Chapter 5

"Hello? Jane?" J plugs his other ear, trying to focus on the voice at the other end of the line. Cops dragging perps to their holding cells, computer keys clacking away, metal doors creaking, all these unfamiliar sounds make J feel even antsier than he already is.

"J? Is that you?" An angelic voice whispers his nickname. Her soft and sweet tone always manages to calm him.

"Yeah. It's me." J provides no explanation for the strange automated message because he has none.

"Are you in fucking jail? What the hell is going on? Did you get into a fight at the club?" Jane's voice rises an octave as the panic grabs a hold of her voice, strangling it with the tension of this situation.

"Yes, I am in jail. No, I didn't get into a fight at the club. I have been wrongfully accused of blackmail and you were the only person I could think of to call."

"Blackmail? J, what did you do?" The panic is replaced with something edgier, more aggressive. J has never heard her speak this way to him before. His stomach lurches.

"N-Nothing. I didn't do anything. It's a false accusation-" a heavy hand pats J's shoulder, letting him know that he has less than one minute left for his call. "Look Jane, I've got to go. I just wanted to let you know where I was in case you don't hear from me for a while. I will call you again in a few days. Bye."

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"JULIAN GUTIERREZ! I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU HANG UP THI-" Jane's outburst is cut short by the sound of the dial tone. He fucking hung up on her.

She throws her phone into the pile of clothes that she got it from, not wanting to be anywhere near it. Nik is sitting behind her, on the bedroom floor now. He was behind her as soon as she dropped to the ground a few minutes ago.

Nik wraps his arms around her midsection, rocking them back and forth gently while he waits for her to process what is going on. She is tense and her body is on fire. Whether that's from her anger or from her recent heated interaction with Nik, she is unsure.

"When were you going to tell me? Did you know he was being arrested while we were leaving the club?"

"I was going to tell you as soon as we got back from the club but you looked so fragile. I wanted to give you an hour or two to feel happy again before I broke the news to you."

"You didn't answer the other question. Did you fucking know that he was getting shoved into a cop car while we were still there? Is that why you took me out the side entrance?"

"I wasn't certain he was going to be arrested immediately. I was just prepared to get you out of there if he was because I didn't want you to see him like that. I may hate the guy, but I know he is your best friend. Whether that remains true doesn't matter because I know that it would have hurt you to see that either way." Nik rests his chin against Jane's shoulder. She doesn't push him away as he had expected. She just stays frozen.

"When did you find out? How can you be sure that it's him?"

"The reason I made you stay away from me was because I had no clue who it was when you left. I couldn't risk any more harm to you or your career. I was prepared to let you go that day. When we took those three days away from each other, the days where you stayed at my Nan's house, I hired a private investigator. I had him look through everyone I know and I had my assistant run background checks. We started building the case before you even left. We just didn't know who the blackmailer was at the time. It wasn't until shortly after you left California that I figured it out. His last correspondence with me used language that pointed to the blackmailer being someone in your life, not mine. He is the only person who you are close with who knew where we were. He is the only person close to you, who has seen us together." Nik pauses his monologue to gauge any reaction from Jane. When she doesn't respond to the silence, he continues, "I didn't want to believe it was him. In fact, I thought I must have been crazy so I sent the private investigator to check him out. I also had my assistant take a look at all of J's social media profiles, job profiles, literally anything he could get a hold of, we looked at."

Instead of going into all the nitty gritty details, Nik picks Jane up from the ground and carries her back to bed. He lays behind her, propping his head up with his hand and wrapping his free arm around her. She still doesn't say anything. She just stays silent, frozen. Worried about her mental health, Nik decides to pause the conversation until Jane seems ready again. Whatever questions she has, he will answer. For now, he decides it's best to comfort her in any way he can.

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Jane thinks back to this past week with J. She analyzes every interaction, every movement he made, everything. Did anything stand out or seem different? She remembers how J didn't reach out to her once during her time away. Initially, she chalked this up to her not reaching out to him. By itself, this isn't strange.

Next Jane thinks about the airport pickup. He got her from the airport, no questions asked. In fact, the second she messaged him, he responded immediately almost as if he had been waiting for her. It was a weekday when she made it back, the middle of the afternoon in fact. Normally J would have been working. The flight was short and his quick and consistent responses to all of her messages are a bit strange, but still nothing major.

What's strange is how this whole week he treated her like he normally would. He was kind, caring, and literally a saint. He took off work. He did all of this despite giving her the cold shoulder the entire time she was away.

There are many other instances of strange behavior, but the final pieces of the puzzle were his behavior at the club. He was very handsy. He was touching her differently and pulling her close to him, closer than is normal for just two friends. I'm sure it isn't that abnormal for friends to dance closely with each other, but that isn't something they have ever done before when they'd gone out. Also! when she finally decided to take a few steps forward, J pulled her away from the dance floor. It's like he was upset with her for not letting him touch her. He also snapped at her before he walked away. It just doesn't make sense.

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After about an hour of silence and laying in bed together, Jane finally speaks up. "J was acting strangely this week. I just can't wrap my head around it."

"I couldn't at first either. With the way you gush about him, the whole idea of him being responsible for this just felt incredibly wrong."

"So what tipped you off? What convinced you that it was him?"

"Well, that's the thing. Your descriptions of him don't match up with anything on his socials. He doesn't post much if at all. He has almost no friends on any of his accounts. The posts he does make are always centered around you. This might only be online, but it looks like he doesn't exist unless you are involved somehow. On top of the weird social media junk, my assistant found some public records."

"And? What'd he do?" Jane shifts in bed so that her face is now against Nik's chest. Something about whatever is coming next makes her feel like she needs to brace herself.

"He has a long track record of restraining orders, assault, and battery charges, but none of these were under his name. They are under a very similar name, Julio Gutierrez. Julio changed his name about five years ago, to Julian. When did you first meet Julian?"

Jane's blood freezes. Julio? Restraining Orders? None of this sounds like her friend. She tries to think about any stable piece of information about Julian that she can. His friends or family? She has never met any of them. His personal life? His favorite color? Where he went to high school? She knows none of the answers to these questions. It's like she doesn't know anything about him at all. How, in all their time together, has she never learned a single thing about him?

"Well, I finished grad school around four years ago and moved here when I got that position at your company. He was the first friend I made. Well, basically the only friend I made. I've never known him as anything other than Julian."

"You met him after he changed his name. I'm assuming this is when he also changed his identity. Around that time he cut contact with everyone from his previous life. He took whatever money he had, and used it to start his business. But that's all I have on him as Julian."

Nik gives Jane a squeeze. She clearly has a lot more to process tonight. When Nik releases her from the hug, she looks up at him. Her wide emerald eyes hold no emotion behind them other than confusion. "Let's get some rest for now. You've dealt with a lot tonight."