Page 94 of Jake Forever
Chapter 34
A moment later, we were standing outside on the balcony. The night was warm and muggy, with a damp wind that made me shiver in spite of the mild weather.
Standing by Jake's side, I gazed out over the urban landscape. From here, I could see the Detroit River and the area that surrounded it. Next to me, Jake was grim and silent, surveying the view with dark, wary eyes.
When he said nothing, I asked, "Why are we out here?"
"Because I've got a question."
"What?" I asked.
"How well do you know this place?"
I gave it some thought. Like Jake, I'd grown up two hours north of here in a town a lot smaller than this. It was true that after college, I'd moved closer to Detroit, but even then, I'd stuck mostly to the suburbs.
Except for a brief stint in a seedy apartment with a skanky roommate, most of the places I'd lived had been a lot less interesting than this. Wasthatwhat he was getting at?
I glanced over at him. "How well do I know what? The city?"
He looked out over the cityscape. "Everything you see now. The city, the neighborhood, whatever. How well do you know it?"
Obviously, he knew the answer. I'd been living here for just a few short weeks. We spent a lot of time on the balcony and inside the condo. But whenever we went out, it was usually by car and farther than a five-minute drive.
"Not that well," I admitted.
"Well, I do," he said. "And so does Moe."
"Moe? The guy who sent you that picture?"
"Yeah. The guy whoalsosaved your sweet little ass."
The statement made me pause, and not because of the compliment. I turned to face Jake head-on. "What do you mean?"
"Those guys who were following you," he said, "you never encountered them. And you wanna know why?"
"Because I outran them?"
"Guess again."
"Honestly, Jake, I have no idea. I never even saw them."
"Right. Because where you grew up–"
"Don't you mean wherewegrew up?"
Jake made a scoffing sound. "Baby, if you think we grew up in the same place…" He stopped and shook his head.
I was almost insulted. "It was the same town," I reminded him. "We even hung out together. Remember?"
For some reason, this made his lips twist into something that wasn't quite a smile. "Uh-huh."
I crossed my arms. "Well, we did."
"Wrong," he said. "You were slumming it. I wasn't."
The more he talked, the more insulted I felt. Growing up, I hadn't had a lot of money, so the idea of me "slumming it" with anyone was ludicrous.
"I was not," I insisted. "And besides, we didn't live that far apart."
