Page 68 of After 5
“I don’t like pizza. I’m lactose intolerant.”
“Did you go to jail?” I asked him.
“House arrest. It’s the reason I had to live with my mee-maw. Let me tell you, living at the jail house would have been a lesser punishment. Mee-maw don’t take kind to laying low. Every morning she had me up at the crack of dawn doing chores, made me go to church on Sunday and Wednesday nights. If it weren’t for my animals, it would have been a real bummer.”
“Um, being arrested is supposed to be a real bummer. It’s so you don’t commit the crime again,” Gertie said.
“I’ve been clean for about a year. I’m on the straight and narrow, no more stealing.”
“That’s good to hear Darryl. I hope we won’t have any problems with Tonto borrowing any of our things again,” I said to him.
“I’ll keep a sharp eye on him.” Darryl scratched the raccoon’s head. “He won’t bother you no more. I swear.”
Gertie whistled the “Ballad of Davy Crockett” as we left Darryl working with the hawk.
I gave her a jab with my elbow.
“It’s only a warning.”
Chapter 13
Idid the best thing for me when I was under stress—I went shopping. Gertie was at the library working on a project, and I needed retail therapy. My day included three of my favorite men: Neiman Marcus, Hermès, and Louis Vuitton—window shopping only. I salivated over the new purses at Bottega Veneta and ended up finding a cute Kate Spade satchel at Marshalls for half off.
Lugging my bags into the house, I dropped them on the coffee table. Something was off. An eerie feeling that the air had been disturbed gave me goosebumps.
A low growl drew my attention downward. Attack cat was crouched under the table. He peeked up at me through the glass and hissed.
Had Caiyan come back? The hair on my arms stood at attention as I crept around my house. Nothing seemed out of place. There were no creaks from the floor above me, and the house felt empty. The sword.
I took the stairs two at a time, and my heart stopped as I entered my bedroom. A tornado had demolished my room. Shoes were thrown from the closet, my comfy chair was overturned, and dresser drawers were emptied onto the floor. But the worst of it was the empty Tom Ford box in the center of my bed.
The sword was gone, and so were my beloved boots. Written on the mirror in my M.A.C. Brave lipstick were the words “you can’t hide love.”
I retrieved my gun from the nightstand and phoned Jake. “The sword has been stolen, and creepy words are printed on my mirror.”
“I’ll be right there.”
I sat on my bed amid the mess. At least the crook started in my room. I only had to clean up the pieces of my shitty life instead of the entire house.
Jake arrived thirty minutes later. He did a clean sweep of my house. Took pictures of the damage.
“What do you think that means?” he asked, cocking his head at my mirror.
“Maybe the Mafusos think my relationship with Caiyan isn’t over.”
“And since they found the sword in your possession they know for sure.”
“But we aren’t together.”
“Jen, you can’t come within five feet of the guy without sparks igniting. I knew the minute I asked you if you cared about him our time together was over.”
A slight ache pinched at the mention of our past relationship.
He tucked his phone into his pants pocket. “This is my fault. I should have taken the sword somewhere else. I haven’t been focused on my job. I’ll do better.”
“You’re a great boss.” I placed my hand on his arm. “You put my safety and the team first. Don’t feel guilty for having a piece of life for yourself.”
“I’ll have security watch your house.” Jake started for his phone.
