The Exception(94)

My tires squealed as I flew into my parking spot, the nose of my Denali kissing my parking sign. I cut the engine.

Now that I was there, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. There was no handbook to follow on what to do when assholes fuck with your life.

“What does that mean? I mean, what does that mean to me? What does that mean to Jada?”

“I’m not sure. He could be lying low. He could be planning something. He could be in Mexico for all we know. But Simon is a character of habit and this is out of habit for him, so I’m a little concerned.”

I rested my head on the steering wheel. It felt like there was a minefield in my mind, little surprise explosions going off left and right. “What do we do?”

“I have gotten ahold of my contacts at the police department. They have reason to believe a large shipment of drugs will be flowing through the Valley soon and they’re watching Simon, too. They want any information we have on him to add to their files, so I’ll give them a call about this. Maybe we can get a restraining order for you and Jada, although it would be pointless, I think. He’s going to do whatever he is going to do.”

“Fantastic. That does shit for Jada right now.”

Nick sighed reluctantly. “I would suggest you see if she can go out of town for a few days. We have security on her, yes. But if what you are saying is true and if he isn’t making it up, then the farther away she is while we sort this out, I say the better.”

“I’ll try. She’s stubborn.” That was typically an endearing quality, but I knew it was going to be the death of me.

Maybe literally.

I slammed my palm against the steering wheel again, making the green air freshener hanging on my rearview mirror shake and spin.

“I see how the two of you are a good fit then.”

I shook my head. “What are our other options?”

“We don’t have any. Did he block his number when he called?”

“Of course.”

“We have every eye we have trying to find him, as well as the law enforcement. A lot of what I’m getting out of them is insinuations; they can’t really come out and say anything. But it seems that they think he’s involved with this drug movement. Let’s hope they find him and can wrap him up in something and get him off the streets.”

“Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“Find him.”



I had ignored Jada’s five calls as I drove back to her house.

This day went to hell in a hurry.

She’s going to be pissed that I didn’t tell her all of this before.

A sick feeling had taken over my stomach.

I should never have pursued her, wrapped something as perfect as Jada up in my fucked up world. I knew better and I have to take responsibility for this. This epic fuckup is my fault.

I pulled up to Kari’s house, thinking that I should be pulling up to move Jada’s shit out of it and into mine. Instead, I was going in to probably make her never want to talk to me again.

Par for the fucking course.

I parked the Denali, got out, and made my way to the door, a sense of foreboding hanging over my head like a storm cloud. I rang the bell and waited.

“Who is it?” Her sweet voice sounded through the door.

“It’s me, baby.”

The door flew open. She stood there in a pair of grey shorts and a cute little pink shirt. She looked gorgeous, as always. I wanted to scoop her up and take her away somewhere far away.

“Hey,” she said, her eyebrows furrowed. “What are you doing back here?”

She stepped to the side as I walked in.

“I need to talk to you.” My voice was rougher than I would have liked, but this wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have.

“Okay.” She closed the door behind me and followed me in the kitchen, her steps hesitant.

“Is Max here? Kari?” I asked, looking around.

She shook her head, her ponytail bouncing. “Nope. Just me. What’s going on? I’ve been trying to call you.”

“I know. I didn’t want to discuss this over the phone.” I sat down at the table and motioned for her to join me. She pulled out a chair slowly and sank into it, her eyes never leaving me.

“What’s going on?” she repeated.

I blew out a breath and caught her up on the events related to Simon.

“Cane,” she said, her eyes wide in horror as a realization of what I was getting at hit her full force. “The day I wore the shirt … first of all, I never wear that shirt. Kari despises it. I’ve had it forever. That day when we went for a walk, I felt like someone was watching me.”

My stomach lurched, bile hitting my esophagus.

That motherfucker was watching her!