Page 18 of Isabelle & Jason
It was a thoughtful gift. Nothing more.
So why did she suddenly want to see him again?
7
Jason
“Okay, how many times do you have to show up at four in the morning at her usual spot and not bump into her before you get the hint?” Mark said with a laugh.
Jason frowned at his friend. “Maybe she’s not running.”
“Oh, she’s running. Far, far, away… from you.”
The tomato that Jason had just grabbed from the bowl flew through the air. Mark was too fast and ducked. Red juice spurted when it made contact with the wall behind Mark. Jason continued to glower at his friend even when Mark’s comical surprise filtered across his features. “What did you do that for?”
“You know why, and if you don’t want another one?—”
“Another one, what?” Nikki asked as she backed her way into the kitchen.
Mark sent a look of glee in their boss’s direction before settling Jason with a knowing smirk. The last thing Jason wanted was to be reprimanded by Isabelle’s sister-in-law abouta fight over his attempts to talk to the girl he couldn’t get out of his head.
Jason gave a subtle shake of his head. “Nothing,” he muttered.
Nikki glanced between the two of them before her eyes landed on the squashed and cracked tomato. Then her eyes narrowed on Jason. “You know the rules about food fights.”
His shoulders hunched slightly. Yeah, Nikki ran a tight ship. He couldn’t blame her. He did the same when he was the one running the kitchen. Squeezing the back of his neck, he murmured, “Sorry, Nik.”
Mark scooped up the tomato and deposited it in the trash.
The three of them fell into their usual routine, but Jason could sense Mark burning with questions. He still wanted to know why Isabelle was taking up so much of Jason’s energy. He still had no clue about what had happened that night. He probably thought that Jason was simply enamored by the girl, wanting what he couldn’t have.
But it was so much more than that.
Isabelle was hurting. Sure, he didn’t know her well enough to know if she’d ended up getting help. But from what he had pieced together, she wasn’t healing from the incident the way she should have been. The insomnia. The way she flinched when he got too close. The way she worked herself into exhaustion. Those were all indications that she was still running from something.
Jason couldn’t shake the feeling that he should be doing something. But what? He couldn’t exactly tell her that he knew her darkest secrets. That wouldn’t come off well at all.
It wasn’t until he was having lunch with his brother, who had treated Isabelle at the hospital, that he finally voiced all these concerns.
“Oh, I definitely think you should tell her.”
Jason’s head snapped up so fast that a sharp pain sliced right through him. He rubbed the back of his neck with a wince. Then he gave his brother a pained look. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Mathew took a long pull from his soda and shook his head. “I’m being serious. There’s no telling what exactly she’s remembered since that night. She couldn’t remember much when she’d woken up. I guess I would tell you to leave it alone, but…” He paused, studying Jason for far too long to be comfortable.
“What? Just spit it out,” Jason demanded.
“It looks like you’re… interested?”
Jason rolled his eyes, settling back in his seat. “What? Like romantically?”
Mathew’s lips quirked upward. “Oh, most definitely. People don’t set their alarm one hour before they have to get up just so they can catch a glimpse of a girl they’re merely curious about.”
He was right. Of course he was. Isabelle had been on his mind since that night, and not just because he’d rescued her from that piece of filth. He’d wanted to ask her out. He’d wanted to dance with her. Jason would have sold his soul to turn back time and get to her before that guy had, so she would never have been hurt in the first place.
Swallowing down the lump that formed in his throat, he stared down at the empty plate from lunch. “Yeah, I’m interested.”
“Well, then you can’t allow this secret to weigh you down. Eventually her past will come up. And you’re a big part of it.”
