"Man, you look like shit."
Jack ignored the comment. He just waited. But they looked at each other, neither of them speaking. Finally, he spoke.
“What is it?”
Kaylie stepped forward nervously, as if she weren't sure she should be telling him something. He stood there silently, watching her decide what to say. She swallowed and finally opened her mouth.
"It's Janet."
He said nothing, fully expecting her to tear into him for what had happened in the alley. What had almost happened.
He almost laughed. He should have just taken her up against the wall. Then maybe she'd be out of his system by now.
That was a joke. Nothing would do that. He knew that now.
God knows the booze hadn't blotted her from his mind.
She was it for him, and he’d blown it.
"I don't know if there's anything going on with the two of you, or if you care about her but…"
He looked at Dev over her shoulder to see if his friend was mad at him. How was he supposed to explain this fiasco to him? To anyone?
He had taken the sweetest, fieriest, most beautiful girl in the world, and made her hate him. And he didn’t blame her one bit.
"There isn't."
Kaylie stared at him.
"There isn't anything going on."
"Okay. I just thought maybe you wanted to help her. After what happened at the mall. Even if there isn’t… I know she likes you Jack."
He blinked. They weren’t yelling at him.
And she said Janet liked him, She did, did she? He felt a tiny flicker of something foreign.
Hope. It was hope.
So she still liked him. She must be insane. But he didn’t care. He’d take her, if she was still willing.
No holding back this time.
“Where is she?”
He stared at Kaylie with one eyebrow raised. Even that movement was painful in his recently inebriated state. Didn’t matter.
He wanted to go get Janet. Now. But instead of telling him where to find her, Kaylie let out a deep breath.
"I'm scared for her."
"What?"
He was prepared for her to tell him that Janet had gotten herself into trouble. Fine. He'd help her.
He was prepared for her to tell him that Janet was angry at him and wouldn't come to the clubhouse. Even better. He’d beg her forgiveness.
He was not prepared for what Kaylie said next.
Not at all.
"Her parents found out she's been hanging around the clubhouse. They-"
"They what?"
"They locked her in her room with no food or water. It's been three days at least- maybe four and- ”
"WHAT?"
"She hasn't had any food or water in days. I don't even know if they care if she lives or dies at this point. I was going to call the police but Dev said-"
He closed his eyes and felt the deepest rage he'd ever felt in his life. His sweet girl, punished for hanging around him.
He roared. There was no other word for the sound that came out of his mouth.
Then he climbed onto his bike, and rode.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Janet
“I’m here about the opening?”
The woman looked Janet over, an odd gleam in her eye. The place was clean enough looking, if not the swanky spa she’d been expecting. And it was the last place on her list.
She needed a job, and this was her last hope.
Even if giving massages was not physical therapy, it was related, right?
Janet looked around while the woman fished out some paperwork. She had thought this was a beauty spa, but the only people who had walked out so far were men.
Weird.
“Address?”
“Uh… I’m sort of between permanent addresses.”
The woman smiled wider.
“Emergency contact?”
Janet’s stomach twisted. If you asked her a few days ago she would have said Kaylie. Or even Jack. But it was time for Janet to stand on her own two feet.
And Jack wasn’t even a friend anymore. That ship had sailed.
She was alone and she was just going to have to get used to it.
“I don’t have one.”
“I see. Let me get you a glass of water while you finish filling this out.”
Janet sat in the uncomfortable looking plastic chairs. She shifted in her seat. It was ironic to have uncomfortable chairs in the waiting room for a massage place.
Anyone would need a rub down after waiting in this place.
She took the glass of water from the woman, taking a dainty sip. She picked up the pen and filled in her name and phone number, even though she didn’t have a phone anymore.
Her parents had made sure of that.
She rubbed her eyes, noticing the strong disinfectant smell all of a sudden. She stared at the paper but all the words were blurry. She took another sip of water and tried to stand.
“Are you alright miss?”
“I’m-”
She stumbled and sat back down again.