Out of the Storm - COMPLETE

Chapter 32

Jules

I MADE SURE to turn off my phone before I got out of the car, so I'm even more insecure about where I am, what I'm doing without it. And I didn't bring in the bag with the gun because let's face it. I'm liable to shoot myself before someone else. That's a hazard.

Walking into the diner, I don't see Jake anywhere, so I seat myself in a booth by the window. Still full and somewhat nauseous from the whole situation, I don't even bother looking at the menu.

"Hey, sugar." A waitress approaches. She looks younger than me. But her belly protrudes to the point she can use it as a desk for her notepad. "What can I getcha?" She's at least eight months pregnant. All belly. She's pretty. It makes me sad to see girls working at diners while pregnant. So much potential, so much possibility. Of course, my life is in shambles. Perhaps, I would have been better being knocked up by the cliché douche in high school and left to wait tables the rest of my life like they show in movies. It beats prison. And Charlie is douche enough. Maybe the guy who knocked me up wouldn't have been a jerk. Maybe he would have been like Theo. Perhaps there would have been so much love it wouldn't have mattered I had to stand on my feet in an old diner all day waiting on other people, serving them just weeks before giving birth to whatever number child I'd be on by now. Theo. Love. Shaking my head, I kick that thought out of my head.

"Do you need another minute?" she asks.

"No. Just a water, please. I'm meeting someone."

"Sure thang." She tucks her pad into the apron tied around her waist before walking away, pushing the pen through your brown, curly ponytail.

A bell jingles. "Welcome to the Diner on Fifth," a guy behind the counter greets.

I made sure since I was the first one here I got the side of the booth that allows me to see the door. Looking up, I see Jake walking toward me. Just like last night, he's dressed in a white shirt, sleeves rolled a quarter up his arm. His tie is tight around his neck. He smiles, but something in me isn't comforted or reassured by it. In fact, my knee starts to bounce, and my palms begin to sweat.

Maybe this is wrong. What if he's not really FBI? That's just crazy. He showed me a badge, gave me a card. But what if he's a crook? I shouldn't be going behind Theo's back, but after seeing Charlie, I didn't feel like there's much of a choice. I don't. There isn't. Theo's plan is flawed.

He sits across from me, giving me a lopsided grin. I don't think I realized just how handsome he was last night because I was scared out of my mind. My guess is he's used to doing that panty melting grin, and then having girls dropping to their knees begging how they can please him. But his piercing blue eyes and dark features are creeping me out. Maybe because he's too sexy.

"So," he says, folding his hands on the table. "I know you ran straight to your boyfriend and told him about me."

My mouth drops. "I didn't." Truth. There's no way I would tell Charlie about this.

He chuckles. "Sorry. So many boyfriends you have. Let me clarify. I know you told the one who didn't put that ring on your finger. The one you're not supposed to be sleeping with, but you are."

Shit. I swallow. How does he know that? "Unless you bugged Theo's place, I'm not sure how you'd know that. That is, if I were sleeping with him. If I told him."

He narrows his eyes, but that smirk never fades. "Do you want the deal, Jules?"

I nod.

"You didn't follow directions from last night very well. If it were up to me, I would have removed the offer, but we need you as much as you need us."