Page 27 of He Is Jensen: Part One

“Oh, that’s priceless,” I choke out in the midst of a bitter laugh. “You were at the window. You think I don’t remember that? And we both know you were on the back porch and that I handed Laylatoyou.”

“You came out the backdoor before I ever made it to the window.”

“Your lies are going to get you nice and dead, Maddox.”

“I amnotworking for Julian,” he insists vehemently, his chin lifting in Creed’s direction. “You were undercover inside Zodius until only a few months ago. If I was working for Julian, wouldn’t you know?”

“He’s not one of them,” Creed states with absoluteness. “And we thought you were dead.”

“I need a word alone with Jensen,” Caleb states.

Creed shoots me a warning look before releasing Maddox and shoving him toward the door. “She’s not dead,” I call after Maddox. “But I can promise you this. If anything happens to her, I will kill you.”

Maddox glances back at me, and then, without a word, exits the room with Creed on his heels.

“He’s not lying,” Caleb says softly as the door shuts.

“The hell he’s not,” I say. “I saw him hand her over. I don’t care what your damn Spidey senses tell you.”

“I know you believe that,” he says. “I know you’re not lying, and I wouldn’t need my ‘Spidey’ senses to know that, becauseI know you. But I can tell you without any question, you both believe what you’re saying is the one hundred percent truth.”

I narrow my eyes in surprise. “He’s not lying?”

“You know I’d know.”

I do, I think. Caleb senses other people’s emotions—their truths and their lies. “I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. You could have been delirious.”

“No. No, I wasn’t.”

“Then you were tricked in some way, which we might as well call Zodius magic. They did something to fool you.” He pauses a beat. “He really thought you were dead, too. I really thought you were dead. I was not okay. None of us were.”

I run a hand through my hair and sit on the edge of the table. “Yeah, well, I should be, and she will be if I don’t find her and find her fast.”

“Tell me everything.”

I recount the past few days, including Layla’s ICE addiction, and end with the details of our escape. “I have no idea what happened in that section of Zodius City, but Layla and I were the only ones who were conscious.”

“Were they dead or knocked out?”

“No clue, and there wasn’t time to spare to find out. And it can’t be a toxin, or Layla and I would have been affected. But why were we immune?”

“It must have been poison or a drug that they were given and you were not, but to what end?”

“I don’t think so. The Zodius soldiers were afraid to come after us. We were able to walk right out of the facility. I need to find her, man. I’ve been looking for her for hours.”

He studies me a moment that becomes three. “She’s personal to you.” It’s not a question, but rather his senses at work, his head tilting slightly as he adds, “And not just because you have a history. This is not obligation to you or even duty.”

“It’s those things and more,” I say. “She’s personal.” I don’t offer more because I don’t even know what that more is. I’ve always been drawn to Layla. I was then. I am now. And at present, I could easily say Layla matters to me more than anything has in a very long time. Perhaps illogically, but I don’t seem to care. It is what it is. Nothing can change how much I need to find her and keep her alive.

“We’ll find her,” Caleb promises.

But will we find her before it’s too late to save her?

Chapter twenty-one

Jensen

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