The Exposure

   “Yeah, but she turned me down.”

   “I wonder if she’ll be at school today.”

   “Don’t know. Like I said, she turned me down when I asked her out. I really don’t know if she’ll be there or not.”

   “Doesn’t it bother you that this happened to someone you know? Someone you liked?”

   “Not really. I mean, she’s fine, right?”

   “The paper said they got out in time. It doesn’t mention if she was hurt.”

   “If she was, the paper would have said. They aren’t going to let a moneymaker like that slip by.”

   “How is the fact that she’s injured going to sell a bunch of papers?”

   But Jake was finished talking. He focused on the passing scenery, probably lost in his own thoughts. She looked down at his fingers still drumming on the car handle.

   “Jesus, Jake! What happened to your hand?” A long red gash ran across the top of his hand, surrounded by several smaller cuts.

   “Oh, that.” He ran his finger along the line. “Cut myself in the garage last night.”

   “Doing what?”

   “Fuck off. None of your business.”

   “Excuse me for caring. It looks like you needed stitches.”

   “Well, I don’t.” He jerked the sleeve of his jacket down in an attempt to cover the gash.

   Damn. And people said women were moody.

   The rest of the ride to the school passed in silence and when she parked the car, Jake jumped out and hurried into the main building. Meagan shook her head as she watched him disappear in the crowd.

   “You heard about Melissa’s house?”

   She turned to find one of her friends, Penelope, walking toward her.

   “Yeah,” Meagan said, remembering Penelope lived across the street from the Coops. “Saw it in the paper this morning. Horrible.”

   “I heard they lost everything.”

   “I really hope they find the bastard who did this.”

   “Me, too. Do you know if Jake saw anything?”

   Meagan wrinkled her brow. “Why would Jake have seen anything?”

   “I saw him outside in the area earlier last night. Thought he might have heard or seen something.”

   She planned to wait until her parents weren’t at home before confronting him, but even though they were out that night, Jake was, too. The next night they were all sitting down to dinner when a call came in about another fire. Her father rushed out to head to the station and the next time she saw him, he was in the hospital, hours away from death due to the injuries he’d sustained as a result of the call.

   There weren’t any more strange fires after that. Then again, she had to lose her father to get them to stop. She never thought it was a fair trade.

Chapter Eight

   Back at her apartment, Meagan took a long, hot shower and then pulled out her file containing all the news articles she’d clipped about the unsolved fires.

   She’d been so certain she’d done the right thing all those years ago in covering for her brother. Back then, she’d told herself if she went to the police, it’d make her dad look bad. For sure, he wouldn’t get the promotion he’d been talking about for the last eighteen months.

   And, there was a part of her that wanted to help her brother. If she kept quiet, maybe he’d recognize he’d been given a second chance and he’d straighten up. She reasoned with herself that no one had been hurt, other than her father, and it was only property damage. Plus, her father had asked her not to tell.

   All those years, she’d kept her brother’s secret and as time went on, she felt she could no longer come forward. It was much too late. In all honesty, she was now as guilty as he was. It really hadn’t done her any good anyway; someone had obviously known the entire time. Which brought up again: how did The Taskmaster know?

   And again the questions came that she had no answers to: had he always known or had her brother let something slip in a recent conversation? Was he there when it happened? If so, wasn’t he as guilty as they were? Not to mention the one question that wouldn’t leave her alone: what did he want with Luke?

   She knew what she had to do and before she could change her mind, she turned on her laptop and typed an e-mail to The Taskmaster.

I know where he keeps his photos, but it doesn’t matter because I’m not doing anything else for you anymore. I’m done. D.O.N.E. Done. I don’t care what you do or what you say or what you threaten. Find someone else to do your dirty work, this bitch is done.

   The reply back was almost instant.

HAHAHAHAHAHA.

   Which only made her angry. She typed back a reply, but thought better of it and deleted it before sending. He wanted her angry. He wanted a reaction. She’d be damned if she’d give him the satisfaction.

   Instead she typed a quick text to Luke.

Dinner tomorrow night at my house?

   His reply was almost instant.

Love to. What time?

7 okay?

See you then.

   She smiled as she put her phone down. There. That was much better than going off on a man who could potentially ruin her. Dinner with Luke. Two weeks ago, she’d never have thought it possible. Especially when she’d convinced herself he was an ass and she wanted nothing to do with him.

   Now she could admit that she wasn’t sure she’d ever gotten over him all those years ago. She should probably thank The Taskmaster for forcing her to reconnect with him. Had it not been for him, she and Luke would still be strangers. She’d have completely missed out on discovering what an incredible man he’d become.

   Not to mention the insanely good sex.

   Speaking of which, she needed to straighten up the house and put clean sheets on her bed. And figure out what she was making for dinner tomorrow night.