Chapter 42
Five minutes later, I was sitting beside Jake on the living room sofa, with Bishop sitting across from us.
"For your information," I told Bishop, "I was in the closet getting dressed. That's all."
"Right." Bishop glanced down at my makeshift outfit. "Nice clothes."
"Jeez, they're notmine," I said. But that did remind me of my two suitcases, smashed in Jake's trunk. I turned to Jake. "Hey, whereismy stuff, by the way?" True, most if it was crap, but I couldn't exactly walk around in Jake's clothes forever.
"Yeah, about that…" Jake said.
"It's not still in your car?" I said. "Is it?"
"The thing is," Jake said, "it's missing."
I stared at him. "Your car?"
"No. Your stuff."
My jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding. How'dthathappen?"
He shrugged. "Happens more than you'd think."
Well, this was just great. It's not like the stuff in my suitcases was all that great, but it was all I had. And worse, I had no money to replace anything. I blew out a long breath. What was I supposed to do now?
Jake leaned his head close to mine. "We'll talk about it later, alright?"
I slid my gaze to Bishop, who was watching us with a perplexed look. For some reason, it annoyed the snot out of me.
"What are you looking at?" I said.
"Got me," Bishop said, getting to his feet. He turned to Jake. "You got a coat she can borrow?"
I stared up at Bishop. "Why would I need a coat?"
"Because," he said, "it's cold out. Why else?"
Jake reached an arm over my shoulder, pulling me close. He looked up at Bishop and said, "Except, unlike you,she'snot going anywhere."
Bishop turned his cool gaze on me. He waited. I glanced from him to Jake, who was studying Bishop with open hostility.
Bishop broke the silence. "Luna, you ready?"
Actually, I wasn't. I wasn't naïve. I knew I'd have to leave eventually. But I didn't have to leavenow. Did I?
Again, I looked toward Jake. Against my side, his muscles were tense. Still, when he spoke, his voice was surprisingly easy. "You wanna go with him?" he asked.
I felt my brow wrinkle. Did he want me to leave? I didn't think so, but I had to be realistic. How long could I really hang out here? I bit my lip and gave it some thought.
I was still thinking when Jake stood. "So you wanna go?" he said.
I did a double-take. "That's not what I'm saying." Slowly, I got to my feet. I moved close to him and lowered my voice. "Can we talk about this?" I gave Bishop a sideways glance. "In private?"
Jake turned to his brother. "You heard her," Jake said. He flicked his head toward the door. "Get out."
I gave Jake an exasperated look. "That's not what I meant." I looked to Bishop. "Can't you just step out on the balcony or something?" I returned my gaze to Jake and said in a hushed whisper, "Or maybe you and I could go talk in the bedroom?"
Across from us, Bishop made a sound of disgust.
