“Hey! You called earlier,” Benne said immediately the call connected, while he tried to drive the car slowly so that he wouldn’t disturb Celsie’s sleep. He could tell that she was exhausted, even though her tiredness had nothing to do with her duties at the office.
“You have now become a difficult man to reach. I wonder if it’s because your right-hand man isn’t with you,” Jade said as she went to sit in front of the dresser in her bedroom.
“Simply because you called once and I didn’t take your call I’ve become a difficult man to reach? When did you become such a drama queen?” Benne asked with an amused chuckle, ignoring the other part of her statement.
“Since you sent your cute best friend over here to babysit me,” Jade responded as she untied the belt of her night robe with her other hand which wasn’t holding the phone to her ear.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Benne denied, trying to play ignorant.
“Cut the crap, Benne. By now you should know that your friend isn’t very good at telling lies. Besides, the moment he showed up at my doorstep I already figured out that you had to have sent him over for him to have left the company under such short notice,” Jade pointed out as she shrugged out of the night robe leaving only the skimpy nightdress.
“Alright. Fine. I asked him to help, so please try not to make things too difficult for him,” Benne pleaded.
“As if I could. He does a fine job of making things difficult for both himself and me already. I’m curious about something though, how come you never tried to hook him up with anyone?” Jade asked curiously, making Benne raise a brow as he tried to figure out how to interpret Jade’s question. Was that to say she was interested in Harry or not?
“You expect me to hook him up with someone while I was busy trying to get myself hooked up?” Benne asked dryly.
“Well, I guess you have a point,” Jade said with a smile.
“Plus, if I was going to hook him up with anyone, it would likely be you,” Benne pointed out, making Jade giggle.
“That’s not something a big brother should be saying. You should jealously protect me by warning your friends off me and making sure I don’t get involved with any of them, not thinking of hooking me up with one.”
“You asked a question, and I answered. Besides, it’s not in my place to hook him up with anyone. I’m sure when he meets someone he likes he will do the right thing,” Benne said confidently.
“I don’t think so. Plus it’s too late anyway, I already hooked him up with a lovely lady,” Jade informed Benne, and his brows pulled together in a frown.
The last thing he had been expecting was that Jade would try to hook Harry up with someone else. Somehow he had been hoping that both Harry and Jade would hit things off as they worked closely together since he had always suspected that Harry liked Jade.
Also, he knew that they were alike in a lot of ways yet very different too. Without a doubt, he knew they would both compliment each other perfectly. He believed they would be good for each other.
“You hooked him up with someone? How did he react to that?” Benne asked, masking his disappointment with curiosity.
“He was pissed even though he did a good job of controlling his emotions. But at least he showed up for dinner, and he even engaged her in a conversation before I excused them,” Jade said with pride in her tone as she raised her left hand to admire her perfectly manicured nails.
“That’s nice of you, but I hope you don’t do that again. Don’t put him in an awkward situation. So how are things going between the both of you? I hope you’re working well together?” Benne asked, changing the subject to what concerned him.
“Well, I can’t tell. You know how tight-lipped your friend can be. Plus he seems to assume that I’m flirting with him every time I give him basic compliments. And he keeps asking me to dress properly around him like he has never seen a naked lady before. He should be a eunuch or a monk!” Jade said dryly.
Benne chuckled, “You can’t blame him. His dad is old-fashioned and he was raised that way. It’s not such a bad thing. Besides, most ladies might consider someone like him a romantic gentleman,” Benne said in his best friend’s defense even though he would have liked to know what Jade said to make Harry think that she was flirting with him.
“I don’t think it’s his dad’s fault. His father sounded okay. Your friend just has a problem. Or perhaps he is gay?” Jade asked thoughtfully, and Benne laughed out loud.
“Don’t even think about asking him such a question. Just let him be, okay? And please, for the last time don’t try to hook him up with anyone anymore,” Benne pleaded.
“Fine, I won’t. Anyway, that wasn’t the reason I called,” Jade said dismissively.
“Okay… So why did you call?” Benne asked curiously,
“Uhm… You know about my case?” She asked cautiously.
“Yeah?” Benne said, turning to look at Celsie to be sure his phone call wasn’t disturbing her since he was making use of the car’s Bluetooth speaker.
“A young lady and her little boy are in danger, and I need a place where I can hide them. Somewhere no one would look…” Jade started.
“Isn’t that why you have something called witness protection? I’m sure the cops involved in the case can help you out, can they not?” Benne asked with a slight frown, wondering what any of it had to do with him.
“Well, not exactly. She is not a witness. Look, I just need somewhere she can hide with her kid until I’m done with the case…” She cleared her throat, “I was hoping that they could come to live in your house for the time being. You could even employ her to be a cleaner and she would live with the other household staff in their quarter,” Jade hurried to suggest before Benne would refuse.
He had enough on his plate already without adding something like this to it. He was already too worried about Celsie and how to get rid of Anita. And now this? “Jade…”
“Please, Benny. I’m very close to cracking this case now, and I won’t be able to forgive myself if anything happens to either her or her son. Your house is big enough to house them, and you won’t even cross paths with them. I promise you they will be invisible, and you won’t know they’re there. I’m begging, Benny,” Jade said with a pout even though Benne couldn’t see her face.
Benne sighed, “Fine. When are they supposed to come over?”
Jade cleared her throat, “Well, the thing is, they are already at your house,” Jade said with a wince.
“What? You can’t be serious!” Benne snapped at her angrily and Celsie roused in her sleep, opening her eyes to look at him.
“I know. I’m sorry. It was urgent, and you’re my big brother, remember? You’re always asking me how you can help, so I figured you wouldn’t mind. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. If you want them to leave they can just leave in the morning. But you already agreed to have them come right? Just think of it that they arrived before schedule,” Jade said apologetically even though she knew that she had messed up. She should have just listened to Harry.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.