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“A couple things came up. How are you?”
“I’ve never been better.”
Gabriel crosses his arms over his chest. “What was it this time?”
Jameson looks at Gabriel, and his face goes dark. “Don’t pretend to care.”
His older brother’s mouth drops open. “Are you fucking serious? I drove all the way here to bail you out.”
“And I amshocked,Gabriel, truly. It was a real shot in the dark, calling you. I’m so glad you could find time in your busy schedule.”
“Of course I found time.” Gabriel’s face is getting red. “What makes you think Iwantyou in a jail cell?”
The look Jameson gives him is so hurt, so exhausted, that it makes me want to hug him. “What makes you think you can bullshit me like this?”
“I’m not bullshitting you.”
“You don’t give a fuck. The only reason I called is to see if you were still alive. This is just for old times’ sake.”
Gabriel stares. “Old times’ sake? You wanted to do this one more time so…what? So I’d remember all theothertimes I got you out of jail?”
“Think of it as one of my stunts. You don’t have that much longer to answer my phone calls.”
“No? Are you going to kill me right here in the parking lot?”
Jameson shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs. It looks painful. “Why bother? You’re going to do it all by yourself. Maybe I should have called your new buddies in the consortium. Then we’d all have a chance to shake hands before you’re fucking dead.”
“I’m not going to die.”
My heart aches. Jameson’s mouth is twisted with grief, and Gabriel looks stricken.
“I’ll probably die doing this,” Jameson spits. “I’m already in. There’s nothing any of you can do to stop me.Let me see. Did I say all that shit, or did you?”
“I did. But—”
“Fuckyou.” I’ve been to Mason Hill’s apartment, where Jameson nominally lives with his siblings and Charlotte, more times than I ever would have imagined. I’ve been to their family brunches. I’ve never seen Jameson like this. I’ve never seen a scarier smile on anyone else’s face. If his hands weren’t balled up in his pockets, I think he might have already punched his brother. “Fuck you. I hope you go straight to hell. And when you die with all those motherfuckers, just remember that I hate you, and I’ll never forgive you.”
Gabriel stands perfectly still. His clothes are covered with wrinkles from lying on my bedroom floor all night. He has bedhead, and his cheeks are so red I think they might burst into flame.
“Okay.” He moves to adjust one of his sleeves, but there’s no pulling out the wrinkles. “Can I still give you a ride?”
“Only because I’m too tired to kill you myself.” Jameson yanks open the back door of the SUV, climbs in, and slams it behind him.
Gabriel looks at the ground. He blinks once, then twice. When I put my hand on his arm, he startles.
“Are you okay?”
He looks surprised to see me, as if he’d forgotten I was here. “What? I’m fine. He’s tired. That’s all it is. I’ll talk to him when we get home. When I get him back home.”
Those are all the right things to say, but Gabriel doesn’t make a move to get in the car. He doesn’t move at all until I put my arms around his waist and pull him close. Then his arms go around me. My cheek presses against the damp wrinkles in his shirt.
“Okay,” he says, after a minute. “Okay.”
It’s a very quiet ride to Mason’s place. Jameson leans his head against the window and pretends to sleep. Or maybe he actually sleeps. I’m not sure. He doesn’t say anything or make any moves until Gabriel pulls into a spot in Mason’s parking garage.
Then Jameson’s out of the car, striding away.
Gabriel follows. I hurry beside him. We catch Jameson before the door to Mason’s private elevator closes. He doesn’t look at either one of us.
