Page 54 of Lead Me On
She shook her head.
“If I get out of here, I swear I’ll do the right thing. Stop hanging around with those guys. Maybe go back to school.”
Jane wanted to believe that this experience would scare some ambition into him, but Jessie knew how to work a room. Regardless that he looked like a typical high-school slacker, he had eyes that puppy dogs would envy.
The one-minute warning rang in her ear and she watched Jessie flinch. The warm puppy eyes tightened at the edges, leaving him with a wary, exhausted look.
“Tell Dad I’m sorry. I should’ve listened to him. If they send me to prison, I know he’ll never come see me.” His voice broke on a sob. “So tell him I’m sorry, all right?”
Oh, God. Jane pressed her fingers to her mouth to hold back her own tears.
“Please?” Jessie begged.
She nodded because she couldn’t say anything more. His cool confidence had been stripped away in here. He’d finally gotten a glimpse of the truth: he was a criminal. Not a cute slacker. Not a laid-back pothead. He was a criminal and he was in trouble.
Jessie hung up the phone and swiped at his eyes in a gesture she recognized from his toddler years.
If he got out of this without a six-year prison sentence, maybe he really could change. She’d changed. One really bad weekend had changed her course in life.
So maybe Mac was right. Jessie had been stealing and using drugs and hanging out with dealers. Maybe a few months in jail was just the kick he needed to set him on the right path.
Tears streaming from her eyes, Jane walked out of the jail. Jessie would either become a man in this place, or he’d decide to never grow up, but she couldn’t make him choose the right path.
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHASE HADN’T SEENJANEin more than a day.
It seemed strange that only a week ago he’d walked into her office, and now he felt tight with the need to call her. See her. Touch her.
And for the first time in years, his father had done something wonderful for him; he’d called Chase to let him know that Jessie MacKenzie’s bail had been lowered to thirty thousand dollars. Chase had an excuse to contact Jane.
He dialed her number and held his breath. Would she be upset about the way he’d dropped her at her place the other day? He’d been torn that night. Worried over her exhaustion, distressed about her past, hurt that she was lying about her identity and pissed that she lumped him in with the “bad” guys. Sleeping with her had been the last thing on his mind.
But now her phone was about to go to voice mail, and he was scowling with regret.
“Chase?”
He was so startled by her voice that he didn’t answer for a moment.
“Hello?”
“Jane! Hi. Sorry, I was just… How are you?”
“I’m okay, actually. Just… I’m good. Worried, but good.”
“You sound good.” She did. She sounded…familiar.“I heard Jessie’s bail has been lowered. That’s great news.”
“It is! We’re hopeful it means they’re looking in another direction as far as that girl’s murder goes. But now my mom’s talking about fronting the bond money…. I don’t know.” Her words faded into contemplation.
“Listen,” Chase said, “I’ve got a proposition.”
“Really? What kind of proposition?”
He was almost sure he heard a note of interest in her voice, and he felt pitifully encouraged. “I’m blasting at a site today. Wanna come?”
“You’re…what?”
“Blasting today. I thought, with everything going on, it would be good for you. It’s a big stress reliever, watching things explode.”
