Page 35 of Defiant
Oh, just like every other fucker in this town, I had my secrets. However, my secrets did not involve an underaged mistress or drug problems. My secrets were much worse than that, much deadlier. The reality was no one knew the real Jacob Hall.
I thought I hid it all rather well, considering how much I just didn’t give a shit lately. It wasn’t something I was proud of, but it was what made me who I was today. Those fucking twins had seen me, somehow known something was off with me, but they didn’t know the truth, the full extent of my past. No one could.
“I’ll let you off,” Dante’s voice broke into my head, “for now. I don’t think you and I are done, though. You and Jaz seem to be awfully close. If I have my way, I’m going to be spending a lot of time with her, which, I would imagine, would lead me to spend a lot of time with you. You haven’t seen the last of me, Jacob.”
I had a comeback ready—something so full of swearwords…okay, it was mostly swearwords—but the bastard hung up before I had the chance to say anything. With a scowl, I brought my phone away from my ear, glaring at it, as if Dante could see my glare on his end.
The motherfucker. I really didn’t like him.
You know what? I really didn’t like most people, which made living in general hell.
I hated dealing with people like Dante, too. The blackmailers were the worst. He was a fucking stranger to me, and yet he somehow knew my weakness. After all, it shouldn’t matter anymore. It wasn’t like I had a job to protect.
But, fuck, a video showing me putting a drugged-out Jazmine Smith in my car was a way to get to me. If a video like that got out, even if Jaz cleared the air and I wasn’t arrested, I’d still be ruined. I was already a pariah in this town; they were likely to kick me out entirely if something else happened. The thing with Celeste three years ago had already started to unravel the good life I had for myself.
Should’ve known I could never have a good life. Not after what I did.
I leaned forward, wrapping an arm around my waist, as if feeling my skin on fire. It was almost funny, how certain sensations stuck with you, years after it was all said and done. If I closed my eyes, I could still remember that night like it was yesterday. Like it’d just happened.
No, I didn’t grow up in Midpark. That much was obvious. I grew up in one of the poor towns nearby, watching the rich with envy in my heart. I wanted to grow up and be like them, to be what my mother said I never could be. She kept us locked at home, taught us her stupid ideologies. She was a terrible, ugly woman, and I never wanted to grow up and be like her. My father was out of the picture from a young age, and I had no idea what happened to him. Didn’t really care anymore.
I was trying to be better than my upbringing, and to get here I had to do a lot, one thing especially I was not proud of, but it was what it was and now it was far too late to go back and change things. Hell, even with how shitty everything was right now, I didn’t know, if I had the chance to go back and right the wrong, if I would.
I probably wouldn’t, because what would that get me?
I sat there for a while, stewing in my anger, annoyed at myself for letting Dante rile me up like this. I really didn’t like him, and I hoped I wouldn’t have to see him again—let alone with Jaz. He thought he was going to start spending every waking moment with her? I doubted it. He had another thing coming.
A guy like that…there was no way Jaz would ever willingly spend time with him. He wasn’t her type…was he? I would’ve assumed she liked the big, beefy jocks, if the boy she went to the party with meant anything.
Then again, look at how that fucker had treated her at that party. Maybe she’d go for someone like Dante after all.
Or a Scott. Fucking Vaughn Scott. Don’t even get me started on that one.
Hah, you know, as jaded and cynical as I was, it sounded like I cared an awful lot who Jaz spent her time with and who she let dominate her thoughts. That was stupid of me. I shouldn’t give a single fuck who Jaz thought about, who she liked. It shouldn’t matter to me at all.
But it did. It did, even though it shouldn’t. God, what a shitty turn my life had taken. I’d tried to keep that girl at arm’s length—at ten arms’ lengths, actually—but somehow she still found a way, got too close to me. I hated it.
And, more than that, I hated how much I didn’t exactly hate it.
Yeah, I know. That hardly made sense. Welcome to my fucking life.
After sitting on the couch in silence for a while, I unlocked my phone and checked my email. I wasn’t expecting much, maybe something from Mr. Anonymous, but…
Hold on. There was something. Not from my anonymous client, but from the girl in question herself. The girl who was currently driving me as mad as I could go. When I saw her name pop up, when I saw that I had an unopened email from her, my stomach hardened, my body reacting to just seeing her goddamned name.
How fucking lame was that?
Don’t answer that, because I already knew.
It was late on a Friday night. I should put my phone down and pretend I didn’t see her message in my inbox until tomorrow. A new day, with hopefully a bright sun to lighten my mood…ah, who was I trying to kid? Doing what I did, I had to work at all hours of the day and night, and now was no different—especially now, after spending so much money getting Dante into Midpark. Had to do what you had to do.
I clicked on her message. There was no subject line, which I thought was a little odd, so I had no idea what it was about. When my eyes scanned the short message, I had to itch the side of my face. After that, I had to look over it again, to make sure I didn’t miss anything in my haste to read it the first time.
The message had no words. Only a ten-digit number—her number, if I had to assume.
Why the fuck would she send me her number? We spoke through email easily; I didn’t need her number to talk to her. Unless…was something wrong? Was something going on? Fuck. I wasn’t there watching her, making sure she didn’t dip her toes into something she shouldn’t.
Fuck it all to hell. I had to call her.
