Look at Me, page 15
“What?” Chloe cried in shock as she studied the images. “But...how?”
“I don’t know. I think she was in your building.”
Chloe tried to take Jackson’s phone, but he held it tightly. She pressed her face close to the photo. “I think you’re right. Has to be. From that angle.” Chloe glanced up at Jackson, fear on her face. “Did she break into my building?”
“I don’t know. But...there’s more.” Jackson swallowed. “She’s threatening to make the photos public.”
Chloe’s hands fell to her sides. “What?” Her voice sounded hollow and empty, and the color drained from her face. “But if she did that...I could lose clients. And—God! My parents might see!”
“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure the pictures don’t get out.”
Chloe hugged herself. “Can we have her arrested? For blackmail? Or...what’s it called...revenge porn? Isn’t that against the law?”
“I’ll ask my lawyer about it.” You’ve got to tell her the rest.
“I can’t believe this. I can’t believe...” Chloe shook her head. “This is a nightmare.”
A nightmare that’s about to get worse.
“There’s something else.” Chloe looked up at him, and he could see her steel herself for another blow. How he wanted to protect her from this. He wondered, briefly, if after she knew she’d even speak to him again. It was a lot to ask anybody to take. “Remember when I told you that Laurie tried to get pregnant behind my back?”
Chloe nodded, a single stiff nod. How he wished he didn’t have to tell her this.
“Well, that wasn’t the only time she tried. Apparently.” Suddenly, Jackson couldn’t look Chloe in the eye. God, how he wanted not to tell her this. “She says she’s pregnant. She says she’s pregnant with my baby.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
THE WHOLE WORLD seemed to shrink then, as Chloe watched Jackson’s lips move but didn’t hear anything else coming out. Laurie, crazy Laurie, was pregnant with Jackson’s baby? No. God, no. Suddenly Chloe couldn’t breathe. She felt like the walls of the small hallway were going to close in on her. A woman bustled out of a nearby bathroom then, brushing past them, and Chloe felt like she’d fall.
“Chloe. Say something.” Jackson gripped her by her elbows, blue eyes on her, pleading for something. His thick blond hair was a little long, a little ruffled.
She felt numb. Worse than numb, empty. She wasn’t even angry, although she assumed that would come later. Now she didn’t feel anything.
“The baby might not be mine.”
“But it might be,” Chloe choked out.
“Yes.” Jackson glanced at the floor. He didn’t have to say more. Laurie was trying for this, on purpose, so what were the odds she was sleeping around? Panic, white-hot panic, began to rise in her throat. She’d asked Jackson to be honest with her, yet now that he had, she wasn’t sure she could handle it. All the ramifications flooded her: a baby in their lives, a reminder of her, a mentally unstable stalker, who now had the important title of mother of his child. She remembered the crazy look in Laurie’s eyes when she’d broken into his house, the twisted way she’d invited herself into their bed. She’d gotten off on it, too, somehow.
Just like you did? Watching Jackson and Annaliese? Now she felt sick to her stomach. Did she have anything in common with that crazy, horrible woman? Surely not. Yet the tiny voice wouldn’t be silenced, either. I was different, her mind wanted to shout. Jackson loves me. Doesn’t he? He said he did. He wanted me. Not her.
But with the baby, did that change anything? What if he decided to marry her? The thought made her feel like she couldn’t breathe.
“What are you going to do?” she asked, cursing herself for lacking the courage to ask the question on her mind. Would he marry her?
“I don’t know. Wait for the results of the DNA test next Tuesday,” he said.
“And then? If it’s yours?” Bile pooled in her throat.
“I don’t know, Chloe. I really don’t.”
Chloe stepped away from him, and his hands fell away from her elbows.
“I... I need some time. To process all this.” She glanced away from his handsome face, the hurt obvious in his eyes.
He covered his goatee with one hand, agitated, upset.
“Please. Chloe. Don’t leave me.” The pleading tone made tears spring to her eyes. He needed her, and yet she couldn’t help him. Not like this. But what could she do? She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think. She needed to regroup. To figure out what she would do next. How she felt about all this. She’d been the one imagining having a baby with Jackson. Not helping to raise a baby that wasn’t hers. That was if he didn’t marry Laurie.
“I just... I can’t right now. I need to think.” Tears choked her voice. She needed space from him. Jackson let her go.
“I guess I understand.” But his eyes told a different story. They looked betrayed, abandoned. “Let me and my driver drop you home.”
“No!” Chloe shook her head. “No. I want to go. Alone.”
Chloe left Jackson then, running up the staircase and into the warm summer’s night. She felt a surge of guilt for leaving Jackson when he needed her most, and yet she just couldn’t stay. Not when her heart was breaking. Not when she didn’t know if she could accept this. Tears streaked down her face as she hugged herself, jogging past a couple on the street holding hands and laughing.
* * *
Chloe stood in her empty apartment, staring out her window at Jackson’s darkened living room. He hadn’t come home yet, or if he had, he hadn’t turned on any lights. She sat in her dark apartment, too, still feeling stunned. She just couldn’t handle it. She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do. Never in a million years had she imagined being faced with a choice like this.
What if he lied about her tricking him? What if he’d gone inside her, like he’s been inside me?
No, she reasoned. Laurie had even mentioned the fact that he insisted on condoms when she’d broken into his house. Also, she’d broken into his house. An unstable person like that would be the kind of person who thought trapping a man with a baby was a good idea.
What if he marries her? What if he feels it’s the right thing to do?
The traitorous thoughts came fast and furious, like Hydra heads. As soon as she swatted down one, two more took its place.
Even now, as she struggled with how to feel about Laurie’s pregnancy, she found herself missing Jackson. Even now, her body ached for him, for his touch, for his solid arms around her shoulders. But what if she never felt them again?
Talk to him, her mind screamed. But she wasn’t ready. She just couldn’t face it if he told her he planned to do the right thing, if that even applied in this situation. Was the right thing marrying Laurie?
She watched as the light flickered on in Jackson’s second floor, his workshop. There was just a single small window there, but through it she caught a glimpse of his shadow, and then part of his back as he sat nearby and worked on finishing one of his bar stools.
How can he work at a time like this? she wondered, but then realized he probably was trying to calm down, maybe refocus his mind. He’d told her that woodworking was soothing. He was good at it, too, working with his hands. Chloe tried not to think about what else his hands were good at doing. She got up and moved away from the window. She was going to drive herself crazy. Maybe she ought to just go over there. Talk to him.
But I still don’t know how I feel about this. Any of it.
She wanted to be okay with it, but deep down, she wasn’t sure she could be. She’d never imagined being a stepmom, and especially not to a child conceived like this, not in love, but greed. And then having Laurie in their lives, potentially forever. It made her sick. The whole situation made her sick to her stomach. Could she get over it? Could she somehow learn to live with it?
Maybe she could. She wanted to, for Jackson’s sake. He told me he loves me. And I think I love him, too. But was that enough?
She wasn’t sure. She truly wasn’t. And if there was a baby involved, then she felt on some level she had to be sure. She owed it to the baby, who’d done nothing wrong here. Chloe wasn’t going to commit unless she was sure she could go the distance.
She glanced at Jackson’s lit window across the alley. She needed some time to think.
* * *
Tuesday morning, Jackson sat at his desk in his office overlooking Lake Michigan barely taking note of anything around him. The whole world seemed to be drained of color now that Chloe had left him. He wanted to believe she just needed time to adjust to the news, but when he didn’t hear from her Saturday or Sunday or Monday, he began to worry the split wasn’t temporary.
How can I blame her, really? How would I handle the news if she told me she were carrying another man’s baby?
He didn’t know, couldn’t know, but he felt jealousy burn in his gut at the very thought. She’d no doubt feel the same.
“Knock, knock.” Hailey stood at his office door, a look of pity on her face. She’d been extra nice to him recently—offering to get his dry-cleaning and other tasks he normally handled himself. He appreciated her effort. “Want another coffee? I was going to run to Starbucks.”
“No, Hailey. But thank you.”
Hailey hesitated. “How are you...holding up, sir?”
“Terribly,” he admitted, and she smiled. “Chloe didn’t take the news well.”
Hailey’s features softened. “Give her some time,” she said. “I don’t know Chloe well, but what I do know of her, I really like. She might come around.”
“Thanks, Hailey.” His assistant nodded once and then retreated from the doorway. Thankfully, Hailey had kept the news of the pregnancy to herself. Nobody yet was gossiping about it at work, and for that he was grateful he had such a loyal assistant. He made a mental note to up her bonus this year for a job well done.
Hailey made her way to the elevator for the coffee break and disappeared behind the sliding steel doors. Jackson tried to focus on his email, but he found his mind wandering. He couldn’t focus on anything. He wondered what Chloe was doing. How she was doing. He picked up his cell phone and texted her. Just a quick message. How are you?
Her replies over the last two days had been curt and to the point, which he expected again. But before he could mull over that much more, he heard a knock at his door.
Kent stood there, looking predatory as usual, his blazer-and-khaki prep look solidified for yet another day. Jackson wondered if the man owned any other clothes. He frowned, not at all happy to see him.
“Ever hear of making an appointment?” Jackson felt his fingers clutch his phone as annoyance thrummed in his veins.
“You haven’t been returning my calls,” Kent said, grinning. “I was asking for a meeting, so I figured I’d take the bull by the horns.” He made himself at home by sitting in one of the chairs in front of Jackson’s desk and crossing his legs at the knee. “You not interested in 1209 anymore?”
Jackson sighed. Chloe’s building. “Yes, I’m interested. I’m just...busy with other things at the moment.”
The triumphant look on Kent’s face made Jackson want to punch him square in the nose. “So I’ve heard.”
“What do you mean, you’ve heard?” Now Jackson’s guard was fully up.
“People talk.” He put his fingers together and made a steeple. It was as if he was trying to imitate a James Bond villain. “Let’s just say I heard you...weren’t careful.”
“What do you know?” And who told you? Not Hailey. Not Chloe. Then who? Laurie.
“Enough.” Kent grinned. “I actually understand it. Laurie’s a piece of ass. Tapped that myself.”
“Wait...what?” Jackson’s head spun.
“You didn’t think you were the only rich guy she was trying to reel in? But I’m too smart for that, friend. I got snipped so women couldn’t trap me. Then the joke’s on them. You know...when they are trying for it, but all they’re getting are blanks.” Kent seemed proud of his little scheme, obnoxiously proud. The look on his face made Jackson disgusted. “You’ve got to think ahead, man. And the best part is, they beg you not to wear a condom.”
“You’re a lowlife, you know that? And why would you get that kind of serious surgery just...”
“Because I like to win, and this way, I win.” God, even sex was some kind of sick competition with him. “I’m just playing the players.” He shrugged. “They’re trying to use me, but I use them instead. It works out nicely.”
Jackson felt sick to his stomach. “When did you sleep with Laurie?”
“Right before you. She’d been trying to snag a whale forever. You just happened to be the whale of the month.”
“So you took advantage of her.”
“Something like that.” Kent crossed his legs and studied his nails absently. “Actually, you should thank me. She was so brokenhearted when I told her I’d been snipped. I told her all about you, how much you were worth and everything. She couldn’t wait to meet you then. She even got a job at your favorite bar for the privilege.”
Jackson felt stunned. The whole thing was a...setup? He felt like he’d been hit with a sledgehammer.
Kent was still gloating. “But I get it, it’s rotten timing for you. Just when things were heating up with that sexy little number of yours. What was her name? Chloe?”
“Keep Chloe out of this.” Jackson’s voice was a low growl.
“Those pictures of you two on the roof...”
“Wait. You saw the pictures? That Laurie sent?”
“Saw them?” Kent laughed a little, high-pitched, and clapped his hands in glee. “I took them. I own that building next door. I just forwarded them on to Laurie. I knew she’d be interested. And she was.”
Jackson stood up and clutched the edge of his desk. “Give me one reason why I don’t throw you out of here right now.”
“Because I still have the building you want. You need me.”
Jackson fumed, staring at his longtime adversary. “What I want to know is why? Why even tell me all this?”
“That’s easy: to gloat, New Money. Like I said, I like to win, and I can’t win if you don’t even know we were playing a game. That you lost.”
“Get out,” Jackson ground out, barely restraining his temper.
“You’re making a mistake, New Money.”
“Get the hell out.” Jackson banged his desk with his fist and Kent stood.
“I’ll chalk this up to paternal stress, amigo.” Kent left the office, whistling. Jackson wanted to run after him and tackle the son of a bitch. Jackson shook his head. He should be glad that Laurie hadn’t been crazy enough to break into Chloe’s building. Kent owned it and had the common door key, so it wouldn’t be hard for him to get on the roof and snap a few shots. Once again, Jackson was baffled by Kent’s seeming obsession with him. Telling Laurie to go seek him out? Stalking his rooftop patio? Jackson shook his head. Seemed that Kent had nothing better to do than follow him around. Pathetic.
His temper cooled, and he found himself regaining a bit of his composure. Then his phone rang. He glanced at it and saw Chloe’s name flash across the screen.
“Hey,” she said, voice sounding soft, contrite even. “Do you have time for a break? I know it’s not quite lunchtime, but...”
“Yes, I’ll make time,” he said, hope welling in his chest for the first time that morning. “Where do you want to meet?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
THEY MET AT Navy Pier, where tourists thronged the pathway and the oversize Ferris wheel anchored the land side. Restaurants and little shops lined the pier, as did vendors offering boat rides to the lake. Every Saturday in the summer, the pier offered up fireworks and boat rides, but today all Jackson wanted was to see Chloe. She was sitting on a bench when he arrived. She stood, happy to see him. When Jackson opened his arms, she rushed into them, giving him a big hug. His heart swelled then. He’d missed her in the short time they’d been apart, and the worry that she was leaving him, forever, was almost too much to bear. God, she smelled so good. Her hair like lavender and vanilla. He suddenly wished they were alone.
“I’m sorry,” she said into his chest.
“Why?” he asked her, perplexed as he pulled away, the two of them surrounded by people and yet very much alone at the same time.
“For...freaking out on you.”
“You have every reason to freak out,” he said.
“Want to sit?” She offered a place next to her on the bench, facing out to Lake Michigan. He took a seat there, the shadow of the Ferris wheel behind them. He took her hand, still worried she might be here to deliver bad news. I never want to see you again bad news.
“How have you been?” he asked, feeling as stiff as his words sounded.
“Bad,” she admitted. “But I’ve thought things through.”
He took a deep breath. “And?”
“And I just wanted you to know that...” Chloe swallowed. “Whatever happens, I’m with you.”
For the first time since Laurie came to his office with the horrible news, Jackson felt a tiny sprig of hope bloom in his chest.
“You’re with me,” he echoed. “Even if the baby is mine?”
Chloe nodded. He stared at her dark eyes, full of emotion, and felt tears welling in his own. “You’re sure?” he asked, squeezing her hand.
“I’m positive. Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”
Jackson pulled Chloe into his arms and kissed her deeply. “I love you,” he murmured.
“I love you, too.” Those words made his heart feel like it would explode. He hugged her even harder, not wanting to let her go.
“I’m sorry I took so long,” she mumbled into his chest. “I just wanted to be sure.”
