I wish I could have done more. If I see him again, I will.
Me
No! Leave it. I don’t want you to get hurt or into trouble. Please just leave it.
Kade
It’s cute that you think I’ll get hurt. I promise I can hold my own. I won’t get caught. I never do. ;) I’m holding you to the second date. Goodnight, Jessi.
This is the second man to stand up to Austin and David for me. Yeah, Jack and Kade might be dangerous—but for now, I have never felt safer.
CHAPTER 45
JACK
Ihave a knife protruding through my eye socket, or it feels like it, anyway. My mouth tastes like the Sahara. Why is everything so damn hot?
I flip the blanket off me and try to get up, but my head pounds harder when I stand. Parts of the night start coming back to me. Jessi and Sonny going on a double date. Drinking my weight in beer. Why didn’t I go to the club? Oh yeah, because I wanted to make sure Jessi got home okay. After I started drinking, things fade in and out. I vaguely remember Jessi coming home and yelling, but I can’t remember what she said. Shit. She probably hates me. If she wasn’t interested in talking to me before last night, I can guarantee she isn’t now.
I shuffle to the bathroom, splashing water on my face to clear the cobwebs in my head. I need to apologize. For all of it, but she isn’t home. So I send a text.
Me
Hey. I’m not sure of all that was said last night, but I was drunk and probably an idiot. Where are you? Can we talk?
I stare at my phone for five minutes. Assuming I’m not getting a response, I shower and finish cleaning up the place.
I’m not doing the silent treatment. I’m going to track Jessi down. My first stop will be the club. Maybe she’s there. We need to work through this. We live together, for fuck’s sake. What am I going to say to her, though? I should probably figure that out before I make an ass out of myself again.
CHAPTER 46
JESSI
Iwake up wishing last night was a dream. I don’t want to deal with Jack’s unstable emotions, so I text Sonny, and we decide that retail therapy will help.
We spend the day window shopping and getting makeovers at Sephora. I don’t usually wear makeup, but whatever. I want a change, a confidence boost and a new beginning. At lunch, I decide to come clean to Sonny. She’s been a great friend since I stepped foot in the club, and I don’t want to hide something this big from her.
“So,” I start, “Jack and I might not be just neighbors. I’ve had a thing for him since I moved next door in January. However, when everything went down and I started to stay with him, things started to shift.”
She munches on a burger. “Go on.”
I twist my hands. “Okay, so it started with some flirting, and then we fell asleep on the couch a few times, and then he called me baby.”
“What!” she shrieks. “You have pet names? That’s a lot more than flirting!”
I bury my face in my hands. “I know. I know. Then the night that Natasha blew up, he was turned on by how jealous andterritorial I was. He gave me my first orgasm on the side of the club.”
She stares at me with wide eyes and her mouth open. “So you guys had sex?”
“No.” I shield my face. “He gave me an orgasm with his thigh.”
She takes a long pull of her drink. “Okay, wow.”
I bite my cheek. “But right after that, he told me he was too old for me and I needed to be with guys my age. I got pissed, and now here we are. What do I do?” I whine.
She takes another long drink and a bite of her burger, then another long drink.
“Sonny!” I yell.
