to the lawyer?” Jasmin asks, placing a steaming mug of coffee down on my desk.
“It was fine. We got the papers signed.” I click out of the report I’m working on and pick up the mug, inhaling the steam. “Thank you.”
“So my brother didn’t seem weird?”
“What do you mean?”
“I met him for a run this morning and he was the grumpiest asshole. Which only usually happens when he’s worried about something. The last time he was this bad was before… before the trial began.” Jasmin sighs, perching on the edge of my desk.
“I…” I frown into my mug as I take a sip. “He did start acting weird. There was a guy coming toward us on the phone, and he pulled me down an alley to avoid him.”
And kissed me. Fake kissed me.
“What did he look like?”
“I didn’t see him. He sounded… I don’t know. He was talking about product and stealing it. And he mentioned a Mr. Young.”
Jasmin pales, her eyes widening. “Julian Young?”
“I don’t know.” My stomach twists into a knot as the name registers. “Is he the guy who—?”
“The guy who got Dax sent to jail? Yeah.” Jasmin closes her eyes, running her fingertips over her forehead. “Yeah, he is.”
“Maybe this guy was someone Dax recognized from the trial, and he didn’t want to see him. It would make sense.”
“The only thing that makes sense is that if Julian Young’s name is ever mentioned, then there’s trouble,” Jasmin says.
“Have you ever seen him? Since Dax got out? Has he seen him?” The idea has goosebumps prickling up my spine. What would that be like for Dax? Seeing the man who began the chain of events that led to him losing two and a half years of his life?
“Dax hasn’t seen him.” Jasmin drops her head back and blows out a breath toward the ceiling. “And hopefully, it’ll stay that way. Although he isn’t far away. His business is in the next county.”
“What does he do?”
“He runs an import and export company. Mostly overseas liquor. Rum, brandy. Wine.”
“Not gin?”
Jasmin scoffs. “No. Not gin. A fact he’s never let go. He was so pissed when Dax won that contract with Daisy Anderson to produce it here. Julian wanted to outsource it overseas where labor would be cheaper, and then transport it globally using his company.”
“But Daisy chose you and Dax, not him.”
“She chose Dax.” Jasmin shakes her head with the beginnings of a proud smile “He and her husband, Blake, hit it off and she liked something about Dax. She said she had learned to be a good judge of character. And Dax passed whatever personal test she had set. Either that, or she felt sorry for us. Two orphans being thrown into a business we had no idea how to run. Dax was only twenty-one, and I was fifteen when our grandparents died and we inherited the estate. He did it all himself. We got by fine. But it was years later when we won that contract things really improved, and the business started thriving. Dax barely had time to enjoy it before he got convicted.”
“You guys are incredible.” I reach over and squeeze her hand. “You’ve done an amazing job. And you’ve made more profit than predicted. Dax told me that you both want to give the staff a bonus.”
“Yeah. They’ve been great. The ones who’ve stuck with us.”
“Well, looking at your figures, you can easily do it. You could even give them more if you wanted to.”
She smiles at me and squeezes my hand back, taking in a deep breath. “Thank you, Rose. You coming here has been great for all of us.”
“How’d you figure that?”
She laughs.
“Well, apart from being a lady-boss at your job, you’ve done something to Dax. He may be moody still, but… I don’t know. He’s here. He’s present. I used to look at him when he first came out and wonder if part of him was left behind. Still locked in that cell. But recently he’s been… Dax again. Mostly the grumpy version. But I see the way he looks at you. He likes you being here. You don’t treat him like a criminal. You don’t judge him. And you also don’t take his shit.”
“I have a brother who likes to mess with me. Believe me, I know how to not take shit. He sat on the TV remote for three hours once so me and Casey couldn’t put a movie on when he wanted to watch a soccer match. He let us turn the house upside down looking for it, and it was under his ass in his wheelchair the entire time.”
“He sounds like a typical brother.” Jasmin laughs.
“Yeah. I guess he is.” I blink back the sudden stinging in my eyes.
What if I haven’t been fair to Brett? Here I am complaining that my family tell me what to do, and all think they know what I need, what’s best for me, treating me differently since Brett was hurt. What if I’ve been like that to him? We’ve still had our normal moments living together, getting on each other’s nerves. But they’ve been far fewer. I’ve shut him out. I’ve blamed myself for what he’s been through. When maybe I should have been speaking to him instead. Have I made him feel like a victim? By always seeing his injuries and blaming myself for them?
Have I hurt him even more?
Jasmin’s phone rings, and her face illuminates as she looks at the screen.
“I need to take this. I’ll catch you later?”
“Sure.” I smile weakly as she leaves, then pick up my phone and dial Mom’s number.
I just want to hear their voices.
Brett answers on the third ring.
“Hey, Sis. Harls? Rose is on the phone. Hang on, I’m going to put you on speaker.”
“Okay.”
“Hi,” Harley pants. “Sorry, I just ran in from the backyard.”
“She and Reed were out there making a porno on Mom’s sun lounger.
“We were not,” she gasps.
“Could have fooled me. Your lips are permanently attached to him.”
“Ignore Brett.” Harley giggles. “He’s just jealous because he has this new physical therapist he has the hots for, and she’s not interested.”
“It’s not that,” Brett grumbles. “She says she can’t date me because of some stupid patient and therapist rule.”
“Really?” I snort, smiling at their squabbling. This was always the three of us before. Winding each other up. Dad had to play peacemaker so many times.
“I’ve got it all worked out,” Brett announces. “I’m going to ace the program she’s got me on, and then when I smash it and she isn’t my therapist anymore, I’m going to ask her out.”
“Uh-huh,” Harley quips.
“I am. She knows it. I’ve told her.”
“What’s this girl’s name?” I ask.
“Lena,” Brett replies.
“I’ll keep Lena in my prayers tonight for having to put up with you.” I laugh.
There’s a pause before Harley and Brett break into surprised laughter. They aren’t used to me joining in with them now. I can’t remember the last time I cracked a joke.
“How are you doing, Rose?” Harley’s voice softens. “Are you… are you happy there? We miss you.”
“I’m…”
I glance up at my office doorway as something dark catches my eye. Dax walks past with Logan, on the way to his office. He looks straight at me as he passes, his eyes burning into mine. I can’t bring myself to smile or nod or acknowledge him in any way. I just stare back until they pass.
“The people are nice. Especially Jasmin. You guys would love her. Casey would too.”
“Have you spoken to Casey in the last couple of days?” Harley’s voice is quiet, and I strain to hear her.
“Not since the day before yesterday. Why?”
“Oh… well, it’s…” Harley fumbles.
My skin prickles. Casey and I talk every day. But when I tried to call her after getting in last night, her phone went to voicemail. And she hasn’t texted me back today.
“Has something happened?” Coldness creeps over me, turning my stomach. The same way it did when the cops turned up on our doorstep that day and asked if we were Brett Jacobs’ family.
“She’s fine, she’s fine,” Harley says. “It’s just… we found out something. She said she would tell you herself. She swore she would.”
“What?” The coldness drops another degree until pain joins it, twisting my stomach inside out.
“She was…” Harley starts and then stops.
“She was the other woman,” Brett says matter-of-factly.
“What are you talking about?” I sit forward on the edge of my seat.
“The guy who knocked down Brett, the one who was speeding home to his wife,” Harley whispers. “Casey was the one who—”
No.
“No!”
“I’m so sorry, Rose.”
“You’re wrong.”
“We’re not.” Brett sighs. “We’re not, Sis. We wouldn’t tell you unless we knew for certain.”
“She is my best friend,” I hiss. “Why are you lying?”
“We’re not. I wish we were,” Harley says, her voice wobbling.
“What even…?” I screw my face up, my hand flying to my mouth.
“She said it was over before that day, before she even knew what he had done,” Brett says.
I shake my head, my ears ringing as I rip my hand away and gulp in air, my chest tight.
No.
“She would have told me. It’s been years.”
“We’re so sorry, Rose,” Harley whispers.
“Whoever told you, they’re lying.”
She wouldn’t do this. Sandbox to casket.
“A couple of friends heard the guy’s wife saying things after a few drinks. She didn’t know who it was, but the stuff they overheard… they said it had to be Casey,” Brett says.
“She admitted it all when we saw her yesterday. She even seemed…” Harley sighs. “I don’t know… like it was a relief to finally come clean.”
“I haven’t spoken to her… I …” My vision blurs, my heart racing.
She didn’t. She couldn’t have.
“She would have told me!” I cry. “She’s my best friend. She would have told me.”
There’s no way she could have been seeing someone, especially a married man, and be keeping it a secret from me. We tell each other everything. And I would have noticed, I mean…
But Gareth and I were going through that rough period. It lasted months. Moving in together, and the… the sex… I thought at the time it would all help. That we just needed to show each other how committed we were. That it was a dip that would pass.
I was distracted. I didn’t see Casey as much… but I was still there. She couldn’t have hidden this from me. She wouldn’t.
“You’re liars!” I shout down the phone. “You’re talking about Casey like she would do that to me. She wouldn’t. She’s been there for me forever, every time I’ve needed her.”
“Exactly,” Harley says gently. “Exactly, Rose. How could she have told you after she knew what he did? What he did to Brett? To our family? To you?”
“She wouldn’t do it.”
I hold my free hand out in front of me. It’s shaking. I suck in a breath through my nose and hold it still. But it trembles again in a split second, then turns into a full shake once more.
“Sorry, Sis. We didn’t want to be the ones to tell you. She said she was going to,” Brett says.
“But we could tell by the way you sounded when you called that she hadn’t.” Harley’s voice is full of concern, and I can just picture her looking over at Brett with wide, worried eyes. The two of them feeling sorry for me again. Poor fucked up little sister. Never being able to move past that day that cost us all so much.
The day that was my fault… only… was it?
If Casey was … No! She couldn’t be. But if she was? Then…
I have to know.
“I’ve got to go.” I hang up before Harley and Brett can say anything else, and immediately dial Casey’s number.
It doesn’t even complete a full ring before she answers.
“Rose, I was about to call you, I was—”
“Is it true?” I scream, my voice breaking.
“I—”
“Don’t lie to me. Don’t lie to me again!” I screw my eyes up so hard they sting as colored spots pulsate behind my eyelids.
“I was going to tell you. I just didn’t know how. I’m so sorry.” Casey breaks down sobbing.
I fold forward over the desk as the air leaves my lungs in one sudden whoosh, like I’ve been punched in the gut.
Casey continues sobbing. “I’m sorry, Ro. Please… I’m so sorry…”
I stagger to my feet and grab my purse.
I end the call, cutting off her frantic cries as I swipe a set of car keys up from the desk and race out of the office.
