Chapter 85: Surprise After Surprise

Adrian stared at the caller ID for another beat.

Dad’s calling right now...

It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected either of his parents to call eventually. After the money he’d moved around recently, some explanation was inevitable.

He just hadn’t expected it now.

Especially not from his father.

His mind immediately started sorting through possibilities.

The five-key. The money. The investment.

Shit.

Nothing useful came to mind beyond the truth he absolutely couldn’t explain.

Then he caught Jenna looking at him.

She tilted her head.

"What?"

Adrian kept staring at her for a second longer than necessary.

She looked at his phone, then back at him.

"Are you going to answer that? Or are you planning to let your dad stare at the screen until he gives up?"

Right.

The investment. Technically, he’d been investing in Jenna. The fact that some of that investment had recently turned into actual spending didn’t change what it was.

He could work with that.

At least, he hoped he could.

"It’s nothing."

Jenna gave him a doubtful look.

Adrian answered the call before she could ask anything else.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, Adrian."

His father’s voice was calm as usual.

"How are you?"

"I’m good. How..."

"Sorry. I’m actually busy, so I’ll get straight to it. I wanted to ask you something."

Adrian sat a little straighter.

Well. He got straight to the point fast.

"Okay. What happened?"

"The five thousand."

Adrian’s stomach tightened.

"Where did you get it?"

There it was.

He had known this was coming eventually. He just hadn’t expected it to arrive wearing such a normal voice.

"I put some money into a private investment."

"A private investment?"

"Yeah."

"What kind?"

Adrian paused.

He could already hear how suspicious that sounded.

"Something a few people I know are involved in."

His father was quiet for a moment.

"People you know?"

"Friends, mostly."

"And you trusted them with five thousand dollars?"

"I didn’t exactly hand five thousand to some guy in a parking lot."

There was a brief silence.

Then his father gave a quiet huff that might have been amusement.

"That’s not what I asked."

"I know."

Adrian rubbed his thumb against the edge of his phone.

"I looked into it. I got lucky with the return."

"How lucky?"

Adrian considered that.

"Very."

His father didn’t immediately respond.

That somehow made the question worse.

Finally, he said, "You’re being careful with what you tell me."

Adrian looked toward the floor.

"I don’t really know what you want me to say."

"The truth usually works."

Adrian almost sighed.

"I am telling you the truth. I just don’t think you’d understand the investment if I explained all of it."

That wasn’t entirely true.

It was just the safest version of the truth he could offer.

His father seemed to accept that.

"Fine."

Adrian blinked.

That was it?

"You don’t want more details?"

"If you were doing something reckless, you’d be trying much harder to convince me that you weren’t."

Adrian’s mouth twitched.

That sounded annoyingly accurate.

"I’m being careful."

"I know."

The answer came without hesitation.

Adrian went quiet.

His father continued, "I also called because I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"You know what for."

Adrian’s shoulders loosened slightly.

The interrogation he’d been preparing for had apparently never existed.

"Right."

"You helped the family when you didn’t have to."

Adrian looked away.

"Don’t worry about it."

"I am your father. I’m going to worry about it."

There was enough warmth in the statement to make Adrian smile despite himself.

"Then worry less."

"I’ll consider it."

Neither of them said much after that. They didn’t need to.

"All right," his father said. "I’ve got to go."

"Yeah. Talk later."

"Take care of yourself."

"You too, Dad."

The call ended.

Adrian lowered the phone and stared at the screen for a second.

That could have gone considerably worse.

Jenna was still waiting nearby.

She hadn’t tried listening in. Instead, she’d apparently found a display of bottled drinks fascinating enough to study while he was talking.

She glanced over.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah."

"Actually?"

"Actually."

She watched him for another second, apparently deciding whether to believe him.

Then she nodded.

"Good. Because you completely missed what I was saying."

"What were you saying?"

Jenna opened her mouth.

Then Adrian’s phone buzzed again.

He glanced down.

A message from Drew.

He’d expected another ridiculous message or some plan Drew had decided they absolutely needed to hear about.

Instead, his eyes widened.

Drew: I spent the night with Marianne.

Adrian stared at it.

Jenna leaned closer.

"What?"

Adrian turned the screen toward her.

She read it.

Her face changed.

Not disgust.

Not shock that Drew had slept with Marianne.

Something much more personal.

"Wait."

Adrian looked at her.

Jenna’s eyes remained fixed on the message.

"Drew?"

"Apparently."

"With Marianne?"

"That’s what he wrote."

She straightened.

"Before me?"

Adrian almost laughed.

"You’re making this sound like a race."

"It isn’t a race."

"Then why do you sound like you lost?"

"I didn’t lose anything."

She immediately opened the group chat.

Jenna: So when you said you spent the night with Marianne, you mean you actually slept with her?

The reply came quickly.

Drew: Hell yeah! I’m officially not a virgin anymore.

Jenna’s expression tightened.

Adrian covered the lower half of his face with one hand.

Drew sent another message.

Drew: Also, congratulations to us. The three of us aren’t virgins anymore.

Jenna looked personally offended by the sentence.

Jenna: Don’t put me in your announcement.

Drew: Why? It’s good news.

Jenna: I’m happy for you. Seriously. Congratulations. You achieved something. Wonderful. Fantastic. Can we stop discussing it now?

Drew: You seem weirdly invested in this.

Jenna’s fingers froze over the keyboard.

She slowly looked at Adrian.

"He did not just say that."

"He did."

"He’s enjoying this."

"Probably."

She typed again.

Jenna: I’m not invested. I’m asking because you’re making a public announcement like you won an award.

Drew: It kind of feels like one.

Adrian finally laughed.

Jenna elbowed him.

"Don’t encourage him."

"I’m not."

"You laughed."

"That isn’t encouragement."

She looked back at the phone.

Jenna: Just don’t give me the details.

Drew: Too late. I can tell you what happened.

Jenna: Absolutely not.

Drew: Fine. I’ll tell you guys later.

Adrian frowned. What exactly was left? Before he could ask, Drew sent one final message.

Drew: I’ll be back in a bit. Peace.

Jenna locked her phone.

"Good. Let’s get something to eat before he comes back and makes this worse."

She started walking.

Adrian followed.

"You know," he said, "you could just be happy for him."

"I am happy for him."

"You’re still talking about it."

"I’m allowed to be surprised."

"By the fact that your friend had sex?"

"By the fact that he beat me to it."

She stopped.

Adrian raised an eyebrow.

Jenna immediately pointed at him.

"Don’t."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were about to."

"I was thinking."

"That’s worse."

They reached the refreshments area.

Jenna picked up a drink. Put it down. Picked up another. Looked at the first one again.

Adrian waited. She eventually reached for the original drink.

"That one."

"I know."

She glanced at him.

"You don’t get to say that like you knew."

"You always do this."

"Do what?"

"Pick something, reject it, then come back to it."

Jenna stared at him.

"That’s not true."

Adrian looked at the drink in her hand.

She looked down.

"...Okay, maybe that one time."

He smiled.

Jenna rolled her eyes and took a sip.

"Anyway, Drew is annoying."

"You’ve mentioned that."

"Because he is."

Adrian let her continue. His attention drifted briefly toward the building around them.

Rose was still upstairs. Jenna’s earlier explanation about the duet crossed his mind.

It had been improvised. He’d seen the panic before she’d recovered.

She was hiding something. Probably the surprise. Adrian decided not to ruin it.

Then his phone vibrated.

He checked it. The notification wasn’t from a person. The Regret Investment Module had registered new activity.

Adrian’s eyes moved across the information.

Existing regret investment.

Target information updated.

Dina.

Proximity: 38 meters.

Mood: Distressed

He read it again.

Thirty-eight meters?

Adrian slowly looked up. His eyes moved across the refreshments area, then toward the corridors branching away from it.

Dina was here, apparently. He checked the notification again.

Still there.

They’d had plans. Then she’d stopped responding, left her job, disappeared from the people around her.

And even... No.

Adrian stopped himself.

Why the hell should he care?

It wasn’t his business anymore.Dina had made her choice. He looked toward the indicated direction again.

Then at Jenna.

He was with Jenna. He had no reason to leave. Besides, Dina probably had her own reason for being here.

So why was he still looking?

Then another thought surfaced. She was still an investment.

A four-times return.

Shit.

Was that really worth following? Adrian frowned. It wasn’t even the money. That was the annoying part.

Something about the notification had caught his attention before he could decide whether it mattered. Jenna noticed.

Of course she did.

Her eyes followed his. Then returned to him.

Adrian looked back at her.

He could make up an excuse. He could also pretend nothing had happened. Neither felt convincing.

He’d already spent enough time ditching his friends for things he couldn’t explain. Even if this was...

Dina was distressed.

Why?

That question settled somewhere in his mind and refused to leave.

Adrian hesitated.

Then turned toward Jenna.

"Um... can you walk with me somewhere?"