Openmouthed, wide-eyed, Jackie asked lightly, “Bad news?”
“That was Bones. I’m supposed to meet the inner circle at the club and then head out to Kirkland Island tonight. I told him I couldn’t make it, but it’s something I’ve been waiting for a long time. Something that could bring down Hades for good.”
Kneeling in front of him, Jackie gently stroked a hand over his bowed head. “Look at me.”
He lifted his head and his stomach clenched when he saw the guilt on her face.
“You go do what you have to do,” Jackie said quietly. “She’s safe.”
James froze, his breath leaving him in a rush. “Where is she?”
“She doesn’t want you to know. She thinks it’s better that way. Safer for you.”
He cursed softly. “She’s trying to protect me?”
Tears glistened in Jackie’s eyes, and she squeezed his hand. “She has to leave and she doesn’t know when she’ll be back, if ever. She said you would understand that sometimes it’s easier to just disappear than say goodbye.”
Bile rose up the back of his throat. Nothing could have cut him more deeply. His actions coming back to haunt him. Pressing his fist to his chest to stem the ache in his heart, he forced himself to be calm.
“He’s here, isn’t he? Her old boyfriend. Levi.”
Bottom lip quivering, she said, “To be honest, I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me, for the same reason she won’t tell you. Maybe it is him. Or maybe it’s like you said and what happened at the club triggered some bad memory.” Her voice cracked and tears spilled down her cheeks. “Whatever the reason, she’s not sticking around. She’s done with Vancouver. With us. Unless…you want to go after her? You, of all people, would be able to track her down.”
Her words hit him like a punch in the gut and his throat tightened. He’d failed. In the end, he hadn’t been able to mend the rift between them. She still didn’t trust him. Leaving her two years ago had been the biggest mistake of his life.
Voice thick with regret, he shook his head. “I won’t go after her, Jackie. She doesn’t want me. She knew I would have protected her and she chose to run instead. And if I did something wrong, she didn’t trust me enough to tell me. If she needed my help, she didn’t feel she could ask.”
Jackie gave him a warm hug and a sad smile. “Well then, you might as well go finish your assignment, J. Take Rex down. I know in my heart he has something to do with this. She had no problems with anyone until the day he grabbed her in that club. Make him pay.”
He rose from the chair and threw Lana’s car keys on the table. “And then what?”
“Then I guess you’re back to where you started.”
“Is he gone?”
“Yeah, he’s gone.” Jackie leaned out the window and helped Lana off the fire escape. “It went even worse than I expected. In fact, I have to say that was the most gut-wrenching conversation I have ever had in my life, and I’ve had a few. To put it bluntly, he was sick with worry and beyond despair, and he walked outta here a desolate man.”
A dark tide of emotion swept through Lana, sending waves of nausea roiling through her stomach. The last thing she had wanted to do was hurt James.
“Are you still going to leave?” Jackie’s bottom lip quivered, and for the first time Lana realized she was hurting her friend too.
“Levi is here. I heard him when I was at the club. He was with Rex. At first I thought maybe I was imagining it, but then I saw his hand and he was wearing the club ring. He’ll be looking for me. I don’t have a choice.” She grabbed an empty shopping bag from a pile on the floor and headed into the kitchen.
“There has to be another way,” Jackie whined. “What will I do without you? Who’s going to be my wingman on surveillance missions? Who’s going to dance with me on the tables in the bars? Who’s going to feed me sympathy and Oreos when my relationships sour? Who’s going to stop me from manhandling Derek? Who’s going to look after me?”
Tears welled in Lana’s eyes and she wiped them away with her sleeve. “You don’t know what they did to the people who tried to help me. The guy who helped me escape had to leave the state, dye his hair and change his name. I’m not dragging anyone into this. Not you. Not James. You don’t need me. The past is so far behind you it’s ancient. You’ll be fine.” She opened a cupboard and peered inside. “Okay if I take some snacks for the road?”