But they hadn’t made love, Jason thought bitterly. She’d done everything with him but that, and now Jason had a sneaking suspicion the reason behind it was no longer so simple.
“Did you order hot wings?” Haley asked, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing a sweet kiss to his cheek.
Brad sent him an “I told you so,” look over his beer.
“No, not yet,” Jason said, putting his beer down so that he could take her hand in his. His eyes shot past Haley to the table of women who were looking this way and laughing. His jaw clenched almost painfully at the idea of Haley playing him.
Haley, of course, was oblivious to everything, including the change in his mood. “Well, I’m going to go place an order at the bar then. I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” Jason said, unable to take his eyes off the women laughing at him.
Mitch and Brad followed his gaze.
“Don’t tell Haley this, but most of her friends are bitches,” Mitch said, pouring the last of the beer into his cup.
Normally, he’d agree with that, but right now, he had a sinking feeling that he was the brunt of a joke. He really couldn’t help but feel that Haley might have been playing him this whole time.
There was only one way to find out, and tonight, he was afraid he’d get his answer one way or another.
“Don’t fuck this up,” Brad said, no doubt reading the determined expression on his face correctly. “I don’t know what’s going on between you and Haley, but those women are clearly out to fuck her over. Please don’t screw yourself over in the process.”
Jason didn’t answer right away. He slowly drained the rest of his glass. Finally, he put the glass back on the table and sat back, allowing his eyes to search out his little grasshopper. She was at the bar laughing at something the bartender said.
He didn’t know what the hell he would do if he found out that his little grasshopper was playing him, but tonight, he was going to find out.
Chapter 20
“Baby, are you okay?”
Jason looked down at her and smiled. “I’m fine,” he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her tightly against him as he led her towards her house.
Without a word, he unlocked her door. Haley tossed her purse on the coffee table and headed for her bedroom, more than ready to get out of her high heels and skirt.
“Haley?” Jason said, stopping her.
She leaned against the wall as she took her shoes off. “Yes?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I was wondering if you wanted to go for a swim,” he said, but Haley couldn’t help but feel like that wasn’t what he’d wanted to say.
Ever since she came back from the bathroom, she couldn’t help but notice that Jason was acting differently. He seemed genuinely upset but denied it anytime she’d asked. Mitch and Brad were surprisingly tightlipped about it. Every now and then, she’d find both men sending killing glares towards her friends.
More than once, she’d caught her friends watching them and laughing. She knew it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help feeling a little paranoid. It was probably nothing.
“A swim sounds like fun,” Haley said, deciding that she’d rather forget about everything else but Jason. “I’ll meet you at the pool in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” Jason said, sounding a little sad, at least she thought he had.
She was being ridiculous, she decided.
Fifteen minutes later, Haley shut the sliding glass door behind her just as Jason broke the water’s surface. Even in the dim moonlight, Jason was breathtaking. She watched the muscles in his arms flex as he ran his fingers through his short hair.
“The water’s great,” Jason said, gesturing for her to join him.
She took her glasses off and wished she’d turned on the outside lights as her vision dimmed and became fuzzy. Trying not to stumble, Haley carefully walked the five feet to the patio table and placed her glasses down.
Unfortunately for her, the time it took to put her glasses down hadn’t helped her eyes adjust to the dim light. She didn’t want to wreck a romantic midnight swim by throwing on the floodlights, but she also didn’t think falling flat on her face was exactly romantic either.
Why couldn’t she have been a candidate for laser eye surgery?
