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“Everything will be fine. Tracy’s on it, she’ll make sure it—”
“Worried about Jade.”
With how well I’d gotten to know Valen and her heart, I should have known that would be on the top of her list, above herself even. “I’m a little concerned myself. Him showing up tonight, knowing that she should have been there… it’s not right.”
It was twisted.
There was no doubt.
“You don’t think her phone call the other day was to draw you out so he could have a go at you tonight?”
She shook her head. “I saw the look on her face when she showed up. She was shocked. And I should have waited around. I should have talked to her.”
“Nope,” I argued. “No, the most important part was for you to get out of there so things could calm down.”
Valen stared off into the distance. Her face pinched tightly like she was trying to solve a math equation. “Jade has done some shit in her life, but this is not her. I know it in my bones. And it’s starting to make me question everything.”
“Everything?”
She nodded slowly. “Everything. The more I see this monster beneath, I have to wonder if I was seeing one version of Chad while Jade has been dealing with another.”
It was fucked up.
Seriously fucked up.
But so far, Valen’s gut had been right, so I wasn’t about to question it.
“I think it’s time I hit up my dad and see what he and Christine know.”
Valen nodded, and her body instantly relaxed as she curled herself back into my chest, tucking her face into my neck while I wrapped my arms around her. These past few weeks had been hard for her, but I was anticipating that the surprise I had planned would hopefully help her find some kind of clarity within the chaos.
At least, that was the plan.
And those had gone so fucking well so far…
Chapter Twenty-One
REED
“You ready to go?” I stepped up to the main library research reception desk and placed both my hands on the polished timber.
The routine we’d started felt like puzzle pieces fitting together.
Some days, I picked her up. Others she came to work with me for a while.
It was easy.
And after a lifetime of complicated relationships—with my dad, my mom, my siblings, and even with myself—it felt so damn good for once to have something that was simple. Simple if you didn’t consider the fact that when Valen and I started this, we were faking it, and yet, it had become the realist fucking thing I’d felt in forever.
Usually, we’d head home, and because neither of us really enjoyed cooking, we’d order in.
But tonight, that was going to be different.
Because after the previous weekend with Chad and Jade, she was starting to question a lot of things, including whether she’d judged the entire situation wrong.
Jade wasn’t my favorite person in the world. As far as the Jade I’d met a handful of times, she was spoiled, bratty, and entitled.
Valen saw something else, though. A Jade she’d grown up with, who had supported her during bad times and who had celebrated with her during the good. It’s why the idea that Jade could have done this was so heartbreaking in the first place.
