Drawings For Colby - Book 2

Chapter 6

Jas looks nervous as we sit down on the couch. Colby diverts to the kitchen.

"What happened?"

"Connor and Lauren were here," I began. I explained how he'd appeared at the pool, and how Ella had stupidly gone back, and been kidnapped. What she suspected had meanwhile happened to Colby. As Ella recounted it, she reaslised just how messed up it all was.

"So we'll go to the police today," I decide.

I look up at Jas, who looks really panicked. I frown confusedly at her.

"Wait," she says, taking a moment to think. "Um- you can't go," she states sheepishly.

Now I find myself panicking.

"What?? Why?" I sit forward.

But as I question her, it all slips into place. Connor had told her and he wasn't lying.

Jas had given him her information, and he'd used it to track her down in LA.

"He knows people."

"That's bullshit, Jas," I chuckle. "There's no way I dated him all that time without knowing who his friends were. He told me you gave him my new address—"

Her eyes are glassy and pleading. "I wanted to tell you— I didn't know how to warn you. He's dangerous, Ella. Really dangerous."

"I'm well aware," I slouch back, and absorb the surreality of everything going on. "I'm not mad at you. Your injury— he threatened you?"

Jas nodded, her face paling momentarily as if she recalled the incident.

"He stabbed me. It was healing. And when I walked into the counter top, it tore open again," she grimaced.

"You really should have told me," I rub my eyes, trying to recall what Connor had said about getting information out of Jaz. He wasn't lying.

"I wanted to, but I was so afraid of what he might do," She admitted. "He said things would get worse if I told you. I came to LA to get away from him, and try to protect you when he showed up. I should've had a plan. And last night—" her own burst of tears cut her off. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when it mattered," she sobbed.

I shift towards her and envelope with my arms as she cries. It would have been a tricky predicament for her to navigate and I don't blame her for her choices. I'm just glad she's here with me now.

I lift my head from Jas's back and my gaze connects with Colby's as he watches from where he's standing in the kitchen. His expression is gently affirmative. And as I break away from his tired eyes, a tear of my own slips down my cheek.