Cousins In Love: An Alpha Bad Boy Romance (Book 3) (19 page)

"She's cool."

"You're way too overprotective of me, Jade."

"Says pot to kettle."

She's probably right about that.

"I need you to do a couple of things for me before Juliette's party," I say as I walk away from her and towards the Rover. "I'll text you."

"I'll be waiting with bated breath."

Jade is definitely one of my closest friends, and I love her teeny, tiny butt, but there's no doubt in my mind that whatever went down with her and Cam was one hundred percent her fault.
 

That mouth of hers is something special, and
not
in a good way.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

JADE

"Thanks for stopping by."
 

I'm reluctantly standing at Elizabeth's front door. I don't want to be here for a variety of reasons, but I can't wait to see what little miss perfect is going to say.

"No problem. What's up?"
 

I'm being unusually short with Roman's beloved because number one, we're not besties by any stretch of the imagination, and two, as if I don't have enough shit to deal with than become her beck and call girl. I don't work for her. I work for Roman. And I don't think she totally understands the concept that they're not a package deal.
 

And then there's the other thing ...

"You want lunch? I make a mean Cesar salad. Or maybe a glass of vino?" she chirps.

I casually glance at my new Apple watch in an effort to drive home the point that I'm not here to
hang
.
 

"I don't drink before five, and I don't eat before one."

"Not in the mood for small talk then?"

"Well I really hope you didn't ask me here for small talk," I say as I look around her living room, noticing the various changes she's made to her place since I was here last.
 

It's been a while. I've seen Elizabeth here and there at the club, or we've talked briefly over the phone, but I haven't been back at her house at all. Roman hasn't had us over here for a meeting in a long time.

"Why do I get the feeling that I've done something to make you angry," she astutely comments.

"What makes you think that? You're cool, and Rome seems to like you a whole hell of a lot, so that makes us good." I lie through my teeth.

"I guess I thought since you were his best friend, and he and I are seeing each other, that maybe the two of us would hang out a little or something. When I first moved in here you came over a couple of times, and then all of sudden you backed off."

"We talked the other day," I say bored with this conversation already.

"That was like three weeks ago, Jade, and that was about Roman's teeth."

"I'm not the kind of girl that chitchats on the phone about her problems or celebrity gossip with other women."

"I'm not that kind of girl either," she replies defensively.

"This is no disrespect to you, Elizabeth, but I've got a shitload of things to do today. So if could you just get to the point of why you asked me to swing by that would be awesome."

"All right," she snaps. "You say you have a lot of things to do today. Are any of them work related?"

Where is she going with this?

"Yes, why?"

"Well I think Roman is losing his ever loving mind, and I think it's because he's bored to death. I'm not sure what you're doing, but he's not working or working enough. It's off-season in baseball, and Mendez has been keeping his nose clean. So that's over. And I don't know what the three of them could possibly be doing at The Lotus every week. They have a manager that takes care of all the day-to-day stuff. So it's obvious to me that he needs a new client. Maybe a few new clients. They probably all are going a little crazy."

My phone dings notifying me of a new message.

King Kong: We need to talk.

The last thing I need is to have
that
conversation with Camden King. I'd be fine if we never spoke on it again.

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I ask Elizabeth. "You should talk to your boyfriend if he's getting on your nerves. And if you have a question about his business, then ask him about it or meet with the King brothers. I have nothing to do with whether or not they take on new clients."

"I know who I can ask, Jade, but I'm asking you. Do you agree with me or not on this?"

I ignore the fact that she's irritated, and walk over to her small fiddle leaf fig plant and rub on one of the smooth leaves. I'm familiar with this type of houseplant, because my nana owned three of them. It was one of her favorites.

"Sure I agree, but there isn't much I can do about it. The old man was the pro at finding new clients. The boys were better at fixing their problems."
 

I don't bother telling her that the three of them have already met about this very topic. If she doesn't know, then things are still strained between her and Roman. It's his business to tell. Not mine. So I'll just play dumb.

"So they need someone to scout out new clients. That's what you're saying?"

"Yeah, I guess that's what I'm saying." I walk over to another one of her houseplants. "Your plants are really healthy."

"Thanks, it's the fertilizer."
 

I cruise around her living room. Never sitting down. Never really looking Elizabeth in the eyes since I've set foot in her house. I'm too angry with what she's done. I didn't want to have this conversation with her yet. I wanted to wait. I needed more information. More time. I'm doing a horrible job of holding my cards close to my vest.

"Jade," she says my name to get my attention.

"Yeah," I turn my head in her direction.

"What is your problem with me? Did Roman say something to you about the two of us?"

I raise an eyebrow at her last comment and then take a seat on her couch. Of course I know something is up with her and Roman. He tells me most things. They had some sort of falling out, although he seems pretty confident that it's nothing. I'm just not sure that he's seeing things clearly when it comes to this cousin of his. It's like she has a golden chalice in between her legs.

"Has Roman ever told you how we met?" I ask her.

"He's mentioned some of the story."

"Well to make a long story short, my ex was beating my ass and spending my hard earned money on drugs for a long time. I was young, dumb, and a walking after-school special until Roman got me out of there."

She nods as if she has any idea what it means to be abused. To be scared. To desperately need someone to give a fuck about you when you don't care about yourself. Of course she doesn't get it. She comes from the cushiest, white-washed life ever, and she's still getting shit handed to her on a silver platter thanks to Roman. This apartment she doesn't pay for is case in point.
 

"It wasn't easy to admit to him what was going on. He was the only true friend I had, and I never wanted him to think less of me, but eventually I knew I had to trust someone. I made the best decision of my life when I finally admitted to him what was going on. I trusted the right person with my secrets."

 
Her eyes just dropped to the floor. She knows exactly what I'm getting at, but I'm sure she's going to continue playing the dumb, doe-eyed, suburban thing of hers to the hilt. She does it so well.

"So what does that have to do with you and I, Jade?"

Yep, she's going to play it this way.

"You need to learn who to trust."

"I trust Roman. I trust the Kings. I trust all of you–"

"No you don't." I immediately cut her off. "So if you want me to keep it really one hundred percent real with you, I'm keeping my distance from you until you get it right or until you're gone."

Her eyes widen.

"I wish you would just spit out whatever you're skirting around right now, because you're kind of pissing me off, Jade. Do you like Roman or something? Did you two used to date?"

I laugh to myself.

"Did you ask Roman that?"

"No, should I?"

"Have you been thinking that about us this whole time?"
 

"Not until just now."
 

"Do you know what I do for Roman?"

"I guess you do whatever he asks you to do, Jade. You're his assistant. I know what assistants do. What are you trying to insinuate?"

"That's right. I do whatever he asks me to do, and most of what he asks me to do lately is to keep a watchful eye on his cousin."

As if he really pays me enough for this shit.

"I'm sorry about that, but you need to take that up with Roman if you have a problem with it. I have no control over what he asks you to do. I have no control over him at all."

"The fact that he asks me to do it is not the problem, Elizabeth. You're missing the point."

"So what's the point?" she asks raising her voice slightly.

"Part of watching you has always involved me keeping an eye on that drug addict ex of yours. I'm familiar with drug addict boyfriends, so Roman knew I'd do a good job. Who knew you and I had the same taste in men."

I notice immediately when her stomach drops, and I grin at her inability to lie well. She'd never make it in our world if her life depended on it. It only confirms my feelings that Roman is making a huge mistake by being with her.
 

At first I thought it was a bad idea because she is his cousin, and then I thought it was an even worse idea, because he was much too serious about her. Far from the carefree womanizer that I was used to seeing. But now I know for sure that she's a bad idea, because she can't be trusted. In our world, that's the kiss of death.

"I know that Ethan recently contacted you, because I'm paid to monitor his emails, Elizabeth. Imagine my surprise when I saw that he emailed you about a meet and you
never
said anything to your boyfriend about it. My boss. Imagine the position that puts me in now that you and I are supposedly
cool
."

She continues to stare at me. I'm not sure if she's attempting to come up with a really good lie to cover her ass, or if she's simply speechless that I called her on her shit. It's hard to tell. I just don't know her well enough yet to say.

"Are you going to say something to him?" she asks nervously.

"Are you?"

"I wasn't planning on it. Especially now. I didn't respond to the email, so I don't see what the point would be in upsetting Roman with it."

"If you don't think it's a good idea to tell the man you sleep with on a regular basis that the dickwad ultimately responsible for an assault and robbery on you in your home has recently contacted you, then you are even stupider than I ever imagined."

"Let's not get into name calling, okay? I know he's your friend, and you care about him, and you're obviously loyal to him, but I love him too. We both just have different ways of protecting him. I'm asking you to try and understand that."
 

"I don't understand that sort of logic. I'll never understand that. The only explanations that make sense to me are that you either have unresolved feelings for your ex or that you don't trust your man. Either scenario is not good for Roman."

"Wait I–"

"And what if Ethan still does drugs? Chances are that he does. What if he actually does something to hurt you or get you hurt, and I could have done something to prevent it? Roman will have my ass. And I'm talking about both my job and my friendship with him are on the line. Two things worth more to me than I'm willing to risk."

"So what are you saying?"
 

I see the panic setting in her eyes.

"I was waiting to see if you were going to email the asshole back. If you were stupid enough to do it, I was going to tell Roman immediately. But since you haven't, and he sent that email a while ago, I'm going to give you the chance to tell him yourself. And when he asks me about it, like I know he will, I'll lie and tell him that I must have missed it. I'll cover for you, just as long as you cover for me."

"I didn't want him doing anything crazy, Jade. I didn't want him to get hurt or arrested." She tries to plead her case. "I don't want to tell him. Not right now."

Probably not ever if she had her way.

"Then we have a problem."

"But I haven't contacted Ethan, and I wasn't planning to," she argues.

"Maybe so, but now that we've had this conversation, it can't be unsaid."

"Oh my God, Jade, you're putting me in an impossible position."

"Seriously? I'm giving you the chance to save yourself and you still don't get it. If there's one thing I know about Roman, it's that a person does not gain his trust easily. And once it's broken, it's damn near impossible to get it back."

 
Even though I know he loves her, I'm pretty sure that the same rules will apply to her too. I know it's just an email, but to Roman it will mean much more than that. Roman expects total loyalty if he lets you in. He demands it, because he gives it.