Thankfully Jack and I have only about ten minutes to shove down our food before we’re back on the floor, handling patrons. Otherwise I don’t know how I would possibly manage to keep him from figuring out there is mania going on inside my head.
I check my phone for updates from my father, Jess, and, most importantly right now, Adam. The later it gets, the closer to happy hour, the more I wonder if I should just go with Akia, stay by his side, act like a clumsy, stupid girl with a crush. Anything to keep him close.
I don’t have to like him to want him to live.
I’ve decided that’s exactly what I’ll do when Jack finds me in the office, packing up for the evening. “Kara’s not just sick. She’s in the hospital.”
“I heard she was out for perhaps the rest of the week. Are you sure? How do you know?”
“Akia,” he replies with obvious reluctance. “I went downstairs to check on her. He told me. I’m going to call and see if I can get an update on her.” He grabs his phone, and I claim the chair next to his desk.
A few minutes later he disconnects from the nurse’s station. “They aren’t going to talk to me. You want to go by the hospital and see if we can find out anything?”
How am I supposed to say, sorry, no, I have to go to happy hour with Akia?
Happy hour,I tell myself,is safe. And the more I think about it, the worse I think it is that I be near Akia. Adam wanted me to watch Kevin die. That could be his thing. If I am with Akia, and maybe he expects that’s exactly where I’ll be, trying to protect him, Akia may well be in worse danger.
“Yes,” I say. “I’m in. Let’s go check on her.”
Jack scoops up his bag and we head out together.
Akia is on his own, but it’s my gamble to keep him alive.
I tell myself he’s safer without me.
Chapter Seventy-Six
Kara isn’t at the hospital at all, nor is she answering her phone.
“Why would Akia lie about such a thing?” Jack asks me as we exit the hospital a few blocks from my loft, then quickly adds, “I’ll walk you home.”
Just that easily, all my time spent avoiding Jack is null and void. I can no longer run, and it’s a feeling that is broader than just our stroll down the sidewalk. It’s a windy night, chilly but not cold, the sound of music as a party bus loudly passes reminding me that Akia is at happy hour. Akia is a target. And Adam still has not contacted me.
“I agree,” I reply. “Obviously, Akia lied. I don’t pretend to be in that man’s head, but ... I did tell him I needed to check with her before I trained him. Let that lead your thoughts where it might.”
“He used me to make you feel that wasn’t possible,” he assumes.
“Maybe,” I say. “I really don’t know. Like I said, I don’t pretend to know what is going on in that man’s head.”
“Nothing that goes on inside ours,” he assures me. “You want to get a pizza? I promised Jess I’d do the dating profile tonight. You can help me.”
It’s weird to me that he hasn’t told me he has a dating profile he paused, but maybe that’s his plan tonight. The problem is, What happens if Adam calls? Or sees Jack at my loft and has a problem with it?And how do I hide the killer I’ve become from Jack in such an intimate environment?
By finding a dark place that isn’t my loft to substitute, I decide. “How about Mexican instead? That little taco joint we love? We can order a drink for your dating-profile courage.”
“Sure,” he says, patting his briefcase. “I have my computer with me, and you know I love that place.”
“That place.” I laugh. “We never remember the name.”
“No, we do not,” he agrees, chuckling with me.
A few minutes later Jack and I are in a dark corner joint with cantina music playing, and we both have salted Mexican martinis in front of us. “I have a confession,” Jack announces, salting the chips.
This, I decide, is when he tells me about his dating profile. “I hope it’s scandalous.”
“It’s not,” he replies. “I signed up for a couple dating apps a few months back. I know, I know, I’m pathetic. I chatted with a few people, went on two miserable dates, and decided I just didn’t have the energy. I’m going to give Jess the rundown on those dates and chats, and call it done.”
I’m surprised that he did this without inviting me to join him or at least dishing on the activity, but maybe he felt I was bad luck. And he still didn’t tell me about being on the one Jess suggested and then deleting it the minute I joined as well, but I decide to just let it go. There’re much bigger problems to worry about right now.
