Red Flags (25 page)

The day dragged on, and our film session was
excruciatingly long. I could only conclude that the day was moving
along so slowly because Chelsea and I had decided to skip our
afternoon classes in order to channel our inner Sherlock
Holmes.

When we arrived to our apartment, Mila was
sitting in the living room watching TV. I was really hoping that
she would be gone. I did not want to be holed up in front of a
computer with Chelsea, leaving her out; that would only arouse her
suspicions. Chelsea could read my face like the back of her hand
and sprang into action.

“Hey Mila, don’t you have class?” She asked,
trying to keep her voice steady.

“I’ve decided to skip it, kind of like you
two,” Mila replied, turning to look at us with a rather smug look
on her face. I glanced over at Chelsea and widened my eyes,
prompting her to continue.

She took my cue and continued, “Well, you
should probably get there. Lydia Bancroft says your study guide is
being handed out today. Don’t want to fail that exam,” she smiled,
and I saw Mila’s eyes twitch.

“Are you trying to get rid of me?” She asked,
looking back and forth to both of us.

“No Mila. But, I would love for you to remain
eligible.” Chelsea always knew exactly what to say. Two years ago
Mila’s eligibility was threatened when she failed her Medieval
History class, which was the class that she was trying to skip. The
words seemed to haunt her, and she quickly retrieved her backpack
and jetted out the door. I was so thankful for Chelsea since I was
aching to start researching more on Jason.

We grabbed a couple of waters and headed back
to Chelsea’s room. She had a MAC and a much larger desk, allowing
both of us to sit comfortably to research the illustrious Jason
Bradley. Chelsea started out the search with the Bradley Oil
Family, and over 1000 articles pop up. We clicked on the most
popular articles first, which simply detailed the family business,
the charities they gave to, the production and earnings – which by
the way were astounding, and there were even articles on Jacob
Bradley and Heather Miller getting engaged and married. So far, our
search hadn’t turned up much of anything. I prompted Chelsea to
type in Bradley Family Charity Gala and more articles came up on
the family and the charities that they supported. From what we
could find, there were four charities chosen each year, one by each
member of the family. They raised money for children, education,
animals, and historical leagues. Chelsea clicked on the images
link, and found numerous photos of the family at the gala
throughout the years. There were pictures of the four Bradley’s;
there were pictures of the Bradley’s plus Heather, with Heather
pregnant, and with a young Abigail. After clicking through nearly a
hundred pictures, I got up to use the restroom. Before I even had
an opportunity to squat perfectly Chelsea was screaming my name.
Startled, I hurried my business and ran back into the room.

“I found this picture of Jason with this
girl, who is she?”

I looked at the picture and instantly
recognized Stacey. “That’s Stacey; she’s an old friend of his he
grew up with.”

Chelsea pursed her lips and shook her head,
obviously not buying it. She continued to scroll through pictures
until she found another. “And what about this one? I don’t know
Cara; she doesn’t look like just an old friend.”

I leaned closer to look at the picture; it
was of Jason and Stacey accompanied by Jacob and Heather. Chelsea’s
gaze was so intense that I had to stop and fill her in on what
little I did know. “Heather and Stacey are sisters, and Stacey
lives here in San Diego.”

Chelsea’s mouth hit the floor.

“I met her when I went paintballing over
break with Jason. She hung out with a bunch of his gym buddies, but
she is now seeing a guy named Devon.”

“Ok, but who was she to Jason?” Chelsea
asked, not appeased by my answer at all.

“From what he told me, she was an old flame
from his childhood, who moved out to San Diego when he did.”

“Cara, listen to me. There is more to it than
that. Were they ever intimate? Did they date?”

“Yes. They were fuck buddies for a bit, but
he didn’t want anything more and she did, so that’s when it
ended.”

“How long ago was this?” Chelsea asked,
speaking as fast as I had ever heard her speak.

“Like a year ago, or something like that.” I
looked up to the ceiling and shook my head, regretting the
rehashing of all of this.

“Keep digging Cara. These photos don’t look
like old friends to me. And the fact that Jacob is married to this
girl’s sister makes me think there is more to this.” She continued
to click on links and stare at the information. “Jason actually
took you to hang out with her?”

“Yes – well… no. We went paintballing and she
went because Devon went. Jason swore that he had no idea that she
would be there.”

“Well, for once I believe him, because I
can’t imagine him taking you around an ex- fling of his, that’s
just plain stupid. But, we need to find out more about this Stacey.
Do you think Jacob will tell you anymore?”

I shook my head at the evasiveness that Jacob
was dishing out. I didn’t like the idea of Jason and Stacey being
intimate and living in the same city, and seeing those photos had
my jealously on a level 10. I didn’t know if I should show Jason
what I had found and demand that he give me the full story on
Stacey, or if I should wait until I had more to go off of. After
consulting Chelsea, she convinced me to wait, that a few pictures
were not concrete evidence of anything.

My head was pounding, and my stomach was in
knots. I deliberately left out the tidbit about Jason spending time
with Stacey while he was away in Texas for that week, or that they
were loosely engaged. Chelsea would cut off his balls if she knew
about either. I needed to dig into that a bit more, and I had to
figure out if it was Jacob, Heather, or Stacey herself that I would
be getting this bit of information from.

There was a knock on the door, and I opened
it to Chase on the other side. He gave me a warm hug, and walked
in. He was freshly showered, and had a school boy grin plastered
across his face. It was a sight for sore eyes, and my aching belly.
I led him into the living room, hoping whatever he had come for
would be brief. Just as we started talking, Chelsea came out of her
room.

“Hey Chase, whatcha up to tonight?”

“Not much. Just came by to see what you girls
were up to.” He smiled his wide grin and I returned it warmly.

“What we were up to or what Cara was up to?”
Chelsea narrowed her eyes and gave him a sly grin. Chase rubbed his
hand over his face, trying to hide the red that was flashing
throughout. “Besides, we’re doing absolutely nothing but playing
detective.” I looked over at Chelsea, trying to give her the shut
up look, but she didn’t take my hint, or rather ignored it, and
took Chase by the arm into her room.

Chelsea sat Chase down in front of the
computer. He started milling through the photos, and began to piece
our detective work together.

“What are you trying to find out about
Jason?” He looked over his shoulder back at me, shaking his head
while doing so.

“Just seeing who this girl is, that’s all,” I
tried to not give too much away. With the toxicity brewing between
Jason and Chase, this would only fuel the fire. Chase continued
scrolling through the pictures and found a couple more of Stacey –
alone.

“Why is she is so important to be at all of
the family functions?” I tried to ignore his question, but the
truth was, I had been wondering that myself. “Jason said she was a
friend of the family, they’ve known each other since high school.”
Deep down inside, I was well aware that there had been so much more
than that, I just didn’t want to face it. Was there some hidden
child somewhere that I didn’t know about? I shook my head, trying
to erase the despicable thoughts bombarding it. My phone rang with
Jason’s ringtone. I took the call out to the living room so that he
couldn’t hear Chase’s voice in the background.

I ran back into the room where Chelsea and
Chase were deep into their research, pointing, asking questions and
shaking their heads. My breathing had turned into panting, so much
so that you would swear that I had just finished a marathon.
Chelsea turned around and scowled, wondering why I was in such
disarray.

“Chase, you’ve gotta go,” is all I could
muster through frantic breaths. He turned in his chair and looked
at me, giving me the identical look I had just received from
Chelsea.

“Why?” He asked, as I walked over to help him
out of his chair. “Was that Jason on the phone? Why do I have to
go, he doesn’t pay any bills here Cara?” In all actuality, Chase
was right, but the last time I was privy to them being in the same
room, a world class boxing match almost took place right before my
eyes.

“Yeah, why does Chase have to go? He was
actually quite helpful Cara,” Chelsea stood and folded her arms in
front of her chest. I rolled my eyes at both of them, and continued
helping Chase out of his seat.

“Chels, you weren’t here the last time these
two were together. I’m actually not interested in seeing that
again. Jason said he was like a block away so please Chase, if you
are my friend, please just go. I will call you tomorrow.” He looked
at me while shaking his head, then ran his hands over his head and
sighed heavily.

“Fine, I’m leaving. You should know Cara,
your boyfriend has some shit he isn’t telling you, and I’m going to
keep digging.” I gave him my nervous grin, but ushered him out of
the room and to the front door. All I could think about was getting
him out of the apartment before Jason walked up and saw him. I
heard the roar of the Raptor and pushed Chase out of the apartment
and shooed him along. He walked down the way to his apartment, but
stopped and turned towards the parking lot. My heart plunged into
my stomach and I began to sweat. I could see the anger building in
Chase and I knew he was standing and waiting for a fight with
Jason. I ran out to him and shoved him along, my eyes wide, and
longing -- longing for him to keep moving so that a serious
catastrophe didn’t take place on my doorstep. Chase looked down at
me and grinned, mumbling something about Jason not being worth it,
and continued on his way. I hurried back to my apartment and made
my way inside – running to the bathroom. Chelsea was in the kitchen
biting into an apple, when I ran past her and asked her to get the
door for Jason when he knocked.

I threw some water on my face, trying to hide
the look of panic that had swept through my entire body when I
heard the doorbell ring. I could hear them making nice with one
another, exchanging tense pleasantries, but being cordial; even if
it was forced. Chelsea told him I was in the bathroom, and then it
went silent. After drying my face, I walked to my bedroom,
receiving a wink from Chelsea as I walked by. I found Jason
sprawled out on my bed, an unreadable look on his face. I lay down
next to him, and then leaned over to kiss his face. He kissed me
back but sat up in the process. Studying him, I thought back to his
phone call and how upbeat he was then, and how worrisome he looked
now. I decided to bite the bullet and find out what had changed his
mood so drastically.

“Hey, what’s your problem?” He looked at me,
his hooded eyes, blaring into my soul as if he could burn right
through me. He pulled a piece of paper out of his back pocket and
handed it me.

“This is my problem. What the hell is this?”
I grabbed the paper and looked to see Chelsea’s notes on Stacey all
over it.

Chapter 12

I stood, glaring at the paper in my hands,
unable to breathe. My mind couldn’t formulate an answer quick
enough. When I got the will to look at Jason, he was staring at me
with a painful look of anger and angst. As if walking in right on
cue, Chelsea came storming into my room like she had lost her
notes.

“There it is. How did you get this?” Her
voice was so high pitched that I immediately knew she was faking
it. I didn’t even respond; instead just handed her the paper. Jason
turned to stare at her, the worry leaving his face, but fury
quickly replacing it. She smiled at us both as she turned to leave
the room -- shutting the door behind her. Jason ran his hands
through his hair, and then turned around to face me, but with a
softer look on his face.

“Why does she have that?” He asked calmly,
and I had to wonder if this was the same guy who just looked like
he wanted to tear one of us apart. I swallowed a bit, and decided
that filling him in, while omitting a few things, was an okay way
to approach this, since he was famous for the technique.

“I told her about Stacey, so she wanted to
find out a little more about her. That’s all.” Scratching the
inside of my ear as I walked past him, I hoped deep inside that he
would buy the excuse.

“I told you everything there was to know
about her, why is she treating her like a research project?”

“I don’t know. You were so vague, and Chelsea
started asking questions that I couldn’t answer so she decided to
take it upon herself. I’m not sure how her notes got in here
though.” And, in that moment, I realized that Chelsea deliberately
wanted Jason to see those notes. She wanted him to know that we
were checking up on him so that he could come clean with whatever
it was that he was hiding. I could kill her, but secretly
appreciated the gesture.

“It’s not being vague; it’s having nothing to
tell. This is some real bullshit Cara. Did you put her up to this?
Why don’t you trust me?” He leaned with his back up against the
door. Looking up to the ceiling, he began to shake his head when I
chimed in.

“You always say there are no secrets between
us. I don’t feel like that, I feel like there is still so much to
tell and yet you won’t let me in on anything.” That statement must
have hit a nerve because his calm state instantly evaporated and
irate Jason was back in full force.