Chloe took it and dabbed at her eyes. “No. And maybe I should’ve put two and two together right then, but I didn’t. I was just so relieved. It was like I could finally breathe again.” And she’d been happy. So happy. At least for a while.
“Things with Jackson and me moved pretty fast after that. A whirlwind relationship, I guess you’d call it. Jackson moved in with me.” They’d never even talked about it; it just kind of happened. Chloe frowned. “At first, everything was perfect, but then, things started to feel off to me. Little things. There were a couple of red flags I probably should have paid more attentionto, but I wrote them off as him being a cop and just overprotective, especially considering how we met.”
Erik cocked his head. “What kind of red flags?”
“I caught him going through my phone once.”Just keeping you safe, baby, he’d told her with that winning smile of his. “That, and he’d get upset if he texted me and I didn’t immediately text him back. He’d make a comment like,too busy talking to your other boyfriend,and he’d play it off like he was joking, but I always got the feeling he wasn’t.” There’d been a glint in his eyes that made her uncomfortable. She should have gone with her gut instead of convincing herself she was overreacting.
“The biggest red flag, though, the one that tipped the scales, was when I had a meeting with my agent.”
Chapter Nine
“What happened?”
“I called Jackson and told him I was meeting Elena at her office downtown. He liked to know where I was when he couldn’t be with me.” And she’d been foolish enough to believe it was because he was protecting her, not controlling her. “But when I got there, Elena said she was hungry, so we walked over to Blackwell’s, which was close to her office building.
“When Jackson got home from work, he had this look on his face.” An ugly sort of smirk. “And asked me how the food was at Blackwell’s.”
“He shouldn’t have known you were there.”
Chloe looked at Jayla, who had made that comment. “No. He shouldn’t have. But when I asked him how he knew, he saidItold him when I called him. But I couldn’t have. I hadn’t even known.” Taking a shaky breath, she added, “We argued about it. It got… heated.”
“Of course you told me! How else would I have known?”
“I don’t know, Jackson. You tell me.”
“Are you accusing me of following you? What? Is everyone stalking you?”
That had stung bad enough, but then he’d gone for blood.“You know, it makes me wonder sometimes.”He spread his arms expansively.“Where is this supposed stalker you had? They just kind of disappeared, which I think is pretty suspicious. Makes me wonder if they ever existed at all outside of that pretty little head of yours.”
At first, she’d been hurt, but then she’d gotten mad.“You know what? I don’t need this. Get out.”
When he’d just stood there, staring at her like she’d sprouted another head, she pointed at the door. “Leave, Jackson!”
“Where am I supposed to go? I live here!”
“I don’t care! Get out of my house!”
He reached for her, his voice all apologetic. “Chloe, baby, I’m sorry I got so upset. I just don’t know what you want me to say. I mean, you told me where you were going, and now you’re claiming that you didn’t. What am I supposed to think?”
“I didn’t tell you I was going there because I didn’t know when I called you!”
He raised his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine, you didn’t tell me.” He smiled at her like everything was all better. “Maybe I somehow got a cool superpower and the knowledge just floated into my brain.”
Jackson walked away, heading to the bedroom, so Chloe called out, “I still don’t want youhere.”
Glancing over his shoulder, he shot her the puppy dog eyes. “Please don’t kick me out. Don’t throw us away over a misunderstanding. I said I was sorry. Here…” Heading into the bedroom, he came back out a moment later with a pillow. “I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. Give you time to cool down. It’ll be better in the morning. You’ll see.”
She never should have conceded…
“The next morning, he made me breakfast and apologized again.”
“I’m so sorry, Chloe. I had a terrible day at work yesterday and was in a bad mood, but I never should’ve taken it out on you. Please say you forgive me.”
“Like an idiot, I forgave him. But the trust was gone. I started questioning everything, looking back on our relationship, and ended up seeing him differently, and not in a good way. So, while he was at work one day, I grabbed his duffel out of the closet. I was going to pack up some of his clothes and have them ready for him when I told him I needed a break to think about things and get my head on straight.
“When I opened the bag, there were already some clothes in there, but there was also a box from a jewelry store.” A familiar white box with gold-edged green script. The box was also the right size.
Hands trembling, she reached into the bag, telling herself that it was just a coincidence, but when she opened the box…
