CHAPTER 1
“He is searching for you.” Jason said carefully.
I finished my cake without bothering to reply.
“How is the internship?” I asked instead.
“Mom breaths down my neck literally.” He pretended to be annoyed but he was soaking up her attention.
I smiled.
“She misses you. She tries to understand that you have grown up but it is difficult on her...” Jason was always a worry wart. “...it is difficult on me.”
“Have you checked the codes I sent?” I tried to change the subject but he was a dog with bone when it came to me.
“Why are you not coming home?”
“You know very well why.”
Jason sighed. “If you guys talk...”
“We never talk.” I said with finality.
Jason was hurt but there was nothing I could do.
“I am fine, Jason. Wipe of that look.”
“I am losing you. I can feel it. You are not the same. Please, whatever you are going through, I can help.”
We both knew whatever I was going through, could not be helped.
Unless that someone backed off.
“He tried to ‘bug’ me.” Jason squirmed in his seat.
I was not supposed to be surprised, but I was.
“The day we planned the fake-meet, I found a ‘bug’ on the shirt collar. I destroyed it and he was not happy with me.”
“I figured when you invited me to this cafe. I just did not want to believe.” My intuitions laughed at me for hoping for the best.
That meant he figured out, I was not the one who was texting to him. It took me five sleepless nights to get that code running smoothly.
I underestimated him.
I thought I had more time.
He tried to bug Jason, that meant he knew we met frequently.
Of course he knew.
He knew me better than I did myself.
“I think you should be more careful; he is losing it. Especially with what you did to his company.”
Jason was hiding something.
“What is it?”
He gulped.
“I went to his new penthouse...more like sneaked in, to plant the ‘bug’ in his own closet. It was not pretty. He is cracking.”
What did I feel?
Sadness? Hurt? Fear?
I sipped on my cappuccino.
“What did you do?”
“I was in no position to do anything. But I have a feeling he is going to hunt you down. I had to rent two cars to get here. He is losing it.”
“There is more to this story, right?”
“His whole penthouse is covered in your photos, Dave. Some are compromising.”
I was now scared. I shivered went from spine and shook my shoulders.
“I punched him the next day, several punches in fact.”
And Jason was still walking???
“Exactly! I expected him to kill me or at least hurt me back. He did not. He took punches and kicks. He just kept on asking where you were. I thought he was going to cry.”
Tears were falling to my cup but I did nothing about it.
“He almost slipped that you were the reason why he came drunk at a board meeting. Thankfully I was able to stabilize him and took on the presentation.”
That did it.
I ran.
I ran through the traffic, ignoring Jason’s shouts.
Oh my god!
Please...
Why?
Why me?