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“She’s exactly that. Or did she not tell you she owes her life to me?” His ego is too big for the room he occupies. Leaning into the camera, he continues, “Her literal life, Jack. Did she really not tell you how I so graciously gave her her life back after I took it away?”
A calm I’m not expecting washes over me.
Maxwell doesn’t know that Jessa doesn’t remember most of her time with him, and he takes my pause as surprise. His satisfied sneer deepens. He shifts his gaze off to the side. It appears as though he’s working on something as he speaks with us.
“Ah, here you are, my dear. I’ve been waiting for you.” Maxwell sits up straight in his seat, and I notice too late that our screen isn’t the only one on the compound he’s accessed.
Rising from his seat, Logan pulls over his secondary laptop and taps a few keys, opening up security for the base.
Jumping from screen to screen, it isn’t long before he finds Jessa. She’s standing in front of the TV in the common room along with Hunter, Grizz, and Dana.
She’s frozen in place, staring at the monster who gave her her scars.
CHAPTER21
JESSA
I’m telling you now, you haven’t lived until you’ve done the walk of shame with a friend like Dana around to witness your pitiful entrance.
“Well, well, well. Would you look at yourself, you little hussy! Where were you last night?” She sits up from her sprawled position on the couch and smirks as I nonchalantly cross the room like I didn’t sleep somewhere else last night.
“I, um…I was with Jack last night.”
Her smile tells me she is loving every second of this.
“Really? I wouldn’t have guessed. What did you do? I’m assuming, due to our location, that dancing at the local club is out of the question.” She taps her finger against her chin as her eyes go up to the ceiling as though my answer is hiding there. She feigns confusion. “Hmm. I wonder what on earth the two of you could have done all of the way out here—all alone?”
I don’t want to go into the more difficult parts of the evening, and I attempt to shut it down. “We talked—that’s all. Then we fell asleep together. It was nice.”
She opens her mouth to rib me further, but then she quickly closes it and smiles.
She’s cutting me some slack.
“Well, I’m happy for you.” She sets her palm on her chest. “What did I do, you ask?” I chuckle because I didn’t, and she answers anyway. “We all watched a movie. Then Grizz walked me back to my room to go to sleep.”
“Oh, is that all?” I attempt to deflect the attention away from me.
“Yes. That was all, you little tart. It was fun. Those guys are nice, but that Tex guy sure can talk all the way through a movie.” She rolls her eyes. That is one of Dana’s pet peeves, and it’s the very reason she won’t watch mysteries with me, because I always try to figure them out before the end “You missed breakfast. Want to grab lunch?”
The rumble in my stomach answers for me.
I am hungry. Starved, actually.
We collectively turn our attention to the door when someone knocks. The door is ajar, but Dana crosses the room to answer anyway.
“I thought Tex was watching us.” Dana glances down the hall, exposing Hunter when she leans out of the way.
“He’s got some work. I’m taking over. He tells me you haven’t gone for lunch yet.”
Dana takes three steps to a chair and grabs an oversized sweatshirt I haven’t seen before. It’s close to three sizes too large for her, and I wonder if she got it from her newfriend.
“We were just talking about that.”
“Can we stop by the common room real quick? I left my poker chips in there last night.” Hunter takes a step backward into the hall to allow us enough space to pass. Then he turns and heads toward their canteen.
“Sure.” Dana answers as we follow close behind.
As we walk down the corridor, Dana has me laughing about the guys’ attempts to shut Tex up during the movie. When we round the corner and enter the common room, Grizz is standing in front of us, blocking part of the room from my view. Dana steps around Hunter to say hello to Grizz, and she freezes in place as a voice I wasn’t ready to hear fills the room.
