One Wild Night

"Why not?" Harry asked, and Jade shrugged.

"I already made it clear I flew down to Ludus to be here with you. So, do not let my effort go to waste," Jade said, and Harry sighed.

"Jade, this is not good time."

"It's not a good time for what exactly?" Jade asked with a slightly raised brow as she folded both arms across her chest.

"It's not a good time for whatever you are here for," Harry said, and Jade's brows arched even higher.

"And what exactly do you think I'm here for?" Jade asked, and Harry merely stared back at her for some seconds.

"I don't know. You tell me," Harry said wearily, and Jade's lips twitched with amusement as she took a step towards him.

"I'm here to be a friend... But only for the time being. So you don't have to worry, I won't jump you or anything," she promised as she held his gaze.

"Besides, I will try to make myself as scarce as possible whenever you want to be alone. You will barely notice my presence, trust me," Jade said, and Harry scoffed inwardly.

Barely notice her presence? Who was she kidding? There was no way he would be within a hundred mile radius of her and not notice her presence.

"Why are you so bent on kicking me out anyway? Is it because you plan on dating Aurora?" Jade asked, and Harry sighed inwardly when he recalled that there was someone called Aurora.

He didn't need all these complications right now. He needed to find a way to make things easier for himself and his dad, and now his sister and her little boy too. There was no time to play Jade's silly games.

"This has nothing to do with Aurora. I just want to be left alone," Harry insisted.

"Too bad for you that I'm not going to leave you alone. Now stop overthinking this and come sit down let's have dinner. I will drive you to the hospital to see your dad and twin sister," Jade said as she started to walk back to the dining, expecting him to follow.

Harry winced. Twin sister? Perhaps he was wrong, but he wasn't sure he was ever going to get used to the idea that he had a twin.

"Don't call her that. It's awkward," Harry said as he followed her, and Jade giggled as she turned to look at him.

"You both must be truly blood related. She said exactly that when I called you her twin brother," Jade said in amusement, and Harry looked at her with interest.

"What did she say?"

"She said not to call you that. She said it was awkward," Jade said with a grin as she returned to where Harry stood and took his hands.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions for me concerning my case, or don't you? Let's talk about me while you eat, and then you can decide whether or not you want to tell me how you're feeling," Jade suggested, and after only a moment's hesitation, Harry gave in and let her lead him to the dining.

Once they were seated, Jade served Harry some chicken wings with stir fry vegetables and rice before serving some for herself.

"You prepared this?" Harry asked, and Jade smiled.

"You are touched, aren't you?" She asked jocularly and a barely noticable smile tugged the sides of Harry's lips.

"Yes, I am. Thanks," Harry said as he picked up his cutlery, while Jade watched him, waiting for him to have a taste.

Jade's eyes followed Harry's hand as he raised his fork to his lips, and she watched with eager eyes as he chewed with deliberate slowness.

"It's been a while since I last cooked and I didn't want to order food for you," she explained uncertainly when Harry's facial expression remained blank as he chewed.

Harry tried not to smile when he noticed the way she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "You didn't taste this, did you?" He asked, and she shook her head.

"Not yet. If it's bad I can just throw it all out and order something. I'm sorry," she said as she started to rise from her seat, but Harry raised a brow.

"I never said it was bad. Sit and tell me about your case and why they let you leave on such short notice," Harry said, and Jade looked at him skeptically as he cut into his chicken.

Was the food not bad? She mused as she picked her fork and took a little quantity.

She blinked in surprise when she tasted the food, "It's delicious!" She said as she scowled at Harry and eyed him with accusation.

"I never said it wasn't," Harry said with a casual shrug.

"But you deliberately made me think it was bad," she said accusingly.

"And what did I say or do to make you think that way?" Harry asked, and Jade's brows pulled together as she thought about it.

He hadn't said anything. She had jumped to the conclusion herself, but that was only because he had failed to say it was delicious.

"You didn't say anything, and that is the reason I thought that way. Usually when a person prepares a meal for you, you're supposed to compliment them by telling them how nice the meal is," Jade stated matter of factly.

"Who made that rule? And do you have so little confidence in your cooking ability that you require my approval? If the meal was bad I most likely would have pointed it out. I didn't say it was delicious only because I didn't expect anything less from you. What I didn't expect however, is to see you squirm," Harry stated, and Jade scowled.

How did she forget this annoying side of Harry? "Complimenting me is the polite thing to do..."

"What compliment could be better than saying I didn't expect anything less from you?" Harry asked and Jade shook her head.

"Forget it. Enjoy your meal," Jade said in annoyance as she dug into her food while Harry watched her in amusement.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to have her here. At least she wasn't looking at him pitifully or asking him any awkward questions. She was acting as though everything was the same even though nothing was the same for him.

"How long do you intend to sulk?" Harry asked after some time and Jade whipped her head up as she glared at him.

"I'm not sulking!" She hissed at him.

"If you're not, why have you not answered my questions?" Harry asked, and Jade shook her head as she tried to remind herself that she was here to lighten his mood not fight with him.

"Jero died this morning," Jade started, and Harry raised a brow.

"He's dead? I remember you mentioned he was hospitalized yesterday but you didn't give me any details."

"I was going to give you the details but somehow we drifted to other subjects..."

She paused and they looked at each other for a moment without saying a word since they knew what the subject had been.

Even though Jade was dying to ask Harry what he had been about to say and why he had hung up the call so abruptly, she knew this wasn't the time for it.

She cleared her throat, "Cassidy injected him with poison," Jade said, and Harry paused with his fork midair.

"Cassidy? The same guy that kidnapped Candace's sister?" Harry asked and Jade gave him a nod.

"Yeah. It was his punishment for everything," Jade said before going ahead to explain everything that had happened since she returned to Varis as well as Jero's package and how it had helped them link everything together and what had transpired between her boss and her.

Harry said nothing after she was done, as he tried to process everything she had said and mix them up with everything he had heard from Lucy and Tom already.

"Interesting," Harry murmured after some time while Jade continued to look at him as she waited for him to say something else.

"How long do you intend to stay here?" Harry asked, and Jade blinked at him in surprise.

That was the last thing she had expected him to ask her after everything she had just said.

"Long enough until everything is sorted out," Jade said with an easy shrug, and Harry gave her a nod.

There was no need to argue with her. He had decided not to argue with her about this anymore. He was just going to make her uncomfortable to the point that she would have to run from him.

"How did you know about the portrait in my bedroom?" Harry asked, surprising Jade once again.

"Wow! You must be close friends with Lucy for her to have your back like this," Jade said with a scowl, both surprised and displeased that Lucy had snitched.

"She is my cousin after all, what do you expect?" Harry asked, and Jade raised a brow.

"Lucy? Your cousin? Since when?" She asked with a frown, and Harry raised a brow.

"You are not aware that Sara is Lucy's aunt? Sara and Lucy's mom are twins," Harry said, and Jade's mouth fell open in disbelief.

"Oh, my fucking god!" Jade exclaimed, while Harry merely watched her as he finished the food on his dish.

"Lucy, that god-damned tight-lipped bitch! She was aware this whole time and she said nothing to me but kept prying for information," Jade said in disbelief.

How long had she known about it? Was Sonia aware of it too? As Lucy's best friend it only made sense that Sonia would be aware of Lucy's relationship with Sara, right? Why had she left it out when she asked her to help her look into Sara?

"I'm positive your brother won't appreciate you referring to her in that manner. I know I don't," Harry said, and Jade returned her attention to him once again.

"So y'all have each other's back now and no one has mine?" Jade asked with a scowl and Harry chuckled.

"I wouldn't let anyone call you names either. Tom wouldn't too. Did he tell you he had a little talk with Tanya's father?" Harry asked, and Jade hissed.

"Don't remind me of that little idiot," she said, and then pursed her lips when something occurred to her.

"If Lucy is your cousin, that means Lucas is Candace's cousin too. So the family of Candace's cousin's ex-fiancee stole from her," Jade deduced, and Harry winced when he felt the beginning of a headache.

"Don't complicate things any more than it already is. I'm trying to keep things simple right now," Harry pleaded as he set down his cutlery, and Jade looked at him apologetically.

"Sorry. At the rate this whole stuff is going I won't be surprised if we find out that Sonia is Bryan's twin sister, and I'm actually Tom's elder sister," Jade said with a shake of her head, making Harry chuckle.

Jade returned her attention to her meal as she mused on everything, and Harry watched her in silence for some time before speaking again.

"You still haven't answered my question, Esquire," Harry reminded her in a quiet voice and Jade's heart skipped a beat as she swallowed.

"What question?" She asked, even though she remembered the last question he had asked.

Damn his memory! She had thought he would have forgotten about it by now.

"How did you know about the portrait in my bedroom?" Harry repeated.

Although she was tempted to lie, she didn't want to lie to him. He had been lied to enough already.

"I saw it in your bedroom. I wanted to see what your bedroom looked like," she said without meeting his gaze.

"When?" Harry asked in a husky voice as he continued to look at her. The knowledge that Jade had been in his bedroom evoked some imaginations in his head and triggered something inside him.

"When I came to get my bags before leaving for Tom's house," Jade said, and Harry nodded.

"That was when you met my dad, I suppose?" He asked, and Jade blinked at him in surprise. Did Aaron tell him about their discussion?

"He told you he saw me?" Jade asked, and Harry gave her a nod.

"He did." Harry said as he continued to look at her with an unreadable explanation which made her want to squirm.

For reasons she couldn't explain, his gaze seemed hot.

"Aurora said you threw out the shirt," Harry said as his gaze shifted from her face to her body.

From the way the shirt molded her body he could tell she wasn't wearing anything under it. It was either she trusted him too much, or she must have a lot of nerves to be walking around his apartment dressed in his shirt without a bra under, Harry mused as he deliberately let his eyes remain on her chest area so she would be as uncomfortable as she was making him feel.

Jade felt her cheeks flush and she quickly reached for her glass of water and took a long sip to calm herself while Harry continued to look at her body.

"I told her I did," Jade said as she set down the glass and pretended not to notice the way he was staring at her.

"But you didn't, did you?" Harry asked still without looking at her face as his eyes roved over her body.

"I didn't."

"So why did you lie?" Harry asked as he slowly returned his gaze to her face.