Page 41 of Redemption

“Tell her you have a surprise.” He gave me a quick peck.

I gestured for him to hide out of sight when I opened the door, and just as I was about to open it, he grabbed his boxers from the foot of the bed. My heart was pounding, and I had no idea what he was going to do.

I opened the door in a rush, stepping out into the living room before closing it behind me. “Hey.”

“Hey!” Greer frowned. “Were you…working out?” She assessed my outfit.

“I, um—” I glanced down at my clothes. “Actually, I have a surprise for you.”

She tilted her head, the corner of her mouth tipping up. “What kind of surprise?”

God, it was tempting to tell her the truth and be done with it. I hated keeping this secret from her. I hated having to hide what Jackson meant to me, even if I was terrified of how it would impact our relationship.

“Close your eyes.”

She scrunched up her face. “Okay.” And then did as she was told. “But it’s not even my birthday.”

I opened the door to my room and motioned for Jackson to come out. He crept toward the front door, and I was impressed by his stealth. Even so, my stomach felt as if it might launch itself out of my mouth at any moment.

He went over to the front door. Opened and closed it, all while remaining on the inside of the apartment.

“Open,” I said, counting on the fact that Greer would be too happy to see her brother to question his sudden appearance or the reasons for it.

Her eyes fluttered open, and the moment she saw Jackson, she smiled. “Oh my god. Jackson?”

“Surprise!” I hoped I sounded excited and not nervous.

She launched herself at him, and his answering smile was brilliant. “Hey, sis.”

“What are you doing here?” she asked, stepping back. “Is everything okay?”

He glanced at me over her shoulder, and I nodded, encouraging him to tell her the truth. At least about his job, if not about us.

“That was…” I shook my head. “God, that was stressful.”

I still hated myself for lying to my best friend. But Jackson and I had kept our promise—we hadn’t let our relationship, or lack of it, affect our relationships with Greer. Not then and not since.

“And that time on the boat…” he started to say, and then we were both laughing.

My cheeks reddened. “That was… It could’ve been really bad.”

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you then—or now.” His expression seemed too heavy for the moment we’d just shared. Like it was weighted with some unspoken meaning.

“Jackson…”

“That’s why you hired me, right?”

Silly me. For a minute, I’d thought that maybe he still cared about me, but I was just another job to him.

“That’s why my family hired you,” I corrected.

“Sloan,” he chided. “Don’t lie to me.”

I gritted my teeth, annoyed by his thinly veiled dig at our past. “I’m not lying.”

“Maybe not about your reasons for finally relenting. But come on. Anyone would be scared by the threats. Hell, you attacked me last night.”

I decided to let his comment about lying slide. He was just as guilty of keeping secrets as I was, but if we were going to survive this trip, avoiding any mention of the past seemed like the best policy.

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