"But why shouldyoudo anything?"
He gave me a hard look. "Better me than you."
If only that were true."But it's not your problem," I said. "It'smyproblem." I lifted my chin. "And I'm sure I'll solve it just fine. I mean, it's really not that big of a deal."
He made no reply, but his look said it all.You're so full of it.
Yes. I was.
But havinghimdeal with it seemed wrong on so many levels. For one thing, I barely knew him. Why would he go to any trouble on my account?
Was it because of his friendship with Flynn?
That had to be it.
Still, I hated the thought of him fighting my battles. In fact, I hated the thought ofanyonefighting my battles. This wasn't his mess to clean up. It was mine.
And yet, I heard myself say, "I just mean…." I bit my lip. "What are you gonna do?"
"That depends," he said.
"On what?"
"Whathedoes."
"But he could be dangerous," I warned.
Jack gave a low scoff. "Doubt it."
I gave him a serious look. "Yeah, well for your information, he was in prison." Even though we were alone, I lowered my voice. "Maximum security."
At this, Jack had the nerve to laugh. "Yeah, right."
He had a nice laugh, full and warm – and oddly comforting. Still, it annoyed the snot out of me.Didn't he know? This was no laughing matter."What, you don't believe me?"
"Oh, I believe you," he said. "Buthim?Not a chance."
"So you think he's lying?" I gave Jack another serious look. "Well, for your information, he wasn't."
"And you know this, how?"
"Because when he said it, he wasn't even talking to me." I paused. "I just happened to overhear, that's all."
Jack gave me a dubious look. "Uh-huh."
"I did," I insisted. "But it wasn't my fault. He was talkingreallyloud."
Jack gave another scoff. "Nowthat, I believe."
Comforting or not, his confidence grated on me. It was like he thought he knew more about Nicky than I did.
I felt compelled to point out the obvious. "But you've never even met him."
"True." Jack gave me the cockiest smile I'd ever seen. "Andhe's never metme."
Cocky or not, the smile did funny things to my stomach – annoying things that had nothing to do with the fact that I hadn't eaten all day. I asked, "What doesthatmean?"
Ignoring my question, he reached yet again for the door handle.
