He’s breathing heavily and glaring ahead, not really staring at anything, more like lost in thought.
I feel more than uncomfortable knowing how he feels. It puts a final pin in any fantasy I might have been holding on to.
Movies and books aren’t real. They are fake stories dramatized and romanticized for the enjoyment of people who need to escape their real lives. This is the real world. Just because Zander is helping me and being incredibly generous, that doesn’t mean he wants me. Why would he? I couldn’t even see a monster when he was standing right in front of me. No, instead, I dated him for almost two years and slept with him. Who the hell will ever want me after that?
“Sorry about that. Tomorrow, I’ll have more appropriate clothes for you.” Zander sounds calmer.
I can’t seem to find my voice, so I just nod.
After the silence stretches out too long, he says, “This tastes really good.”
“Thanks.” I know he’s just being nice. It really wasn’t all that great, and the ton of it he’s consuming definitely must taste a little bland by now. “I think I might just get ready for bed. You sure I can have your bed?”
“Yeah, I changed the sheets this morning while you were sleeping like the dead.” He gives me a small smile, and I try to return it.
“Thanks,” I say again.
This time, it is me who makes a quick retreat.
After brushing my teeth, I sneak my way into Zander’s bedroom while he is still attempting to finish his meal. He looks deep in thought and doesn’t spare me a glance.
Before I close the door, I see Van’s bedroom door is ajar. I can’t stop myself from peeking in.
It’s too dark to see him, but I hear his soft snores and know he is sleeping.
At least one of us will be getting a good night’s sleep tonight.
Without another glance back Zander’s way, I rush into his bedroom and eye the bed with more than a little bit of trepidation.
Just like the rest of his apartment, this room is spotless and completely put-together. Even the bed looks perfectly made. It’s a shame to ruin it, yet I pull back the covers, anyway. I note there is no dock for him to charge himself in, so he’s definitely not a robot, like Sasha feared.
Once settled in, trying to ignore the scent of Zander all around me, clean sheets or not, I fear I won’t be able to sleep much. Not only am I still stressed from this entire situation, but I have even heavier thoughts on my mind tonight.
The Brian situation got worse today in terms of realizing just how sick he really is. Plus, I can’t help worrying about how tonight’s retrieval mission for the USB will go. What if Brian sees them? What if he hurts them? Would he be willing to do that just to get to the USB? Add in my own anger at myself and there is a lot going on in my mind.
Therefore, it is a complete surprise when I manage to fall asleep, and a total shock when I wake up to find myself not alone.
Chapter 7
The first thing I become aware of is the alarm blaring in my ears. After turning it off, the next moment of awareness is that it is only seven-thirty. Who wakes up at seven-thirty? Then I recall that I’m in Zander’s bedroom, and since it is a school day, I assume he wakes up at seven-thirty to begin getting Van up for the day. He said he wouldn’t be coming home last night, so I figure this is now my job.
Except, when I roll over, I find a still sleeping Zander next to me, lying on top of the covers, his face peaceful, and his body looks relaxed as he faces me on his side.
His feet are naked, but he’s otherwise dressed in dark jeans and an equally dark, long-sleeved T-shirt. I assume he wore this last night since the suit he had on during the day likely isn’t that handy for breaking into a house. From how he is, it is like he couldn’t be bothered changing clothes last night or, more likely, sometime early this morning and fell asleep on top of the covers as is.
I sit up and glance over at the bedside table, almost fearing there will be a USB sitting there. There isn’t. I guess it would be stupid to bring it back here.
Did they get it last night, or was it a failed mission? Is it missing? Could Mr. Forbes have found it and thrown it away? Or looked at it himself?
The more I think about it, the more stupid I realize it was to leave it there.
Shaking away those thoughts, I focus back on the time and the fact that I just turned his alarm off. I don’t know what time Zander came in, but I’m positive if I wake him up now, he won’t get enough sleep.
It’s time for me to help pull my weight.
A morning routine seems less daunting than last night, so I carefully get out of bed, tiptoe into the bathroom, and prepare for a new day.
Ten minutes later, I am dressed in jeans and Zander’s sweatshirt since everything else is too low cut for Van, and then I enter his bedroom to wake him up.
I’m not sure what to expect after last night, but Van acts like it never happened. He’s bright, cheery, and quick to get moving. Whether this is part of him ignoring his issues or a childlike way of bouncing back, I’m not sure.
I can’t leave the house to take Van to school. He says he catches a bus home, but Zander usually drops him off. Therefore, all I can buy Zander is an extra forty-five minutes of sleep.
When I wake him, he’s so disorientated that he jackknifes up in the bed and nearly head-butts me. He’s even more out of sorts when he looks at the clock and reads the time.
“I got Van ready for school. I just can’t drop him off,” I quickly explain as Zander rips off his shirt and the padded protective vest underneath, uncharacteristically dropping them both on the ground. It’s the first bit of mess I have seen in this house that hasn’t been contained to the kitchen sink.
It’s a miracle.
So is the image of Zander shirtless.
My breath catches in my throat as he pulls open his drawer and messes the organization there as he chaotically searches for whichever shirt he is looking for.
“Zander?” I ask since he hasn’t yet acknowledged me.
When I see him going for his jeans’ button, I quickly retreat.
I might be able to tell myself it is acceptable to ogle him shirtless—okay, fine, more than acceptable—but it is definitely creepy to watch as he completely undresses. Especially when he hasn’t even acknowledged I’m in there with him.
I leap out into the hallway and shut the door, but not before Van sees a shirtless and possibly pant-less Zander.
“What’s going on?” he asks, displaying a huge grin.
“Zander is just getting dressed so he can take you to school,” I squeak out, wishing my voice didn’t sound so high.
“Where did you sleep last night?” Van asks, his grin turning into a smirk since he has likely already guessed the answer.
“What do you mean?” I stall.
“There is no pillow or blanket on the couch. Where did you sleep?”
“I … well … I slept in Zander’s room,” I finally say, wincing when Van looks excited having this news confirmed.
“And where did he sleep?”
I swallow hard as my mouth dries. Why does it feel like I’m being interrogated? As an adult, shouldn’t I have the upper hand? Why do I need to answer any of this?
“He was out last night. Now, are you sure you got all your—”
“No, he wasn’t. I was there when he came home. Did you guys have a sleepover?” he presses.
I can’t tell if he means sleepover as in sex, or if he’s innocently meaning a sleepover, picturing pillow forts and flashlights.
“He went back out after you saw him. Now, as I was saying, have you—”
“No, he didn’t. If he did, then why is he home already? I never saw him walk back in, which means he’s been in his room this whole time I’ve been awake. Are you and my brother dating? Are you his girlfriend? Are you going to move in permanently? Will you two get married?”
My jaw drops at just how out of control this has all gotten. How did I get here? How can my day be tu
rning into such a disaster when it’s not even eight-thirty in the morning?
“No! Van, don’t be silly. Your brother and I are just friends.” I hope I sound convincing, because I am definitely not lying.
Van’s eyes have lit up, so I don’t think there will be any dampening of it just yet.
Just great! Another way for me to disappoint him.
“Vaughn, get your coat. We’re leaving,” Zander’s voice snaps from behind me, and I quickly jump out of the way as he barrels through.
“Don’t mind him. He isn’t human until he has coffee,” Van explains on an eye roll. “You’ll learn that, though, now that you’re dating. As soon as he wakes up fully, he’ll apologize for being an asshole.”
“Vaughn, hurry the fuck up!” Zander snaps as he holds the front door open, keys in hand.
“Wow, you’re not kidding.” I glance over at the coffee maker and wonder how hard it is to work it. It’s probably best if I have one waiting for him.
“I wouldn’t touch his coffee maker. He loses his shit if it isn’t made just right.”
“Vaughn!” Zander screeches, and that gets Van moving.
“Agnes and Ava has a nice ring to it. When you have a baby, will you name him Agnes Junior?”
The door is firmly shut behind Van, and though I can’t hear whatever is said afterward, it sounds like Van is talking a million miles an hour again.
Glad to be out of that firing range, I quickly clean up the kitchen, tidy up Zander’s room, including placing his worn shirt and pants into the hamper, and hang the vest up in his closet since I’m not sure what the washing procedure is for that.
It’s rather scary that Zander had to wear such a thing last night, but thankfully, he didn’t need it, given there are no bullet holes to speak of.
Then I sit at the kitchen counter and wait for Zander to get back.
I hope I haven’t made him mad by letting him sleep in while I got Van up. Obviously, I should have given him more time to get himself a coffee.
I can’t help tapping my foot restlessly against the floor. Zander has plenty of books; they just aren’t my thing—all action and no romance. He has a laptop in his office I saw last night, but if I access it, I fear my mind will wander, and then I will log in somewhere that can be traceable back to me. This leaves me with doing a spring cleaning. However, since Zander is anal about how tidy his apartment is, I’m sure to get that wrong, as well as it being far too personal for a stranger to do. Otherwise, I have the TV and the evil couch.
My boredom might lead me to binge-watch daytime TV, something I’m not okay with. I try to resist, but I grow bored and time seems to drag.
I pick up the remote, my finger hovering over the power button, before I’m saved by the door opening.
I brace for Zander’s shitty morning mood, but find him holding a coffee already in his hand.
“Hey,” he mutters, dropping his keys on the small table by the doorway and moving over to the couch, plonking himself down next to me.
“Hi. Sorry about this morning. I should have woken you.”
“Don’t be sorry. I just got a caffeine thing. Can’t wake up properly without it. It doesn’t help that Van enjoys getting on my nerves first thing in the morning.” He takes another sip of his coffee, as if to soothe himself.
“Did he keep up his fast talking the entire way?”
“Yep. Apparently, we should call all our children Agnes, and then just place a number behind them so we can tell them apart.”
I snort at hearing that. “Geez, how many kids does he think we’re going to have?”
“Who knows? He just does it to annoy me. Knowing I didn’t have my morning coffee gave him more motivation to be irritating.”
“Again, I’m sorry.” I fidget next to him, feeling as though I failed this test or disappointed Zander somehow.
“It’s okay. I didn’t intend to come back to the apartment until it was time to get Vaughn up. I didn’t expect to tell you what our routine was.”
“But you came back early?”
“Yeah, forgot for a second you were even in my room. Sat on my bed, took my shoes off, and then you moved in your sleep. I meant to just go out onto the couch, but I didn’t see the harm in just lying down for a few minutes. Next thing I know, you’re waking me up. I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t violate your trust.” He sounds a little nervous now.
I rush to assure him it was fine. “It’s your bed, Zander. I can’t fault you for using it. And it’s fine. I wouldn’t wish your couch on anybody.” I try to lighten things up and am rewarded with his chuckle.
“So, if you came back early, does that mean things went really well? Or really bad?” I hold my breath, waiting for his answer.
“It went well for the most part. We were able to break into Forbes’ house with no issue. Found the USB immediately. Set up a couple of cameras from the street looking into Clarke’s house, but he didn’t appear to be home. If possible, I’d like to put a tracker on his car.”
I nod, not liking the reminder of Brian. I know this entire situation is a constant reminder of him, but hearing his name said out loud, even if it’s just his last name, and picturing his house as Zander speaks about it, I don’t like.
I wish I could forget him all together. In fact, I wish he could just forget me so I can go back to my life.
“Did you look at the USB?”
“We tried. It wouldn’t work on our computers. There might be an encryption or something on it. All I know is that it wouldn’t load. I left it with Jerry to look at. He’s a genius when it comes to all things electronic. He’ll figure it out.”
I nod slowly, not sure who Jerry is, other than vaguely recalling his name being mentioned during the fight between Sasha and Zander yesterday. I’m more worried that perhaps there won’t be anything on there. What if I got a dud USB? What if it didn’t copy properly?
If the USB is empty, then I will have no proof and no way to stop Brian from coming after me forever. I know he won’t stop until I’m dead. If I can’t get him arrested for his sick interests, then what the hell am I supposed to do?
“Don’t worry; Jerry is on it,” Zander reminds me when I must still look panicked. He pats my leg gently before he takes another long sip of his coffee.
“I don’t think I met Jerry yesterday. I remember you and Sasha mentioning him, though.”
“Jerry is a little odd. I’ve only met him once. The others, not at all.”
“Really?” I grab ahold of the new topic, needing to get away from talk of Brian, even if just for a moment. “How does that work? Does he come into the office after you’ve all gone home?”
“He’s never stepped foot into our offices.”
I frown, especially at seeing Zander smiling at my obvious confusion.
“I don’t get it.”
“About three years ago, I saw a woman being mugged on the street. I stopped the guy and made sure the lady was okay. She was pretty shaken up, but she wasn’t physically hurt. I stayed with her while she spoke to the police. She had no car so I took her to the station to file a report, and then she mentioned she had been on her way to get some groceries. She caught the bus everywhere, so I took her to her local store and helped her take her groceries home afterward.”
“Wow. That was nice of you.”
“I suppose.” He shrugs. “It just seemed like the right thing to do, and I had the day free, anyway. I had just started my business, and we were incredibly quiet. We had one case that was proving to be impossible. I only took it because we had nothing else. It was an embezzling case that none of us were properly qualified to do.”
“I’m not sure how this story leads to Jerry?”
“Right. So, I drop the lady off at her house, help her unpack her groceries, and then I was on my way. I only told her my name was Zander. Nothing else. I never mentioned my job or last name. Yet, Jerry found me.
“See, the lady I helped is his mom. So, when I got back to my office, I had an email w
aiting, and inside was all the evidence I needed to finish our case. Jerry had hacked the street cameras, saw my license plate, and then found me. From there, he found out about my business and hacked into our files to discover we were working a case. He left me a note with the evidence, saying our security was shit and that the case had been fun. Then he thanked me for helping his mom.”
“Wow, and then you just joined him up?”
“Well, at first, I would just use the email address he gave me to talk about something when I was stuck. From there, it grew until he became a full-time employee. He talks to us all through email. I think he and Sasha have the most normal discussions. They’re all used to the mysterious Jerry, so they don’t even think it’s odd now.” He smiles a little before taking another sip of his coffee.
“And you’ve only met him once? Why?”
“Jerry is a germophobe. He suffers from agoraphobia and has severe Crohn’s disease, amongst a bunch of other ailments. He doesn’t ever leave his house, and he doesn’t ever see other people. He’s a loner, and he prefers it that way.”
I can’t imagine living life like that. “Doesn’t he get lonely?”
“No. This is what he knows. I’m told, even as a kid, he preferred his own company.”
“Isn’t there something you can do to help him?”
“I am. I give him work, and he enjoys it. I’ve never given him a problem that he hasn’t been able to solve. He loves a challenge.”
I nod, hoping the USB isn’t too much of a challenge for him and that he can crack it.
“His name isn’t actually Jerry,” Zander admits after a few minutes of silence.
“What?” I gasp, feeling that was probably important to point out to begin with, along with his actual name.
“It’s an alias he uses. I have no idea what his real name is.”
“But, you said you met his mom. Couldn’t you easily find out?”
“She was his foster mom at some point. She made a real impact on her foster children. They loved her, and she loved them. She fostered close to sixty kids in her forty years. She also had kids come and go whose records aren’t likely to be found easily. I might be able to find him, but I know he doesn’t want that. If he wants to tell me his real name, then he can do that in his own time. For now, Jerry is fine.” He shrugs, giving me a little smile.
I Stole His Car (Love at First Crime Book 1) Page 12