Текст книги "Slow Twitch"

Автор книги: Лиз Реинхардт

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

“It’s not that.” She wrung her hands and blinked hard, her eyes wet. “What we did…I never….I don’t think it was just–”

I cut her off before I had to hear anything else. I did what I do best.

I fucked it up.

“Please, baby,” I sneered. “Did that seriously even register on your radar? The dumplings were probably the most memorable part of the whole night. Don’t get your panties in a knot over it, okay? Thanks for everything.”

“Saxon, wait!” Her voice was a mangled plea. “Please wait!”

But I didn’t.

It may have been, in a tiny part, because I felt a little like my chest was filled with hot oil, crackling and burning me inside, and I didn’t want anyone to know that’s what I was feeling.

Especially not the girl who made me feel it.

  Chapter Nine

Jake

Brenna’s mom was going to be gone all day at school, and it was just the two of us, back in my piece-of-crap truck, going to rescue my brother from his own colossal stupidity. I drove fast and loved catching glimpses of Brenna out of the corner of my eye, her big sunglasses covering half her face, hair flying behind her, face turned up and towards the sun.

“So, what did Saxon tell you?” she asked me. She and Saxon had talked, but she didn’t get much from it.

“He told me that he had a pretty intense night with this girl, Cadence, and then her boyfriend showed up unexpectedly, and he bolted. He said that she tried to talk to him, but he didn’t let her.” I grabbed her hand across the seat and hauled her as far as her seatbelt belt would let her go.

She unbuckled and switched to the lap belt in the middle, so we were sitting close.

“What do you think he wants?” It was bugging Bren that she didn’t have a good handle on what was up with him. Saxon and I could talk for three damn weeks and never wind up saying anything important. He and Bren had always been able to share one look and know what was going on in each other’s heads. It definitely irritated me, but I was working on getting over it. “Do you think he would want us both to come down?”

“Why not?” I ran a hand over her knee and up her smooth leg. She giggled when my calluses hit the smooth skin inside her thighs. “He called both of us. He probably knows we’re going to tell each other. Saxon’s dumb, Bren, but he’s not that dumb.”

“He really likes her, doesn’t he?” Brenna leaned her head on my shoulder, her voice dreamy.

“I guess so. He’s never, ever gotten crazy like this over any girl before.” I realized how dumb I was to have said that after it was already out. I cleared my throat and mumbled, “Except you.”

Brenna’s eyes went wide with a heavy combination of shock, guilt, and hurt. I wished I had kept my mouth shut.

“No.” She shook her head and fisted her hands in her lap. “He was crazy about what we had, Jake. He was crazy about the first version of love he ever wanted. But you know he wanted us to be happy together. Now he wants it with her. With Cadence.”

“That’s one theory,” I muttered, well aware that it would piss Brenna off.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she griped. I couldn’t help smiling at her when she went into full-on argument mode. “Seriously? That one theoryis logical, okay? It makes sense. If you don’t think so, then what’s a better theory?” She was pursing her lips, getting all antsy and mad, just like her mother did when she was aggravated. I wondered if Brenna realized that.

“A theory based on tons of evidence would be that Saxon wants down this girl’s pants. Maybe he just hasn’t gotten any in a while, and that’s why it seems so different. Remember, he doesn’t have his car, he isn’t captain of the soccer team, he doesn’t have everything that makes him who he is right now.”

It was low-down mean, but I wasn’t nursing any particularly nice feelings about Saxon at the minute. If he’d found his it-girl, I would do my best to be genuinely happy for him. Preferably from far away. But if this was all just more drama, I thought he might just deserve a little shitty discomfort.

“So you think this is just like a male-pride, man-whore thing? Really?” Brenna’s forehead wrinkled, and her mouth pulled into a pouty frown. She was disappointed in me.

I glanced over at her and said what I thought, point blank. “You’re seriously upset that I don’t think better of Saxon?” It was a little bit of a sore spot with us. Brenna had dated him for a few weeks. It still made me a little pissed when I let myself think too much. About the details. Which I was trying hard not to do at that moment.

“No.” Brenna clutched her hands in her lap. “I’m upset you don’t think better of romance, Jake. And you of all people should know that you can’t judge anyone based off of their pasts.”

Ooh, below the belt. It was true, but that didn’t make it sting any less. The first day Brenna walked into my class, I wished I could go back in time and erase all of my previous moronic behavior. But I couldn’t, so I was doing my best to just live with it.

We drove the rest of the way in relative quiet. I could tell by the way Brenna bit her lip that she felt guilty about what she said, but I didn’t offer her any relief. I’ve always been a nice guy, but even I had my limits. When we were almost there, I pulled off and parked at a rest stop.

“What’s wrong, Jake?” Brenna reached out and pulled at my face, so I was looking right at her.

I shrugged. “I just hate that I can’t take back my past.” That was true.

Brenna was already unbuckling her seatbelt and moving onto my lap. “Jake, I didn’t mean it the way it came out,” she said and she kissed me.

I don’t know what it is about her, but Brenna’s apology kisses are the most incredible. It’s like she wants to take all the bad out and replace it with wild, sexy girl.

She was pressing her mouth to mine, rubbing her body against mine. I put my hands on her waist and held on tight. To her. To the love she gave me. To her crazy ideas about romance and her smarts and her confidence and her willingness to give a shit about me when almost no one else in the world bothered.

“Why are you smiling like that?” She was all out of breath and her hair was flying around her face. Her lips were bright pink and her eyes were bright from the excitement of making out.

I shook my head. “I just really love you. A lot.”

There were more hot, sweet kisses all over. Soon we were lying on the seat, my shirt unbuttoned down to the last two, my belt and the button of my jeans undone and my fly unzipped. She was wearing a short dress, and I had pushed the tiny straps down and the flouncy skirt up. My mouth was on her breasts and my hands were in her, bringing her to the point of absolute happiness that made me feel so good, it was unreal. She shook under me, bit her lip, pulled me down to kiss me, rubbed against me. I felt my head spin, so I sat up fast and buttoned my shirt.

She stretched a slow, long, delicious stretch and asked in a sleepy voice, “Jake? Don’t you want to have sex with me someday?” She was still lying half-naked and so beautiful it made my breath stick.

“I do.” I cracked my knuckles. “Someday.”

“So why don’t we today?” She smiled at me, a sweet, drowsy smile.

I put my hand on her cheek, and she moved her hand over mine and closed her blue-green eyes.

“We don’t because I’m still adjusting to what we do now. Which is a lot. And I don’t like you rushing me, woman.” They were all real reasons. Chicken-shit reasons, but real ones.

She sighed. “If it was up to you, we’d still be just making out.”

I ran my fingers through a long, shiny piece of hair. “What’s your big rush, Brenna?”

“I guess it’s easy for you to think it’s no big thing. You already know. Sometimes I hate that.” She pushed my hand away and sat up.

“Hate what?” I had a hard time watching her without laughing.

She was getting worked up, so her dress was straightened and she was putting her seatbelt on, sitting up all stiff-spined to better lecture me. Luckily, I pretty much loved it.

“I hate that you’re, like, this sphinxof sex. You know all about it, and I know nothing.”

She let out a long, frustrated breath. I rolled my eyes for her benefit.

“You know that’s not it, Brenna.”

“Tell me, then,” she demanded, and I knew she was doing that thing where she tossed me some ridiculous pitch to see if I would swing.

“It’s that before I met you I’d never even contemplated sex before I had it, alright? It was this just this dumb thing I did. It meant nothing, and I felt nothing, and I think that sucked. So now that I’m with you, I want to make it right. What’s wrong with that?” I took her hand.

She squeezed mine and smiled, then gave me a few quick kisses all over my face. “Nothing. This minute. I have plans to wear you down, though.”

I moaned. “Don’t tell me. You’ll be successful. I have no doubt at all about it. I just want to make sure you’ve thought this through.”

She shook her head and laughed. “Be on your guard. You never know.”

I laughed at her, but I couldn’t lie. I was a tiny bit uneasy about the whole thing.

I knew it must have seemed idiotic that I wasn’t willing to grab her up and just let her have her way. But I didn’t want her to have the kind of regrets I did.

I was really, really hoping that when we finally had sex, she wouldn’t have any regrets at all. But I didn’t know if it would all work out. I just felt safer taking it slow.

Brenna seemed happy enough to let it drop, though, and once we pulled up to the restaurant there was no chance of going back to that particular conversation for a while. Because what we saw was so mind-boggling, we just couldn’t think of anything else at all.

“Is that Saxon?” I finally asked.

Brenna nodded silently, her eyes bugged out and glued on him. Then we both stared for another long, shocked minute.

Saxon flew by.

On roller skates.

Fast.

“Is he roller skating?” Brenna’s voice was just a hushed whisper.

“Looks like it.” I rubbed a hand over my eyes, but when I took another look, there he was. Still on skates. A kind of crazy happiness bubbled through me when I remembered every time he told me what I loser I was for tossing pumpkins and running a tractor. At least I never worked on fucking roller skates. “Holy shit, this is priceless! Hungry, Bren?”

“Jake, no way!” She grabbed my arm tight and shook her head. “It’s not right!”

I couldn’t have wiped the smile off my face for a million dollars, and it just made her frown more. “What’s not right? I’ll leave a good tip!”

“We’re here to help him. Not laugh at him,” she insisted, her eyes all wide and sincere.

“This is Saxon’s job. Just because we’re laughing our asses off doesn’t mean that he’s embarrassed. Look at him showing off. C’mon, I really am starving.”

I pulled into a space, but it wasn’t Saxon who skated over. It was a tall dark-haired girl who looked like a model, all cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes and full lips.

“Whoa,” Brenna breathed. “That’s her. That’s Cadence.”

She skated up to the truck and gave us the friendly, professional waitress smile. “Welcome to Tony’s.” She handed us menus. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“A chocolate shake, please.” Brenna sounded perfectly normal, but she stared at the poor girl like a total lunatic.

“Could you make it two and two Cherry Cokes, please?” I slid my hand over and gave Brenna’s hand a shake to snap her out of her weirdness.

“Sure.” She gave Brenna a nervous smile and nodded at me.

“And could you ask Saxon to stop by for us?” I asked.

She looked at me for a minute, turned her head and looked some more. “Is Saxon your evil twin?” she asked suddenly.

Brenna laughed out loud.

“If I’m the good one, that’s just plain sad.” I offered her my best charm-your-pants off smile. She grinned right back, sweet and warm as syrup over waffles.

“I’ll get him for you. Wait just a minute.” Cadence moved like the skates were part of her body.

“She’s gorgeous,” Brenna remarked, then looked at me from the corner of her eye and half-smiled. “I can totally tell you agree.”

I put my arm around Brenna’s shoulders and pulled her over. “ You’regorgeous.” I kissed her forehead. “Why can’t you get a job skating around in a cheerleading outfit?”

“Do you realize how much Cadence probably gets hit on and harassed any given day?” Brenna kissed my neck right where she knew I loved it most.

“Well, I guess you could get a cheerleader skirt and skates to wear around town. We could just go out skating, you know, with you in your cheerleader skirt.” I tugged her tighter and she nestled down, her head on my chest.

“Do you know how to roller skate?” She craned her neck to look up at me.

I scoffed. “Seriously? I practically taught Saxon.”

Just then my evil brother skated over, fast, backward, turned, jumped the curb and landed hard right outside Brenna’s door.

Brenna clapped, obviously impressed with his daredevil stunts. “You have serious moves, Saxon.”

He stuck his head in the window, pulled Brenna over and kissed her, just on the side of her mouth. Kind of like he was purposefully trying to irritate the fuck out of me at first sight. “Jesus Christ, it’s good to see you Blix. I think you got hotter since school ended if that’s humanly possible.”

“It’s the tan. Stop trying to butter me up.” She pointed at him and he grabbed her finger. I saw her flush and pull her hand back, then look at me with nervous eyes.

“Get your hands off of my girl.” I said it cheerfully, but with an edge I’m positive he heard and understood. Saxon was always a little too touchy with Brenna. He could say whatever he wanted; I knew for a fact that he still found Brenna attractive and somewhere, deep in him, would probably always have a thing for her.

“Hey, brother. How was Mama D?” His black eyes flashed.

“A phony bitch.” I cut him a look and shrugged.

“Heard you clocked Dad.” He gave me a nod that was all admiration.

“Yup.” I felt a little swell of pride. I had punched Gerald for Brenna, but I had me and Saxon and my mom in the back of my head when I was taking the swing.

“Did they write you out of the will?” Saxon’s mouth smiled, but his eyes flashed with the hungry worry that comes from wanting something someone else has to give you.

“I hope to hell they did. I wouldn’t piss on their money if it was on fire.” I raised my eyebrows and he gave me another curt nod, this one tinged with anxiety. “You would have had a ball there. Loose women, lots of booze.”

“Hey, I’m reforming. Slowly.” He flicked his eyes back and forth, and his mouth twitched with disappointment when he didn’t see what he was looking for. Or, more specifically, who.

“So, she’s the one, right?” Brenna wriggled closer to me and kept her voice low, so Cadence wouldn’t be able to overhear.

“She’s the one I like. I haven’t convinced her to like me back. And probably won’t.” He leaned on the door and turned to check that she wasn’t coming up behind us.

“Why not?” Brenna demanded, squeezing my knee right where she knew it tickled me slightly. “Have you tried asking her?”

“The douche-bag boyfriend caught us together the other night, so it’s been all fucking love and roses between them. You know how it goes.” His face was all lumped up with jealous rage.

Man, I knew that look all too well. I’d seen it in the mirror everyday he and Bren had been together.

Cadence skated back over, our drinks on a tray. She slid up next to my door with an easy grace and handed the cups in. “Were you ready to order?” she asked politely.

Saxon grinned at her. “This is my good twin and the girl,” he said to Cadence as if Bren and I weren’t sitting there.

“I figured it out.” Cadence smiled a kind of shy smile that was a little out of place on her face just because she was so beautiful.

Girls as good-looking as Cadence didn’t usually get all flustered and shy. Saxon would be that good. I exchanged a look with Brenna and she raised her eyebrows high at me.

“I’m Cadence.” She tucked her order booklet into her little apron thingy and stuck her hand out. We shook and introduced ourselves.

Saxon turned to her. “If we can duck out a little early, maybe you want to hang with the golden twin and my girl, Blix? Shift’s over in fifteen minutes, and we could give you a ride if you want.” I could tell he was trying to keep his voice nonchalant, and I was surprised at how quickly he was willing to offer her a ride with Bren and me.

“I have to see what Jeff is doing.” There was apology spread all over her words.

“Yeah, you know. Whatever.” He checked over his shoulder again. “Look, I gotta take that car of wild cougars over there. Big tip time.”

He pulled in and kissed Bren again. She stiffened and pulled back, but Saxon hardly noticed. He was trying to see Cadence’s reaction without being too obvious. I saw Cadence glance at him with wide eyes and a set mouth.

We ordered and Cadence skated away, obviously a little pissed. I knew how she felt.

Brenna gave me a nervous look. “He really likes her, doesn’t he?” she asked.

I nodded.

“I think she’s into him, too. Did you see how she looked at him? When she said that thing about checking with her boyfriend? It was sort of like she was apologizing to him.”

I nodded.

“What’s wrong, Jake?” Her voice was strained with worry.

“Nothing Bren. I just think Saxon’s being weirdly touchy. I have a feeling it’s to make Cadence jealous, but I hate it.” I heard more anger in my voice than I meant. I knew I had pushed too far. Bren edged away from me and sat stiff and straight.

“I can’t help how he is, Jake. I mean, I didn’t grab at him or anything.” She flicked at the straw in her soda. “It’s complicated, you know. I mean, he’s still a friend, but sometimes he blurs the line, I guess. If it’s weird for you, I could talk to him. I understand, just…even though I care about him, it’s not like I want him to kiss me and stuff.” Her words were running and slightly panicked.

“That’s not what I mean.” I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel in a furious beat that reflected my swirl of shitty feelings. “I’m not blaming you. It’s just had to wrap my head around sometimes. You two were together. It’s hard for me to forget that.”

“Yeah, we were.” She ran her fingers over mine lightly, like she wasn’t sure if we should hold hands or not. “But I couldn’t stand to be with him. Not because there was a thing wrong with Saxon. He was actually nice and funny and even occasionally romantic.”

“You’re not exactly making me feel better, if that was even what you were trying to do.” I flipped my hand up so my palm and hers were pressed together.

“I’m just saying…I guess we’ve never talked about it all, and, you know. I want to. To explain better. The way I feel about him, I mean, I care about him. And you. At the same time, but not the same way, of course. It’s confusing to explain.” Her chin wobbled a little and her voice coasted low. “The bottom line is that I don’t want to be without you. I never did. If I had wanted Saxon, he would be my boyfriend right now. But I wanted you. And I’m sorry it had to be Saxon I was with when I figured it all out, but it was. But there is good to him, and maybe he can be happy now with Cadence. That’s all I’m saying.

She shifted her eyes and flipped the straw around in her fingers, which was weird because Brenna was never a fidgeter. I tugged at the straw in her hands and she raised her eyes to my face. “Hey, it’s alright. Sometimes I forget you’re part of the Kelly crew. Lifetime membership.”

She pointed the straw my way. “Watch it, Cap’n. I might mutiny and take over your whole ship.”

“Can I still be first mate during your reign of terror?” I pulled her over and she threw her legs over my lap and popped a loud kiss on my neck. “I kinda like this whole Captain Blixen thing. Bossy women do it for me.”

“I know. You have serious issues when it comes to women in authority. Alright. First mate it is. But I run a tight ship, Kelly. Mess around and you’ll be on all-day deck-swabbing duty.” She blew a raspberry on my neck. “And you need to toughen this whole look.” She pulled back, raised her eyebrows dismissively, and shook her head. “I’m thinking an eye-patch and a couple back-alley tats to start.”

“I’m just relieved you didn’t add a peg-leg to the list.” I kissed her ear.

“I need you for hard labor. But if you fall overboard you’ll probably wind up with one anyway, so I think it’s a moot point.”

Cadence rolled back at that minute, and Brenna and I untangled quickly to take our bacon cheeseburgers.

Cadence smiled and was pleasant, but I didn’t know if that meant she felt friendly toward us in any real way. All waitresses were usually pleasant and smiley like that, at least in my experience.

We were almost done eating when a big, shiny pickup truck pulled up. A solidly built guy with a crew cut got out, and Cadence skated over. Brenna, my always-hungry girlfriend, dropped her burger and flat-out stared.

At first they seemed friendly enough. But all of a sudden, the big guy grabbed Cadence hard and jerked her closer to him. She pushed at him with both hands firmly up, no joking around, and tried to back up, but he grabbed again, harder, and shook her by the arm so her head snapped back and she almost lost balance. Brenna gasped, I had the door of my truck open when something whirred by. I figured it would happen that way. It definitely helped prove that for all Saxon’s smooching on Brenna, he really had his eye on Cadence.

“Stay out of this, roller boy,” the big guy said, and swung an arm at Saxon, who ducked fast.

“Fuck off, meat head,” Saxon growled. “If she doesn’t want you around, take a hint, and get the hell away from her.” I stood behind Saxon, just to show that I had his back.

This guy was easily twice as big as we were, but that didn’t mean that we couldn’t wreak a little havoc. Saxon and I were decent fighters, especially when our blood was hot over something.

“It’s fine, Saxon.” Cadence put her hands up and moved back to put some space between them. “Jeff was just leaving.”

“Fuck that,” Jeff sneered. “Don’t be a bitch just because you’re pissed, Cade. I should be able to come here. This is a fucking free country.”

Brenna snorted. “Is he seriously invoking the Constitution after he called Cadence a bitch?”

“Keep out of this, girly,” Jeff tossed to Brenna.

Now I was feeling that great, heady rush that I always felt when someone got fresh with Brenna. I could feel my adrenaline racing and my fists were ready.

“Hey, you don’t need to say anything to her.” I kept my voice under control, even though my blood hummed. “You come over and deal with me if you have anything to say.”

“Jake, don’t,” Brenna warned, but my adrenaline was racing too hard for me to really focus on her words.

“Look, back off.” Jeff put his arms out and puffed his chest up a little, letting us know he was spoiling for trouble. “This is between me and Cadence.”

“No.” Cadence shook her head. “There’s nothing between us right now. I just want you to leave, Jeff. Now.”

“I don’t want to have to kick your punk friends’ asses, but I will.” He pointed at Saxon and me. “Tell them to back off, and we’ll just talk.”

“No. Leave before I get my dad out here. I don’t want you here right now. I have a job to do.” Cadence stood tall and scowled. “I’m going to take care of my customers, and I want you gone by the time I check back.”

We were all on edge, waiting. Luckily, Jeff didn’t dawdle too long. He gave us a reason pretty quickly.

Cadence tried to skate away, avoid the whole thing (which would have killed me and Saxon; we were practically salivating for some ass-kicking), and Jeff yelled at her, then grabbed at the back of her shirt. She fell backwards a little because her momentum got thrown. Saxon caught her, and I laid one right on Jeff’s dirt-bag jaw.

“Fuck, Jake!” Saxon yelled. “Can you let me get one in? You gonna fight all my fights for me?”

But Jeff was pissed enough that he came at me fast and Saxon got to get one in. I backed off. Jeff’s nose was squirting blood. He was already getting into his big truck screaming about a lawsuit.

“Pussy! Fuck your lawsuit!” Saxon screamed.

We watched the truck pull away. I shook my hand out, pretty sure I’d bruised all my knuckles. Brenna’s hand was pressed over her mouth. Saxon skated towards Cadence. Cadence looked at us all for a minute, then burst into tears and skated away before Saxon could reach her. Brenna grimaced at my slightly swollen hand, then looked up at Saxon and nodded to Cadence’s retreating form.

“Go after her, Saxon, you halfwit!” She turned on me, her face full of rage. “What the hell is this all about, Jake? Have you lost your damn mind?” she demanded.

“What?” I wasn’t playing dumb. Because I was a little dumb. Fights always left me brain-addled.

She snatched my hand up and looked at the bruising knuckles with frantic eyes, bit her bottom lip hard, and shook her head. “Do you think it’s broken?”

I opened and closed it. It hurt like hell, but not enough to make me think it was actually broken. “I don’t think so. Bruised, but I’ll live. It was totally worth it.”

She put her hands over her face and took a few deep breaths before she looked at me, her eyes hot and sparking. “Why are you always punching people? Are you planning on punching every single person who says anything mean to me? Or bothers me? You’re going to wind up seriously hurt!”

I moved to her side quickly, pressed her against the truck door, and put my arms around her, my hands flat on the warm metal. “I’m not really good at using my words yet.”

“It’s not funny Jake.” Brenna blinked hard and opened her mouth to say something, but it got stuck. She had to try twice more before she got anything out. “That guy was huge! What if it kept going? He could have…he could have maimed you! You don’t need to go from zero to fifty just because he ran his mouth.”

“Fuck him if he thinks he can talk to you like that.” I leaned to kiss her, but she turned her head away.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” she whispered, and when she blinked, tears dripped out past her eyelashes. “What would I do if you got beat to a pulp, Jake? I swear, I hate you sometimes.”

“Fine.” I nuzzled her neck, and when she turned her face to me, I kissed her hard. “I always love you. And I will fight anyone who ever bothers you. Got it?”

She shook her head and sighed a long, tortured sigh. Then she looked up and me and frowned. “What about Andre the Giant?”

“He’s dead, Bren. But if he was alive and was mean to you, I would fight him.” I smiled and kissed her again.

“What about Shaq?”

“No problem.”

“Vin Diesel?”

“Brenna, please. I could take him with my hands tied behind my back.”

“Pink?”

“I don’t usually hit girls. She’d have the best chance of taking me, though. We’d have to see what the circumstances were.”

“That’s kind of sexist.” Her hands came up around my neck.

“I’ll do that Gender Studies crap you’re always talking about when we go to college.” I kissed her nose. “Stop crying.”

“There’s Saxon and Cadence.” She nodded, and I glanced over my shoulder to watch.

They were walking towards us, Saxon tight-lipped and looking royally pissed, Cadence puffy-faced and furious. Cadence took our trays and shook her head when I asked about the check. She walked everything back, and Saxon stood staring at the cement. We were awkwardly silent until Cadence stomped back over.

“Our shift is over. Can we give Cadance a ride home before we go to Aunt Helene’s?” Saxon gritted out.

“Yeah. Of course. Hop in.” I hadn’t talked to Saxon about going anywhere, but if he needed me, I was there.

I could see that Brenna was dying to say something to me, but there was nothing really to say until we knew what was up.

So Brenna stayed uncharacteristically quiet. She slid super close to me and Cadence got in next to her. Saxon got in last, pressed himself all the way up to the passenger side door, and half hung out the window. It was like he was trying to put as much distance between him and Cadence as he possibly could.

After a few minutes, Cadence broke the excruciating silence. “My house is right up the road.” She pointed to a brick apartment building. I pulled over, and Saxon jumped out and tried to take her hand. She pulled it away and shook her head. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked up to the door with her.

“How does he manage that?” Brenna asked.

“What?” I watched her watch them.

“To look belligerent just by the way he walks?” She twisted in the seat to better see what would happen next.

“It’s just the natural asshole DNA in his genes.” I checked on them and saw Cadence with her hand on the doorknob, Saxon standing off to the side. “They don’t look all that friendly.”

“She might resent that fact that you two beat the crap out of her boyfriend in her parents’ parking lot.” Brenna’s voice spilled out sour and moody. “I’m still pissed at you about that. You’re lucky you didn’t get seriously hurt.”

“He was being really aggressive with her and you,” I defended.

She sliced me with one shivery look, her eyes narrowed. “So you solved the problem by jumping in and hammering on him? And stop pretending that was your motive anyway.”

“Why does it bother you so much that I want to protect you?”

“How did punching some random rude guy in the nose count as protecting me?” she countered, throwing her hands up. “I’m not asking for you to brawl for me. I think sometimes I’m just your excuse to let bad boy Jake out of his deep, dark little box.” She stared right at me, not even interested in what Saxon and Cadence were talking about now.

“What?” I shook my head and sputtered for a minute, trying to think what I could say to her accusation. “That makes no sense.”

“It makes total sense.” I could tell she was about to really bite into this argument. Brenna didn’t let things drop easily, especially if I argued that she wasn’t being sensible. “You’re pretty reformed, but once in a while I guess your old urges come back, right? And you do things you knowyou shouldn’t, dangerous, stupid things.”

“No.” I gripped the steering wheel hard in annoyance.

She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms. “Really?” Her mouth had a pinched look. “So you getting drunk and skinny-dipping with people you hate, or sleeping with Nikki, or punching every guy who gets you mad doesn’t seem a little familiar to you?”