I really needed some time to think, about work, actually. Cameron was screwing with me. Even in his absence, I was starting to think he took me for a PD who was still wet behind the ears. I wasn’t, yet he thought he could keep manipulating me. There was no way I could continue to allow that.
The last few weeks with Jake had been amazing, almost dream-like, but I needed to take off my Cinderella ball gown and slippers, and gather my strength. Work needed to come first, so when Jake texted around five o’clock, I was torn. I hadn’t seen him since he left me in his bed before sunrise two days ago, but I had something to prove to myself. I couldn’t keep giving all my energy to him. Could I?
JAKE : Dinner? Want to go out? Sushi?
ME : I can’t tonight. Got to work.
JAKE : Seriously?
ME : :(
Yes, I’d turned into a silly, confused, constantly daydreaming, emoji-using girl who didn’t know if she was in like or in love when it came to Jake Wrigley.
JAKE : I wanted my favorite dessert. YOU.
As I sat on the bus reading his text, I blushed, wanting and needing him.
ME : Tomorrow? Rain check?
JAKE : It’s a date.
I got off at the stop for the Cathedral of Learning, needing to run the stairs a few hundred times to get my head right. I should have just told Jake and asked him to join me. He’d been asking to come run with me for weeks, and I wanted to see him.
I also desperately needed some perspective. On Cameron. On my mom, who was failing. But mostly on Jake.
My feelings for him were multiplying exponentially. He was so harsh and rough on the edges, but he’d flash his baby blues and I’d see a softer side. He needed to be accepted, and I wanted to do that. How long he would allow it, I wasn’t sure.
I’d already changed clothes at work, so I shoved my stuff in a locker and headed to the stairwells. Campus was quiet. It must have been spring break or something because the hallways were empty.
Happy to have the place to myself, I stuffed my earbuds in and hit PLAY on my phone. Justin Bieber blared in my ears—absolutely, the Biebs was my secret love—and I began climbing, Jake still at the forefront of my mind.
Tension poured from my muscles as the sweat dripped down my back. I went up to the top and ran back down before beginning my ascent all over again. After a couple of rounds, for a second I missed having Drew there. He’d have been a decent distraction from the nerves and bad feelings running through me.
Maybe I could have shared some of Cameron’s case with him. Jake was too close to it, and he freaked out every time I brought it up. He also didn’t believe it wasn’t Cameron who broke into my place; he suspected there were others involved.
Officer Petrisky had told me they had lifted half a print off the knife, not enough to make a match, but it was enough to rule out Cameron. He said he didn’t know who did it, and although the cop promised he was keeping his ear to the ground, I wasn’t sure I believed him.
A couple of weeks earlier, I wasn’t even sure Cameron was innocent, yet I had to believe my client. He swore he knew who did it, but kept stringing us along in our investigation with false promises. He insisted there was going to be another incident and that he would help us make an arrest, but nothing had materialized yet.
In reality, I was getting nowhere with my client; he still hadn’t come through with the miracle he’d promised. Earlier today, I’d had to get blunt with him when he’d called me from an unlisted burner phone.
“I can’t continue to defend you if you don’t give me something,” I’d told him. “You’re hanging yourself.”
At that, he’d become snippy with me. “I have my reasons. Sometimes you do shit without yourself in mind. I don’t know why, but I am. So just say I’m innocent, and wait.”
“But I can’t do that with you on the lam and without evidence,” I’d insisted.
He’d only huffed and puffed, but before he disconnected the call, I could have sworn I heard a woman in the background saying, “Tell her—” But Cameron hung up too quickly.
Well, it looked like Barry was right. Cameron was mesmerized with the “power of pussy.” It didn’t matter; I couldn’t keep him out of jail for much longer. The department was losing patience and wanted someone to pin this on, and it was going to be Cameron if he didn’t give up what he’d promised.
Not quite knocked out for the evening, I decided on one more go-round with the evil steps. A soft, tender song about love and forgiveness played in my ear. Visions of kissing Jake and him holding my arms in place, my legs wrapped tight around his hard torso, played in my mind as I ran, pounding the stairs.
It was time to tell Jake how I felt, I decided. Time to share with him what I wanted, and ask him if he could give it.
I was smiling, happy with myself for finally finding some clarity on the Jake issue, when I heard the door to the stairwell bang closed. I looked behind me and saw a tall blonde lacing her shoes and stretching her hamstrings. I’d never seen her before on the stairs, but was happy to have some company. The building was so quiet; I missed the hustling of the college kids. It reminded of a time when I thought I was so responsible, as opposed to now, when I truly was responsible.
She blew right by me, running up the stairs faster than I’d ever seen anyone do. Surprised, I watched her take the flights as if they were nothing; she was like the bionic woman. I was already tired, so my breathing was jagged and uneven as I tried to catch her, lifting my quads and pushing through the ball of my foot.
“Hey,” I huffed out when I finally closed in on her. “Amazing job.”
She nodded and smiled, then picked up her pace yet again.
“I’ve been doing this for years and can barely keep up with you,” I admitted when we were side by side.
She stopped dead in her tracks and looked straight at me. “Really?” she asked, her left eyebrow raised.
I pulled an earbud out and smiled. “Really!”
“Interesting,” she said in some strange accent. “Lucky for me.”
Those were the last words I heard before everything went black.
Jake
The next morning, Aly still wasn’t returning my calls or texts. She’d promised we would see each other last night, but she was MIA.
What I feared most had come true—she finally saw me for the dark asshole I was. Which was good for her, exactly what I’d thought was best for her, but shit for me.
I cranked the bar over my head, rattling the weights, and slammed it back down again. I swore I could taste her on my tongue, feel her mouth taking my cock deep.
“Take it easy, boss,” Tony yelled.
“Keep your suggestions to yourself, Tony.”
This was my second workout of the morning. The baseball guys were coming in, and I needed my head right.
Where was she? Should I run by the rental to check on her? Her office?
But I hadn’t stop by unannounced in weeks. We had a routine.
Getting my head on right seemed more and more like a distant fantasy.
I stood and slapped more weight on the bar, testing my limits to the maximum. I watched the veins bulge in my biceps as I raised the bar. Sweat trickled over the ridges of veins and muscle. I put the weight back up again, hauling it higher in the air every time, grunting through clenched teeth.