Hardcore Volume 3 (9 page)

I won’t ever forget you. Not as long as I live.

-Cory

MY PHONE RANG EARLY a few days later, ripping me from sleep. I reached for it, squinting at the screen. Icy cold shock woke me up completely when I saw it was Jade’s lawyer.

“Fuck.”

Erin shifted next to me as I sat, brushing my hair back from my face. I hit accept.

“Hello?”

“Miss James?”

“This is.”

“This is Dan Tostino, Jade Harris’ lawyer. We spoke last week?”

Anxiety twisted through me. “What can I do for you?”

“Miss Harris has asked to see you. There have been some developments in the case, and I think you’ll want to hear what she has to say.”

I didn’t know if he was trying to scare me or if there was a legitimate reason for concern. “What’s it in regards to?”

“That’s something you’ll need to discuss with her, Miss James, though I will say that it concerns your future. Visiting hours are until five today. Can I tell her to expect you?”

Curiosity battled with my wariness. I wanted to know what Jade wanted, what was happening to her, but I didn’t want to see her. Who knew what she was going to say, and someone would be listening. I’d have to be on point. There was no way around meeting with her. She wouldn’t give up, and I didn’t want to risk any more fallout.
 

“I’ll be there.”

“Thank you, Miss James. I’ll let Miss Harris know.”

I hung up and laid my phone in my lap, just sat there staring at the blank screen.
 

“Who was that?” Erin asked.

“Jade’s lawyer. She wants to see me.”

She propped herself up with disbelief on her face. “What the fuck could she want?”

I ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t know.”

“Jesus Christ. How is it possible that she’s still harassing you from behind bars?” She shook her head. “Can you bullshit your way through whatever she’s got planned?”

“I hope so. Because otherwise, we could all be fucked.”

A few hours later, I found myself walking into the county jail and up to the desk to sign in with sweating palms. I sat in an uncomfortable chair until they called my name, followed an officer through the locked door and down a hallway, trying not to panic as I passed through barred gates. I could have been on the other side of them, if things had been different. It was an irony not lost on me as I stepped into the meeting room.
 

Jade sat on the other side of the plexiglass looking worn, hair drab under the harsh lights, skin dull against the orange jumpsuit she wore. Emotions passed across her face like a shadow. Relief. Anger. Frustration. Desperation. I took a seat in the plastic chair and picked up the phone hanging on the wall of the booth.

She did the same. “Aren’t you looking chipper.”

Same Jade.
“What do you want?”

Her façade cracked, eyes sparking with fear. “They’re going to send me to prison unless I can prove that it was all Jace’s idea. I need your help. It
was
all his idea, all of it. He convinced me to do it. He made me do it, and I need your help to prove it. You were there.”

I took a breath. “You have got to be fucking kidding me, Jade. This is the ‘important development’ that involves my future?” I shook my head at her, numb shock creeping up my spine. “Jace couldn’t coerce anyone to do anything. He’s about as menacing as a fucking bunny rabbit.” I gaped at her for a split second. “I can’t believe you’d sell him out. You actually look like you’ve convinced yourself that it’s true.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice trembled as she pleaded with me through the glass, through the telephone line. “You’re the only one who can help me. I know …” She swallowed, trying to hang on to composure. “I know I don’t deserve it after what I’ve done.”

My voice was hard and cold as stone. “No, you don’t. I don’t know what makes you think I would ever help you.”

“We were friends, once.” Jade begged me, her eyes wide and wet. “I used to love you like you were my own sister.”

I gripped the plastic phone tighter. “Don’t you dare compare me to a sister.”

“Cory, I’m scared.” The words where a whisper.
 

I almost felt sorry for her, looking through the glass. She looked small, young, like she did when we first met. I saw the girl I knew, the girl who had once been my friend. But that girl was gone.

“You can’t come back from what you’ve done. You only care about yourself, Jade. I really believed somehow that you were better than this, that you could be more, but I was wrong. You steal more than property — you steal souls, and I’m not going to play anymore. You’re on your own.”

Her eyes were huge, full of shock and rage as they tracked my hand as it hung the receiver back on its cradle.
 

“Pick up the phone, Cory.” The words were muffled behind the plexiglass, urgent. “Pick it up, goddammit.”

I stood.
 

Her face wrenched in fury. “You fucking bitch. I’ve done everything for you.
Everything,
” she screamed and stood, leaning on the glass with the phone still in her hand.

I turned.

“Get back here, you cunt. Get back here, or I’ll fucking kill you.” She slammed the phone against the glass. “Let go of me. Let go!” A chair scraped on the other side of the wall, but I wouldn’t look back.
 

I walked up to the officer next to the door who nodded at me when I passed. The door closed behind me with a final click.
 

I sat in the quiet loft as dusk fell. It had been hours since I’d gotten back from seeing Jade, hours of sitting in the silence, thinking about everything and nothing, grateful everyone was gone. I needed the solitude.

The loft door groaned as it opened, and Erin walked in with her bike on her shoulder. She flipped on the kitchen light as she closed the door.
 

“Why are you sitting in the dark? What happened with Jade?” She set her bike down and made her way over to sit next to me, dropping her backpack and pulling off her gloves on the way.

“You were right. She sold Jace out. She wanted my help to pin him for everything.”

Erin sank into the couch and stared off into space. “Wow.”

“Yup.”

“Why is it that you always hope that people will change? That they’ll learn, even when they fuck up over and over again?”

“Because it’s depressing to think that someone could be so fucking stupid. Especially someone who you cared about. But some people just can’t be better. They’re too selfish, too self-centered. Jade wants everything and gives nothing. I might have been tempted to help her, if she had changed. But she’ll never change.”

Neither one of us moved, just kept staring at nothing, our minds too preoccupied to focus.
 

“Do you think she’ll find a way to get out of it?”

I stared at my feet propped on the coffee table. “Nope. No way will she be able to convince anyone that Jace somehow coerced her into laundering money for five years.”

“Do you think it’s over?”

“If she’s selling Jace down the river, then she’s exhausted all of her options. I don’t think she’s going to bring us into it.”

We sat in silence for a moment. In the moment of endings and beginnings, of contemplation, I was reminded of Van, of the letter. Erin still didn’t know. But I was ready to tell her.
 

“I have a confession,” I said.

“Oh?”

“I wrote Van a letter a few days ago.”

She shifted to face me, eyes big. “Did you send it to him?”

“I didn’t write it for him. I just had to get it out, you know? But you know how Chase came to the coffee shop?”

Erin nodded.
 

“Hearing him talk about Van … I don’t know. I had to get rid of it. I had to give it to him, so I left it as his gallery.”

“What the fuck, Cory? How did you not tell me this?”

I shrugged and sank a little deeper into the couch. “I didn’t want to talk about it.”

“What did the letter say?”

“I just told him everything I didn’t say to him that night. I guess deep down I hoped it would change his mind, even though I didn’t expect it to. I just kept hoping. But I haven’t heard from him.”

“Well, what if he didn’t get it? What if it’s lost?”

I gave her a look. “I left it on his desk in the gallery. I’m sure he got it, Erin.”

She frowned. “I thought he’d be less … stern than that. I honestly thought that if he knew you were under duress, he’d forgive you.”

“That’s not why I told him.”

“I know, but still. Maybe he’ll come around.”

I didn’t meet her eyes. “Maybe. But it’s done. I wrote it all down and let it go. It’s over for good.” I sighed. “Look at all of the good that came out of it. We got out from under Jade. Jilly knows the truth. We’re all going straight.”

“Do you really feel that way?”

“I really do. I enrolled in NYU today.”

She popped off the couch, grinning. “Oh my God! Seriously?”

I smiled at her. “Seriously. If I can survive everything that’s happened, I can do this. I’m dusting my ass off and moving on.”

Erin bounced on the couch and hugged me, squeezed me around the neck and kissed my cheek. “You are amazing, and I’m so proud of you.”

I hugged her back and closed my eyes, thankful for her faith in me. It gave me courage.

She pulled back and looked me over. “A degree. So fucking grown up.”

“And eventually, a legit job. Probably in a cubicle.”

She snorted. “At least we’ve always got running. Those highs won’t bring us down.”

“Never.” And we sat on the couch, reveling in the feeling I thought I’d lost for good.

Hope.

THE DAY WAS GRAY and bleak as I trudged up the stairs with frozen fingers and toes, bike on my shoulder, wanting nothing more in the entire world than a hot shower. Three days had drifted by, bringing colder weather and a warmer heart, filled with action and motion to keep me moving forward. I’d picked up my books for school and threw myself into work, picking up extra shifts to stay busy and stockpile as much cash as I could, no matter how big or small. It felt good. But as I climbed that last flight of stairs that evening, I just felt tired. My toes were numb in my boots as I dug in my pocket for my keys.
 

My fingers closed around them, and when I looked up, I stopped dead.

A big black-and-white photo of a nearby building was stuck to my front door. It was one I recognized, even though the angle of the photo wouldn’t have been enough for most people to guess where it was. It was shot top down, high enough that you’d have to be on the next building over to get the shot.

Van.

I willed my feet to move, and they carried me to the door. An ‘x’ was marked in black marker on the photo. I plucked it off the door. He meant for me to go there. I stared at it for a long moment, closed my eyes, opened them, and found the glossy paper still there between my thumb and index finger.
 

I bolted into action. Opened my door with my fingers trembling so bad that I barely got the key in the lock. Dropped my bike inside and spun out of the building.
 

The cold was forgotten as I bounded out of the building and ran the blocks toward the rooftop where he meant for me to go. I climbed until I hit the spot and found another photo taped to the wall of the roof, marked with another ‘x.’ I smiled as I pulled it off the wall and took off again, pulse thumping. I ran from building to building, spanning the blocks into Midtown with each clue carrying me closer to him. My thoughts exploded like fireworks in my brain with every step I took.
He set this up for me.
Boom.
Does he want me back?
Hiss.
What if he’s not there?
Crack.
What if he
is
there?
Bang.

My heart pounded as I climbed onto Logan Tower, and the rain began to fall as the grey sky let go. I paused with my fingers hooked on the ledge for a long moment, working up the nerve to face whatever was on the other side. I imagined him standing there, waiting for me, and my heart sang. I imagined the rooftop empty and my stomach lurched.