Chapter Four

Chapter Four

  The next day I got up later than I usually did and missed seeing Ana off in the morning. I pulled together the things that I would need for my first day of college classes and then drove to the campus. I wasn’t really sure what I should expect when I got there. Jonas and I had previously planned to meet early near where my first class of the day was, but after how things had gone the other night I wasn’t sure if he’d be waiting there for me or not. Still, when I arrived and saw that I had time before my class started anyway, I decided to stop and see if he was waiting there. If not, we had arranged to have lunch at the same time, so we should be able to find each other in the crowded cafeteria later and I could talk to him then.

  When I got to our designated meeting spot Jonas was waiting exactly where he’d promised to be. As soon as he saw me coming, he smiled broadly and reached out a welcoming hand.

  “I knew that hot Irish temper of yours would cool off and you’d come looking for me,” Jonas teased as I sat down next to him, my hand wrapped in his.

  “My hot Irish temper? What’s your excuse then?” I demanded indignantly.

  “I’m a stereotypical laid-back Aussie, what’re you talking about?” asked Jonas, an innocent smile creeping onto his lips.

  “Laid-back my eye,” I grumbled under my breath. Louder I said, “I’m sorry I got angry at you yesterday. I trust you to tell me anything that’s important and in your own time.” Jonas continued smiling, but gained a slight look of discomfort.

  “It’s fine,” he assured me readily. “So, are you ready for your first big day of school?” he inquired teasingly. I groaned and rolled my eyes at him.

  “If you’re just going to act like a mom sending her kid off to her first day of preschool then I’m leaving,” I informed him, standing up to demonstrate to him that I meant it. He laughed and pulled me back down beside himself.

  “Alright, alright. But seriously now, no worries, fears, or regrets?”

  “None.”

  “Did you remember to bring your lunch?” he asked, once again teasingly. He stopped me as soon as I started to move to get up again. “Kidding Britt. I’m buying lunch anyways.”

  I pulled out my cell phone and looked at the time. “I need to go or I’m going to be late,” I told him. “Oh, and remind me to start paying you for this phone or, better yet, to get my own,” I added as a second thought. I’d been meaning to start at least paying half of the bill, but he kept refusing my money and saying he had it covered.

  “I won’t,” Jonas promised me honestly. Not having any time to start a debate about it now, I simply ignored him and headed for my class. “See you at lunch!” Jonas called behind me.

  My first couple of classes went along well enough, and I met Jonas for a late lunch after I finished my second class. When I got there, I was surprised to see Jonas and Brian talking together quietly. Seeing me, Jonas motioned for me to join them. Hesitantly, I did.

  “Hey Britney,” Brian greeted civilly.

  “Hi,” I replied with a smile before I looked to Jonas for an explanation.

  “We met in our last class,” Jonas explained. “Brian asked me to tell you hi for him, and I suggested he come along and tell you yourself.”

  “Well...I need to go, I promised to eat with some friends,” Brian explained, obviously uncomfortable about being with us.

  “Okay, it was nice seeing you again,” I told him gently. He nodded and then hastily retreated to where his friends were waiting for him to join them.

  “Poor Brian, did you have to bring him over just to say hi?” I questioned Jonas, feeling sorry for the guy.

  “Well, we had a quick chat I had been meaning to get out of the way anyway, this just gave me a chance to have it with him,” Jonas admitted.

  “A chat? About what?” I asked, curiously.

  “Don’t worry about it. So, how were your first two classes?”

  “They were fine. I met a couple girls I already knew, and everything went smoothly. Although, I have to say that my history class is promising to be just as boring as all my high school ones were,” I related to him as we got our lunch and sat down together.

  Jonas laughed. “Give it a chance at least Britt. I bet if you did, you might just find yourself interested in it. After all, it is mankind’s past, and it can help you make better choices for the future by learning the past mistakes and successes of others,” he pointed out to me.

  “You were the kid that always took the extra credit assignments in high school history and made people like me look bad for not knowing who discovered America, weren’t you?” I asked him in a falsely accusing voice.

  “Well as a matter of fact...” Jonas replied with a teasing grin. “No, actually, my dad made sure I understood the importance of an education, but I only did what I had to in order to get good grades and graduate. I sincerely hope you’re kidding about the discovering America thing though.”

  “Of course I know who discovered America! Good grief, I’m not that bad at history.”

  “Ah, but what year did he discover it?” inquired Jonas, eyebrows raised expectantly.

  “In 1792,” I responded, sticking my tongue out at him.

  We talked awhile longer, but soon had to head off in our separate ways for our next classes. When I was finished for the day I went to the hospital. As I approached Stacie’s desk I smiled and waved to her.

  “Hey, how is everything going today?” I questioned her as I stopped to speak with her briefly before moving on to my own desk.

  “Pretty quiet actually. Not much going on besides a couple drop-ins,” Stacie replied with a friendly smile of her own.

  “Well I’m all for quiet days,” I commented. “We could use a few more of those in my opinion.” Stacie laughed and nodded her head in agreement.

  “We certainly could,” she agreed with me as I made my way towards my own desk. The day continued it’s slow pace, for which I was grateful. As I was pulling together my things to leave, I saw Ana for the first time that day.

  “Hey!” she greeted me cheerfully as she approached my desk. “So, how did your first day of classes go?”

  “Not bad,” I answered, grabbing my backpack. “My professors all seem nice enough, and I even know a couple of the girls in one class.”

  “Well good.” Ana grabbed her own things from inside her office and linked arms with me as we left together.

  “So, I was thinking,” she said as we walked. “I’m flying to Seattle for a long weekend the weekend after this to look at houses with Mac. I was wondering if maybe you’d like to come with me. You could see the area where you’d be living if you moved with us to there, and even look into some colleges nearby too. What do you think? I’m not trying to push you or anything, but I thought it might help you to decide what you wanted to do.”

  “I think,” I began slowly, “that Jonas isn’t going to like the idea of me going to Washington with just you.”

  “You’re probably right about that,” she conceded. “But I don’t want Jonas coming along to sway your vote, and we both know that he will, not that I really blame him. I can’t explain it to you, but trust me; Jonas has valid reasons for being as protective as he is. Still, I want you to come and truly consider moving there with us.”

  I nodded. “I’ll go with you to see, but I won’t promise anything else, Ana. We all know that Jonas can’t leave LA for some time yet, and I don’t like the idea of being so far apart for so long,” I told her as we got to our cars.

  “That’s all I’m asking you to do. Being apart from Mac, I understand what you’d have to go through. Only Jonas wouldn’t be able to visit you much, since he couldn’t risk drawing attention to us,” Ana said, pulling apart from me to get into her own car. “Do you want to tell Jonas, or would you rather I did?”

  “I should tell him,” I decided. “That way I can convince him that I want to go and that you’re not just twisting my arm or anything.”

  “Alright,” Ana agreed with a quick nod, getting into her car. “Then I’ll leave that up to you.”

  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

  The next morning I woke up and groaned at a throbbing in my head.

  “Just great,” I grumbled to Cinder, who was faithfully curled up nearby. At least today was one of my off days. I had two days without any classes on them, Tuesday and Friday. I still had to go into work unfortunately, but I didn’t have to be there until 2p.m., so I had time to ditch my headache first.

  I flopped back into my pillows and sighed, planning to sleep in until I absolutely had to get up in order to be ready to leave for work. However, about fifteen minutes later as I was just beginning to doze off again, a knock sounded at my door, followed by Steve’s entrance a minute later.

  “I can’t believe you’re still in bed!” he exclaimed upon seeing me. “It’s already 11a.m. Britt!”

  “Go away,” I mumbled through my pillow. I had hoped it would sound a little more threatening, but it came out more like a whine then anything else.

  “Come on Britney, time to get up. Don’t you remember? Jonas wanted me to take you to practice today since he’s busy with classes all day today,” he reminded me, pulling at my blankets. In vain, I tried to hold onto them, but he soon had them flipped off to both mine, and Cinder’s distaste.

  “My head hurts, I’m not practicing today,” I informed him, trying to grab my blankets back once again while Cinder darted out of the room to find a quieter place to resume her own nap.

  Steve crossed his arms and looked down at me. “If you were supposed to be working with Jonas, would you stay in bed, or take some pills, grab a hot shower, and go? Now, answer me honestly.”

  I groaned, knowing the answer. I would go because Jonas wouldn’t accept a headache, at least not this one, since it was already starting to wear off.

  “I‘d go,” I finally admitted. Steve smiled.

  “That’s what I thought. But, I actually came here to tell you that I couldn’t work with you today. I hurt my arm this past weekend, and need to give it a break,” explained Steve, plopping on the end of my bed.

  “What? How did you manage that, I thought you were just visiting Paige in San Francisco?” I wondered aloud in surprise, sitting up and staring at him with wide eyes, waiting for an explanation.

  “Well I was trying out for a job there actually, doing similar work to Paige’s. While we were there Paige and I decided to use the equipment for combat training, and there was this enormous guy there. I mean, he was the biggest guy I’ve ever seen! And well...I managed to inadvertently get myself challenged to a face off,” Steve related with reluctance, smiling sheepishly.

  “Are you telling me that my invincible body guard/hero got beaten up?” I questioned in a mocking tone, laughing at the story.

  “No way!” defended Steve hastily. “Actually, I hurt myself trying to punch his rock hard gut. But I swear that I took him down in the end...almost.”

  I shook my head as my laughter died off. “So, what’re we going to do since we can’t practice today?”

  Steve shrugged. “What would you like to do? We can have some good quality Steve and Britney time.”

  “That sounds great,” I said with a huge smile. “I miss all the time that we used to spend together.”

  “Alright then, we’ll go do something then,” stated Steve with determination, getting up and heading for the door. “You get dressed, after that we’ll figure out what to do.”

  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

  Roughly an hour later, Steve and I walked together through the rooms of an old art museum Steve had thought to suggest we go to. My mind was only half on the art before me however, and I decided to talk over my troubles with Steve as I used to always do before everything had changed so drastically.

  “Ana and I are going to visit Mac weekend after next,” I mentioned quietly as we stood in front of an ancient-looking bust by an artist whose name I didn’t recognize. “She wants me to go in order to get an idea of what it would be like if I decided to move with her.”

  Steve sighed, still staring intently at the bust as he asked, “Britney, do you want my opinion of what I think you should do?”

  “Yes,” I answered readily, in a voice only barely above a whisper.

  “Britney, where do you want to be?”

  “Here, in LA, with Jonas,” I replied without hesitation. “But Ana and Mac do have a point, it’s not safe for me here, and it’s only going to get even more unsafe as time goes by.”

  Steve gave a nod, indicating his agreement. “What I think would be best is if you moved to San Francisco, to live with Paige and Kate. I’m looking into an apartment in the same building, so I wouldn’t be very far away, and Paige would be with you too. I trust you with Jonas, I know he’s an amazingly capable guy, but he can only do so much without being spread too thin. We need to think about what’s best for him too. He should be trying to focus on finishing up his degree and staying inconspicuous right now.” We moved to another nearby statue and stopped to examine it as well, but though my eyes were glued on it, I didn’t really see it.

  “I know. And, there’s something else too that I thought about last night. With everyone leaving, what’ll happen if they do connect the dots and realize what Jonas has done? There won’t be anyone here to help him. By the time any of us figured out that something was wrong it could be too late,” I explained with worry. I’d thought of the problem as I laid in bed last night, going over the pros and cons of the different options available to me.

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” commented Steve, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully as we turned to gaze at some farm scene paintings along the wall behind us. “You make a good point, Britney. However, I don’t know if it’d do him much good to have you here. I don’t think there would be much of anything that you could do to help him.”

  “I could notify everyone if something went wrong, and I’m not completely useless you know. I could help, if we were desperate enough,” I argued. Steve was shaking his head before I had even finished the last part though.

  “That would be the last thing Jonas would want, Britt, you know that. He’s only taught you what he has so that you can protect yourself if necessary, not so that you can go getting into trouble.”

  “Well, still. We can’t just leave him here to fend for himself,” I declared.

  “I agree. Let me think about it, ok? Maybe we can work something out.” He wrapped an arm around me and gave my shoulder a brief squeeze before pulling away.

  We walked together in a companionable silence for a while, and I tried to pay attention to what I was looking at. Finally, seeing that it was becoming late and that I’d soon need to be at the hospital, we went out to the parking lot to find Steve’s Challenger.

   “I learned something interesting on my trip this past weekend,” Steve mentioned with a chuckle. “Did you know that Tanner plays the drums?”

  “What? Are we talking about the same guy? Dr. Tanner Daniels, as in Kate’s boyfriend?” I asked in disbelief.

  “One in the same,” confirmed Steve as we got into his car. “Don’t let that suit and sophisticated act fool you, I heard him. He even has a rocker scream that would wake the dead,” he laughed, roaring the car’s engine to life. “Paige and I got dragged along to one of his band’s performances by Kate. It was...interesting. Apparently, he and a few of his other doctor friends got together and formed a band.”

  “Are you kidding?” I asked, laughing at the mere thought.

  Steve grimaced. “Unfortunately, no. He’s the drummer, the rhythm guitarist and singer is a brain surgeon, the keyboard guy is actually an oral surgeon, the lead guitar player who does all the riffs and solos is a forensics psychologist, and the base guitarist is just a regular doctor.” This time I couldn’t control my laughter. When I had finally stopped, I turned to Steve again.

  “So are they any good?”

  “It’s a work in progress, but thankfully, I don’t think they’re going to get past the coffee house gigs.”

  “What’s their band name?”

  “On Call, because they could be called away at any minute to take care of an emergency,” He informed me. I groaned, put my hand to my forehead, and closed my eyes while shaking my head.

  “That’s awful, but I can totally see it,” I said.

  “But wait, I haven’t finished painting the picture for you quite yet. Skinny jeans and worn-out, scruffy shirts. One of them even has an earring he wears especially for gigs. I got to meet them all afterwards, and it was quite the experience to say the least.” Once again, I shook my head, but this time to clear away the images that Steve had planted in it.

  “I always wondered how he and Kate ever got together. I mean, they seem like complete opposites. I guess this explains it though,” I commented.

  “They make quite the pair those two,” he agreed.

  “Speaking of pairs,” I hinted.

  “Paige and I are doing fine.” He began, taking the hint and filling me in on all that had been going on. By the time he was finished, we’d arrived at the hospital.

  “Thanks for the ride, Steve,” I thanked him as I got out of his car.

  “No problem. Is Ana taking you home?”

  “Yeah. She’s leaving at the same time I am anyway, so she’ll take me back home,” I explained.

  “See you around then,” Steve called before I closed the car door and went inside the building. When I got to my desk, I was surprised to find that Ana was actually in her office for once when she didn’t have an appointment. I decided to stop and talk to her before getting to work, to see if she needed a coffee or anything.

  “Hey,” she greeted when I entered through her open door. “How was practice with Steve?” she inquired, laying aside some papers she’d been looking at.

  “Actually, we didn’t have practice because Steve hurt himself in San Francisco. Apparently, he picked a fight with some really big guy at the agency. So we decided to go to an art museum instead,” I explained to her.

  “Oh really? Jonas is going to be jealous,” Ana predicted.

  “Why?”

  “You don’t know?” asked Ana, obviously surprised. “Art is the only thing that he really focused on and excelled at, besides dancing of course, that wasn’t connected to the family work. I mean, it came in handy a couple times, but he did art because he enjoyed it, not to help him in his work. I’d hoped he’d study art in college, but he didn’t.”

   “Jonas is an artist?” I questioned with disbelief in my voice. “I would never have guessed. His apartment is so void of color and expression. I guess I didn’t really see him as much of the creative type.”

  “He hasn’t done anything in a long time as far as I know, but he’s really good. You should try getting him to do some sketching or something sometime. I think you’d be surprised.”

  “Maybe I will,” I replied thoughtfully. I looked down at the papers Ana had been looking at and, for the first time, I realized that she had been looking at some information to plan her upcoming wedding.

  “Looking into catering?” I asked her, scrutinizing the papers. She nodded.

  “Yes, though I think I’ve decided to just do something myself. A buffet type of thing. I have a few friends who’ve offered to take care of the tables for me if I do that,” she filled me in, setting aside the first paper. “I’m also looking into some bakeries that I can get a cake from. Oh, and just so you’re aware, I talked to Jonas this afternoon on the phone, and he volunteered both of your services in cake testing this weekend. Mac had wanted to be able to help, but it just isn’t going to be possible. So when Jonas heard, he offered to have both of you come with me.”

  “Oh, how nice of him to volunteer me for things without talking to me first,” I remarked a little sarcastically, though I really didn’t mind going to help her.

  Ana laughed. “Well I think it’s his payback for you volunteering him to help with the invitations,” she pointed out. I grimaced and flexed my hand instinctively.

  “He was right about that one, I should’ve listened. I think my hand is just now getting back to normal,” I joked.

  Just then, the phone rang at my desk and I had to go answer it. After that the rest of my day at work seemed to whirl by me in a hurry, obviously making up for yesterday’s lull.

  When it was time to go home, Jonas surprised me by walking up to my desk.

   “Jonas, what’re you doing here?” I asked when I saw him.

  “Ana invited me to dinner and suggested I pick you up from work,” Jonas informed me with his boyish smile. Out of the corner or my eye, I saw Ana watching from the doorway of her office, a faint smile playing at her lips.

  “Are you ready to leave now?” he inquired, seeing that I had my backpack and appeared to be prepared to leave. I nodded, and he led me out to his car, talking about how his classes of the day had gone. In turn, I filled him in on Steve’s and my trip to the art museum. He asked which one we’d gone to, and then nodded his head in approval of our choice.

  “Ana mentioned that you used to do a lot with art and that you were very good,” I mentioned casually, glancing sideways at him as we drove.

  “She did, did she? Well I was good, I don’t know about very good. I think her opinion might be just slightly biased,” he added, flashing a smirk.

  “Why did you stop?” I queried curiously.

  He shrugged and said, “I guess I just got busy and just stopped.”

  “You should start again,” I told him in a somewhat coaxing tone, wanting to see his talent for myself. An amused smile crossed Jonas’ face.

  “Britney, are you trying to cajole me into doing something?” he asked me.

  I blushed in embarrassment at having been so obvious to him. “Is it working?”

  “Maybe,” he hedged. “I’ll think about it,” he promised as he pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car. “Just because you must really want me to if you’re trying so hard,” he added before getting out of the car.

  <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

  After dinner, I was cleaning up in the kitchen when Jonas wandered in and watched me, looking completely at ease.

  “How do you do that?” I demanded as Jonas leaned against the counter near me in his habitually casual way.

   “Do what?” Jonas asked me, looking completely confused as to what I meant.

  “This,” I replied, gesturing to his obvious relaxed stance. “You’re so calm and casual all the time, as if nothing were wrong at all. How do you do it?” I wondered once again. “I mean, with everything that’s going on, I don’t understand how you can always be so calm all of the time.”

  Jonas leaned his head back and laughed, finally understanding.

  “Practice, I worked at it for so long that I rarely have to try anymore. It’s often a great asset to appear unaffected and at ease in the line of work my father trained me for,” Jonas explained.

  “Sounds like something I ought to try learning,” I muttered as I got a stack of plates down from the cupboard.

  “Never,” declared Jonas. “I love your rainbow of reactions to things. Ana even said you were starting to rub off on me in that respect.”

  I blushed, embarrassed. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t worry, she’s always thought I was far too self-controlled in my emotions. So she probably sees it as a change for the better and I don’t think it’s a bad thing either,” Jonas assured me.

  His comment reminded me of how he’d reacted to Ana and Mac’s idea of me moving to Washington with them, remembering how angry he’d gotten. Apparently, that was evidence of my rubbing off on him.

  “Still, it would be nice to be able to look like nothing ever bothered me sometimes,” I maintained.

  “Well, it can come in handy at times,” he agreed as I finished cleaning the counters.

  “Jonas, I need to tell you something,” I said, deciding to take advantage of his good mood to bring up my trip to Seattle. “Ana’s invited me to go with her to Washington the weekend after next, and I’ve agreed to go.”

  “Just the two of you?” he queried warily, catching onto the fact that he hadn’t been mentioned in the invite.

  “Just the two of us. You can’t really come with us anyway,” I reminded him in a gentle tone, knowing I couldn’t tell him that he wouldn’t have been invited even if he could have come. “We don’t know if they’re still watching you or not, and you going to Washington could be a red alert to them.”

  He sighed in defeat. “Alright, but promise to be careful, Britney. Don’t let them push you into staying there. Remember, it’s your life and your choice, not theirs.”

  A soft smile worked its way onto my lips. “I’ll be careful, I promise, and I won’t let anyone talk me into anything.”

  “Good.”

   <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

  Hayden looked around the dark place, beyond aggravated that Ricky was still off on some sort of mission or another. His eyes found a young man around his own age sitting off in a far corner in the dark by himself, and Hayden decided to join him, surprised to find himself curious about the stranger.

  “Mind if I join you?” Hayden inquired, stopping a couple feet away from the table before sitting down and asking permission first out of courtesy for the man, seeing the expensive brand he was drinking. To Hayden, what he was drinking signified that he was closer to his own status than those that surrounded them.

  The man swished his half-full glass as he stared into it before drinking it. He lounged gracefully in the booth with a refined air, assuring Hayden even more that he was out of place here among the filth.

  “It’s a free country,” the man told Hayden with a wry smirk that he could just barely make out in the dim lighting that was darkest in this corner, a fact that he was sure was a deciding factor in the man’s decision to sit here. Hayden seated himself across from the man and stretched out his hand to him. 

  “Hayden Terrence,” he introduced himself as he offered his hand.

  “Jonas Matthews,” the other man answered, shaking hands after only the briefest of hesitations.

  “Really? Well, now this is an unexpected pleasure,” Hayden commented with sincere interest in the man before him. “Lawrence Larkin had been having you search for his daughter Britney hadn’t he?” inquired Hayden.

  “He had been,” Jonas agreed, taking another taste from his glass.

  “I’ve recently come over from Ireland to take over your work for him,” Hayden confided.

  “Nice place, Ireland. I must compliment you on your accent, it really is quite imperceptible,” Jonas observed casually, putting all his skills of causality to practice.

  “I’ve worked hard to achieve a more American sound,” Hayden agreed. “I gather from your own rather unique accent you aren’t from around here originally either. Might I inquire where you call home?”

  “No, I’m not. My family hails from Australia, but we traveled our share,” Jonas told him, doing his best to not appear to be too uptight, but being careful regarding what he shared.

  There was hardly any fear that the alcohol he’d been drinking would in any way cause him to slip up. For starters, he had barely had any to drink. Secondly, it didn’t affect him as swiftly as it did most people, even when he did drink more, which he hadn’t done excepting one time in his entire life; when he and Britney had gone their separate ways. He had attempted to drown his misery that night, but it hadn’t done him any good and he’d resolved to only come here for information and to order a bottle to take back to his corner only to not appear suspicious just lurking around.

  “Ahhh, I’ve never been there personally, but I hear it’s a rather agreeable place,” Hayden responded with a nod.

  “Would you care for some?” Jonas asked Hayden as he held up his bottle slightly. McKenna always was sure to have Jonas’ own particular favorite on hand for whenever he dropped by, and he was sure it was always of the finest quality. Hayden nodded, and Jonas motioned for McKenna to come over.

  “A glass for my friend please,” Jonas requested of the owner, who quickly hurried off to fetch the requested item. When he returned Jonas first filled the new glass for Hayden and then partly refilled his own again. Hayden savored the refined flavor of the Chianti, one of Tuscany’s finest wines. He looked up at Jonas with a hint of appreciation for his obvious excellent taste in drink.

  “I’m glad of my fortune in meeting you here tonight,” Hayden began. “I’ve desired an opportunity to speak with you about the work you did for Larkin.”

  “What about it is that interests you exactly?”

  “I’m curious if you had ever considered that Britney may in fact still be right here in LA. Did you ever think that perhaps a false trail had been set up, quite elaborately I might add, to trick anyone who searched for her into thinking that she had fled the country?” questioned Hayden.

  “It did occur to me that it might be a possibility,” Jonas agreed. “She obviously had help moving her funds to another account. Perhaps the same person helped her set up the trail.”

  “That’s the very thing I’ve been thinking,” Hayden confided. “More and more it seems like the most likely explanation for it all. What do you think?” Hayden took another drink as he awaited Jonas’ response.

  “I think,” stated Jonas carefully, “that it really matters quite little to me. I’ve moved on to another line of work you see.”

  “Really? I was under the impression it was a family business. Why walk away from that? I hear you had a rather nice arrangement with DeRuise.”

  “I have other interests I wish to pursue,” Jonas answered indifferently. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must be going.”

  “Of course by all means,” Hayden assured him.

  “Here,” Jonas said as he stood and handed the remainder of the bottle of Chianti to Hayden. “Please, accept this with my compliments.” As soon as Hayden accepted the bottle, Jonas made his way towards the door and left without a backwards glance.

  Hayden stared after him for only a moment before turning away from the door to puzzle over their short exchange. He hadn’t expected Matthews to be the son of a gentleman, as he obviously was beyond any doubt. Of course, he realized that he ought to have suspected it. For him to have made it into as distinguished of a circle as would include such as DeRuise and Larkin within it.

  Despite Lawrence Larkin’s obvious lack of faith in Matthews’ capabilities, after seeing Matthews tonight he held little doubt in the man’s abilities, and he could understand DeRuise’s confidence in him. Even with what little time that he had spent with him tonight, he could tell that Matthews could be either a valuable ally or a worthy adversary.

 

Reviews

[Zachary_James]

To " Self controlled" wow. I am speachless, oh this is getting good!