Page 77 of His Virgin Romance Series

“Collect call from Jefferson Prison; do you wish to accept this call?” an automated voice asked.

I felt myself freeze. Was this some sort of joke or just a random mistake? I hesitated for a second before replying, “Yes.”

There was a small disturbance, and then someone said my name. “Rachel?”

“Who is this?” I demanded.

“It’s me, Rachel,” the voice said. It was so familiar that I had a sinking feeling in my gut. It couldn’t be… It just couldn’t be.

“Jared?” I said, in disbelief.

I was aware of Marta glancing over the low partition to look at me. My tone had probably caught her attention, and my expression was probably not much better. Unable to compose myself, I rushed towards the bathrooms where I was sure I wouldn’t be overheard.

“Jared, what’s wrong?” I said. “Is everything all right?”

“Not really,” he replied.

I stopped walking before I could get to the bathrooms. My mind was reeling, and I was starting to feel panicky. “What do you mean, not really?” I asked. “Jared, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “I mean, physically I’m fine.”

That didn’t make me feel any better. “Why are you calling me from jail?”“Rachel, I don’t have much time, okay?” he said, in a rushed voice. “They found drugs in my apartment.”

“What?” I said, in shock.

“There was crystal meth and cocaine,” Jared said. “They found it in my apartment.”

“You’re doing drugs?” I said, in disbelief.

“No, no, of course not,” he said quickly. “I’m not doing drugs.”

I blinked. “Wait… Oh my God… Have you been dealing drugs the whole time we’ve been together?”

“No… Rachel, please…”

I felt as though someone had just knocked the wind right out of me. I wanted to cry. Of course, he had been too good to be true. He wasn’t the perfect Prince Charming I had assumed he was… He was just an actor. He wasn’t denying that drugs had been found in his apartment and how else could they have got there?

“I can’t believe you,” I said angrily, cutting him off. “You told me you didn’t do drugs.”

“I don’t,” he insisted.

“Okay, pardon me, you don’t do drugs, but you deal them then?”

“Of course not—”

“Oh my God, I’m such an idiot,” I said, feeling the tears rush up to my eyes. “I was so blind. You told me everything… You told me you dealt drugs, you and your brother.”

“Wait, that was years—”

“Sure, that’s what you told me,” I said. “But apparently, the drugs in your apartment say otherwise.”

“Rachel—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the line went dead, and I realized we had been cut off. I paced up and down the hallway in front of the bathrooms, wondering how I was going to get through this day. How could this be true of Jared? He was a decent guy… He was a fucking fireman. It just didn’t make sense.

And yet… maybe it didn’t make sense because I didn’t want it to mean anything. I had been so in love with him right from the get-go that I had believed him completely when he told me about how he had turned his life around.

Twenty minutes later, I still hadn’t managed to calm down. I was still pacing when Marta found me. “There you are,” she said.

---