Page 39 of Jett in Jeopardy

Let’s face it, I knew what Lana would say if I told her what I was thinking. It was the reason I was relieved Grier wasn’t working when I came in. He had a way of knowing what I was thinking and dragging the truth right out of me. Just like I could guess what Lana would say about my predicament, Iknewexactly what Grier would say… because I was thinking the same thing.

I should pack up my shit from Brody’s and go home. Unfortunately, there was still the not-so-small issue of someone trying to hurt me and who had no qualms about hurting the people closest to me if they got in the way.

“If you need me for anything, I’ll be just over there,” Lana pointed to the counter, before tossing her long braids over her shoulder and leaving me to my brooding.

I was stuck in a no-win situation. Go home and risk my friends getting hurt in the crossfire of whatever the hell this stalker wanted from me, or stay with Brody and risk my heart getting broken.

I wasn’t blind. I knew what set him off this morning. It had been when I mentioned the Christmas tree. No doubt the idea of decorating for the holidays was way more domestic than Brody had ever wanted from me. Or maybe he’d just been horrified at the prospect of me still being under his roof by the time the holidays rolled around. Neither possibility was great for my self-esteem, if I was honest. And the only real way out of this mess I’d dug myself into was to figure out who the hell was stalking me in the first place. If I could just figure out who, I could go home knowing my friends were safe, and I could walk away from Brody before I got even more invested.

I knew he hadn’t been looking for more than what we were doing know, except staying with him while he helped, sharing our meals together, the way he kissed and held me, watching TV together, it all felt like more than just great sex. Why bother doing any of that if you didn’t want it?

I thought Brody had kind of liked having me around almost as much as I enjoyed being with him. But I guess I had misread the situation entirely.

Okay, I didn’t want to drag all this out for either of us anymore than I already had. I needed to make a serious effort finding who could be behind everything that had been going on for the past six months.

Unfortunately, I genuinely didn’t know where to start. Whoever was doing this to me, to my friends, they’d managed to keep from being seen. They were essentially a faceless entity. Except… at the university bookstore.

Someone complained to Paula about me. He, or she, accused me of things I never did, which got me fired. Someone Paula had spoken to face-to-face. Could whoever it was be the same person who burned our house down, broken into our new home and nearly killed Alistair and Grier?

A thin flitter of excitement pulsed in my throat. Was I actually on to something?

I thought about calling Brody to get his input but stopped myself. This might be nothing and not go anywhere. No point in getting his hopes up until I had an actual name.

With only a week before the winter holidays started, the university was already a ghost town. I was lucky that the university bookstore was even still open, and luckier still, to have found Paula on her own behind the counter.

“Jett.” Paula’s light-blue eyes widened when she saw me weaving between the racks of university sweatshirts and t-shirts, making my way to the counter. “What are you doing here?”

Well, that wasn’t the heartfelt welcome I’d been hoping for. We got along fairly well before she let me go. It would have been nice if she were at least a little happy to see me.

“I needed to talk to you about something,” I began once I was standing opposite her at the counter. She hadn’t changed in the weeks since I’d been away. Her oval, gold-framed glasses were perched on the tip of her pug nose, gray-streaked brown hair tied in a ponytail at the back of her neck.

“Jett, I can’t give you your job back. I’ve already hired someone else.” She smoothed her ponytail.

“That’s not why I’m here. I know you said you had complaints about me. Was it multiple people or were the complaints just from one person?” I asked.

“I’m not comfortable telling you anything about that. Anonymity is important to make sure people are comfortable coming forward.”

“I know,” I said, trying my best to look like a wounded puppy she might feel sorry for. “It’s just, there’s been some strange, scary things happening to me right now, and the things you fired me for, well… I didn’t do them.” Her mouth opened as if she were going to argue, but I waved my hand and pressed on. “I’m really not here because of my job. I’m here because someone is messing with my life. Reallymessingwith it. Two of my roommates have already been hurt, and I’m just wondering if what happenedherecould be tied to what happened to my roommates.”

“I want to help you. I really do, but I just can’t tell you about the person who complained.”

“So, itwasone person?” I asked. Paula’s eyes widened as if she realized what she’d just given away. “I really can’t tell you more.”

“Honestly, Paula, I’m not asking to get back at anyone. It’s a job. I liked working here, but I’ll find another job. You saw my resume. My work history is varied, to say the least. I’m really just asking if the complaint came from one customer or more than one, and if they were a student?” And why they wanted to fuck with my life, but I wasn’t about to get into that with her.

She sighed. “If I tell you, you have to swear to me you won’t act on it.”

“Of course, I won’t.”

“Okay. The person who complained wasn’t a customer. He was another employee.”

Not a customer.Someone I’d worked with. Mentally, I ran through the list of people who worked with me, trying to think of anyone I might have pissed off. No one came to mind. I’d gotten along fine with everyone, and I sure as hell hadn’t flirted with anyone or any customers while I’d been working here, so who… but even before I could ask myself, a face popped into my head. Someone who I barely worked with or saw since he started working at the store and now seemed to turn up wherever I was. And he’d even asked me out.

“Simon,” I blurted out. Red crept up Paula’s neck and into her face, confirming what I said. “I didn’t say that.”

She didn’t have to. I could read it all over her face. Why would he be doing this to me? I didn’t know him from anyone.

“What’s his last name?” I asked.

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