He shook his head. "I've gotta go."
"What? Where?"
Jake glanced toward the building. "You need me to walk you up?"
Oh, so that's the way it was? Defiantly, I lifted my chin. "No."
"Alright." He turned his head, looking forward now. "Suit yourself."
"When will you be back?" I asked.
"Monday."
I did a double-take. "Monday? That's like two days from now."
"Yeah."
Again, I asked, "Where are you going?"
"Why?" His tone grew sarcastic. "You wanna come with me?"
It was a loaded question, and he darn well knew it. "You know I can't."
"Well, there you go."
It was like talking to that same old brick wall. But if he wanted me to beg, he had another thing coming. With my heart hammering, I opened the car door, stepped out, and shut it quietly behind me. And then, I stood, watching silently from the curb as he roared off to wherever.
A half-hour later, I was back in bed, still dressed, but under the covers. Lying there like the pathetic slob that I was, I tried to tell myself that I was back in bed not because I needed a good place to cry, but because with Selena showing up so early, I'd gotten almost zero sleep.
I tried to tell myself other things, too. I told myself that Jake and I would work it out. He wouldn't really stay away until Monday, and someday, we'd look back at all these stupid fights and laugh.
But for now, I definitely wasn't laughing.
I still wasn't laughing a couple of hours later when the doorbell jolted me out of my jumbled thoughts.
Reluctantly, I got up, trudged to the door, and looked out the peephole, only to see someone I hadn't been expecting.
It was Jake's youngest brother, Joel. And the way it looked, he was mad as hell.
Chapter 41
As soon as I opened the door, Joel demanded, "Where the hell is he?"
"Jake?" I stepped back. "Sorry, I don't know."
And that was the painful truth.
Without waiting for an invitation, Joel barged past me and looked around. "Jake!" he yelled. "You asshole! Come out here and face me like a man!"
If I weren't so depressed, I might've laughed. What? Like Jake was hiding under the bed or something? That was so not his style. Joel, of all people, should know that.
Trying to keep my tone reasonable, I said, "Joel, listen. Seriously, he's not here." I tried to smile. "Come on. You know Jake. He's not afraid of anything."
"Yeah? Well, maybe he should be."
I stared up at him, wondering if I should be worried for my safety. Right now, he wasn't the Joel I thought I knew. His dark hair framed that familiar, angelic face – a face that might've lulled me into a nice sense of security, except for the fact that his eyes were flashing with unfamiliar rage.
I'd known Joel since he was a kid, since both of us had been kids, actually, even if I was slightly older than he was. But now, I was having a hard time reconciling the skinny kid I'd known back then with the muscular adult who stood, quaking with anger, in front of me.
If he were a stranger, I'd be smart to run. But he wasn't a stranger. He was Jake's little brother, and obviously, he was hurting in some way that I didn't quite understand.
I pushed aside my own misery and said, "Joel, seriously, what's wrong?"
He made a scoffing sound. "Like you don't know."
Of course, I had a vague idea. Just this morning, Jake and Bishop had been discussing the situation involving Vince Hammond.
To me, their concerns had been entirely justified. If Joel ended up signing with Vince, it wouldn't end well. I just knew it.
True, Vince repped some of the top names in sports entertainment. But Joel was Jake's brother. There was no way on Earth that Vince would ever do right by him.
If Joel could only see that, he'd walk away from Vince on his own. He'd tell Mister Hotshot Agent to shove it, and he wouldn’t look back.
But something told me that a decision of any kind had been, very recently, ripped out of Joel's hands.
I recalled something that Bishop had told Jake, just a few hours earlier. He's gonna fuckin' hate you.
The way it looked, Bishop had been right.
I reached out and touched Joel's arm. "Is this about Vince Hammond?"
Joel yanked his arm away and said, "Quit playing me, alright? You think I don't know?"
"Know what?"
His breathing was ragged, and his fists were tight. "What you two did."
Two? Confused, I shook my head. "Who? Me and Jake?"
He glared down at me. "You had no right."
I shrank back, surprised to realize that he was angry with me, too. "But I haven't done anything."
As if looking to gain some semblance of control, Joel took a deep, unsteady breath. In a slightly calmer voice, he said, "Look, I'm not pissed at you, alright?"
"Good," I told him. "Because I didn't do anything wrong. In fact, I don't even know why you're so mad, not specifically anyway."
His lips twisted into a pale imitation of a smile. "Right."
"It's true," I said. "So just tell me. What happened?"
He looked at me for a long, serious moment, as if trying to decide if I was lying.
Again, I reached out and touched his arm. When he didn't pull away, I gave his arm a gentle squeeze. "Just tell me, okay?"
I glanced to the nearby sofa. "Why don't you sit down? We'll talk it out. Can I get you a drink or something?"
"I don't need a drink," he said. "I need Jake to fix this."
"Fix what?"
Through clenched teeth, he said, "Vince dropped me. And I know Jake was behind it."
I let out a long, weary breath. I should've seen this coming. A dozen small details drifted into place, giving me a pretty good idea of what had happened.
I recalled that strange meeting yesterday, where Vince and Jake had hammered out some sort of truce. Obviously, the truce had something to do with Joel.
But what exactly were the terms? If Vince agreed to drop Joel as a potential client, what would Vince want in return?
Instantly, the answer popped into my brain. Of course. For months, Jake had been messing with Vince's clients, costing them endorsement deals and who knows what else. It slowly dawned on me that over the past week or so, Jake hadn't been messing with a single one of them.
In fact, other than those encounters with Dorian and Ronnie North, Jake hadn't really been messing with anyone.
Had he given all of that up to save Joel from Vince?
In front of me, Joel said. "See? You know what happened. Don’t you?"
"Actually, I don’t know anything for sure, honest." In a weird sense, it was true. Yeah, I had some pretty good guesses, but until I had confirmation, there was no way I'd be throwing more gasoline on the brotherly fire.
Joel's gaze hardened. "You know more than you're saying. I can see it all over your face."
I resisted the urge to look away. "Honestly, I'm really not sure. Things have been kind of crazy lately. Have you tried calling him?"
Joel practically snorted. "You think he'd answer?"
"I know he would." And I did. Jake was a lot of things – a trouble-maker, a brawler, a smart-ass. But in his own crazy way, he loved his brothers, and he was no coward. If he was available, he'd answer.
With something like a laugh, Joel reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He scrolled through the screen, pressed whatever, and waited. A moment later, I heard Jake's voice. Unfortunately, it wasn't the live version. It was just his voicemail greeting.
As the greeting played, I looked to Joel and said, "You're gonna leave a message, right?"
With a cold smile, Joel waited for the greeting to end, and then he spoke into the phone. "Hey, asshole. Call me. I'll be waiting." He disconnected the call and said, "There. You happy?"
Actually, I wasn't, and not only because of this. But it seemed insensitive to say so. Whatever was bothering me, it paled in
comparison to what was going on with Joel.
Again, I glanced to the sofa. "Sure you don't want to sit down?"
Joel gave me a hard look. "What I want is for you to call him."
I hesitated. "Me?"
"Yeah. Are you gonna do it or not?"
I looked past his anger and saw the kid I used to know. He was hurting. That much was obvious. So I ignored his rudeness and said, "Sure, um, yeah. I'll do it." I held out my hand for his phone. "What do you want me to say?"
"Not from my phone," he said. "From your phone."
I blinked up at him. "What? Why?"
"Because if you call, he'll answer."
Somehow, I wasn't so sure. For all I knew, Jake had blocked my number.
Okay, I didn't really believe that, but after this morning, Jake wouldn't be jumping to take a call from me – at least not until he cooled down.
But Joel didn't need my problems on top of his own, so I summoned up a smile and said, "He'd answer for you, too."
"Except he didn't."
"Well, I'm sure he's just tied up or something."
"Yeah? Prove it." With slow precision, he added, "Go get your phone, and give him a call."
Stalling, I said, "You mean now?"
"Yeah. Now. I'll wait."
I tried to make a joke of it. "I'm afraid you'd be waiting a long time." When he said nothing, I added, "Because actually, my phone is kind of missing."
He stared down at me, obviously not believing a single word I was saying.
When he finally did speak, his voice had a bitter edge that hurt to hear. "Yeah, I bet."
"It is," I insisted, glancing around. "But you know what? It's gotta be around here somewhere."
In truth, I wasn't so sure. But I was desperate. I gave Joel a hopeful look. "Wanna help me look for it?"
"Nice try."
"I’m not 'trying' anything. I'm telling you the truth. And if we had a landline—"
"But you don't." He glanced toward the still-open penthouse door. "This is such bullshit."
"It is not," I insisted.
"Uh-huh." He eyed me with obvious loathing. "When you call him, as in the minute I walk out the door, you tell him that I'm looking for him."
And with that, he turned away and strode out of the penthouse, heading toward the elevator.
Desperately, I called after him. "Wait! At least give me a minute to look for it."
But he didn't wait. And he didn't look back. Already, he was pushing the down button.
Watching, I didn't know what to do.
Unless I was willing – and let's face it, able – to physically restrain him, I had no way to make him stop. And, in more frustrating news, I also had no way to contact Jake.
After the elevator carried Joel away, I tore through the condo, frantically looking for my phone. I doubted that I'd find it, but I had to try.
Turns out, it was all for nothing. After fifteen frantic minutes, I gave up. All I was doing was wasting time.
I bolted out the condo, took the elevator down to the lobby, and found Pete at his usual station. "Can I borrow your phone?" I asked, pointing to the landline on his desk.
A moment later, I was standing alone behind his station, gripping the receiver as I punched in Jake's number.
It rang once, twice, and then – damn it – went to voicemail. When Jake's greeting ended, I spoke into the receiver. "Jake, listen. Joel was here, and he's really upset. I don't know where you are, but you really need to get ahold of him."
After a brief pause, I heard my voice soften. "And wherever you are, I hope you're okay." I bit my lip. "See you Monday?"
I was just hanging up the receiver when I looked up and spotted a familiar male figure striding through the building's glass double doors.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Jake.
It was Bishop. And right behind him was, of all the people I didn't want to see, Bianca.
Chapter 42
From behind Pete's desk, I looked from Bishop to Bianca. Had they arrived together? Or was it some sort of weird coincidence?
When Bishop spotted me, he strode over to the desk and said, "Is Jake around?"
I shook my head. "I wish."
A couple of paces behind him, Bianca called out, "What? He's not? After I made a special trip?" She stomped over to me and said, "Well, this is just great."
No. Actually, it wasn't. I turned to Bishop and said, "You're still in town? I thought you left."
"I did," he said. "And now, I'm back."
I did the math. They'd been heading back to our hometown. That was a two-hour drive. They'd left how long ago? Not even four hours. Unless I was mistaken, the math didn't add up. What had he done? Tossed my sister out the window and done a quick U-turn?
As if reading the expression on my face, he said, "Don't worry. I walked her to the door and everything."
"You must be a fast walker," I said.
Bianca claimed the spot next to him and said, "Doesn't anyone care why I'm here?"
Why lie? "I don't," I said, turning to Bishop. "Do you?"
Bianca followed my gaze, and then, as if noticing Bishop for the first time, she did a double-take. A slow smile spread across her face, and she ran a nervous hand through her long, dark hair.
In a surprisingly sultry voice, she said, "Are you Jake's brother?" Her gaze drifted down his body and back up again. "Oh, my God, you could be twins."
Watching this, I made a sound of annoyance. "Yeah. But they're not."
Ignoring me, she sidled closer to him and practically purred, "So, what are you doing here?"
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. "Forget it," I told her. "He's engaged."
Bianca drew back. "I don't know what you're implying, but I don’t appreciate it."
Well, I didn't appreciate her drooling over my sister's fiancé. Had she no shame?
Apparently not. Undaunted, she once again leaned closer to him and said, "So, engaged, huh?"
I spoke up. "Yeah. To my sister."
Bianca's smile disappeared. She turned to me and said, "You can't be serious."
"Yes." I smiled. "I can."
I looked to Bishop. Showing zero interest in Bianca, he looked back to me and said, "Where is he?"
"Jake?" I bit my lip. "I wish I knew. You're the second brother to come looking for him."
Bishop cursed under his breath. "Joel?"
I nodded.
Next to him, Bianca said again, louder this time, "Doesn't anyone care why I'm here?"
If I didn't care the first time, why would I care now? I looked to Bishop, who told her, "That depends. You a friend of Luna's?"
Bianca pursed her lips. "Not particularly."
"Then I don't care," Bishop said.
Suddenly, I felt all warm and fuzzy. In spite of everything, I had to smile.
As for Bianca, she was definitely not smiling. "I'm a friend of Jake's," she told him. "Doesn't that count?"
"No," he said.
"Why not?" she demanded.
"Because you're lying."
She gave a huff. "I most certainly am not."
"Yeah. You are," he said. "If you were his friend, you'd be nicer to his girl."
Bianca's eyes narrowed. "In case you didn't know, I used to be his girl, and nobody was nice to me."
Bishop shrugged. "Might be a reason for that."
I felt myself nod in agreement. "And besides," I told her, "you were never his girlfriend. You went out a couple of times. That's it."
She gave me an annoyed look. "You don't know anything."
"I know you're a fibber," I said. "Does that count?"
"No, it doesn’t count. And I'm not a fibber, whatever that is."
Ignoring our exchange, Bishop turned back to me and said, "About Joel, how long ago did he leave?"
Next to him, Bianca gave another stomp of her foot. "Oh, for God's sake, I'm here about Joel, not that either of you seem to care."
That made us pause. Together, Bishop and I turned to look. It w
as Bishop who said, "What?"
"Yes," Bianca snapped. "As I've been trying to tell you, there's a reason I'm here."
Bishop said, "Which is…?"
Bianca straightened. After a long dramatic pause, she said, "About an hour ago, Vince met with Joel and told him that the deal was off. And, as you can imagine, Joel didn't take it so well."
From what I'd seen, that was a massive understatement. I looked to Bishop and said, "I can vouch for that. When he stopped by, he was really mad."
Bianca gave us a smug smile. "See? So here I am, trying to warn Jake, not that anyone seems to appreciate it."
Bishop asked, "Warn him of what?"
"Apparently," Bianca said, "Joel thinks that Jake had had something to do with it."
Before I could stop myself, I asked, "Did he?"
"Of course he did," Bianca said, "not that Joel was supposed to find out."
Bishop studied Bianca's face. In a carefully measured tone, he said, "So how did he find out?"
"How should I know?" Bianca said.
I spoke up. "I know how. Vince told him." I looked to Bianca and said, "I'm right, aren't I?"
"No," she said. "You're not." She glanced away. "Not exactly."
"Not exactly?" I repeated. "What does that mean?"
Looking slightly uncomfortable, Bianca mumbled, "He just didn't deny it when it came up. That's all."
Right. Vince the Snake strikes again.
Thinking of the whole sorry situation, I had such mixed feelings. On one hand, I could totally see why Joel was angry. But on the other hand, he'd been walking straight into a trap, whether he realized it or not.
Across from me, Bishop said, "Joel's no fool. Of course he'd know." He gave me a serious look. "As I told Jake this morning."
Feeling overwhelmed, I asked, "What should we do now?"
"You?" Bishop said. "Nothing."
"But—"
"I'll handle it," he said. "When Joel left, did he say where he was going?"
I shook my head. "Sorry. I wish he had. But basically, he just stormed off."
"And what about Jake? Where is he?"
Something in my heart twisted. "Honestly, I have no idea."
Next to him, Bianca gave a little smirk. "Trouble in paradise?"
I felt my body stiffen. Her words hit too close to home, not that I'd ever admit it, well not to Bianca, anyway.
Jake Forever (Jaked Book 3) Page 20
