A Whole New Crowd(71)

“How, Taryn!?”
I jerked back, slamming into his desk from my movement. It cut into my arm, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t dare look away from him. “You printed out an email from her mother. It fell from your pocket one day at the house.”
His eyes went flat. “Tell me the truth. Now.”
Shit. “There was an email you printed out. I just found it one night in your pants.”
He took a step towards me. I could feel the danger radiating off him. It was coming off of him in waves. “What were you doing going through my pants?”
“I wasn’t snooping on purpose—”
“Not like now.”
I flushed. “I was looking for a condom. Brian ran out. We knew you would have one.”
He cursed and moved the rest of the way into the room. Shutting the door behind him, he turned the lock and pressed a code into a compartment beside it. I chewed on my lip. I had completely missed that. As he pressed the right buttons, the red light turned green and then yellow. He had armed it. It would go off when I left, drawing the guards to the top floor. I stored that in the back of my mind, but then he looked back at me as he took his gun out.
“Jace.” My heart was pressed against my chest. It felt like it was trying to break out of me.
“Stop.” He shook his head and moved to the table. He put the gun down, then stripped his shirt off. As he turned, his muscles moved, and his skin glistened from sweat and dirt. He reached for a clean shirt that was laid on the table and pulled it over his head. It was another black one, hugging every inch of him. He glanced back over at me, his eyes were still dead, but the fear in me went down a notch. He moved away from the gun. Instead of coming towards me, he went to the far wall and leaned against it. His head went down.
I didn’t dare say anything. I had to wait for him to start.
“I keep telling you to stay away and you keep coming back.” His head lifted, his eyes pinning me back in place again. “Why, Taryn? No bullshit lies. Tell me why right now or I’ll do something you won’t like.”
Anger spiked in me, but it mixed with fear. I read the threat in his eyes and knew it was true. He really would do something. A shiver went up my back. I didn’t want to find out what it would be. “Did you set up my adoption?”
“Yes.”
My eyes widened and my eyebrows shot up. A gutted laugh spilled out of me. “I hadn’t expected that honesty.”
He tilted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes. “Why? Because you’re so honest with me?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You sent Brian on a mission when you should’ve come to me first.”
“I did not. What are you talking about?”
“He came around asking a lot of questions last night. He wanted to know about your family. He went to anyone who would talk to him. Word got around.” He stopped. Pure agony flashed in his eyes and my alarm shot up again. He wasn’t saying something. I knew it. There was more to come and I started to shake my head.
“I never said anything to him.”
“You told him about your family. Why did you say anything to him?” His voice was strangled and it stopped in a whisper. The anger left completely and I saw only pain in him. It hurt to see. It was deep and there was so much. I felt it in myself, just from seeing it, and I turned away. I didn’t want to hear what he was saying.
I said, “Whatever Brian did was on him.”
“It’s on you.”
I stopped, then gulped. What did that mean?
“He didn’t come to me, Taryn. He doesn’t want anything to do with me anymore. He went to others, and they went to others. I was told too late.”
“What?” I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”
“He said your family was forced to take you in. He wanted to know the social worker that put your adoption together.” His chest lifted and I heard the pain in his voice. His voice hitched on a sob. “That’s a government worker. Do you know what happens when there’s rumors a drug dealer wants to talk to a government worker?”
“No, no, no,” I started whispering, starting to put the pieces together. No, no, no. I couldn’t think anything else. There was no way.
“They didn’t come to me. He didn’t come to me. I was too late.”
“No, no, no.” I kept shaking my head.
“He’s dead, Taryn.”
No, no, no, no, no, no. I heard what he said, but I couldn’t accept it. It couldn’t be. I had talked to him twenty-four hours ago. He had been fine. “He’s fine.”
“He’s not.” Jace’s eyes looked dead. “Trust me, he’s very far from being alive.”