Page 82 of Montana Heat

She cleared her throat and shot me a stern look before answering. “This is Jada.”

“There’s the voice of the woman I love.”

Alan. Shit. No help to be gained there.

“Alan!” Jada squealed. “Hey, baby. How are you calling me right now?”

“I’m so glad I could reach you, my precious queen,” he crooned in that falsely sweet tone he used to use with me. “I have good news.”

“Yeah? What news, sweetie.” Jada sat up straighter, so giddy and enthusiastic to be able to talk to him. She clearly clung to his every word. “What is it?”

“I got out a little earlier than expected.”

She gasped then squealed again in excitement. “Early? You’re already out now? That’s how you’re calling me!”

“Sure am. I can’t wait to see you.”

She took her hands off the wheel to clap for a second. “Where are you? I thought I was goingto pick you up.”

“Well, once I got out, I headed to Denver. I went by Kenzie’s apartment. You know, for closure. But she wasn’t there. Her neighbor told me that Kenzie hadn’t been around for a while. Weird, huh?”

Wait.

He didn’t know I wasn’t in Denver? Jada must not have told him what she was doing. She’d been working on her own.

“Why did you need to see Kenzie?” Some of the giddiness was gone from her voice. “I thought you said you wanted to get over her.”

“For closure, baby, like I said. I just feel like if I could see her one more time, then I could leave her behind me forever. Just one more time. That’s all I need. Tosettlethings.”

Could she not hear the menace fairly dripping from his words? Yeah, he wanted to see me one more time—but not to shake my hand so we could go our separate ways.

He wanted revenge on me for putting him in jail.

“You really feel like you need to see her one more time?”

“Yes, baby. For us. To give us a clean slate to start from. But I’m afraid no one is going to understand that if I’m looking for her, you know? So, maybe you can help me. For us. Would you do that for us?”

That gaslighting son of a bitch.

Jada giggled again. “I can do us one better.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” I could tell his voice was a little colder, but Jada didn’t seem to notice.

“I can bring Kenzie to you right now.”

“Oh yeah, my queen.” All coldness was gone from his voice now that Jada was being compliant. “You know where she is? Why don’t you tell me, and I’ll pay Kenzie a little visit and get this over with.”

“I have her in the car with me right now.”

Silence lingered for a long moment. “Right now?”

“Yep. I talked her into leaving Colorado.” Her eyes met mine in the mirror, and she put a finger up to her lips, signaling me to be quiet. “I was going to help her get set up somewhere else before you got out.”

More silence.

“Alan?”

“I’m just trying to wrap my head around all this. Where are you right now?”

---