by Staci Hart
“It actually makes a lot of sense, from your reaction to me looking for you.”
“You mean stalking me?” I teased.
“Stalk, orchestrate a grand gesture, whatever.”
“You would have been the catch of the century, if they could have caught you.”
“I don’t know,” I scoffed, “I’m a little intimidating. No one gets very far with me. I shut them down before they have a chance.”
“Well, lucky for you, I’m persistent. I know what I want, and I get what I want.”
I watched him take a bite of eggs, bewildered. “You’re something else, Sullivan Collins.”
He looked over at me, his eyes honest and open. “So are you, Cory James.”
“I don’t know how you got in,” I said, half to myself.
“I can scale any wall in my way, and I never give up on what I believe in. You never stood a chance,” he answered with a smile.
I slipped off my stool and into his arms, my lips finding his, hands on his cheeks. I tried hold back my fear and uncertainty, just wanting him to know that he meant something to me with the action.
Our mouths slowed and I leaned back, feeling tears prick the corners of my eyes, but I smiled. “I’ve got to go. I’ll hit you up later, okay?”
“All right, Cory.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and closed my eyes, not knowing if we’d ever have a moment like that again, full of his hope and trust in me.
I whispered into his ear, “Thank you.”
By the time I reached the loft, I had a plan, a speech, and a shitload of resolve. The plan was thin: try to convince Jade that the painting was a fake. The speech was better and involved several dirty names and threats. The resolve would be my saving grace, if all else failed.
I closed the warehouse door to the quiet apartment, figuring everyone was either gone or sleeping. I threw my bag on a chair and sat at the table, wondering when Jade would be home. I didn’t wonder for long.
She walked in from her room, looking smug as she pulled out a chair and sat down across from me. “You look really fresh. You’re really pulling off that ‘just fucked’ look.” She folded her forearms on the table and leaned forward. “How was it getting actual dick? A little more exciting than Erin’s fist?”
I glared at her. “God, you’re the worst brand of asshole, you know that?”
She just smiled.
“It’s not a Rothko. It’s by some nobody who paints imitations.” I crossed my arms and stared her down.
Jade leaned forward a little closer, looking down her nose at me. “Nice try. He’s listed as the buyer in the registries.”
Fuck. I paused, but I didn’t move a single muscle. “I’m not doing it, Jade.”
She shrugged and sighed. “Jill is going to be so disappointed in you.”
And just like that, I decided. I wasn’t going to let her push me. I had enough money saved. Nothing was worth dealing with Jade’s megalomania, not anymore. Van wasn’t the only person to learn the truth. “I’m going to tell Jill. Today.”
Jade laughed, the sound haughty and superior. “Sure you will.”
“What, want to come with me?”
“Get real, Cory.”
“I’m not fucking kidding, Jade. I’m done with this. You don’t own me, and you can’t force me to do this. I’m telling Jill.”
Jade stared at me, her smile slipping into a sneer as she realized I wasn’t bluffing. “You’re really going to tell her?”
I nodded.
She fumed. “Who the fuck is this guy? You would risk it for him? Cory, that painting is worth millions. And not just a couple. Like in the neighborhood of fifteen.”
I set my jaw.
She stood. “Fifteen million dollars.” She paused. “Your cut would pay for Jill’s school, college, a yacht, a house in Malibu, and you’d have money to live on for life. Fuck your ‘not doing it.’ You’re fucking doing it.”
I stood and met her eyes. “You gonna make me?”
Jade walked around the table, stopping close enough that we were almost touching, our noses just inches from each other. “This isn’t stealing laptops and thumb drives. This is something that could set us up for years. Years. Just because you got your cunt serviced doesn’t mean we all suffer. How stupid are you? You’ve known him for five minutes, and you’re going to throw everything away? For what?” She leaned closer, sending my nerves on end.
“Back the fuck up, Jade.”
She mocked me with a whiny tone, throwing my words back at me, “Oh, are you gonna make me?” But then she straightened up, something in her shifting, a shadow behind her eyes I hadn’t seen before. “Do not fuck with me. That’s your only warning.”
“Fuck your warning.” I slammed her in the shoulders with my palms and brought my fists up as she tried to catch her balance.
Her face twisted, her teeth bared when she charged me, but I threw out a fist and caught her in the jaw. She reeled back and hit the ground. I stepped toward her.
“How about you don’t fuck with me.”
Jade coughed, looking beaten, and I took a step closer, ready with a threat. But when I opened my mouth to speak, she swept her leg. The world tilted as she knocked my feet out from under me, and I hit the ground, my lungs frozen from the impact. Before I could react, she was on me.
She backhanded me and sat on my chest, pinning my arms with her legs. My chest ached, my skin stinging from the slap, and she arched over me, pressing her palms to the concrete next to my ears. “You’ll do this, or I’ll find Jill. I’ll find her, and I’ll kill her. And once you get the painting, you’re out. You’ll disappear.” She grabbed my hair and slammed my head into the cold floor.
Black spots danced in my vision, and I groaned, feeling the contents of my stomach shoot up my esophagus. I swallowed hard.
“Do you understand, Cory? Do you get it? This is bigger than you, and you’re not going to get in my way.”
I reeled, ears ringing as she bent down to my face.
“So long I’ve been wanting to get rid of you,” she hissed. “So long. Give me a reason. Just one. But I’ll start with Jill.”
Jade grabbed my hair again, her face bent and ugly as she hammered my head into the concrete once more, and everything went black.
COLD SEEPED INTO MY body, the hard concrete biting at my shoulder blades. I shifted, sending a bolt of pain through my skull, down my spine, and wave of nausea rolled over me. I moaned.
“Cory?”
Erin’s hands touched my cheeks as my mind creaked and groaned into motion like rusty gears. My lids fluttered opened to the shadow of her shape, and I blinked to clear away the fog.
“Talk to me, Cory.”
I glanced around and realized I was lying on the floor in the kitchen, but I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten there. “Hey.” My lips were dry, the word harsh and quiet.
Her eyes were shining. “Thank God you’re okay. How do you feel?”
“Like shit,” I croaked.
“Do you know what day it is?” She looked into one eye, then the other, checking my pupils.
My brows knit together, trying to retrace my steps. The last thing I remembered was coming home, finding Jade —
Jade.
Everything came back in a tidal wave. Jade hovering over me with her face twisted. Van’s lips on mine. Jill. She said she’d kill Jill. Faces and words rushed through my mind, and the air left the room, left my lungs empty and burning.
“Oh, God, Erin—” A sob ripped out of me, and tears rolled down into my ears.
Her eyes were shining as she leaned over me, cupping my cheeks with a trembling voice. “Shhh. You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay.”
The pounding in my brain was like a kick drum, but I barely felt it. Jade’s betrayal tore through me. She’d bet Jill’s life for Van’s painting, her payoff at my expense. It was something I hadn’t known she was capable of, but somehow, I wasn’t surprised. I took a breath, willing the pain to
stop as it burned like a wildfire in my chest.
“Can you get up?” Erin asked.
“I don’t know.”
“I can bring a pillow in here if you want to lie for a second.”
The comfort of my bed versus the kitchen floor was no question. “No, I can try.”
I took a deep breath as Erin and I clasped hands, and she pulled, slipping an arm under my back as I sat. Everything I’d eaten rushed up, and I leaned away from her, emptying the contents of my stomach onto the cement floor.
Erin held my hair out of the way and rubbed my back as I wretched until my body was empty. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Lie back down, Cory.”
“Mm-mmm,” I answered in dissent with my eyes squeezed shut, unable to shake my head or say more as I waited for the nausea to slip away. “I think I’m okay,” I whispered after a minute.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Help me up.”
She leaned down so I could hook an arm around her neck and grabbed the back of a dining chair as she helped me stand. I leaned into her, and she braced herself under my weight.
“You ready?” she asked.
No. “Just go.”
We made our way through the loft, stopping at intervals when I thought I was going to lose it or pass out, but I got to my room without puking again, which was a small miracle. There had been very little talking, only what was necessary to get me into bed. She bustled around pulling off my shoes and tucking me in, closing the curtains and clicking off lights. She left once for the kitchen, returning with a glass of water and an ice pack that she slid under my head. I sighed with relief at the magic of it against my aching neck and skull. It wasn’t until Erin was in bed next to me and my rolling stomach stilled that I finally spoke.
My eyes were on the ceiling. “I tried to get out of the job, Erin. I told her I wouldn’t steal from Van, and she said she’d kill Jill if I didn’t.”
“What?” Erin’s voice was deadly low.
I didn’t speak, just waited for her to process.
“She said that? She threatened Jill?”
“And me too. But she said she’d start with Jill.”
“I can’t believe this.” She paused for a long second. “When I walked in, she was on top of you. I dragged her off and popped her in the face, but she just looked at me like …” Erin shook her head. “I don’t know. Like she’d lost it.”
I let out a breath, but it didn’t vent the pressure in my chest.
“I didn’t know if she was going to walk away. She just stood there, staring down at you.” Erin paused. “I was ready to take her down if she touched you again, but she just left the loft — didn’t say a single word.”
“Something is different.”
“I know.”
“I’ve never been afraid of her before, not really, but that look on her face … ”
Erin took a deep breath. “Cory, this is not okay. She can’t do this.”
“The Rothko is worth too much, Erin. I don’t think she’s going to give up.”
Erin was quiet, but I could almost hear her thinking.
Another wave of nausea rolled over me, and I squeezed my eyes shut as my skin prickled with sweat. “Water?”
She reached behind her for the nightstand. “Yeah, here.”
I took the glass with shaking hands and tilted my face, trying to bring it to my lips without spilling it. The cold water was crisp, and I gulped it greedily. I rested the glass on my stomach and relaxed back onto my pillow with a sigh.
“How bad do you think the concussion is?” Erin asked.
“I’ve had worse.” My head thumped, and I closed my eyes. “I think I want to try to sleep.”
“Okay. Take this.” Erin dropped ibuprofen into my waiting palm, and I popped them into my mouth, chasing them with a sip of water. “I’m going to go clean up. I’ll be back to wake you up every two hours, so don’t bitch. I’ll call Sam too and tell him we won’t be in for a few days, okay?”
“‘Kay,” I answered, my eyes already closing.
She paused in the doorway for a long moment. “We’ll get everything sorted out. I promise.”
But I found no comfort in her words as I drifted into the dark arms of sleep.
It was afternoon when I finally woke for good, still stiff and aching. My headache had quieted to a dull thud, and I reached for the glass of water, emptying it in a chain of thick swallows.
I lay back in bed, eyes on the exposed pipes over my bed. Jade had played the ultimate card, the only card she had on me. There was no way I could refuse, and she knew it. I wouldn’t sacrifice Jill’s life for anything or anyone. As much as I wanted to believe that Jade wouldn’t hurt Jill, I wouldn’t take a chance. Not with so much at stake. Not after seeing Jade snap. She had crossed the line and wouldn’t go back. She would squeeze until it was over. But she didn’t need everyone. Only me. It was all on me.
The defeat and resolve were crushing, but I wasn’t angry or sad. I was empty.
Only a few hours earlier, I’d had hope. I had fight. But Jade erased it with a word. Any ideas I’d manufactured about my future had been shattered.
Maybe it was for the better. I could never be good for someone else. I wasn’t even good for myself.
I made an attempt to sit up very, very slowly, certain I was going to vomit, but once I was upright, the nausea passed. All that was left was my exhaustion. I slipped my hand into my hair to touch the back of my aching head, running my fingers over the knot where it had connected with concrete.
Jade’s words rang in my ears. Give me a reason. Just one. My jaw clenched. I wouldn’t give her that reason she wanted so badly.
I shifted to place my feet on the cold floor, taking a moment to steel myself. When I stood, it was slowly, uncertain whether or not I was going to drop, but the only imposing remnants of the concussion were in my shaky knees as I made my way across the room to my dresser. I peeled off my jeans with one hand, hanging onto my dresser with the other, then shed my shirt, leaving the clothes in a pile at my feet. Black leggings and a tank were the maximum I could manage, and once I was dressed, I shuffled toward the kitchen, following the voices of my friends.
Morgan, Cher, and Erin went quiet, pity and anger written all over their faces. I smiled half-heartedly and sat down next to Cher.
Cher’s saddle-brown eyes were soft when she turned to me. “Are you hungry?”
I nodded and pinched the bridge of my nose. Everything was too bright, too loud, and I wished I’d stayed in bed. My stomach grumbled in protest at the thought.
“How about a PB&J?”
“God, that sounds like heaven.”
She chuckled as she collected supplies, putting her care into a small task she thought would bring me comfort.
Erin peered at me from across the table. “How are you feeling?”
I rested my arms on the table with sagging shoulders. “Better, but still like shit. Did she come back?”
Morgan was wound up and ready to fight. “No, and she’s lucky. This is bullshit, Cory. She can’t do this.”
“Feels like she already did.”
Cher shook her head as she slid a plate in front of me. “That doesn’t make it right or fair.”
I picked up a triangle of bread. “That’s life.” I took a bite.
“She can’t force us to do this,” Morgan snapped. “If you don’t want to steal the painting from Van, we’ve got your back. Jade can’t do it alone, and that is our leverage.”
They really didn’t understand at all. I set the sandwich down and looked over the three of them. “Do you really believe that she’s going to let us walk away just because we said no? I said no this morning just before she beat me unconscious.”
“Something she’ll fucking pay for, if I have anything to do with it,” Morgan huffed. “We don’t have to do this, Cory.”
“No, you don’t have to do this. I do.”
The three of them spoke at once, loud
enough that I flinched.
“No, hang on,” Morgan put out her hand to quiet everyone. “You’re not doing anything alone. Jade is full of shit. There’s no way she would actually hurt Jill.”
My chest was hollow. “I don’t believe that, not with the amount of money on the line. She may not have the guts to do it herself, but it wouldn’t take much for her and Jace to find someone who would.”
Cher shook her head, incredulous. “Jill’s like family. She’s bluffing.”
“Fuck.” Erin’s face tightened, and when she met my eyes, I knew she understood. “Cory may be right,” she said as she turned to the other girls. “Think about it. If she didn’t have to see Jill or get her hands dirty? If threatening Jill was the key to her getting millions?”
Morgan’s lip curled. “I didn’t sign up for this shit. It’s too far. We’ve either got to take her down a peg or down to the ground.”
“We would just fuck ourselves,” I said. “We turn her in, we may as well turn ourselves over, too. There’s only one way out of this. I do the job, and when it’s over, we all walk away from her. Until then, we just need to ride it out.”
Morgan wasn’t having it. “Are you so sure she’s going to leave you alone?” She shook her head. “I don’t think you should cave, Cory. I think you need to fight.”
“But if I fight and lose, what’s the price that I’ll pay? Because I already feel like I’ve paid enough.” No one had a response. “Jade’s done with me, and I’m done with her. She’ll find someone else to push around, someone who doesn’t talk shit. But me? She wants me out. Just not until I do this for her.”
Morgan stood, pushing the chair back with a jarring scrape. “I don’t like this.” She paced around the room.
“Me either, but what other choice do I have?”
She chewed on her thumbnail as she walked the length of the kitchen.
Erin rubbed her face, pausing to press the pads of her fingers into her eyes. “Do you have any sort of plan?”
My headache drummed a little harder. “I’ve been a little preoccupied.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
I waved her off. “It’s okay. There’s roof access that I can use to get into his building. I’ll have to knock out the security cameras and pick the lock on his door, but it won’t be hard to get in.”
