THEY SPENT THE next three days alternating between bedrooms and showers. He’d made love to her in every room and most definitely on the table. She made him breakfast while he played the piano and sang to her. She’d fallen asleep on the couch with Murphy curled up next to her while Jake made calls in the other room. She’d felt his arms lift her and carry her to their bed. She’d curled her face into his neck and smelled him deeply. He’d told her the next morning about the night he’d carried her to her bed when she was working for him and how badly he’d wanted to bury himself in her. It didn’t take much convincing for him to reenact the memory.
Madi returned to school and alternated her time between her dorm, when she was on call, and the condo. The days she spent the night at school without him were tough. She started to find it difficult to sleep without him. One night, after completing a difficult paper and two crazy nights on call, she heard a quiet knock on her door. She pulled her glasses from her eyes and opened her door to a hooded Jake holding a bouquet of mixed flowers over his face. She pulled him into her room as she heard Rob sigh in the hall. They christened her dorm bed that night.
She continued to receive emails. Some were pictures and others were news clips. One day, she received an image of Tessa’s car from a newspaper. Jake and Rob spent a lot of time behind closed doors, in deep discussion over that one. Madi knew something was going on. Jake seemed increasingly distraught and angry. She’d hear him pacing at night in the hall. He frequently barked at Dave on the phone. The music he would play on the piano was melancholy. She knew he was troubled. A few times he said he didn’t want to talk about it and that everything was fine. One night, a week later, she heard him moaning in his sleep. His eyes were flittering under his lids and she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Jake,” she said, gently shaking him. “You’re dreaming.”
He woke with a start and panted slightly before his hands eased through his hair. She leaned her head on his chest and stared into his eyes. “Something’s going on. You promised me you’d tell me the truth. I don’t like the feeling that you’re keeping something from me again.”
He pushed up on his elbows and Madi rose along with him.
He pursed his lips. “I’m not trying to keep anything from you. I don’t know how to process things. I’m just overwhelmed.”
“Talk to me. You know I’m always here for you.”
He lifted his hand and glided his finger through her hair. “I know you are,” he said. “Greg was here last week while you were at school. It seems that the reason he removed the water from my room backstage was because Caleb told him to.Caleb.”
Madi frowned as she sat up a little straighter. “Caleb? Why would he take the water out of your room?”
“That’s a good question. He was carrying a bottle of water that night. I took it from him after the concert.” Jake sighed as he leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “It looks like the person I need to be worried about might be the person I thought I could trust beyond a doubt.”
Madi’s eyes bore into him as she processed what he was saying. She placed her arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder. “You should have told me. I could tell you were upset. I could have helped you.”
“How? How can you possibly help me? I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do with all this.” Jake stood and gripped his hair in his hands. “Everything is falling apart and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do or who I’m supposed to be anymore.” He turned abruptly and stomped toward the kitchen.
Madi pulled on her robe and slowly eased into the room. She leaned on the doorframe and watched him take a long drink from a bottle of water. He looked down at it in his hand and crumpled it before tossing it into the sink. His head bowed down as he leaned forward, staring at the bottle in the sink. She didn’t say a word. She wasn’t sure what to say. Caleb had always been there for Jake. He was one of Jake’s best friends. Could Caleb have betrayed him? What would he have to gain? Madi stared at him as she considered how she would feel if Kendra had done something to purposefully hurt her. She shuddered at the thought.
His gaze shifted to her. She smiled reassuringly.
He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath, coming toward her.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know you want to help.”
“Do you think Caleb might not have known the water was tainted?”
Jake shook his head. “Greg said Caleb insisted he leave that night. He told him he’d take care of me. He was the only one I remember being there.”
Madi listened with furrowed brows. “Does that mean Caleb was blackmailing Allison?”
Jake frowned. “I don’t know. I want to confront him in person. I want to see his face when I ask him straight out. But I’m here and he’s there and—”
“Jake! If you need to go, go! Don’t stay here because of me.”
“Iamhere because of you. I want to be here. It’s just that being away from L.A. is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.”
Madi frowned. “You’re struggling because of me.”
“No, it’s not because ofyou. It’s because my life is fucked up. It’s because I don’t know who I can trust anymore. I thought everything was just starting to fall into place.” Jake paced with his hands behind his head. “Now I have Peter Markum gunning for me, sneaking into my job and threatening you at every turn. I have the media down my throat because they think I’m carrying on with Allison Gregory. My family is guarded because I don’t know if Peter is coming after them. The press is hounding Gina for information about me. I worry about you every second, wondering whether or not you’re safe enough here, or with me at all. Now I have to consider that my manager, who I’ve known for ten years, might have tried to drug me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know how to make this right! Everywhere I look, there’s destruction, doubt and heartache.”
“Everywhere?” she questioned as she approached him. She gently tugged on his arm so that it fell from his head. He glanced at her painfully.
“That’s not what I meant. I just—”
“Shh,” she replied. “Look at me.”
Jake closed his eyes briefly before meeting hers.
“Even though Peter was released on bond before the hearing, we both know he’s going to go to jail for a long time for what he tried to do. The court date is coming up. Once he’s locked behind bars, we’ll check him off the list,” she said, marking the air. “Tomorrow morning, you are going to fly back to L.A. and confront Caleb. You’re going to find out if he did what you think he did and why. If he was responsible, then you’ll file charges against him and we’ll put him away, too. There’s another check off the list.”
