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Eventually, Jessie ripped her gaze from Ethan and followed me into the hall. As soon as there was a wall between us and Ethan, she burst out, “What the hell is going on? I thought you guys never did your…you know, thing at home.”
I winced. I’d told Jessie about Ethan’s deal, because what else could I do? Now, I was seriously regretting it. How would I explain that he was here now because I wanted him to be, not because he was an asshole demanding sexual favors in exchange for protection?
Yeah, this’ll be a fun conversation.
Still, I had to have it. So I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin. “This isn’t about the deal.”
Jessie’s brow furrowed and she folded her arms across her chest. “What?”
“It’s not about the deal. I…I asked Ethan to be here.”
Well, I didn’t exactly ask him, but I wanted him here. I certainly hadn’t wanted him to leave.
“You have got to be kidding me! I can’t believe he’s here! And if you wanted him here, then what the hell was…was that?”
I shook my head. “It’s complicated, Jessie.”
“Complicated? No, it’s disturbing! He’s a drug dealer!”
I felt a spark of irritation at that. Not that he wasn’t a drug dealer. I just didn’t think of him like that specifically. He wasn’t some ratty, dirty gaunt man on a street corner peddling cocaine to a bunch of kids. He was a businessman offering a product to people who would pay.
And, sure, that was definitely a little distorted in my mind, but to me there was a difference. I’d seen that difference tonight when I watched him forgive Louis. It hadn’t seemed like much from the outside, but I knew that really it had been huge.
I was trying to figure out how to explain that to Jessie when I thought of something. Why was Jessie here?
“What are you even doing here? You’re supposed to be watching Cody.” And now that I’d thought of my son, my world took a dive. “Jesus, is he okay?”
Jessie waved off my worries. “He’s with my friend at my apartment, clearing out my stash of gummy worms at poker because he can’t sleep. I’m here to pick up his teddy. Didn’t you get my text?”
I made a face, squishing my nose up and pulling my lips together, squinting my eyes almost completely closed. I had gotten the text. Right before Todd pulled a gun on us and started shooting. “Shit. I’m sorry. I completely forgot about that. Things got…crazy tonight.”
I briefly considered telling her about the dead bodies, but quickly rethought that train wreck. The less Jessie knew about what had happened tonight, the safer she was. And the less likely she was to insist I go to the cops this time, corrupt or not.
“Because of this?” she demanded, waving a hand at the wall to indicate the living room and Ethan still on my couch.
I was about to tell her that hadn’t been it, but then I realized that was the perfect excuse. And if I were honest with myself, it was also partially true. Ethan had made tonight pretty nuts, dead bodies or no. “Well, yes. He really cares about me, Jessie.”
She let out a bitter laugh, very clearly not agreeing with me on this point. “Are you serious? Do you even hear yourself?”
“Jessie—” I began, but she quickly interrupted.
“No, this is bullshit. He blackmailed you and coerced you. Not only did he do this so that he could store drugs in your perfectly legal store, but so he could put his thing in your thing and do the dirty between the sheets! And that doesn’t even cover the fact that he burned down your store!”
“Half,” I corrected automatically. “He burned down half the store. And now he’s paying for repairs.”
“Because he’s storing drugs there!”
I rubbed the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache begin there. I could see her point. From the outside, this whole thing was preposterous. No one falls for the man who used and manipulated her. And, yet, I did. Or was in the process of doing so. “Jessie, I know how this looks, okay? But things between us have…changed. We’re on the same page now.”
“You’re being insane right now, Diana. Seriously insane. I mean, like, Stockholming it to the max.”
“He didn’t kidnap me for Christ’s sake,” I reminded her in irritation.
“That’s about all he didn’t do!”
I took a deep, slow breath, and tried again to explain. “I have feelings for him.”
Her expression softened slightly as her shoulders slumped, though I would be stupid to assume that this fight was over. “Seriously? Please tell me you’re not one of those women who think they can change a bad boy. Like, he’s just this poor, wounded soul that needs a little TLC and you’re just the saint to give it to him.”
