“Seriously, Jess, is that thing safe?”
“It’s gotten me through many-a commute and she’s still got plenty of life in her. I bought it when I moved out here. I never needed a car in New York. Used cars are expensive right now.”
The rage fire reignited in me. “And Cole couldn’t—”
“Jockey. Stop it.” Her tone was firm.
I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Text me when you gethome?”
“Ben, are you my dad?”
“You had a drink or two!” I huffed.
“I’m also a grown-ass adult and I don’t need a fucking babysitter!” she barked. “I don’t even have your number.”
“Yes, you do.”
She squinted at me, waiting for an explanation. “I sent my playlist to myself and programmed it in.”
“Lord God,” she muttered. She shifted her voice to a childish whine. “Am I allowed to go now, Daddy?”
My eyes widened, and so did hers. Her breathing quickened. I drew a half step closer. What was my plan? Was I going to kiss her? Her eyes rounded, then softened. Oh, merciful God, it seemed like she wanted to kiss me, too. She was in a relationship. But he was cheating! And what’s a kiss? I was just thinking of seeing if her lips were soft and she tasted good, not ramming my dick in her. Though—
She pulled the handle to open her door. “Goodnight, Jockey.”
She drove off, leaving me standing stunned in the street.
Chapter 10
Mikey
I felt like shit after Jessie left. I was no better than my dad. Why couldn’t I respect that she was in a relationship? Why was I soinsistent that she needed to be with me, when I knew deep down she was way out of my league?
Jessie is a relationship girl. I’m a fuckaround boy. Those two don’t mix.
And I’d caused her to fight with Cole. All of his arguments weren’t valid. I heard the whole thing. That dude is lucky she puts up with him at all. Still, it was fundamentally my fault. I’d never heard them fight before I got involved. I heard him pick on her. I heard her deal with it and try to talk him out of it. And I heard their sad, pathetic sex where only one of them was getting anything out of it.
I didn’t want to be a homewrecker. And there I was, wrecking homes.
I was hopeless.
Back at the party, I saw other women seemingly attending alone, but I didn’t have the heart to strike up a conversation. I tried scrolling my DMs, willing myself to find someone good enough for that night. It was useless. I wanted to connect with someone like I connected with Jessie, even if our connection was fiery and tenuous. I liked that fire. It made me feel alive, getting burned by her. She was different than the women who found me through hockey, though in fairness, I never really gave them the chance to show much personality. I could have just been blowing through them without getting to know them.
But I knew I liked Jessie.
I left the party an hour or so after she did, telling Guy my stomach was upset. He knew how sensitive my system was. I wasn’t fully lying. It just wasn’t upset from food.
And still, I stopped for a six-pack of Bud Light Lime on my way home. Just in case.
When I got home, the fighting was well underway with Jessie and Cole.
He blamed her for falling asleep. For even talking to me. For leaving after some fight they’d had before I saw her. And then shedealt the big blow.
“You haven’t gotten me off in years.”
I heard it loud and clear in my kitchen. The silence that followed was so long that I wondered if I’d dreamed it. Then the rage came.
“What do you want me to say to that, Jessie? You’ve been lying to me all this time? How long?”
