“Jesse Willis?” Alex repeats. “What type of man is he?”
I give him a short laugh. “He’s a deadbeat alcoholic who is currently stalking his ex.”
“Ah,” Alex says in sudden comprehension. “This is the man you asked everyone to keep an eye on? And I presume his ex is the woman you’ve been seeing?”
News gets around fast. I haven’t even seen Alex since last Wednesday, which was before I met Allison.
“Yeah,” I admit. “Can you help me?”
Alex lets out a long-suffering sigh. I grin. Despite his attempts to prove the contrary, Alex is a good guy. All the effort he went through to save George’s house tells me that; not to mention everything else he has done for the club over the years.
So even though he’ll put on a show of pretending it’s too much, I know he’ll do everything in his power to help me, and he won’t even ask for repayment.
But that’s okay. If he can do this for me, I fully intend on giving him his fee.
“…I suppose,” he says, and I can almost hear him rolling his eyes. Sometimes I wonder how a guy like him, who is normally so straightlaced, got involved with a club like ours. But he was with the club before I was, so I never got around to asking. “When do you need the information by?”
“As soon as possible?” I try.
“Ugh, you just make it harder,” Alex groans. “Fine, leave it with me, I’ll see what I can dig up. Don’t expect miracles, though. Chances are that this guy is just a loser that will hang around like a bad smell, even if he’s scared off.”
“Yeah,” I say with a nod. “But that’s why I want to try this first. I don’t know if you’ll find anything, but maybe there’ll be something that I can use against him to make him stay away.”
“Maybe,” Alex says doubtfully.
“And if you find anything, let me know what it’ll cost me,” I add.
“Kyle…”
“I’m not asking you do this for free, Alex,” I interrupt. “You
’re doing me a huge favor when you could be taking on other jobs. The least I can do is pay you for it.”
Alex paused and then sighs gustily.
“We can discuss it if I find anything,” he says.
Then he hangs up, the dial tone ringing in my ears. I grin, not put off at all as I lower the phone. Maybe Alex is right, and we won’t find anything.
But I at least want to try it this way first. I think Allison will appreciate that, even if we just stay friends afterward. A guy like that… Surely he has a record somewhere, especially of violence. Allison told me he used to beat people up a lot. Maybe if the police knew more about it, they’d take Allison’s concerns more seriously, but I don’t want to get involved with them until I have something more concrete. If it gets bad enough, I might even be able to land him in jail for a few nights, which would hopefully teach him a lesson.
It feels strange to do it like this. Normally I face my problems head-on and force it to go away. I wish I could do that with Jesse, but I’ve already hit him once. If I hit him again, I’ll be lucky if he doesn’t make a complaint against me. And my record isn’t something that I want the police to be bringing up, either.
All of this would be a lot easier if the police would just do their jobs right. Would Allison tell them about the break-in? I hope she does. Or maybe she won’t because she’ll think they won’t believe her. She won’t think that she needs any help, so she’ll charge in without any weapons, hoping to stop Jesse.
And, like lightning, it hits me. Why Allison broke up with me. Why she hid the break-in and the broken door from me. I had already considered it, but the reason suddenly becomes a little more real.
She wants to do this herself.
“You idiot,” I say aloud, almost as though my words could reach Allison, who is no doubt in class by now.
I’m right here. I told her I would be there for her, that I would help her if she needed it. Yet, like a fool, she’s trying to do this all herself because she considers it to be her problem, and hers alone.
Except that it isn’t just her problem anymore. Jesse became my problem when I decided to protect Allison from him. I don’t know if he’s behind Allison breaking up with me (I still don’t know whether she was serious about that, or not), but I’m not going to let him run rings around her anymore.
It’s just become imperative that we get rid of that bastard as soon as possible.
In the meantime, however, I still need to protect Allison. Jesse has already gotten into her apartment once.