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He couldn’t have asked a worse question.
CHAPTER13
JACK
My composure is long gone as I speed walk down the hall, trying not to spill my coffee. I shouldn’t have filled it to the top.
After casually exiting the room where Logan had Jessa to himself, I all but ran to the dining area to grab my coffee.
Dana was seated off to the side with Grizz while they ate breakfast. I moved quickly and quietly to avoid speaking with her. It didn’t seem to matter much. They were deep into a conversation, and she didn’t notice me until I was almost done.
I settled for black coffee, deciding against making it the way I usually like so I could leave as stealthily as I entered. I managed to make it to the door before Dana called my name.
Weighing my options, I chose to pretend I didn’t hear her, and I hustled back to Jessa’s room just in time to hear my name.
Attempting a casual entrance, I lean against the doorframe to catch my breath and steady myself when both sets of eyes turn toward me.
My first instinct is to go to Jessa, but I push it down and stay in my spot, giving Logan some time with her.
Logan asks her point blank what happened with Maxwell, and her face fall for a fraction of a second before she clears her throat and recovers. “Why do you want to know about that?”
It’s not lost on either of us that she’s stalling by answering a question with a question. My guess is she’s attempting to buy herself time.
“Jessa, I’m going to show you some of our security feed from last night, and this may be shocking for you. I need you to talk to us after you’ve seen it.” Logan’s concern for Jessa is comforting, but only to me.
Jessa’s gaze slowly shifts between Logan and the phone sitting in his hand. “Let me see it—please.”
She leans forward, placing her mug on the floor in front of her. She reaches for the phone as Logan slides a little closer to her to watch the screen and her reaction to it.
Jessa startles as the sound of her own screams erupts from the phone. He’s showing her the end of her night, just before I rushed in with the tranquilizer.
She sits as still as a statue as she watches herself, restrained to the table, screaming my name. I lean to the side to get a better look at her, and I notice Logan is doing the same thing.
Jessa’s eyes are wide. She hasn’t blinked since the video started. She flinches at the sound of her screeching my name one last time, then quickly taps the face of the phone to pause it.
Her eyes remain locked on the screen as she sits frozen in silence. Logan carefully takes his phone back, turns it off, and slips it into his jacket.
He makes no move to say anything further, allowing her space to process the time from last night she doesn’t remember.
She drops her hands lifelessly into her lap and traces one marked wrist with her index finger. Then slowly, raising her eyes, she glances in my direction. I offer a soft nod to let her know I’m here for her, and she moves her gaze back to Logan.
“I don’t remember that.” If the room weren’t silent, I would never have heard her.
“I know, Jessa.”
“Wh-why was—I—” An awkward tension floods the room as Jessa tries to make sense of what she just watched.
She doesn’t need to find the rest of her words. I know exactly what she wants to know.
She wants to know what the hell she was doing bound to a table with three men around her. Logan knows it too, so he answers her.
“We had a misunderstanding last night—with Jack’s phone. You were treated as an uncooperative interrogation because, at the same time we discovered you had Jack’s phone, we also learned our servers were breached.”
Jessa’s arms go up in defense. “But I didn’t—”
“We know you didn’t use the phone. That’s not what I want to talk about. During the questioning, you said Maxwell’s name a couple of times. We’re concerned for you. Jack is worried. We can’t help you if you don’t tell us what he’s done.”
Logan attempts to include me in the conversation, to get her to open up, but I’m not sure it’s going to work. Jessa has always protected those around her. If she thinks this information will hurt me in any way, she’ll shut down.
