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The next day when I strolled into Raye’s office, I found Wyatt lounging around the front desk with Colt and Remy. He sprang to his feet the moment he saw me. The smile that spread across his face caused my insides to turn to absolute mush, and I wondered how I had been so clueless about my feelings for him.
“Hey Jules.”
“Hey,” I replied, returning his smile.
“You wanna sit down?” he offered
“Thanks, but I’m good.”
Colt and Remy exchanged a glance. “Uh-oh, I think the plan to reel in Jackson backfired last night, and someone else got hooked instead,” Colt said, waggling his eyebrows.
Remy thumped Wyatt on the back. “Dude. You got her to finally realize how she felt about ya, huh?”
Just as I expected him to come back with one of his normal testosterone fueled responses, Wyatt said, “That’s personal.”
“Oh man, you’ve got it bad.Remy then proceeded to wrap his arm around my neck to give me a noogie. “Who knew our Little Sis was such a heartbreaker?”
I twisted out of his embrace before he could embarrass me any further. As I smoothed my hair back down, Colt cracked his knuckles and said, “Just remember, if you get any wild ideas with Jules, we’ll break your head in.”
As Wyatt’s eyes widened, I shot death glares at the boys. “Would you two get a grip?” I then grinned at Wyatt. “I think we all know I can totally take him.”
“Ha, ha,” he replied, as the twins chuckled.
Raye came out of the back. “Boys, we’re going to go meet Nathaniel over in Metter to pick up a jumper. Wyatt, can you man the phones until your mom gets back?”
At the disappointed look on his face, I said, “I’ll stay with the phones. Wyatt can go and get some more training.”
“Really?” Wyatt asked.
I grinned. “Sure.”
Raye eyed the two of us before Colt said, “Yeah, they’re a thing now.”
“I can see that,” Raye replied, as he tried to fight the corners of his lips turning up. “Sherry’s at the courthouse seeing if some of our jumpers are showing up for their court dates, but she should be coming back in an hour or so.”
“I can totally handle things while you’re gone.”
Raye and the twins started for the door. Wyatt leaned in to give me a good-bye kiss, but was interrupted by Colt clearing his throat. “Hey, let’s go.”
I gave him a stink eye before wrapping my arms around Wyatt’s neck and really laying one on him. When he pulled away, Wyatt grinned and shook his head. “Gotta love that temper of yours, Julesy.”
I giggled. “You’re welcome.”
The boys headed out, and I got settled at the front desk. I decided to make use of my time waiting for Sherry by working though the bad and the ugly of Raye’s jumper pile. I started calling informants, aka snitches, to try and get some leads. I was on the phone with a bitter ex-girlfriend who was spilling the beans about where to find her ex when the bell over the front door tinkled.
Cupping the phone, I called over my shoulder, “I’ll be with you in just a sec.” I continued scribbling down the information. “Okay, I’ll pass it on to Raye. Thanks again.”
I hung up and then whirled around in my chair. “Sorry about that. How can I help you?” I glanced up and gasped.
Jackson stood in front of me.
“Oh shit,” I mumbled.
Without even a hello, he demanded, “Your dad isn’t a lawyer, is he?”
I slowly shook my head back and forth.
“He’s a bondsman and a bounty hunter.”
I nodded.
Jackson rolled his eyes. “Unbelievable.”
“I really—”
He threw up his hands. “I can’t believe how stupid I was not to see it. All the signs were there.”
Oh, this was bad. Very, very bad. “How did you find out?”
“Bryn told me about your Dad. And the more I thought about Raye, I realized that he had to be in on it too. So I started doing a little investigating myself.”
Anger boiled in my veins. Of course Bryn would have resorted to something so low. She had no idea Wyatt and I were together, so of course she would do anything to get Jackson to hate me.
And then he asked the question I was dreading. “Is your dad hunting my dad?”
My mouth suddenly ran dry at the prospect of coming clean with him. I had to lick my lips a few times before they would work enough for me to say, “No, my dad hasn’t been hunting your dad.”
“He hasn’t?”
“No.”
Jackson’s brows furrowed in confusion. “But I thought—”
“It’s not him...it’s me.”
Even though I wanted to look away, I couldn’t. I don’t think I’d ever seen someone’s face change so many colors. Jackson’s expression went from confused to shocked to, finally, angry. He exhaled noisily before drawing in a deep breath. I could tell he was trying to control his emotions. “All this time you’ve been looking for my dad?”
“Yes,” I replied, my voice barely a whisper.
Jackson stared down at his hands, curling them into fists. He appeared to be weighing his next words. “So us hanging out... was that just about my dad?”
Jeez, he had to go right for the throat with his question. But I knew there was no way out but to be honest with him. “At first it was. Maybe a little of it was competition with Bryn—you know, to try to get you to like me instead of her. But then when I started getting to know you better, I felt differently. I found out that, besides being incredibly hot—” Oh God had I actually just said that? I felt my cheeks growing warm. “Uh, yeah, so I found out that besides being cute, you were also an amazingly sweet, caring, and cool guy. And that made me wish that I had never heard of the case. But I didn’t entirely stop looking.”
He glanced up and stared into my eyes, searching to see if there was truth in them. Once he was satisfied, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair.
“I guess this is where you say you’re glad there was nothing really between us and you storm out of here.”
Kneeling down beside me, Jackson said, “I’m not going to storm out of here Jules because deep down I know you are a decent person.”
Okay, that was totally not the answer I was expecting. I couldn’t believe how he was reacting to all this. I swept my hand to my chest. “I’m a decent person? I just told you I had been hunting your father—using you to get information about him. You should be turning over tables and screaming obscenities at me.”
Jackson laughed. “Jules, if I started going apeshit, you’d just take me down.”
“Yeah, so what’s your point?”
“The point is I really can’t be too mad at you for using me to get to my dad.”
I gaped at him. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “There are few people in my life who don’t have some motive for knowing me—either because of who my family is, the money we have, or because of my popularity at school.”
“Ouch. Knowing that has to suck.”
He shrugged. “It’s just the way it’s always been. But the friends I surround myself with are the ones I know really don’t give a shit about all the other stuff.”
“It’s good that you have them, and you’re not totally surrounded by jerks like me.”
Rolling his eyes, Jackson said, “Jules, you know how I feel about my dad. I really couldn’t give a shit if he got arrested.
“You don’t mean that,” I protested.
He clenched his jaw. “You don’t have any idea what it’s like to have a fugitive for a father.”
For the first time, I tried putting myself in Jackson’s shoes. How humiliating it must’ve been to have his dad on the run. I couldn’t imagine how hard it must be. Finally, I said, “You’re right. I don’t. And I know in the long run it probably doesn’t mean anything, but I am truly sorry for what you’ve been through. I really am.”
He gave me a tight smile. “Funny thing is I’ve wanted to turn him in a dozen times. But every time I came close, I’d think of Evan.” He gave his head an angry shake. “It doesn’t matter how many times Dad forgets to call or how many times he doesn’t come to visit, Evan still loves him. Dad will always be his hero.” His voice choked off. When his eyes met mine, his mouth twisted like he wanted to say something, but he was afraid to actually say the words. Finally, he drew in a deep breath. “I came here today to ask you a favor.”
Oh no. He was going to ask me the unthinkable—to stop hunting his dad. Before I could protest, Jackson held up his hands. “I don’t mean for you to stop looking for my dad indefinitely. Just for a few days. You see there’s this dance—”
“I know all about the Summer Sweetheart’s Dance and Evan.”
Jackson’s eyes widened. “You do? But how?”
I shifted in my seat. “I met Evan while doing some recon work on your dad. And then last night, when you were drunk...”
Jackson grimaced. “Yeah, I get it.”
“For what it’s worth, Evan’s really great,” I said, softly. I then proceeded to spill my guts and tell Jackson about Wyatt’s and my visit to the Brandewine Institute.
Instead of being pissed off, he nodded. “I’m glad you got to know him a little. I’m hoping now you can understand even better why I wouldn’t want anything to ruin his big night. Trust me, I haven’t seen him this excited or this happy in a long, long time. So can you wait until the dance is over?”
The breath I’d been holding whooshed out of me. Feeling deflated, I murmured, “Wow, I don’t know what to say.” I mean, it was one thing for me to be conflicted over whether I should withhold the details from Dad, but it was a totally different ball game to be asked to completely ignore a lead. I’d never, ever done that before.
At my hesitation, Jackson said, “Jules, I’ll understand if you say no.”
“Yeah, sure you will. Every time you look at me, you’ll just see that bitch who hunted down your dad and ruined your brother’s life.”
“No, I won’t,” he protested with a smile.
And then, for a brief instant, I actually allowed myself to entertain giving up on the Marshall case for a little while. Sure, Emmett was a fugitive and a bail jumper, but he was a white collar fugitive. He hadn’t been arrested for rape or murder or anything really heinous. He’d just run off with a bunch of rich people’s money. And I’m sure in the long run, they could spare it. So it wasn’t like I would be doing something morally and ethically wrong, like letting a murderer or rapist roam free...right?
In the vast scheme of things, it wasn’t really fair for Dad to use me to get to Emmett. I mean, I’d never actually gotten to know a jumper’s family before. That was a heck of a lot of emotions to put on someone. Dad always joked I’d inherited Granddaddy’s tender heart. You let the sad ASPCA commercial come on, and Granddaddy and I both would be sniffling. So how fair was it that he’d put this major moral and ethical dilemma in my pathway?
“All right. I won’t hunt your dad until the dance is over. For Evan’s sake.”
Jackson’s face lit up. “Really?”
I nodded. “
“I really can’t believe you’re doing this.”
“Trust me. Neither can I.” I heaved a sigh.
He reached out and took my hand in his. “I’ll make it up to you. I’ll let you know where my dad is on Monday.”
I gasped. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “It’s only fair. Evan will have had his perfect weekend, and then we can all start to move on from this craziness.”
“Wow, I really appreciate it.”
Jackson grinned. “Well, I’m hoping it’ll sweeten the pot for another favor I want to ask you.”
“Uh-oh. Why do I not like the sound of this?” I asked, with a laugh.
“I had planned on taking Bryn to the dance, but since we’re broken up, I’m dateless. Would you mind going with me—just as friends.”
“Man, that is some favor,” I replied. Not only would it require me getting dressed up, which I hated, but there was also someone else to consider. “I’d have to make sure it was okay with Wyatt.”
Jackson nodded. “That seems fair. He’s welcome to come, too.”
My eyebrows shot up in extreme surprise. “Seriously?”
“Sure, why not.”
At that moment, Wyatt and the boys breezed through the office door. The sight of Jackson knelt down beside me, holding my hand, made Wyatt’s face and body tense. Jackson shot to his feet at the sight of the twins eyeballing him.
I gave an exasperated sigh. “Would you three get a grip? Nothing is going on.”
Jackson nodded his head in agreement. “I just came by to talk to Jules about something. Something totally unromantic, I swear.”
“Uh-huh,” Remy replied suspiciously.
With the all the testosterone induced tension in the air, Jackson started inching for the door. “Yeah, well, I guess I better go. Thanks again, Jules. And see you Saturday night.” He then sprinted out the door and to his car.
Wyatt swiveled his head from Jackson’s retreating form over to me. “What was he doing here? And what the hell does he mean by ‘see you Saturday night’?”
Knowing that we’d have no privacy for the twins, I grabbed Wyatt’s hand. Before he could jerk it away, I said, “Come on. I’ll explain everything to you” I dragged him out of Raye’s office and two doors down to Starbucks.
“Go on and sit down,” I instructed.
Wyatt didn’t need much persuading. He flopped down in one of the plush chairs and crossed his arms over his chest like a pissed off toddler. I guess I couldn’t blame him. I mean, if I’d come in and found him with some chick, I’d have been pretty ticked too.
I ordered us both a caramel macchiato as well as one of those giant chocolate iced brownies. I had the feeling I was going to need some sugar fortification to get me through the next few minutes.
“So what the hell is going on, Jules?” Wyatt demanded as he snatched his coffee from me.
I blew on the steaming foam, not quite wanting to have to give Wyatt all the down and dirty details. “Okay, so I sorta need to ask you a favor.”
“I’m listening.”
I then told Wyatt what I’d promised Jackson. “What do you think?”
He took a thoughtful gulp of his coffee. “So you’re not totally giving up on the case? Just until the dance is over.”
I nodded. “And Jackson’s promised to give me a substantial lead at the beginning of the week.”
“Hmm,” he replied, still thinking.
“You can always say no and go tell my dad,” I said.
He scowled. “That would make me an uber douchebag.”
I shrugged. “You heard the tip the other night the same as I did.”
“You really think Jackson will turn his dad in?”
“Yeah, I do.”
Wyatt exhaled noisily. “Fine. My lips are sealed until Monday.”
“Thanks,” I replied, with a smile.
Eyeing my bag, Wyatt asked, “Trying to bribe me with food, huh?”
“Actually this is mine.”
He dug the brownie out and took a huge bite. A clump of icing got caught in the corner of his mouth. When he caught me staring, he asked, “What?”
“You kinda have some chocolate on your lips.”
With a smirk, Wyatt took another giant bite of my brownie, smearing more icing. “Did I get it?”
I giggled. “No, smartass, you didn’t. I’ll get you a napkin before you devour the rest of my food.” I rose off the couch. Just as I grabbed up some napkins, Wyatt hooked his finger into my belt-loop and jerked me back. I squealed as I collapsed onto his lap.
I brought my thumb slowly across his lip, wiping off the chocolate. “I really appreciate you backing me up on the Marshall case.”
“No problem, Julesy.”
“And for what it’s worth, don’t ever worry about me and Jackson again.”
With a crooked grin, he replied, “I’ll try.”
And then he brought his lips to mine. Damn, why did he always have to taste so sweet?