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All the time. But I didn’t say that. I hung up, as I would have realistically done in such a situation.
I sat down and put my head in my hands. Even though Ria and I had remained a step ahead of him all along, his call had still managed to fuck with my head. What advantage was there for him to tell me this now? Did he just want to sow some seeds of discontent between Ria and me – knowing that I would half-believe him, even if I claimed not to? But then what? Why would he want to cause turmoil in the relationship if he was still getting information from Ria about me?
Unless... something had made him realize he wasn’t the one in charge here.
Or unless... he actuallywasin charge here. And it was his car I’d seen Ria get into for five minutes and then depart.
Which meant... what? My head was spinning. I couldn’t make heads nor tails of the whole thing.
My conversation with Apollo wasn’t to be the only infuriating conversation to mess with my head that day. I didn’t want to confront Ria until I was calm, lest I go nuclear like I had during the makeshift interrogation early on in our business relationship.
I was almost, but not quite, level after calming down from the phone call when I received a private message from Jude.
Jude:I’m nearby. Meet me at the end of the block
Forest:What the fuck?
Forest:Fine. Which end?
Jude:Turn left
This was ridiculous, but I obviously had to hear what he had to say. I hoped it wasn’t another of his little ‘interventions’.
At the end of the block, Jude was leaning against a lamppost, wearing sunglasses.
“Very covert.” I couldn’t hide the annoyance from my tone. “What have you got for me this time?”
“I know you didn’t take us seriously last time. Don’t be mad, but I had Ria followed.”
Him saying ‘don’t be mad’ did not at all prevent the rising fury that his sentence prompted. “What thefuck, Jude?”
“I’m sorry for going behind your back.”
“Are you? I can’t help feeling if you were sorry about it, you’d not have done it in the first place. Go on, then, what did you come here to tell me?”
“Forest... I’m really sorry. I have pictures of her entering Apollo’s headquarters.”
I stared at him for a moment, and then I started laughing. He looked back at me in alarm.
“Jude... I already know she’s meeting with Apollo.”
“What the fuck, Forest? What game are you playing here? And you didn’t think it wise to inform me and the others of it?”
“Despite what you seem to think, I don’t have to tell you and the others everything I do.”
“What is this? A mid-life crisis? You’re acting like a rebellious teenager.”
I shrugged. A mid-life crisis wasn’t a total impossibility. “Just leave it well alone, Jude. You’re liable to scupper all my plans, going behind my back and doing something like that. Did the others know about it?”
Jude shifted uncomfortably.
I gathered a lot from his silence. “Even Sylvester and Winston told you it would be an invasion of privacy? Wow. Well, there’s all you need to know. I’ll see you around, brother.”
I was quite far away by the time he replied, but not far enough that I couldn’t hear his final, muted retort.
“Keep yourself safe, Forest. That’s all I ask.”
RIA
