Well, she was going to need to make a plan.
Right after that shower.
19
“Why did you do it?” Jared asked as North walked into the office.
North tilted his head to the side, but he knew he wasn’t fooling Jared who kept glaring at him.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Jared growled. “Why did you kidnap her? Was it to test me?”
That wasn’t what he’d expected Jared to say.
“No. Why would you ask that?” he asked.
“Because that’s all I can think of. That it’s a test to see if I would choose you.” Jared got up and prowled toward him, pushing North into the wall and crowding against him. He placed his hands on the wall on either side of North’s head. “Are you testing me, North? Do you need to know that it’s you that I want to be with? Is that it? Am I not paying enough attention to you?”
“That’s not it at all.”
“Then what the fuck is it? Why kidnap her? Why bring her here? Do you know what sort of headaches you’ve created? Not to mention the trauma to her.”
North hadn’t actually considered the trauma it might cause Angie. He hadn’t thought much about her feelings at all. Empathy was something North struggled with.
Jared sighed and shook his head. “For fuck’s sake, just tell me. Why did you kidnap her?”
“For you. I did it for you. I knew you wanted her and so I took her. To give her to you.”
Jared just stareddown at North.
He didn’t know what he’d expected the other man to say. But it wasn’t that.
“For me? Why would you think I’d want this? Want her?”
“You keep her photo in a drawer. Sometimes you say her name in your sleep. Her stuffed toy was in your closet. You want her and I want you to have what you want. So I took her. For you.”
Fuck.
He knew all of that? Jared hadn’t done that good a job of hiding his feelings, then.
Guilt filled him but he pushed it down.
“Fine. I’ll be honest. I think about her sometimes. I wonder. But that didn’t mean I wanted you to kidnap her for me. Do you realize what you’ve done? I’m going to have to call Zander and tell him where she is.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” North said hastily. “She’s still unwell.”
She was doing better, though. Her fever had broken and she could keep water down.
“And it wasn’t like he was taking care of her properly. That’s the other reason I took her. I went to check in on her and when I saw the way she was living . . . well, I thought it was unsafe.”
Jared didn’t know whether to believe him. It wasn’t like North to care about something like that.
“I thought that you would care,” North said. “If I was wrong, I apologize.”
“I can’t have her, North. She can’t be mine. I’m with you and it’s unsafe for her to even be here.”
“But I know you want her as well. My feelings aren’t hurt. I’d have to have some feelings for them to be hurt.”
Jared wasn’t convinced that he didn’t have feelings, but he remained quiet.
