out of the place for the sake of making a buck. Or he’ll sell trips to scientists. They’d want to investigate. We could draw our world into wars with other dimensions. There’s unrest in some of them. Brenna’s told you about revolutionary plots and peacekeeping missions. Can you imagine our president getting involved? The Spartans would skin me alive, and they aren’t even on Twitter. We can’t."
"Karl's not going to do that." Jade didn’t know for sure, but she had a gut feeling that it wouldn’t happen. "We can take him to one of those dangerous dimensions and scare the shit out of him if you’re so worried he’d want to cash in on it. No one wants to vacation in a nightmare realm."
"I won’t allow it," Lauren insisted. "Forget it. It’s not happening."
"Fine." Jade slapped her hands over her eyes and raked them down her face. "Then what? Are we going to sneak onto the construction site in the middle of the night and pop all the tires? Put water in the fuel tanks? Chain ourselves to the trees to make them stop their progress?"
"I don’t know," Lauren said in a small voice.
"Neither do I." Jade’s hands fell to the mattress. She opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. "Not anymore."
"We’ll come up with something," Lauren promised, but she didn’t sound certain. Sorrow began to creep into her voice. "It’s going to be okay."
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