Dream Catcher

Chapter 20

Dani was staring at a vein on the side of Jax's forehead. It looked ready to explode.

"You're seriously not going to tell me what Madam Cordelia said to you?" Dani asked.

"I told you, she didn't say anything," Jax answered, his eyes steady on the road before him.

"Right...that's why you look so happy right now. Please forgive me if I don't believe you."

Her sarcastic tone wasn't lost on him.

"Look, I never mentioned this to you but there are rules when it comes to being someone's partner," Jax said.

"Rules?"

"Yes, rules. Rule number one, don't annoy your partner."

Dani scoffed, "You always break that rule."

He ignored the jibe and continued, "Rule number two, when the head partner gives an order, the secondary partner listens."

"Am I the secondary partner?" Dani asked.

"Well it's not me," Jax held back a grin.

"No way. You be the second banana. I should be the lead partner."

It was a ridiculous conversation but Dani was playing along because clearly whatever Madam Cordelia had said to him had upset him.

"I'm the one that's a detective so I should be the head partner and what I say goes."

"Such a child," Dani muttered.

"What was that?"

"I said that also I have a rule," Dani answered.

He grunted as though he didn't believe her but Dani didn't care.

"We need to be honest with one another."

"Panda Ey—"

"No, I'm serious, Jax. We need to be able to trust each other. I know you're still skeptical about my dreams and I know that Madam Cordelia said something to you that you didn't like. It's okay if you don't want to share. I'm not going to force you but if we're really going to find out what happened to Billy or find out who the Maestro is...we need to have one another's back. Am I right?"

Jax felt his knuckles loosen around the steering wheel. He flashed his signal light and pulled into an empty parking lot.

"You're right."

Dani waited for him to continue.

"The truth is...she said I have a darkness around me."

For Dani, it was an anticlimactic confession, "That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it? That's not a nice thing to tell someone."

"We need to reevaluate your status as head partner if something like that is going to piss you off," Dani said disapprovingly. "She tells me that all the time. Just ignore her. That's what I do."

"She said you have a darkness too?"

"Wait a minute," Dani's eyes widened. "Did you believe her? Is that what I'm hearing? Aha! You do believe in all this psychic stuff."

"It's not that I believe in psychics. It's just that I believe there may be some bad juju around me."

Dani stopped herself from laughing, "What do you mean?"

"It's a long story but it has to do with this," Jax pulled on the thin chain he always wore around his neck.

"Is that an engagement ring?" Dani asked, staring at the beautiful piece of jewelry attached to the chain.