I almost laughed. Rango was no pussy. I didn't bother to hide my amusement. "Is that so?"
He cradled me closer. "Maybe I just want you nice and close. Is that so bad?"
"Jake, I'm not stupid," I said. "You showed up at Maddie's place out of the blue and practically dragged me out of there. I think I deserve to know why."
He said nothing.
"Be honest," I said, "Is thisallbecause Rango sent you those crazy texts?"
"Which ones?
"You know which ones. The ones where he said he was looking for me."
Jake still said nothing.
"Come on. Tell me," I said. "I'm not going to stop asking."
After a long silence, Jake said, "Alright, here's the thing. Those messages weren't from Rango."
I felt my brow wrinkle. "They weren't."
"No."
"Wait a minute," I said, "Youknewthat's what I thought. Didn't you?"
He said nothing.
"Seriously," I said, "why didn't you correct me?"
"Maybe I didn't want to scare you."
I caught my breath. "Scare me? Why would I be scared?" My voice rose. "Sowho, exactly, was texting you about me?"
He stroked my hair. "Baby, let it go. Everything's fine."
"No, it's not," I said. "Tell me. Who was it?"
Jake blew out a long breath. "It was a friend of mine, some guy who works for Rango's boss."
"Rango has a boss?" I said. "Who?"
"You don’t wanna know."
"Yes, I do."
"No," he said. "You don't. But I'll tell you this. That little black book you 'borrowed'? It's not Rango's, and it's not just some random notebook the guy had lying around."
"Yeah, you mentioned that," I said, "but I still don't know what you meant."
"I meant," Jake said, "that the book belongs to Rango's boss. Who isnota pussy, by the way. And he's not happy it's missing. "
"What?" I stammered. "Why?"
"The way it sounds," Jake said, "it's got account numbers, passwords, financial notes, things the guy doesn't exactly want passed around. You looked at the thing, right?"
"Not really," I said. "Mostly, I just copied down a couple of Rango's passwords and left the book hidden away."
"Is that why you took it?" Jake said. "For Rango's passwords?"
