Scandal:The Complete Series(80)
“Relax. Everything’s fine. He just asked me to give you this.”
She opens her purse to take out a piece of folded paper. She hands the paper to me with a friendly smile.
“A note?” I say. “Why didn’t he just text me?”
“I’m not sure, honey. He just asked me to deliver this.”
Could his phone be bugged? Mine? Both? Maybe he’s worried about that or maybe his phone was dead at the time. I unfold the piece of paper to find a short, typed message.
Change of plans, the note says. A meeting with Bronson has been set and I need to attend, you can have your bodyguard take you back to your apartment so you can collect your things. It should be safe for now. I’ll meet you there tonight. Love, Jax.
I’m not sure what to make of this. It doesn’t seem likely Jax would let me out of his sight after all that has happened. Why should I trust Miss Parker?
She’s still smiling when I get a text alert. I check the sender fast as lightning. The text is from Jax’s phone.
“Excuse me,” I tell Elaine as I open the text.
Sorry about missing our date. I hope Elaine is there with you. Get your stuff. See you tonight. Love you.
So it’s true after all. Plans have changed. As disappointed as I am that Jax won’t be joining me for some private time, I’m also relieved to go back to my place, my own private space where I can be myself even if it’s temporary. Nothing like home sweet home even if home happens to be a cramped apartment in Studio City.
“Everything all right?” Elaine says. “I hope the note wasn’t upsetting.”
“No, not at all. It’s actually good news, sort of.”
“Well then, I’m glad to have been of assistance.”
“Sure, thank you.”
I pick up my purse, extending my hand to Elaine. She takes it absentmindedly, her gaze going blank as if she has just remembered something very important she must attend to urgently.
“What does it feel like?” she says.
“Excuse me?”
“To be so young and so in love?”
Is she for real? “Have you forgotten already?”
“Dear girl. It was a lifetime ago.”
“Can you really forget love?”
Her eyes seem to disappear into some long ago past. “No, it’s not something you forget.”
“I shouldn’t think so,” I say.
“Especially if it was only once,” she says so low it’s almost a whisper.
“It’s the same for me. Once.”
She laughs without humor. “It’s that way for some people, at least for you there’s still time.”
“There’s still time for you, too,” I say, a little ticked off at what she’s suggesting.
“I’m sorry, Ella. I didn’t mean to imply that you and Jax…”
“It’s okay, everyone else has tried to break us up. You might as well join the fun.”
“I was your age once,” she says, pensively. “I remember myself, a young woman of twenty-two, sitting in a friend’s living room, discussing my love life. I was having a largely one-sided relationship at the time, living with a very narcissistic older man. It was not healthy. It took its toll.”
I have no idea why she’s confiding in me but I can’t lie, it’s fascinating to see that side of Elaine Parker. “Did you love him more than he loved you?”
“I don’t even know if he ever loved me or could love at all.” There’s no bitterness in her voice, just stating facts. “I have often wondered what makes us gravitate toward a particular person. What is it inside us that tells us to invest time in a single stranger when there’s no proof it’s going to work?”
“We try,” I say. “What else can we do?”
She glances at the pool with melancholy. “He was ten years older. He led a dangerous life. I guess it was exciting. That must have been it.”
Oh, fuck. She’s talking about Lucius. It just dawned on me.
Her face snaps back to a professional chill. “Look at me, going on and on when you are busy. I hope everything works out for you, love.”
Okay. That was completely random. People have always told me secrets my whole life. It’s like there’s a confession sign on me or something.
I have things to do? Right. My apartment. I need to find Tanner.
—nine—
Jaxson
The guards show up shortly after I’m finally given a cup of lukewarm, turbid water. Would it be too much to ask to have some decent drinking water? I gulp it down all the same. It might be a while before Lucius allows more.
These two guards I have not seen before. They don’t look anything like Lucius’s usual lackeys with the slick suits and gelled hair. These new dudes are rough in their appearance and manners. They are not finesse players at all. I would categorize them about one evolutionary tick above cavemen.