Chapter Sixteen
JOE SATon the low, leather chair in his bedroom and stared blankly at his computer. The police had come, taken some notes, promised to call if they found anything, and gone again. It had taken all of ten minutes. Now all Joe had left to do was call Harry and fill him in. Skype was open on the screen, Harry’s profile pulled up, and all Joe had to do was hit the phone icon.That was all he’d had to do for the last half hour.
He took a drink of coffee—the harsh, strong brew from the hotel room’s machine somewhere between what he needed and what he deserved—and wondered what to say when his dad answered.
“Edward was hit by a car,” Joe said aloud to the empty room. “I’m gay, and I found out my dead mother isn’t deadormy mother. Busy week.”
Maybe Harry would haveanother stroke, Joe thought bitterly, and die. Then none of them would have to deal with it.
Despite everything, the thought of Harry being dead caught at Joe’s heart with a mixture of guilt and fear. Harry might be a liar, but he was still Joe’s dad, the only family he had. Joe didn’t want to call Harry, because he would actually have to ask him about all the lies, and he was scared about whatthe answers might be.
Before he had to bite the bullet and get on with it, someone hammered on the door. Joe knew it wasn’t Cal, since Cal had a key, but his heart still jumped with anticipation. Maybe he’d forgotten his keys or had his hands full?
Joe knew he hadn’t, but it was an excuse to slap the lid of the laptop down and go find out. He glanced at himself in the mirror and grimaced atthe raw scrape, the edges bruised blue, along his jaw. He looked like a twelve-year-old who’d tried to shave for the first time, but there wasn’t much to do about it.
He pulled the suite door open and stared in surprise at Kristen—not who he’d hoped to see, and he was used to the faint guilt of that, although he supposed it wasn’t warranted now that they were officially exes. And she was notwho he expected to see either.
“Kris—”
“You can go to Hell!” she blurted as she threw something small and glitter bright at his face. “And you can stick that up your ass.”
Joe fumbled the ring out of the air. The edges of it cut into his palm as he clenched his fingers around it. His temper spluttered in confusion, ready to ignite but not quite sure where to go.
“What the hell are you doing?”he asked.
“You told the police I’d followed you to England? That Istalkedyou?” Kristen took a step back from the door and raked her fingers through her hair. It tangled around her fingers as she shook her head in disbelief. “Ilovedyou. I came to England because I didn’t understand why you didn’t love me anymore. Maybe I’d have liked to get back together, if we could, but what I wanted wasto understand why. That’s not stalking. It’s normal. It’s fucking normal! How dare you try and make me out to be crazy when you’re the one who lied and ran off andcheated!”
Joe glared at her. “You think the fact you got on a plane would make me call you a stalker?”
“What then? That I wanted you back? That I wanted you to talk to me?” Kristen shoved him with both hands in frustration. “You toldme that you loved me, then you told me you never did. I needed an answer. That’s not stalking, you asshole.”
Doubt picked at the edges of Edward’s theory. It had already been frayed when the police asked if he knew anyone who wanted to hurt him, but it had still seemed convincing. Now it had unraveled enough that it was on the verge of coming apart. What did Kristen have to gain from this littleshow of angry innocence? The breakup was done and dusted. He’d already told the police what he knew.
The hurt in her eyes seemed real. It made Joe feel as bad as it always had.
“You’re saying you didn’t send the letters?” he asked her. “Courier me the bear?”
Kristen blinked back tears. “What letters? What bear?” Her expression was curious as her eyes drifted over the lines of his face. Whatevershe saw made her lips tremble before she pressed them together in a tight line. She took a step back from the door. “You think I’d do something like that? Harass you? Fuck you, Joe, but thank you for my answer. You never loved me at all.”
She turned on her heel and stalked away. The last threads of Edward’s theory fell apart in Joe’s head, and he was left with a handful of accusations and guilt.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
Kristen jabbed the Call button on the elevator and then looked back at him. “For what?”
He put his hands in his pockets. “I shouldn’t have listened to Edward. I should have known you weren’t behind any of this,” he said. “It was … at least if you’d done it, I knew something. I knew why.”
“Is that all?”
“No. I’m sorry for a lot of things, for hurting you,” Joe admitted.He glanced away from her and chewed the inside of his cheek. It might have been a lie, what they had, but it had been one Joe had convinced himself was true. “I did love you, Kris… like a friend, like a sister. I thought that would be enough. Now I know it wasn’t even close. I’m sorry.”
She wiped her hand over her face, tracks of tear-pink skin visible through her make-up. The elevator chimedsoftly as the doors opened.
“You can shove that up your ass too, Joseph Bailey,” Kristen spat at him as she got on the elevator. She jabbed an impatient finger against the button to send it down. “I never hurt you. I never would. I hope you’re happy, Joe, and I hope you know that you don’t deserve it.”
The doors slid shut before Joe could say anything. He leaned against the doorframe and listenedto the soft growl of the elevator as it went down. Something itched at him, down under the guilt and embarrassment.
What did his stalker think they deserved? It had been easy to blame Kristen, because it at least made some sort of sense. He wronged her and she lashed out to let him know that his mother wouldn’t have been proud of him—to get her own back, to have her satisfaction.
