DEATH (The Justice Cycle Book 1) J Kiefer (ebook reader .txt) 📖

he asked, exhaling. “I mean, do you want the truth, or do you want me to make something up?”

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Jared snapped. “Just get on with it already, will you?”

“Okay, okay! Yeesh!” Joe threw up his hands. “Calm down!” He exhaled another stream of smoke. “You’re putting me in a tough spot, you know?”

“I get it. But I need to know what happened,” Jared replied, trying hard to keep his emotions in check.

“So you can do what? Go give the guy a ticket or something?” snapped Joe.

Jared’s face went pale.

Joe winced. “Oh shit! I’m sorry, man, I didn’t want to tell you that way.”

She had left with another man? How could she have done that? It did not make any sense. He had done everything right, hadn’t he? She had left him without even saying a word. No. Joe must have been mistaken. There was no way she would have gone off with some stranger.

Joe reached out to grab his arm comfortingly, but Jared swatted it away.

“How could you let her leave with some other guy?” he growled. “You’re supposed to be my friend!”

Drawing back, Joe glared at him, his cigarette dangling from his lips. “I am your friend!” he shot back, wounded. “And it sucks that I was the one who had to be there to witness the result of your stupidity. You didn’t really think you could ignore her time and time again, and she’d just accept it, did you?”

Jared clenched his fists. “I never ignored her. My job requires a lot from me. I have no control over that.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “It was never your job. That’s just what you tell yourself.”

What was Joe getting at? Of course it was his job. What else could it have been? He was a cop, and his job required more from him than most. Regular people like Joe, Jasmine, and even his parents never really understood that. Only Dana did.

“What are you saying?” Jared shot back. “If it wasn’t my job, then what was it?”

“I think the correct question is, who was it?” Joe took a long drag on his cigarette.

Jared threw his hands up in disgust. “Oh come on! Now you’re starting to sound like everyone else! Dana is my partner. Why can’t any of you understand that?”

Joe shrugged and took one last drag from his cigarette before flipping it away. He exhaled and the smoke hung in the air in front of him like a cloud. “I think we understand more than you realize. Maybe it’s you who doesn’t really understand. Or maybe it’s just that you don’t want to understand.”

Why did everybody keep bringing Dana up like she was some kind of romantic rival for Jasmine? He simply didn’t feel that way about her. Did he?

“You don’t understand,” he said, but his voice held less conviction than before. “I don’t love Dana that way.”

“But you do love her,” pressed Joe. “More than you realize, it seems. Hey man, I’m not trying to tell you your own heart, but I’ve seen you in action, again and again. Whatever you feel for Dana always seems to override what you feel for Jasmine. I’m sorry to have to be the one to say this, but what happened tonight was inevitable. It was only a matter of time with the way things were going.”

Jared said nothing.

Joe put his hand on his shoulder. “Hey man, I’m not saying these things because I want to be a jerk or something. I am saying these things to you because I am your friend.”

“I know,” Jared replied softly as he watched a large cloud pass over the moon, causing the small parking lot to feel even more gloomy.

Joe gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “You going to be okay?”

Jared sighed. He felt like he was going to keel over and die, right there on the ground in the alley next to the Number Six restaurant. He wanted to scream, No, you idiot, I’m not okay. “Yeah I guess,” was all that he could get to come out of his mouth.

Joe fixed his tie. “I’m really sorry, Jared. I truly am, and I wish I had all night to talk to you, but I have been gone too long already and I really should be getting back to the slave ship.”

Joe gave him one last reassuring pat on the shoulder before walking back down the alley, leaving him sitting there alone.

Eight

Jared collapsed in his car closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. He felt like he was going to throw up, so he rolled the window down to let more air in. The sounds of the city shattered his blessed silence.

Sighing deeply, he wondered if he should roll it back up, but determined that it didn’t matter. He was so agitated that he couldn’t sit still, so he decided to get out of his car and go for a long walk through the city.

Maybe some mugger will do me a favor and rob me, killing me in the process, he thought as he locked his doors and then slammed them shut.

The night was especially busy, and Jared found it hard to find a place of solitude. So he walked down a nearby alley to get away from the crowds. Just as he passed into the darkness, a nice-looking young brunette propositioned him. He flashed his badge and she flipped him off, telling him where he could stick it. Ignoring her, he kept on walking, too absorbed in his own misery to care.

Jared wandered the dim city streets, passing so many houses that they all began to look alike to him. His thoughts were bleak, his mood depressed, and he soon lost track of time.

Realizing it was getting late and he needed to get home, he checked the street sign of the road he was on. Falkirk Ave. Jared had no idea how long he’d been walking, but apparently it had been for quite some time.

I guess