Returning Red

#34: MILES-SEN

there's so much I don't know

Isabella

Jacob opens the door of his suite. His eyes carry a twinkle and his lips bear a knowing smile. He leans down and I hug him as I mirror his grin. He nudges me inside his suite as he gives me space to enter. I walk inside his room. It's smaller than ours but it's a blessing that he even got a room in Jason's resort. As I turn around, I still see him standing by the open door, staring outside as his shoulder's become rigid. 

"What happened?" I asked as he slowly closed the door and turned around to me. His face was scrunching at all ends. 

He closed his eyes, regretting whatever it was. "Austin saw you coming into my room." 

"So?" I frowned as I glanced at the door. 

He walked to the mini-kitchen at the end of his room. He gave me a look that said 'duh' but I still don't get it as I plop on his bed. 

He draws a breath. "He hates me. You talking to me is already driving him insane, now he just saw you get into my room. With the history, we've got and the fiasco at prom, you put two and two together." 

I laugh as the frown on my face disappears and my head falls back on his bed. "Austin does not think we are sleeping together, what is wrong with you?" 

He poured what looked like hot water from the kettle into a glass and handed it to me before he went back to the kitchen cabinet. "If you think that, you don't know him at all." 

"Why would he think we both--Oh, you've got a point. It might seem like that." I say sitting up straight as I sip from the glass. "I'll deal with him later," I mumble as I take another sip. 

All I've been doing is dealing with him for the last twenty-four hours. Ever since my sister let out the fact that everything wasn't as normal as everyone here assumed it to be, I'm giving her the silent treatment. Deals are made, not to be broken. Especially when they're made with me. She's just like her best friend. They promise one thing and as I leave, the first thing they do is break that promise. 

Grace and I had a talk before I left New York. She wasn't supposed to open her mouth or even give the slightest hint of my past to anybody. She'd sworn on Ethan and the baby that she won't. I understand that she answered everything in generalized statements, but doesn't she already know how good the bin is with snooping around and finding shit out? 

Every time I catch Liam Davis looking at me, I feel his eyes spying more than caring. I know they're questing and probing for inklings that I've protected with my strongest padlock. I have to be extra careful these days. 

"The whole point of us meeting was because I wanted to ask you something, Jake." I break out of my stance. I see him stirring something in his mug. 

"Yes, go ahead." He says with his back to me. 

When I saw the retrieved videotape that Ryan sent, my hunch was proved right. The dent on the side door didn't come magically. A very familiar car with a different number plate had crashed into it. I sent a copy of that tape to Officer Richard Williams as another lead. The blank was when it stopped. I figured the person who was bribed to cut the tape didn't do a very convincing job. The tape was altered for the second time to take out the 97 seconds of mistake the editor did in the first attempt. 

That happened nearly 100 meters from Jacob's casino. The tape had missing content for three hours after the car accident. No, hit and run murder, but a car accident sounds less triggering in my head. He must have had some idea about it. I wanted to know who the victim was. I wanted to approach their family and tell them the information we've scooped around.