Page 44 of Thrown Off Balance

“What’s going on?” Jax asks softly as soon as I step inside the kitchen.

“Uncle Mason has Pauly out front. He’s watching the house and is there if we need him.”

“This is serious, huh?” Jax rubs a hand over his mouth.

“Uncle Mason says Jude’s going to do something drastic. He can feel it in his gut,” I whisper.

“Dang, we need to be careful,” Jax murmurs.

We both know when Uncle Mason says he can feel it in his gut; you need to trust him. His gut is never wrong. Not once. And that makes me even more uneasy.

“He said to keep all the doors and windows shut and locked, especially the door to the garage.”

“Because the garage is fairly easy to break into and most people don’t lock that door into the house.” Jax nods his head.

After everything with Zoey, our cousin, we were all taught how to keep ourselves safe. Dad and Uncle Mason insisted on touring our house before we bought it. They wanted to make sure it was secure for us, a place we didn’t need to worry about crazy fans. We thought it was overkill, but now I'm really happy we got Dad and Uncle Mason’s seal of approval on our home.

It takes almost two hours for Uncle Mason to call me. As soon as my phone rings, my hands are a shaking mess as I attempt to answer the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, put me on speaker so Sloan and Jax can hear me. This is going to affect all of you.”

I swallow hard as I place the call on speaker and position the device on the center of the coffee table. Sloan is curled up at my side on the couch and Jax is sitting in a chair across from us. We’ve been staying close to each other since we got home. I think everyone is anxious about what’s going to happen next.

“What’s up, Uncle Mason?” Jax asks when he realizes I can’t find my voice.

“I spoke to Mr. Carpenter. This isn’t good. Apparently, Jude is on medication for psychological issues. Sloan, Mr. Carpenter spoke to you because he thinks Jude has stopped taking his medication again. This isn’t the first time this has happened, but I guess he’s never dated an employee before so Mr. Carpenter felt the need to step in this time.”

“So, what now?” Sloan asks softly. Her body tensed as soon as Mason mentions medication and psychological issues. Clearly, she had no idea about any of it.

“Well, you’re off from work for the foreseeable future. I made it clear to Mr. Carpenter that it wasn’t safe for you to return to work or to your apartment to get your laptop. He was more than agreeable. He’s willing to continue paying your salary and won't be touching any of your time off. Whenever you’re ready to come back, your job will be there.”

“Mason… How crazy is Jude that his dad is willing to do all of that?”

“He’s very unwell, Sloan. From what Mr. Carpenter said, it sounds like Jude is bipolar with psychotic features.”

“How did I not know?”

“Because as long as he takes his medicine, his condition is well managed. You wouldn’t have noticed anything majorly being off about him. He would still have some manic or depressive episodes, but he might’ve been able to hide those.”

“Why did he go off the medication if he was doing well?”

“Jax.”

“What the heck did I do?” Jax scowls at the phone like Uncle Mason can see his annoyance.

“You didn’t do anything really. Mr. Carpenter thinks Jude believed you two were really good friends. He was afraid if you found out he was on medication to control his psych issues, you wouldn’t want to be friends with him any longer.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of! Why would I not want to be friends with someone because they need medication for an illness? That’s insane,” Jax huffs as he settles back into his seat and folds his arms over his chest.

“Nothing Jude does is logical, Jax. Stop expecting him to do logical things… The longer he went without his medicine, the more obsessed he became with Jax. Jude told Mr. Carpenter that he thinks it’s Sloan’s fault Jax doesn’t want to speak to him anymore.”

“What happens now?” Sloan asks quietly.

“You can’t go back to your apartment or work, Sloan. Jude sees you as the enemy. It’s all your fault Jax doesn’t want to talk to him anymore. In his mind, you’re the only thing standing between him and what he really wants.”

“Dang, I always thought if I had a stalker, it would be a hot woman, not a dude. He’s not even hot, Sloan. Don’t you know about the crazy hot scale?” Jax scrubs a hand down his face and shakes his head.