Free Hardcore Volume 3 by Staci Hart Page A

happening to her, but I didn’t want to see her. Who knew what she was going to say, and someone would be listening. I’d have to be on point. There was no way around meeting with her. She wouldn’t give up, and I didn’t want to risk any more fallout.  
    “I’ll be there.”
    “Thank you, Miss James. I’ll let Miss Harris know.”
    I hung up and laid my phone in my lap, just sat there staring at the blank screen.  
    “Who was that?” Erin asked.
    “Jade’s lawyer. She wants to see me.”
    She propped herself up with disbelief on her face. “What the fuck could she want?”
    I ran a hand through my hair. “I don’t know.”
    “Jesus Christ. How is it possible that she’s still harassing you from behind bars?” She shook her head. “Can you bullshit your way through whatever she’s got planned?”
    “I hope so. Because otherwise, we could all be fucked.”

    A few hours later, I found myself walking into the county jail and up to the desk to sign in with sweating palms. I sat in an uncomfortable chair until they called my name, followed an officer through the locked door and down a hallway, trying not to panic as I passed through barred gates. I could have been on the other side of them, if things had been different. It was an irony not lost on me as I stepped into the meeting room.  
    Jade sat on the other side of the plexiglass looking worn, hair drab under the harsh lights, skin dull against the orange jumpsuit she wore. Emotions passed across her face like a shadow. Relief. Anger. Frustration. Desperation. I took a seat in the plastic chair and picked up the phone hanging on the wall of the booth.
    She did the same. “Aren’t you looking chipper.”
    Same Jade. “What do you want?”
    Her façade cracked, eyes sparking with fear. “They’re going to send me to prison unless I can prove that it was all Jace’s idea. I need your help. It was all his idea, all of it. He convinced me to do it. He made me do it, and I need your help to prove it. You were there.”
    I took a breath. “You have got to be fucking kidding me, Jade. This is the ‘important development’ that involves my future?” I shook my head at her, numb shock creeping up my spine. “Jace couldn’t coerce anyone to do anything. He’s about as menacing as a fucking bunny rabbit.” I gaped at her for a split second. “I can’t believe you’d sell him out. You actually look like you’ve convinced yourself that it’s true.”
    Tears welled up in her eyes, and her voice trembled as she pleaded with me through the glass, through the telephone line. “You’re the only one who can help me. I know …” She swallowed, trying to hang on to composure. “I know I don’t deserve it after what I’ve done.”
    My voice was hard and cold as stone. “No, you don’t. I don’t know what makes you think I would ever help you.”
    “We were friends, once.” Jade begged me, her eyes wide and wet. “I used to love you like you were my own sister.”
    I gripped the plastic phone tighter. “Don’t you dare compare me to a sister.”
    “Cory, I’m scared.” The words where a whisper.  
    I almost felt sorry for her, looking through the glass. She looked small, young, like she did when we first met. I saw the girl I knew, the girl who had once been my friend. But that girl was gone.
    “You can’t come back from what you’ve done. You only care about yourself, Jade. I really believed somehow that you were better than this, that you could be more, but I was wrong. You steal more than property — you steal souls, and I’m not going to play anymore. You’re on your own.”
    Her eyes were huge, full of shock and rage as they tracked my hand as it hung the receiver back on its cradle.  
    “Pick up the phone, Cory.” The words were muffled behind the plexiglass, urgent. “Pick it up, goddammit.”
    I stood.  
    Her face wrenched in fury. “You fucking bitch. I’ve done everything for you. Everything, ” she screamed and