Page 52 of Dead Girls Don’t Forget

Cassidy was already gathering her things. "I was just finishing anyway." She shot me a not-so-subtle look. "Bye, Harper."

She left.

Jackson sat down in her seat. He didn’t touch the coffee or banana he’d brought with him. He leaned back, one arm draped along the empty chair beside him.

I took another bite. He watched me chew.

"You’re staring," I said.

"I know."

"Why?"

"I like looking at you."

I set my fork down. "You always like this?”

"Only when it matters."

I held his gaze. "And I matter?"

"Yeah." His voice was low. "You do."

I studied him the way he’d been studying me.

Two names left. One job to finish. Jackson was supposed to be a problem I managed by not engaging, but the strategy was failing. Every time we ended up together, it cost me more. He was under my skin. My cat had chosen his side, and my body had betrayed me the second I laid eyes on him in that hallway.

Maybe I could fuck him out of my system. Burn through whatever this was and get back to what mattered — the targets, the training, the work.

That was the plan.

Sex had never been the issue. Trust was.

I leaned forward, elbows on the table.

"If we fuck," I said, "are you going to get clingy? Or will you move on and let me be?"

He didn't answer right away. He rubbed slowly along his jaw while he studied me, expression unreadable. The silence stretched between us.

Then he leaned in. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow at seven.”

He picked up his coffee and untouched banana, stood, and walked away.

I watched him go.

My cat purred, long and smug, utterly convinced she'd won.

I picked up my fork and went back to my food. It tasted like cardboard. I forced down two more bites before giving up. My mind wouldn’t stop circling back to him, so I pulled my phone out under the table and opened the reddit post. Still up. No new comments. Nothing deleted.

I put the phone away.

My thoughts went straight back to Jackson anyway.

He never answered my question.

Chapter 21: This Changes Everything

Tuesday afternoon practice dragged.