Jack nearly laughed at that. Unwittingly, Sofia had hit the nail on the head—although this wasn’t the first time Jack and Jessica had met. Still, he had been weird, but he didn’t know how to explain why without divulging his entire history with Jessica. And if Jessica hadn’t shared it with Silas in the entire three years they’d been together, he wasn’t about to unload on this girl who, in comparison, he hardly knew.
Their time together was their secret, trapped forever in that Cancún bubble, a one perfect week in time.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just don’t like Silas, and I guess I acted weird around his girl because I don’t understand how someone like her is with someone like him.”
There, that seemed plausible enough, right?
Sofia blew out an exasperated sigh, but didn’t fight him. “I know you don’t like Silas,” she said. “Which I still don’t understand. But don’t take it out on Jessica.”
“Fair enough.” And for good measure, he added, “For the record, I don’t like Silas because he’s obviously into you, and takes every opportunity to make me look bad in front of you. And I know we haven’t been doing…this”—he gestured between them—“long, but you’re with me, Sofia. Not him.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your possessiveness isn’t cute, Jack. Silas is not into me. We’re friends.Bestfriends. And you’re going to have to get used to him. He’s not going anywhere.”
And that right there was the problem. Silaswasn’tgoing anywhere. It irritated Jack that Sofia either willfully ignored Silas’s obvious feelings for her, or was truly that delusional…and he didn’t think it was the latter.
Jack didn’t know where that left him.
The weekend after their disastrous double date with Jessica and Silas, Jack and the Spartans were headed on a road trip.
Since that night, he hadn’t heard a peep from Sofia. Normally, he wouldn’t think anything of it—she was busy, he was busy, these lulls in relationships happened, right? But had it been any time but on the heels of that double date, and her calling him out for being an ass to Silas and weird with Jessica…well, the timing was a little too convenient.
So Wednesday night, before they were set to leave the next day, Jack called her.
“Hello?” she said when she answered.
“Uhh, hey, Sofia. It’s Jack.”
“Oh, hey,” she said, and Jack couldn’t put his finger on whether she was distracted or simply didn’t want to talk to him.
“Look,” he said. “I haven’t heard from you in like a week, and me and the boys are on the road this weekend, so do you want to come over? Hang out for a bit before I leave?”
The line was silent long enough that Jack pulled the phone away from his ear to make sure she hadn’t hung up on him. At last, she said, “Yeah, I’ll be over in a bit.”
“Great!” Jack said, mood brightening. “I’ll be in my room, so just come up when you get here.”
“Will do,” she said, then hung up.
Fifteen minutes later, Sofia walked into his room. Normally, she’d immediately kick her shoes off, drop her purse unceremoniously on the floor, and crawl into bed with him.
Today, she did none of those things. Instead, she remained near the door—which she left open—arms crossed over herchest, looking for all the world like she’d never been here before, or like she’d rather be anywherebuthere.
Jack was instantly on edge.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, scooting to the edge of his bed and reaching for her, but she stepped away.
“We need to talk. Actually, I need to talk, and I need you to listen.”
“Okay…”
“I’m sorry I’ve been distant this past week,” she started. “It wasn’t fair to you for me to go radio silent on you. For that, I apologize.”
“It’s okay, sweets,” he said, but she held up her finger to silence him from speaking further.
“I’ve always known Silas has a girlfriend,” she said. “I mean, I was with him the night they met—afterward. He told me all about her. This beautiful blonde girl who seemed so sweet but also didn’t seem like she was all that impressed by him. ‘She’s fascinating,’ he’d said. At that point, I…I didn’t feel like I do now.”
Jack’s heart rose into his throat.
He’d fucking known it. All along, he’d known there was something between her and Silas. He just hadn’t expected those feelings he thought were coming from Silas to really be coming from her.
