Page 76 of The Press Secretary's Passion
I run up the steps and use my key, the one I took from that stupid rock when I found where she stashed it under the kitchen sink when she tried to break up with me over a stupid misunderstanding with my sister, of all people, and I unlock the front door.
There’s a note on the stone tile. The same tile I fucked her on when we didn’t know each other but were drawn to each other like magnets. And I left her there like an ass. We could have had so much more time together, and I fucked it up. I’ve made one mistake after another where Jules is concerned. I can only hope it doesn’t cost us in the end.
I pick up the note and read it. I know immediately she didn’t leave it. Rick, on the other hand, has a sorry expression on his face.
Ryan,
I’m leaving you. I’ve gone to stay in an apartment at the old Fisher’s King Warehouse. Don’t come looking for me.
-J
“It’s not what you think,” I tell him.
“Are you sure?” he asks. “Because it looks like she left you.”
“She’s pregnant,” I tell him. “We just found out yesterday and made love all night to celebrate.”
“Fuck,” he says quietly. “I had my suspicions last week.”
That’s news to me. I had wondered who she talked to about it. Actually, I didn’t think she talked to anyone at all, since she wanted to keep it quiet. I figured it was just something that girls know. Like hey, you’re pregnant.
“Besides,” I tell him. “This is her house. I still have my own across town. If we were breaking up, she would just stay here.”
“Think it’s a trap?” he asks me.
“One hundred percent.”
“Think she’s there now?” he asks.
“I don’t know,” I say as I pull my phone out of my pocket. “But I’m going to find out.”
I call up the Find My Phone app and bring up her phone. When I was worried about her security and she told me she wouldn’t go anywhere without me, I knew that was bullshit, even if she thought she was telling the truth. Jules can be a little reckless at times, and I figured this was no different. And I turned out to be right last night when I realized she went to the drugstore and almost to dinner, when she told me she would go straight home. So I made her trackable by her phone. And thank God I did.
“Yep,” I say, watching the little circle ping near the warehouse. “Looks like that’s where her phone is at least.”
“Let’s go,” Rick says to me. I jump in the passenger seat of his SUV, and we head out.
“Secret Plot to Take Down the President’s Inner Circle Uncovered”
Chapter 23
Stupid girl
Jules
Lights.
Lights are bright, and my head is pounding. My head is pounding, and my mouth feels like it’s full of cotton, and my throat is dry.
I blink my eyes against the bright lights, and it all comes back to me. Gil, my brother, the only person to ever treat me right in the house of horrors we grew up in, turned on me.
I look around. I’m sitting in a chair, my body taped to it, and I’m in a warehouse. We were supposed to be going to lunch, but we stopped here instead. I can’t believe I thought it was one of those popup things. I’m so stupid.
Actually, I can’t believe I trusted Gil. That was even worse.
“Look who’s finally joined our party,” my mother purrs. This just keeps getting better and better.
I turn my head to look at her, and stars explode across my vision. Someone punched me in the face.
