16
Jess
A Midnight Call
Irrationally annoyed, I stomp around my kitchen and slam the freezer door closed. Dropping ice cubes in my glass of milk and then adding rainbow sprinkles to add sugar and color, I stand at the sink in fuzzy slippers and short pyjamas, and lament the fact that Kane is working right now.
Working,for him, means doing illegal things.
It means incompatibility between the lawyer and the criminal.
Not even my rainbow milk will pull me out of my funk.
Home alone, since Laine is at her boyfriend’s now that he’s back, and Luc and Kari are working, I stand in the shadowed kitchen and stare out the window into the street.
Kane’s a good person.
Somewhere deep inside, beneath the tattoos and snark and dark humor, he’s a good person. Why else would he save me?
Twice.
Why would he continue to hang out with me, buy me breakfast, demand I stay for lunch and dinner, too? Why would he buy fried chicken and put movies on and insist we chill out on his bed for hours and hours before he had to leave?
Why is he working for Abel?
Why does he refuse to look for something else?
I can help him. I can help him live a good life where he doesn’t have to be afraid of arrest or death on a daily basis.
Going against everything I was raised to believe, right and wrong, black and white, I vow to overlook his past if he promises to have a better future.
I won’t tell a soul about the men he hurt in the alleyway. I won’t say a word, so long as he promises to turn over a new leaf. It’s not like they didn’t deserve it.
Theywere bad men. They were going to hurt me.
Kane did the right thing. So I can easily live with my secrets if Kane promises to live on the right side of the law from now on.
But he won’t.
He refuses.
Sipping my milk, I crunch on the sprinkles and sigh. Why can’t he be different? Why can’t he work for Angelo instead of Abel?
Why must I like someone absolutely unavailable to me?
In the silence of the night – no TV, no radio, nothing but the motor of the fridge buzzing near my hip and the crunch of sugar between my teeth – my cell chirps and draws my attention. The clock at the top of my screen reads a little past midnight, but it’s not the time that makes my pulse beat harder.
‘Al’flashes on my screen and sends me into an uncool frenzy that I absolutely can’t explain.
Why the excitement? Why the nerves? I spent the entire day with him. I’ve slept in his bed more than once now, and yet, a call when I’m home and all alone makes my hands shake.
I pick up my cell and swipe the screen. “Hello?”
Instantly, the loud blast of music booms in my ear. “Ah, Blondie!” Kane’s shouted words make me frown. He sounds different. “I found you. Where the fuck did you go?”
“Um… home. Where are you?”
“Why aren’t you still in my bed? I fuckin’ love having you in my bed.”