Looking to make a point, I pulled out my cell phone yet again and announced, "I'm setting a timer."
He gave a slow nod. "Good idea."
Didn't he get it? Iwasn'tbluffing. I scrolled across the screen and set an alarm for exactly seventeen minutes. As I did, I said, "And youdorealize, we're probably waiting around for nothing, right?"
When Jack made no reply, I persisted, "Seriously, we don't even know how long Nicky's been gone."
"Ninety minutes."
I blinked. "What?"
"Ninety minutes," he repeated. "That's how long he's been gone."
Stunned, I leaned forward on the couch. "Wait. How would you know?"
"I saw him leave."
My mouth fell open.Seriously?
With growing indignation, I studied his profile. The way it looked, he wasn't kidding. Through clenched teeth, I said, "What exactly do you mean?"
"I mean I saw him climb out the back window at seven forty-five."
Un-freaking-believable."And you didn't think to tell me?"
He was still eyeballing the door. With a tight shrug, he replied, "Sure. I thought about it."
"But…?"
"But if you knew the guy was gone, you might've come in alone." He turned and gave me a serious look. "Unescorted."
Oh, so now I needed an escort?
To my own place?
I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or insulted. "So?"
"So that would've been a mistake. And you damn well know it."
Talk about arrogant.
Or obnoxiously chivalrous.
I just didn't know which.
Sometime within the past hour, I'd practically forgotten that he was Jack Ward, the author I'd been idolizing for years.And why?It was because he was so totally impossible.
Plus, he wasn'tactinglike a bigtime author. He was acting like, well, an obnoxious older brother, that's what.
I didn't have any brothers. I didn't even have a dad. My own had died when I'd been just a toddler. And his sorry replacement – a stepdad that made my creepy roommate look peachy in comparison – had been a total horror show.
To Jack's latest statement, I said yet again, "But for all we know he's not even coming back, at least not tonight."
Already, we'd been sitting here for a lot longer than I'd anticipated. When our vigil had started, it had still been light outside. Now, the only illumination in the condo came from a streetlight out front. And eventhispathetic light was mostly obscured by the closed window blinds.
Probably I should've been thankful. If it weren't for that lone streetlight, we'd be sitting in total darkness.
And why?It was because Jack had absolutely refused to let me turn on even a single interior light.
