Page 146 of The Other Side of Green

I turned to leave, catching him pick up the cell on his desk, out of the corner of my eye.

What had I done?

Heading back along the hall, I pulled my cell from my pocket, trying to call Jack before the enormous tide of tears swept me away. Please pick up. Please pick up.

He didn’t – straight to voice message. And I knew why. Greene had dialed him first.

I’d just ruined everything Jack had tried to build for himself.

My naivety had destroyed his future.

Green was my color—lest I ever forget.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Jack

“So this is slightly less dive bar than we are used to.” Evan motioned to the front of the building. Its paint peeled in strips, windows filthy and covered in flyers and various posters looking for lost pets of differing feline and canine descent.

I rolled my eyes. “Slightly.” I glanced up and down the street. “Are you sure about this, Evan?”

He smirked. “What the fuck else am I supposed to do with my time?”

Arching an eyebrow, I waited for him to drop the useless bum act he’d been perfecting the whole time I’d known him.

“What?”

“You know what.”

His smirk grew into a full-on taunt. “You have your secrets. Now you know I have some too.”

“Secrets suck.” I leaned forward and tried to peer through the grimy window. “It’s got a small bar,” I muttered trying to make out the shapes inside.

“Nothing a refit won’t fix.”

Pushing away from the window, I let out a bone melting sigh. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“Have you ever known what you were doing?”

He was such a smug fucker.

“Maybe we should just get out of here, Lyra and me.”

“You’ve been saying that for weeks, yet you’re still here… I’m going stab in the dark and say it’s because you are meant to be.”

I grimaced at my own reflection.

“I had a call from London earlier.” I turned to look at him. “A connection of the Collins family—well, someone I know through them—rang to say they’d heard me instigated in the race row. Apparently, I sat in on an interview where the strongest candidate didn’t get the scholarship.”

“Did you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t even remember the guy.”

“Jesus, Jack, don’t say that to anyone other than me.”

“I’ve asked Alex to look for me.”

“Alex? You trust him.”