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“No.”
“Pippa,please.”
She pauses her steps and spins around, her expression softening. “I’m sorry, Jesse. I can’t. But if it makes you feel better, I’m ninety-nine percent sure she’s coming here for you, not me, so you won’t have to wait long.”
I’ve already waited a goddamn month. Not to mention the twelve years before that. I’m no fucking saint. I have no patience left.
“Ineedto see her.”
“I know but I have to go.Alone. I’m sure it won't be long.”
She picks up her pace and frantically presses the elevator button, probably thinking I’m going to follow her and force my way into her car. I’m not. I may be an asshole, but I’m not that bad, really…
I’ll meet them at her apartment instead.
Chapter Seven
Jesse - Twelve Years Ago / Age Sixteen
Weeasilycatchupto the girls and skirt around them, blocking their path as we stop.
“Jade,” I hesitate, my hands held out in front of me like she’s a wild animal. “I need you to calm down so we can work this out.”
Jade’s panicked gaze flits between me and Buttercup, before she squeezes Buttercup’s wrist tighter and steps back. “Just let us go. I’m not going to say anything. You’ve got my money. Do your job.”
“T…Captain America will give the money back. You can walk away as though this never happened. Start fresh.”
“What the fu—” Tate starts, but Jade cuts him off.
“No.”
From the way her hands shake and the utter terror in her expression, I take a chance on the fact that this is her first time and try to make her see sense. “You picked the right guy to contact; he won’t punish you if you change your mind. I can see you don’t want to do this.”
I feel Tate’s stare boring a hole in the side of my head, but I ignore it and focus on the girls.
Jade steps back again, shaking her head as she does, her nerves on full display. Buttercup, on the other hand, looks angry. “What’s he talking about?” she yells, ripping her arm from Jade’s grasp. “What money? What are you trying to buy?”
Jade’s eyes widen as she continues to shake her head. “It’s nothing,” she tells Buttercup before turning to me. “Please just let us leave.”
I really wish I could do that.
Chapter Eight
Jesse
Clenchingmyfists,Ishake off my thoughts and curse under my breath. What’s taking them so long? Did Pippa drive back to Hepburn Falls to pick Willow up?
Being alone with my thoughts is dangerous.
Every time I let myself think about the incident, I feel physically sick. None of it should have happened. But that damn drug deal set off a domino effect that no one saw coming. And now it’s coming back to haunt me, while I’m waiting patiently for the madness to arrive.Or not so patiently.
I feel like a dickhead stalking the front of Pippa’s building, but she just doesn’t get it…desperate times call for desperate measures. And fuck, I’m a desperate man.
Another few minutes pass before Pippa’s Mercedes finally pulls up, and I’m so fucking tense I could snap. But when I glance up and lock eyes with Willow for the first time in weeks, the tension fades.
She turns away seconds after our gazes meet, but it doesn’t matter. The relief I feel, just having her here, is indescribable.
The gate rises for Pippa to drive through, and I follow behind them as she makes her way into the parking garage. As soon as she’s switched off the engine, Pippa’s out of her car, her eyes ablaze with anger.
