The Exception (37 page)

I felt like a complete fucking ass.

“Can I hold you? Please?”

She snorted. “I have to finish packing. I need to leave for the airport in an hour.” She looked down at herself. “And I need to get cleaned up. I’m a mess.”

“You are just overwhelmed. Everything will be okay, baby. Let us find Simon and you can come back.”

Her bottom lip quivered and a sick feeling took over my stomach. “What are you thinking?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

“Nothing,” she said, looking away.

“You are lying to me.”

“You can spot one of your own kind.”

“Jada. Don’t go there.”

“Why, Cane? You don’t like being put on the spot? You don’t like it when I call you out on lying to me for weeks now? Even when my life might have been at stake? Or the fact that I walk in today and see Ashley in your office? You don’t want that open for discussion?”

I tried to stay calm, to stay in control of my body, but it was spinning out of control too quickly. “Damn it, Jada! It’s not like that!”

She leaned forward, her eyes angrier than I had ever seen them. “Here’s what it’s like, Cane. The fact that I’ve been feeling you pull away and scared to fucking death that it was going to end like it did with Decker. But you convinced me otherwise and I believed you. And now I have to go out of town because someone may want to kill me, yet I have to leave you here when he might be trying to kill you, too! How am I supposed to manage that, Cane? How am I supposed to live while worrying that something is going to happen to you?!”

She took in a rush of breath and her body shook.

“And then I come in there today to see Ashley sitting there.” Her eyes narrowed as she spat her name out like a poison. “Once again, I thought my life was headed in the right direction and I feel … I feel like everything has been thrown into a mixer and shaken beyond recognition!”

Tears flowed down her cheeks again and I couldn’t stop myself. I bounded across the floor and wrapped my arms around her. She pounded her fists into my chest as I held her tight, before giving in and wrapping them around my back as she poured herself into me.

“I’m so sorry, beautiful girl. So, so sorry,” I apologized, kissing her head. Tears began to prick my eyes. “This will be over soon and you can come home. We can pick back up where we left off.”

She sniffled as she pulled away, keeping her eyes on the floor. “I don’t want to pick up from here.”

My body stilled, my blood running cold. “For fuck’s sake! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just tired, Cane.” She shook her head. “I need to get packed, okay?”

“I will be there to get you. I promise you.” I tilted her head to look in my eyes. “I love you.”

Her eyes clouded again as she tried to look away.

“I love you,” I repeated. “You are my world. My happiness. My exception.”

Her lip shook as a smile made its way across those beautiful lips. “I love you.”

She pulled from my grip and I let her chin drop.

“You won’t go with me?” Her voice was so soft, I almost didn’t hear it.

“I can’t, Jada,” I whispered, my voice cracking.

She nodded, but I could see that the anger she had when I first arrived was making a comeback.

My chest felt heavy as I considered walking out of this room. She was clearly irate at me. I just hoped like hell it would dissipate as she cooled down.

“You are leaving Arizona because I asked you to, right? And not because you want to get away from me?”

She refused to look at me as she muttered, “Yeah.”

I grabbed either side of her head and pressed my lips firmly to hers. I rested my forehead against hers, not wanting to let her go, but knowing I had to.

“You are mine. Whether you are here or in Chicago—you are mine.”

She stayed silent as I turned and walked out of her room, leaving my heart, my happiness … my whole fucking world in her hands.

Max was standing by the front door when I made my way down the steps, looking as wary as I felt.

“How’d that go?” he asked. A pained look was on his face.

“You’re going to have your hands full. That’s all I’m saying.”

Max tilted his head. “Does she even know I’m tagging along?”

I shook my head, waiting for his reaction.

He snorted in disbelief. “You fucking owe me, man.”

“When do I not, Max?”

We eyed each other, a million words exchanged and not one spoken.

“How mad is she?”

“Madder than I would like. But at least it will encourage her to stay away from here until I can get this shit sorted. My biggest fear was that she would just show back up, but I think she’s pissed enough to stay away until I can come get her. Although she didn’t mean to, Ashley just may have done me a favor.”

“Do you think you should try to smooth things over before you go? I mean, she was going to move to Chicago at one point, man. I’m just saying,” Max pointed out.

“I would rather have her in Chicago and alive than here, with me, and in danger.” I shook my head, crazy ass thoughts flying through my mind, making me feel sick. “I can’t have anything happen to her, Max. This is a risk I have to take.” I paused. “I love her.”

Max raised his eyebrows, a grin sneaking across his face. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Yeah. Well …”

“I know you have your plate full right now, but don’t forget about the delivery in the morning for AH. I’ve asked Howard to go over there and coordinate the subcontractors until he hears from me, but you or I have to sign the delivery ticket tomorrow.”

“Thanks. I give you shit all the time, but I appreciate your help. You’re the only person in this world I can count on.” I clapped him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, I know.” He smirked. “But honestly, keep your head up, Alexander. I have Jada taken care of, but you take care of you. There’d be a few people that would miss you if something happened to you. And I’d be pissed as hell to have to finish these projects myself.”

I chuckled, shaking my head at my best friend. “Fuck you, Max.”

He nodded. “Fuck you, too.”

JADA

My luggage made a thumping sound as it hit each stair on the way down. I probably could have picked the bag up and carried it, but it seemed like more effort than it was worth.

“What are you doing?” Max grabbed the bag from me and threw it over his shoulder. “This is going to be a long trip if you don’t start acting like you got some sense.”

I rolled my eyes. “You are taking me to the airport. It’s a thirty minute trip. You will survive.”

“I’m ready!” Kari’s voice called out from behind me at the top of the stairs. “Come get this thing, Max! It’s heavy!”

Confused, I turned around. “What’s going on? Where are you going?”

Kari flashed me a huge grin. “We, my dear sister, are going to Chicago!”

I glared at Max. “Care to explain?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of me.

“Simmer down. I owed her a vacation anyway, so why not Chicago?”

“Yeah! Don’t try to talk him out of this!” Kari pouted from behind me.

I blew a piece of my hair out of my face. “This is ridiculous, Max. Utterly ridiculous.”

He leaned in close, winking. “This is ridiculous, I agree. Cane should have killed Simon the night he grabbed you and this would have been over. But, alas, he didn’t and here we are.” He leaned back again and gave me a look. “The tickets are bought and we are going. You may as well suck it up and smile.”

I glared harder.

Max shrugged. “Or not.”

He took the stairs two at a time, grabbed Kari’s bags, and passed me on his way back down. “Let’s get it, girls.”

“Now, Max,” my father said, shaking his hand. “You do understand you have my entire world in your care. I should warn you that while I may appear to be an old man, I can still come after you.”

Max laughed. “Mr. Stanley, I promise you I will keep them safe. That’s why I am going … no matter how much Jada objects.”

Dad looked at me and then back at Max. “I think I like you.”

“We really need to board,” Kari said and I elbowed her in the side, flashing a look to silence her.

“This is kind of sweet. Let them have their moment!”

“Kari,” Dad said, nodding his head back and forth. “Behave.”

“I will, as always.” She kissed him on the cheek and joined Max in line. “Goodbye, Papa.”

“My Jada,” Dad said, eyeing me curiously. “I know something’s going on with you. But I won’t push. Just be safe and check in every now and then. And although you haven’t worked long enough to ensure I have to hire you back when you return, the odds are in your favor.”

I watched him and he winced, placing his hand on his chest.

“Daddy? Are you okay?”

“Of course,” he said, looking a little uncomfortable. “My breakfast just isn’t settling the right way. And I hate seeing you go.”

I hugged him once more before joining Kari and Max in the boarding line. I hated leaving him, but hopefully it would just be for a few days.

We boarded quickly and I got comfortable in my seat. As I watched Max and Kari across the aisle, I smiled.

“You okay, Jada?” Kari asked across the aisle.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“I know that’s a lie, but I’m going to take it as a good sign that you care enough to lie,” Kari smiled.

“You can take that for whatever you want to.” I leaned back against my chair, getting situated so I didn’t bother the old lady on my right.

“Chicago seems like a fun place,” Kari said thoughtfully. “We will just think of this like a mini vacation.”

“I suppose so.” I sighed sadly, knowing this was not going to be a vacation of any sort. “You know, Chicago is where I wanted to be originally after my divorce. It’s kind of bizarre that I’m ending up there now, don’t you think?” I paused, thinking about what I had just said. “There’s that saying, ‘For every door that closes, another opens.’ Mom used to say that. Do you remember?”

Kari nodded.

“I feel like a door in my life may be closing. I’ve worried about it for a while, but sitting here on this plane, heading for Illinois, it just seems very … real.” I closed my eyes for a second, absorbing the words I had just spoken.

“I’m grateful for this door opening, Kari. I have options and a lot of people don’t. But I just really liked the door that closed, you know?”

“Yeah,” Kari said, looking at me warily. “I’m really not liking how you’re talking right now.”

I shrugged sadly. “I can’t be afraid to lose something that may not be meant to be.”

“I’m calling bullshit on that.” Kari reached over the walkway and grabbed my hand. “For the record, although I’d like to chop his balls off right now, I don’t think necessarily that any door is closed right now. Just leave that one cracked a little, okay?”

My heart clinched.

I loved Cane. There was zero doubt about that. But with everything that happened, I wasn’t sure that I could trust him. He didn’t tell me about Simon and he was pulling away before any of that started. Well, before I thought it had started. He had lied so much about that, I wasn’t even sure when it began. And then Ashley was in his office.

Had she been calling him? Did she have something to do with his retraction from me? Or was his pulling away really about the Simon thing and work, like he said? Was I in the beginning stages of the same thing I was in with Decker?

I began to feel overwhelmed and a bit claustrophobic as the last people boarding the plane took their seats.

I had a vision of Cane running on to the plane and asking me to stay and as the doors began to close, I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I was leaving him behind in harm’s way.

My chest began to squeeze and I forced air in and out of my lungs.

In. Out. In. Out.

He has to be okay. He just has to be.

I blew out a breath hastily, shaking my head. I needed to stay calm. Panicking wasn’t going to help anything, but it was easier said than done.

The loudspeaker buzzed and the flight attendant went through the rules and safety regulations and I was reminded that I hadn’t turned off my phone. I rummaged through my carry-on until I found it at the bottom and touched the screen to turn it off.

The screen lit as it unlocked and I saw a message staring back at me.