“Hey, Officer Attleborough.” the person says in a low voice accompanied by an exhale of adoration.Uh, what?I shift closer to the bars so I can see the person.Well,hello, Jonah. “I… umm… I need to get a stamp of approval for some work needing to be done on one of the properties.” Jonah owns a real estate agency in Springfield and helps our locals when they need real estate help. As far as I know, he’s been branching out to other cities now, too. Good for him.
“Go to the mayor’s office for that.” Jake is being his jerky self. A littletoo… jerk-y? He usually reserves that particular tone for yours truly. For the rest of the human population, he’s a sweet All-American boy everyone adores who can do no wrong.
“Already been there. I need police approval because we need to fix a part of the road in front of the house.” He’s fidgeting with the briefcase in his hands.
“Who’s paying for that?” Jake sounds like an old grump.
“As a matter of fact, I am. I’m planning on moving into this house.” He laughs nervously. It’s adorable. We all know Jonah is gay; I remember when he came out, and everybody and their cat teased him about it. The dude held firm in his beliefs and didn’t waiver, even when he got beaten up for liking somebody the local society deemed ‘wrong.’ I always respected him—he was a little different from the rest, just like I was. But now, his nervous chuckles and constant fidgeting of his chocolate hair tells me a very sad story: Jonah has a crush on Jake. This is so wrong. All that niceness is being wasted on this sorry excuse for a human being.
“Where’s the paperwork?” Jake snaps at him.
“Here.” Jonah shuffles through his black leather briefcase that looks out of place in Little Hope and pulls out a thick stack of papers.
“Leave them on the table. Sheriff Benson will look at them.” Jake says rudely without sparing him a glance. Oh yes, we all want Sheriff Benson to finally show his pretty face. The whole Benson bunch is pretty; it’s annoying, really.
“Oh. Okay.” Jonah sounds crestfallen, and I want to hug him to my chest and let him cry a river over this jerk.
“Hey, Jonah!” I exclaim from my cozy cell. His head whips around, looking for the source of the noise.
“Kayla?” He sounds confused when he finally notices me. “What are you doing in there?”
“Been asking myself that question since this morning.” I tap a finger on my knee.
“Do you… um… need anything?" He looks between Jake and me.
“To get out of here?” I suggest helpfully.
“Is that all?” Jake interjects with his ever-present snark.
“Yeah, that’s all.” Jonah’s helplessly looking at me, apologetically shrugging his shoulders.
“The door is that way.” Jake points to the entrance. Even from here, I can see the reddening of Jonah’s perfect cheekbones. He throws one last pitiful look at me and walks away.
There goes my last hope of getting out of here tonight before murdering someone in cold blood, because make no mistake—once I’m out, I’m chopping Jake’s liver into tiny pieces with a rusty fork.
JUSTIN
I park my truck and walk to Donna’s shop, hoping to get some coffee in me. I ended up crashing for fourteen hours; after a long sleep, my head is always groggy. Groggy when I sleep and groggy when I don’t. I just can’t win with my body.
Just as I pull the door of the coffee shop open, a big body slams into me, splashing hot coffee all over my front. “Fuck!” I yell and jump like I just stubbed my toe on a table.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Justin!” Jonah apologizes, trying to wipe coffee off me. Grabbing napkins from his hands, I dab them into the mess covering my entire chest. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
“Chill, it’s all good," I tell him. Fuck, this day (technically, it’s the evening, but it’s been a day for me) already started badly, and now this.
“Sorry again. Can I buy you a coffee?” He offers, guilt rife in his gaze.
“No, man. But you need one.” I nod at what was his coffee, now splashed all over the sidewalk.
“Yeah, I need a new one,” he agrees sadly, wiping his face with his hands. The gesture of a tired man.
“Got some stuff going on?”
“Yeah, been trying to get a permit for my new house and all the remodeling but looks like all the legal forces in this town are against me.” He looks wiped out, and I can relate.
“Oh yeah, those people don’t like to approve anything,” I chuckle.
He laughs sardonically. “They sure don’t. Our law enforcement seemed a little edgy today, too.”
