“What for?” He looks confused because the request is vague at best.
“I’m not going to be coming around for a bit and I’m not sure when I’ll be back. If you see any weird activity around her, I need you to message me.”
“Um…okay. Sure. But you know this sounds weird, right?”
I don’t dignify him with a response. “I’ll send you a message, so you have my number. Thanks, man.” I give him a strong pat on the shoulder and walk away.
“How did you get my number?” I hear him yell as I get further down the sidewalk.
I throw him a flippant wave in the air and leave it at that.
The kid is smart. And observant. I taught him how to stalk people online for Jordan’s business, so I know he knows I have a means of getting what I want.
I just hope for all of our sakes that whatever is going on, stays far away from Daybreak.
When I make it to my house, as soon as the front door shuts behind me, I make a phone call to Miller.
“Lucas?”
“I have something you’re going to want to see,” I say as soon as the line picks up.
“I just saw you yesterday afternoon. What do you have now?”
“Not over the phone,” I tell him. “We need to meet up in person.”
“Yeah, okay. Give me an hour and let's meet at our normal spot.”
I don’t give him a response and hang up the phone. There’s so much information to unpack between yesterday and today. Both Conner’s and Jordan’s stories bring a whole new element to this case that no one could have predicted.
I’m fairly certain Conner’s statement alone could bring Emmett and José down, but there’s more at play here with the photos that Jordan took.
I hate that she put herself in the position she did by taking the photos, but damn…she’s good. Really good. If I wasn’t so worried about her safety, I would be damn proud of her.
The plan I have in place for Jordan’s safety is shoddy at best but it’s better than nothing. Even though we won’t be seeing each other personally, I’ll still be keeping an eye on her from afar. After Jordan fell back asleep last night, I put a tracking app on her phone. She still hasn’t made it password-protected, and it was easy enough to get into it and do what I needed to do. It left me feeling a smidge better about this whole situation.
Between that, Kyle watching her surroundings, and me planning on staking out her place whenever I can, she should be covered.
I have no idea how much longer this job is going to take, but part of me doesn’t want it to end. Because that means I have to return to Los Angeles. I have no idea how I’m going to make it work, but there’s no way I’m letting go of Jordan.
I’ll just have to convince her of that after the job is done.
Chapter 23
Jordan
The week has gone by surprisingly fast. Although, my hectic schedule may have something to do with it. I took a few extra photography clients during the week to keep myself busy and my mind off Lucas, and it’s definitely paid off.
After he left my apartment on Sunday, I think the adrenaline of everything wore off because I felt mentally exhausted.
Now that I’ve had time to dwell on everything that happened, I feel like things are even more of a mess than before. Like straight out of a B-grade action movie.
Part of me feels like a fool for letting Lucas into my life. His lying skills are good, and if I never stepped foot in his house, I probably would have never been suspicious of him at all.
It makes sense now that I know he’s an undercover cop though, and it’s reassuring that my gut was right.
I never got to ask him about his life though. Not that he would tell me anyway. He’s on a job, I get that. But there’s so much left to be desired. I want to know what was real and what was fake when we talked about our lives. I want to know if any of it was real, period. I don’t even know where he lives, what car hedrives, or if he has any animals. The last one I doubt with his job and all, but still. I should have at least asked him if Lucas was his real name. It suits him, but I have no fucking idea.
I feel so out of my element, and I can’t talk to anyone about it. The only solace has been that I’ve been busy between the coffee shop and my photography.
