Chapter 81: No Investment. Shit.

The fountain was easy enough to find. Jenna was not.

Adrian scanned the area. Students were passing through in their scattered afternoon groups, a few people clustered near the water, none of them her. He turned slightly, checking the other side of the path.

"Adrian."

He turned around.

Jenna was standing directly behind him with a snack bar in her hand, most of it already gone, watching him with the relaxed expression of someone who had been there for a while and found the whole thing quietly entertaining.

"Were you looking the wrong way this entire time?" she asked.

"I just got here."

"Sure." She took another bite. "I figured I’d eat while I waited."

He looked at the snack bar.

She noticed. "What?"

"You know what."

"Either that," she said, "or you want a staring contest. Your call."

He let it go. "You kept bringing up a surprise."

"I did."

"You’ve officially made me curious."

Jenna smiled, not the wide performed version, just the quiet one she got when she knew she had the upper hand. "I have it with me. But you can’t see it here."

"Where, then?"

"The audition." She pocketed the wrapper. "Everything’s there." She looked at him. "So are you coming or not?"

"Obviously."

"Good." She glanced past him toward the path. "Where’s your car?"

"Lot’s just past the building. Five minutes."

"Then what are we waiting for." She started walking.

He fell into step beside her.

The campus was thinning out as the afternoon drained, and the path toward the lot was quiet enough that conversation had room to breathe.

"Have you heard from Drew?" Jenna asked.

"Not since morning. He wasn’t answering the chat."

"I saw him about an hour ago." She kept her eyes ahead. "He had the face of someone who had agreed to something and was only starting to understand what it was."

"That’s specific."

"I know Drew’s faces."

Adrian said nothing to that.

A few beats passed. She tilted her head slightly as she walked, the way she did when something had just occurred to her. "There’s actually one more thing I wanted to..."

"Adrian."

He stopped.

Not because of the voice.

Because Jenna stopped.

He turned around.

Rose was a few steps behind them, still moving toward them, close enough that there was no avoiding this. Her eyes settled on Jenna first, then shifted to him.

He looked at Jenna.

Whatever her face had been doing a second ago, it was gone. She turned toward Rose and put a smile on that had nothing to do with how she actually felt, even lifting one hand in a small wave.

Adrian had seen Jenna smile plenty of times. That was not the one.

Before Rose closed the distance, Jenna kept her eyes forward and said, just low enough for him: "Thought it was going to be the two of us."

"It was supposed to be."

"What happened?"

He exhaled once. "She knows about Sunday morning. She knows there’s something going on between us."

Jenna’s composure held, barely. Her gaze didn’t move from Rose. "What did she do?"

"Nothing. She just wants to know that whoever’s around me is actually worth it."

A short pause.

Jenna turned toward him. "Is there something going on between you and Rose?"

He looked at her. "Isn’t there?"

She stared at him.

The color that had started at her cheeks near the fountain hadn’t fully gone. He watched it come back, settling across her face before she looked away.

She opened her mouth.

"Hey, babe."

Both of them turned.

Rose had arrived. The greeting landed easily as she looked at Adrian, then her gaze moved to Jenna. The smile stayed, but it shifted into something more deliberate, the way Rose’s expressions did when she was paying more attention to something than she intended to show.

"Jenna," she said.

Jenna nodded back. "Hey."

A beat.

Rose glanced between the two of them. "He told you we were meeting?"

"More or less." Jenna kept her voice even. "I figured the more the merrier."

The look that passed between the two of them lasted about two seconds and communicated considerably more than that.

Adrian checked the time.

"It’s going to get late," he said. "We should move."

They looked at each other once more. Then Jenna turned toward him with a clean smile. "Fine by me."

Rose nodded. "Let’s go."

He started walking.

Today was going to be so much fun.

His usual spot was close to the building, which meant the walk was short. It did not feel short. Walking between the two of them with everything running beneath the surface of what they weren’t saying had its own kind of distance, and Adrian was aware of it with every step.

He didn’t get involved. Nothing had actually happened yet. He kept moving, and they kept up the very convincing appearance of two people who had no issue with each other whatsoever.

His phone buzzed. He left it.

When they reached the car, Jenna walked straight to the passenger side, reached the door, and pulled the handle.

Rose cleared her throat.

Jenna got in.

Rose looked at Adrian.

He looked at the hood of his car.

A moment later, Rose walked around to the passenger window. Jenna glanced up at her.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked.

"Getting in the car." Jenna’s voice had no particular edge to it. Perfectly even.

"That’s the front seat."

"It is."

"That’s where I was going to sit."

"Hmm. Is that so?" Jenna tilted her head slightly. "I mean last time I checked, this is my audition. You’re the one who joined a trip you weren’t originally part of." She said it, her tone flat and innocent. "I think sitting in the front seat makes sense."

Rose tilted her head. "Really?"

Jenna kept her smile and nodded.

Rose looked at her for a moment. Then she turned to Adrian. Damn it, Jenna. She’s so stubborn.

He started to open his mouth.

"Don’t worry about it," Rose said before he could speak.

Huh?

She looked directly at him. Her voice settled into something quiet and even, then she smiled. "No investment."

Jenna blinked at her.

Adrian went still.

He understood it immediately. Rose wasn’t talking about the seat anymore. The seat was finished.

She was telling him, quietly, in front of Jenna, who hadn’t understood a word of it but was now watching both of them with narrowed eyes, that she was pulling back on whatever they’d discussed about Jenna.

His phone buzzed again, heavier this time.

He pulled it out.

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INVESTMENT UPDATE

Target: Rose West

Investment Potential: 69%

Next Landmark: Devoted Lover (80%)

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He scrolled down.

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◆ TARGET CONSENT ACHIEVED ◆

Target: Jenna Brooks

Consent condition met.

Register Jenna Brooks as Target #2?

[YES] [NO]

Time Remaining: 1:09:32

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Shit. He’d almost lost track of the countdown. But that wasn’t the only thing that was weird.

He had no idea when that had happened or what Jenna had said or done that had qualified.

He just knew the timer was sitting at just over an hour and there was no other option in reach, and Rose was three feet away having just said no.

Well, he definitely wasn’t gonna find another target in an hour.

He pressed YES.

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TARGET REGISTERED

Jenna Brooks: Target #2

Investment Potential: 49%

Investment Type: Romance

Next Landmark: Love Interest (50%)

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He looked at the number.

49%.

Wait... is this for real? It certainly didn’t feel like it at first.

49% was almost exactly where Rose had been by the first time they had an intimate moment. He’d known something was there with Jenna but he definitely hadn’t expected this.

At some point, Rose had gotten into the back seat. He’d missed it entirely. He just kept his glance Jenna for a moment longer than necessary.

Jenna was still in the passenger seat, watching him with an almost concerned expression.

"Mm... what?" She said, her tone quite and unhurried. "Is there something on my face?"