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

something unintelligible as he fumbled with the bear claw in his mouth, trying not to spill the coffee in his hands. He handed one of the cups to her and removed the pastry. “Nothing. Just...”

“What’s the matter? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Jared stammered a bit but couldn’t remove his eyes from her. “I just... I’ve never seen you wear your hair like that before.”

“You don’t like it?” she asked, blushing.

“No. No. It looks... wow,” he stammered, feeling his cheeks flush. He turned away and faked a cough. “We should get going if we don’t want to hit the bridge at rush hour.”

Flabbergasted, Dana held the cup of coffee he’d handed her. She was confused by the new signals he was giving her, and she did not know what to make of them. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he was attracted to her. Of course, he’d made it clear over the years that he wasn’t interested in her that way. Had something changed?

“Jared, what the heck is going on with you?”

He pretended to examine his coffee cup. “What are you talking about? Nothing is the matter. I’m just in a bit of a hurry because I don’t want to get stuck on the Tappan Zee at rush hour.”

Dana’s brown-eyed stare bore into him like hot pokers. “Really? That’s what you’re going with? Rush hour on the bridge? You can’t even look me in the eye. You know me well enough to know that I don’t let anything go and I am not going to let this go. Why are you acting so strange?”

Jared tried to say something, but nothing came out. He just shrugged and did his best to look confused. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

She rolled her eyes and put the car into gear. “Okay, partner, have it your way.”

The tires on her little hybrid sedan squealed as they surged out of the gas station and back onto the road. She was so flustered by Jared that she did not see the old pickup truck passing the little gas station. Thankfully, the driver wasn’t in a hurry to get wherever he was going, so he was driving about ten miles under the speed limit. Dana narrowly missed smashing headlong into the front panel of the little pickup, and the driver laid on the horn as she sped off down the road and back toward the highway.

Jared gripped the armrest. “Seriously, Dana? Slow down—you are going to get into an accident or worse.”

Dana glared ahead, anger heating her pretty face. “I thought you were worried we were going to get stuck in rush hour on the Tappan Zee? Make up your mind already. Do you want to get there fast or not? Of course, you can’t seem to decide what the heck you want anyway, so why should this be any different?”

Jared looked at her, bewildered. “What is the matter with you?”

“What is the matter with me?” Dana fumed, taking her eyes off the road for a split second. “God, Jared, you are the most frustratingly indecisive person I have ever met. One minute you’re all broken up about your blonde bimbo of an ex-girlfriend and the next minute you seem to be... flirting with me. Of course, you can’t possibly be doing that, because in all the years I have known you, you have never ever done that. That is what’s the matter with me.”

Jared’s eyes softened. “Pull the car over.”

“What?”

Jared sighed and stared deep into her brown eyes. He saw pain and confusion there. Pain that he was causing her. “Please pull over.”

“Here? On the highway?”

“Yes.”

Dana slammed on the breaks, causing him to lurch forward in his seat. Thankfully he was still clutching the armrest and braced himself as they came to a sudden, jarring, gravel-flying stop on the highway shoulder.

Dana crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. Her face was flushed, and tears brimmed in the corner of her eyes. She didn’t say anything but just looked at him and waited for him to speak.

Jared looked directly into her eyes. “You want the truth?”

“That would be nice. I may be a detective, but this is the first time in all the years that I’ve known you, that I have no idea what the heck is going on with you. You come to my house and cry on my shoulder and I am there for you. I know you are not so dense that you did not know that it was tearing apart my heart to do that for you, but I did it anyway. How many times have I done something like that for you, Jared? How many? I think at the very least you owe me the truth.”

Jared shook his head. “Okay, the truth is... I never really felt all that bad about losing Jasmine. Did it hurt? Yes. But no matter how much it initially hurt, and no matter how much I overreacted about it, after a day or two, all I felt was relief.”

Dana blinked and a single tear slowly made its way down her cheek. “Relieved?”

“Yeah. I can’t really explain it, but after I spent the night on your couch and talked to my idiot of a brother, I realized something.”

“And what was that?”

“I never really loved her. In fact, I didn’t even like her all that much, that’s why I was always subconsciously finding ways to get out of being with her. From what I’ve been told, everybody noticed it. Everyone that is, except me.”

Dana swallowed as more tears welled up in her eyes. Jared finally turned and looked at her. He smiled that stupid crooked smile that always melted her resolve.

“After that, I did some soul-searching, and I realized there was only one person in my life that I never wanted to avoid. In fact, no matter what life threw at me, good or the bad, she was always the first person I wanted to talk to about it.”

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