"I have a feeling she'll be there all night," Gerry said with a sigh. "We can go someplace good to eat. There's an awesome taco shack an hour away."
"Taco shack?" she said, looking him over critically. He was well-dressed and perfectly presented, not the kind to dine at what she envisioned a taco shack to be.
He grinned.
Jessi smiled in response. Being with someone who seemed normal helped her relax, though she wasn't able to forget he had something to do with Xander.
They drove an hour away, Gerry filling the time with engaging chatter. She couldn't take her mind off Xander, especially since she began to think he'd taken her disinterest in him as a dare. Her body settled, and she recalled the look on his face with a mix of excitement and dread.
He'd been intrigued. Something told her that the interest of a man … creature like him was not a good thing. Not that it mattered. When she didn't return, he'd find a new plaything.
Hopefully.
As she calmed, she began to realize a different obstacle to her plan of never seeing Xander again: Jonny. He wasn't going to take her news well. Jessi thought hard of some way to keep Jonny off her back long enough for her to make a break for it with the kids.
Even this plan began to fizzle when she returned home a few hours later. The goon that bruised her arm was lingering outside her building, along with two more. They nodded to her when she got out of the car but didn't approach.
Jessi hurried inside, heart pounding, not at ease until all four locks of her apartment door were securely in place. She leaned against the door to her three bedroom apartment. She hadn't thought it so cramped, but it was, compared to Xander's spacious, airy condo. Jessi shook her head and went to the tiny kitchen. Music blared from the rooms of both cousins, as it did every afternoon when they were studying before dinner. She didn't feel ready to face them yet.
She pulled Jonny's number from the fridge but hesitated, still not certain what to tell him.
Xander made her uneasy. Jonny scared her. He seemed like a normal teenager, harmless with a name like Jonny. But being anywhere near him was like sticking her hand in a light socket. He radiated a weird sort of energy.
She fished the cell out of her purse and frowned. It was the one Ingrid left her, not her own. Irritated she was too flustered to leave it, Jessi searched until she found hers. She set the spare on the counter then called Jonny.