“She looks like she’s been crying for hours on end, but you know Jada. She’s got her tough-as-nails costume on.”
“How are you?”
“Me? I’m fine,” I said.
“Vi, that was…intense. It’s okay to not be fine, you know.” The gentleness in his tone was almost enough to send me into tears.
“I’m not saying I want to do it again, but if I had to, I would,” I told him truthfully.
He chuckled. “Viola the Jewel, taking on theKyodainasyndicate. Jersey would love it.”
I sat down on the bed. “Is that what it is? TheKyodaina?”
Everyone knew them. They were as big and as powerful as the Yakuza. Twin dragons in the Asian crime gangs. Were Jada’s dad and Ken’Ichi high up in the food chain, or were they the entire chain? I couldn’t help the shiver that crawled up my back.
“Forget I said it,” he told me. “The less you know, the better. Nolan is going to be staying there until I get back. If you need anything or you see anything that seems off, tell him, okay?”
“I will.”
Silence. Then, I remembered why he wasn’t here to protect us himself, and it saddened me. Because he’d had his big moment crushed by all of this drama.
“Dawson,” I said.
“Yeah?”
“I’m really proud of you,” I murmured. “Not just for breaking the record and winning theConquistar de la Atlántica, but for this. What you’re trying to accomplish.”
“We haven’t won yet. We still have to beat the time on the way back.” He dodged the compliment.
“You know you will. Like I said the other night, I think Jersey needs to make a new superhero, Dawson the Dandy. Saves the world with a kiss and a wave,” I said.
He laughed like I’d intended him to.
“I’ll see you on Saturday,” I told him.
“That’s the plan.”
“I?” I caught myself before I said I loved him, a term of endearment I used often with Jersey, Mandy, Leena, Truck, Nell, and even my friends. Dawson was my friend. But I’d never said those words to him. Not once.
I did love him. Had since before I really understood it. Sometimes, I still wasn’t sure I understood the full depth of a love like Truck and Jersey’s, but whether we ever shared another kiss or not, the love I felt for Dawson wasn’t going anywhere.
“I hope you’ll enjoy the celebration there tonight,” I said instead.
He was quiet.
“For the first time, I’d rather be somewhere else,” he breathed out.
We hung up, and my eyes met Nolan’s who’d been trying to ignore the conversation. He was a wiry man with blond hair and large glasses that made him look owlish. His casual jeans and T-shirt seemed awkward on him, and I would have bet money he was more comfortable in the suit he probably wore most of the time.
“While you were gone, I did an RF and camera scan of the house. Dawson’s room is the only place I found any devices at the moment, but I haven’t searched the garage. Treat it as if it were bugged until I say otherwise.”
“Did you take the device out of Dawson’s room?” I asked.
“No. If we did, they’d know something was up.”
“And Jada’s phone is tapped?” I asked.
He nodded. “We already suspected it.”
