Page 30 of Jett in Jeopardy

“Something smells good.” His voice was scratchy from sleep.

“There’s coffee.” Nodding toward the coffeepot.

“Oh, thank god.” He poured himself a cup and added some milk from the fridge.

“Is scrambled okay?” I asked, grabbing some eggs from the carton on the counter.

“Sure. Can I help?”

I shook my head. “Nah, this won’t take long.”

I wondered if I should bring up the stalker and going to the police. There were still some details we needed to work out. After all, the more information we could offer the police, the more likely they would take him seriously. I should probably wait until after breakfast, so I didn’t wreck his appetite before he had a chance to eat.

After I finished the eggs, I plated the food and set it on the table before pouring myself another cup of coffee and joining him at the table. Jett dug in heartily, shoving food into his mouth like he was afraid someone might steal it from him.

“There’s lots,” I told him, taking a bite of bacon on my plate.

He grinned around a mouthful of eggs. “Sorry. I don’t mean to be a pig. I have class in an hour.”

I stiffened. We needed to go over what had been going on with Jett, create some kind of timeline, then make a list of anyone who might have a problem with him to give to the police. “Can you blow it off?”

Jett frowned and shrugged. “I guess so. It’s not like it would be the first time. Why?”

I shot him a pointed look. “We were going to speak to the police today, remember?”

“I remember.” He dropped his gaze to his plate. “I could just go after class, though.”

“You could, but I have the distinct feeling you won’t.”

He smirked, but didn’t look up. “You might be right.”

“Why don’t you want to speak to them?”

He shrugged, his shoulder hunching forward. “I don’t think there’s any point. They’re not going to believe me, or even if they do, they’ll just tell me to get an alarm system for the house—which we have already—and that’s it. Hell, Grier got a broken armanda concussion when he fell down the stairs after an intruder was in our house, and the cops said pretty much the same thing. Nothing’s even really happened to me.”

“Are you kidding me right now? Someone nearly ran you down in the street last night after your tires were slashed. Someone who had to have been following you around knew you were downtown. And that’s just last night.”

He finally looked up and met my gaze, his expression was somehow both annoyed and miserable. “I know you’re right, but I just don’t want some cop poking around my life, judging me for everything I’ve ever done, and then telling me there’s nothing they can do, anyway. It’s just not worth it.”

Well, that sounded way too specific not to have happened. “Have you had to deal with something like this before?”

He dropped his gaze back to the table and shook his head, tracing a line in the wood with his fingertip. “Nothing likethis.”

But something. I considered pushing, but if he wanted me to know, he would have told me instead of dancing around it. “Look, you could speak to the police, and they might do nothing like you think, but at least there’s a record of everything that’s been happening to you. Because the thing is, when you lay out everything that’s happened over the past few months, whoever is doing this is escalating things.”

Jett sighed and scrubbed both hands down his face. “I know you’re right. I just wish you weren’t.” When he met my gaze again, he asked almost shyly, “Would you come with me?”

“Of course! There’s one other thing.”

“What’s that?”

“How would you feel about living here until we figure out who is doing this? The bar and my apartment have a top-of-the-line security system.” So I can protect you and kick the shit out of anyone stupid enough to try to hurt you. “I just feel you’re more vulnerable alone in that house with two roommates who are coming and going. Even when I’m working, I’d just be downstairs.”

“You wantmeto stayhere… withyou?”

“Are you okay with that?”

He snorted. “Are you kidding? It’s the best idea I’ve heard all week.”

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