Page 69 of Death Match

Absolutely perfect.

The ride home was full of laughter.

After the food, sex, andolive juiceconfession, I was still sitting on cloud nine from it all. I had not a care in the world, and I don’t think I’d ever felt this way before. It was a relief for me, and for the first time, I could breathe again. This was what happiness felt like. True, pure bliss. The kind people wrote about. The kind that girls gushed about. I finally understood it now.

Somewhere deep down, there was a fear that I couldn’t keep this moment. That it wouldn’t last forever, and that terrified me.

“You okay?” I looked over at Cole and he must have seen the confusion in my face because he added, “You’re holding onto me like you’re about to have my baby.” He laughed, as though he wanted to make sure I was well aware that he was joking, that babies were not something on his mind any time soon.

I glanced down at our hands and noticed how white my knuckles were. I let him go immediately, as though my hand had just been splattered with hot oil.

“I didn’t mean let go,” he assured me, grabbing for my hand. This time when he laced our fingers together, I made sure to hold him without a death grip. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

We pulled up to the old Victorian. He parked the car into the driveway, and we made our way back into our house.

Ourhouse. It was still such a strange thing for me to think, let alone say out loud.

As Cole and I climbed the steps to the front door, I asked, “Do you really need to go to work today?”

It seemed a bit selfish of me to keep him home, but suddenly, I didn’t want him to leave me for even a minute. The fear of this blissful feeling somehow coming to an end was sickening. I hated to admit it, especially since I was so used to being alone, but now that I had him—had this—I didn’t want to let him go.

After putting the key in the lock and turning, he turned to me. “That’s the beauty of working for yourself. I make my own hours,” he said and opened the door. “Why? Do you want me to cancel?”

I smiled at him sheepishly as we stepped into the foyer. “Maybe. Or at least push the time back a little.”

“Funny, ‘cause I was thinking the same thing. Sure, I’ll just call my client up and reschedule. We can finish painting today, or if you want, we can just bum out and watch movies all day. I can order pizza.”

My stomach rumbled. I hadn’t eaten that much at breakfast, and after the sex in the alley, I needed some sustenance. “That sounds amazing actually.”

As Cole walked down the slender hallway and into the kitchen, disappearing from sight, uneasiness crawled over me. I crossed my arms and tried to rub the goose bumps off my skin.

Not sure where it had come from, I thought back to our conversation and realized I didn’t know what Cole did for a living. All I could remember was that when I met him, his job wasn’t the best. It had been something…bad.

I furrowed my brow. Why couldn’t I remember something so important? This was the man I cared about and lived with, and yet I didn’t know what his job was? The worry continued to worm through my body. Whatever his job was, I knew I didn’t like it.

Leaning into the hallway, I called out to Cole, who was doing something in the kitchen. “Wait… Where do you work again?”

His head poked into view with a corded phone tucked in between his ear and shoulder. He stared at me, confused. “I’m a real estate agent.”

A real estate agent. Cole?

That wasn’t right.

Alarm bells sounded in my head, but I forced myself to ignore them. At least for the moment.

“And do I work?” I continued, wanting to know more.

“Why are you asking me these questions?” he said with pinched brows.

“Why don’t you just answer them,” I shot back, annoyed, and crossed my arms about my chest.

“No, you said you didn’t want to work, and that’s fine with me. I make enough for the both of us.” He hung up the phone and walked toward me. “Is everything okay, Jade?”

No, it wasn’t okay. Because that statement felt wrong, too.

I did have a job. A very important job. Actually, there was something I was supposed to be doing at this very moment.

But what was it?

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