Page 48 of One Bad Idea
"I wish."
"And you didn't think to tell me?"
She gave me a faint smile. "I didn't want you to worry."
At the thought of Stuart's treachery, I sat back in my chair. "That jerk."
"You don't need to tellme," she said. "I never liked him, you know."
My head was spinning as I considered his recent visit. "Do you know, when he was here, he acted like the whole truck thing never happened? I mean, yeah, he wanted me to apologize, but other than that, he was all friendly and stuff."
Cassidy's gaze narrowed. "Howfriendly?"
"Get this," I said. "He suggested we 'nap' together."
"Do you mean nap-nap, or…"
"No. I mean theotherkind, where you don't sleep."
"Oh." She was making that face again. "God, what an ass. What did you tell him?"
"Nothing. That's when Jaden showed up, acting all crazy."
Cassidy gave a rueful laugh. "Good thing, too."
I wasn't following. "How so?"
"I'm just saying, he probably did you a favor."
I couldn’t help but scoff. "Jaden? Oh, please."
But even as I said it, I recalled him talking to Stuart yesterday on my cell phone. Among other things, he'd told Stuart to leave me alone.Or else.
Come to think of it, he'd also mentioned something about the police, hadn't he?
And now, I didn't know what to think. Apparently, Jaden had known a lot more than I'd realized. Heck, when it came to the whole truck thing, he probably knew more thanIdid.
I looked to Cassidy and said, "Hey, a question. Yesterday, did he know the police stopped by?"
"You mean Jaden?" Cassidy nodded. "Oh yeah. He was the one who dealt with them."
"Dealt with them how?"
"I don't know," she said. "That's all I know. He dealt with the policeandthe truck."
"Oh."
It suddenly struck me that he'd gone to an awful lot of trouble on my behalf. In fact, he'd gone toextra bonus trouble, if I considered him showing up here to get rid of Stuart.
But that wasn't formybenefit. That was for himself.
Right?
He'd called me his "investment." That didn't sound warm and fuzzy. It sounded cold and businesslike.
Then again, I was his assistant, even if he wasn't terribly happy about it.
Cassidy and I were still trying to sort things out when a knock sounded at the apartment door. I looked to Cassidy and asked, "Are you expecting someone?"
