Page 87 of The Love Bandits

Jake smiles at her, his hand still firmly wrapped around mine. “Did you have a nice celebration for his birthday the other day?”

I glance at him in disbelief. It’s adorable that he remembers this about her. Even more so that he thought to ask. Each time I tell myself Jake Not-Jeffries can’t possibly surprise me anymore, he one-ups himself.

“So kind of you to ask, sweetheart,” she says, reaching out to pat his cheek. I know from experience what it feels like—the rasp of his five o’clock shadow, the strong line of his jaw. “Yes. He would have been eighty-five, God rest him. I made a pot of his favorite tea and brought it to the Arboretum.” Smiling, she pats him again and steps back, “We liked to have a little fun in public places too. You know, my dear Mortimer spent so much of his seed there, I’m surprised a forest didn’t spring up. Oh, to be young. You might want to zip up before you go upstairs, dear, the folks in 2C are prudes.”

Laughter rips out of me as Jake lifts his brows and then pointedly fastens his zipper. The condom must still be attached to him, and I can’t imagine it’s comfortable, a thought that makes me laugh until I’m breathless and nearly doubled over with laughter.

“Yes, it’s very funny, Lainey,” Jake says, rubbing my back. Turning to Joy, he says, “We were fixing the car. Something was rattling in the engine. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.”

Laughing softly, she winks at him. “Thank you for connecting me with your friend last night. I’m looking forward to helping out at his tea. Is there any particular energy you’d like me to tap into?”

Jake grins at me and then her. “I don’t know. Can you make the other guests confess their deepest secrets to us? That would be helpful.”

I expect her to take it as a joke, but she tips her head. “I’m going to give that some thought.”

We go upto Jake’s apartment to collect the rest of his belongings in trash bags so Jake Jeffries can officially check out of his rental—and so Jake can get rid of the condom that’s been “strangling” his dick.

We take a shower that has very little to do with getting clean, and right before we’re about to leave so we can drape our homemade banner across the motherfucker’s Ducati, my phone rings with a call from Mrs. Rosings.

I show him the screen and then answer.

“Thursday evening,” she says without any preliminaries. “Eight o’clock. We’ll be attending the community theater together, so please make it worthwhile. It’s aHalloweenplay, Elaine, and they encouraged the audience to ‘dress up.’ A woman my age shouldn’t be forced to suffer through such an indignity.”

“Do you have a key?” I ask, my heart racing in my chest.

“I do not,” she says with a sniff. “Do you think they’ve ever deigned to entertainme? Perhaps those friends of yours could find a way in?”

She knows about Nicole and Damien.

“We’ll figure it out,” I agree.

“You sound different,” she says suddenly, her tone sharp. “You’re with that boy, aren’t you? The charming one with the incredibly foolish diet.”

“I am, and Ifeeldifferent,” I admit, glancing at Jake, who’s sitting on the couch beside me, fiddling with his phone. His toe is tapping to some kind of internal rhythm. I put a hand on his thigh, and he smiles at me.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early. In the meantime…be careful, Elaine,” she says, then cuts off the call before I can ask what she means.

Only I think maybe I know. She told Claire that she never really loved any of the three husbands she lost, but maybe that’s just a story she tells herself to make it easier. Or, at the very least, it’s reductive. Because I can tell Mrs. Rosings is a person who’s had her heart broken, and a heart can be broken without being fully given to someone. I know that firsthand.

Maybe she thinks I’m falling into a trap she bit her own leg off to escape from.

I wonder if it felt like this for her too—if excitement and ecstasy lined the path to hell.

“She found us an in to Anthony’s house?” Jake asks.

I nod slowly, a feeling of unease creeping into me. “On Thursday night. What happens if we find the necklace?”

“Well,” he says, pulling me onto his lap. “I’m glad you asked. We’re going to steal it back, hellcat. Maybe we should leave Nina with the bubblegum machine necklace to add insult to injury.”

I turn in his lap to face him. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

His throat bobs as he nods. “I do.” There’s a few seconds of silence, then he traces his fingers across my lips. “I’ve got to save my brother, Lainey. I’m all he’s got.”

“You meanwe’reall he’s got,” I correct, wrapping my hand around his jaw and turning his face so his eyes are boring into mine. “You’re not alone in this anymore.We’regoing to save him. But you have to trust us so we can figure it all out together.”

Something flashes in his eyes, and he leans in and kisses me. “I trustyou.”

But that’s not good enough, because I can’t help him fix this in a way that sees his brother to safety and gets Mrs. Rosingsback what’s hers. For that, we need Nicole and Damien. They’re the ones who can make that kind of alchemy happen.

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