Chapter Fifteen
Jake
As Xavier holds a sheetrock board up to the studs, I drill in the screws.
My friends arrived before daybreak to help renovate my bedroom.
And they’ve transformed the room from exposed studs to a patchwork quilt of sheetrock and mud.
The makeover has already given the room a fresh scent and brightened the previously dingy space.
I squat down to fasten the final four sheetrock screws as my friends work on the opposite wall. These are the last few pieces before we finish the process of taping and mudding the remaining seams.
“That’s good,” Dominic says from the board he’s fastening. The combined sounds of the three drills reduce to the one I’m wielding and then to nothing as I disengage the trigger and stand.
When I take a moment to survey the progress, I smile. “It looks good, guys, thanks.”
A round of ‘thank you’s’, ‘you’re welcome’, and ‘no problem’ rotates around the room.
This is what I saw when I purchased the place. I didn’t see the faded and cracked wallpaper or the paneling in the office. I saw a home where I could build a future. A place where I could see myself with a wife and maybe someday adding children to the mix.
But at this point, the possibility seems a long way off. Maybe never. I rotate my shoulders and pinch the muscles at the base of my neck.
“What color are you going to paint it?” Ben asks as he crosses his arms. He and Doninic are two of Xavier’s roommates.
We all grew up together. Hanging out. Playing sports.
Chasing girls. I didn’t realize how much I missed them until they walked through the door this morning. “I’m seeing a royal blue.”
“Of course, you’re seeing blue.” Bella marches into the room. “Can guys get any less original than everyone of you having the same favorite color? It’s always blue. Or maybe a shade of black thrown in for variety.”
“No one is going to paint their bedroom black, dumbass.” Ben glares at his sister.
Bella arches an eyebrow. “You’re the dumbass with the unoriginal favorite color of blue. Royal blue of all the choices of blue. There’s an infinite color palette and–”
“What’s your choice? Pink.”
“Guys.” Dominic steps between them. “That’s enough.” He turns and frowns at Bella. “What’re you doing here, anyway?”
The man pretends he’s not obsessed with his friends’ sister, but he’s a fucking liar. He’s followed her around like a lost puppy since…. Well, probably since I started noticing Emily.
Bella’s eyes harden as she braces her hands on her hips. “Is that any way to speak to someone who brought you sandwiches and homemade cookies?”
“Exactly.” Ruby barges her way into the room. “We’ve sweated over a hot stove all morning making you guys something to eat, and all you do is toss out barbed insults.”
“Ladies….” I raise my hands in front of me. “Stop. Thank you for coming over and bringing us food. I’m sure my friends would love to thank you as well.” I turn and glare at all of them. “I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m starving.”
“Right.” Xavier nods. “Thank you, Ruby and Bella, for bringing us strong men something to eat.” He grins with all his standard cocky charm and pops his muscles. The man is still ridiculous, but he’s impossible not to like. He has one of those personalities that light up the room.
“Ewe…” Bella wrinkles her nose. “Put those away before you scare everyone.”
“I’m sorry.” His eyes dance brighter. “I didn’t mean to overshadow everyone.”
“You’re an idiot.” Dominic elbows Xavier in the gut.
“Let’s get something to eat.” I sling my arm around Ruby’s shoulders. “I had no idea having you for a neighbor would have such perks.”
Emily steps into the threshold, and I freeze in place as her eyes fly over the two of us together before darting her attention around the rest of the room, which feels smaller than it should with this many people in it.
“Hey, Em.” Xavier gives me a quick look as if to say, ‘Put your fucking arm down before the room explodes, and we have to start over again’. He strides to Emily’s side. “Help us decide on a room color.”
I drop my arm to my side and step away. Ruby is a cool girl, but I’ve never thought of her as a dating prospect.
“I said blue,” Ben says as the tension in the room feels taut as a bow string.
It was fine when there was only male energy in the room, but there’s too much tension in the room now.
Dominic is glaring at Xavier, who had his arm around Bella.
Ben and Sam are glaring at Xavier and Dominic as the two men sniff around their sister.
My hands are balled into fists because Xavier now has his arm around Emily’s shoulders.
Sam fans a handful of paint swatches like he’s getting ready to deal cards. Ruby stands by the window with her gaze flicking between Emily and me every few seconds. Clearly, everyone knows that we’re like oil and water when we’re together.
“Emily isn’t boring enough to agree with blue.” Sam braces his hands on his hips, stretching the fabric of his black T-shirt across his chest. “I’m for team black.”
“I think I’ll go for white.” I drag a hand through my hair.
“White?” Emily’s gaze snaps to me. “That seems a little boring for a romp room.”
“Romp room?” My jaw flexes. I know what she means, but I want her to say it.
She shrugs. “You know… A place where you bring all the girls you…” Her hand circles vaguely in the air. “Entertain.”
Sam snorts.
Emily wrinkles her nose. “Maybe black fits the vibe better. More mysterious.” Her gaze flicks to mine for a split second before sliding away just as quickly.
Sam grins. “I mean… she’s not wrong. Back in high school Jake had a bit of a reputation.”
A couple of the guys chuckle. I don’t. Of course. After everything I said the other day, she still thinks I’m that kid back in high school.
My fingernails dig into my palms before I force my hands to relax and cross them over my chest. “What exactly does that comment mean?”
Emily blinks like she didn’t expect me to push back. “It was a joke. You do have handcuffs.” Her voice is quieter with every word she says. “Every good police officer does, right?”
“That’s enough.” The words scrape out between my clenched teeth. “You don’t know anything about me if that’s what you think.”
She swallows as a blotchy red tint climbs up her neck, but instead of backing down she squares her shoulders. “I just assumed the city was more your speed. More excitement. More… options.”
Something in my chest snaps. Of course she thinks that. After everything.
After all those nights at her parents’ house, sitting shoulder to shoulder on their couch while we watched terrible horror movies and passed a bowl of popcorn back and forth.
After every time I walked her home because it was dark and she hated the alley behind the bakery.
She still thinks I’m that guy.
“Emily…” Bella shakes her head, disgust written across her features. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but that’s going too far.”
I clear my throat. “Let me speak.”
“Right. Sure.” Bella steps back, giving me the floor while the rest of the room shifts awkwardly. Everyone looks ready to bolt.
Everyone except Emily. She’s standing in the doorway. Blocking the only exit.
“I became a police officer because I wanted to help people,” I say, my voice steady even though my jaw aches from clenching it. “You all remember when I caught Chad Whitlock bullying that sixth-grade kid when we were sophomores.”
“Of course we do,” Xavier says. “You handled it.”
The bastard deserved worse. Who de-pants a sixth grader in the middle of a packed hallway?
“I’ve wanted to do this ever since. And my goal was always to come back here. Yeah, I spent a couple years in the city getting experience. More calls. Faster pace. But it was always temporary.”
It’s so quiet now that the only sound in the room is people breathing, and my heart racing in my ears.
My gaze lands on Emily. “It was always about coming home. About protecting the people I care about.”
Emily swipes her palms on her jeans, color spreading across her cheeks. Her eyes flick to the others in the room before returning to me. “Oh….”
The word slips out softly, like she’s only just realizing how far things have gone. I don’t care if she’s embarrassed. She deserves to hear this.
“And not to listen to a girl with a sharp tongue who hooked up with a guy she’d known for five minutes. Just to be a brat.”
Her head snaps back. “Jake, that’s not–”
“I’m not done.” I don’t want to hear anything she has to say. “What I do in the privacy of my home is none of your business. Who I date is none of your business. And no, I don’t use professionally issued police equipment to sleep with women.”
She bites her bottom lip to keep it from quivering. And I don’t fucking care this time. “And I would never force a woman to have sex with me.”
Emily’s face drains of color. “I didn’t mean….” The word cracks out before she coughs and clears her throat. “That’s not what I was saying.”
“Save it for someone who wants your opinion.” I stride toward her.
She jumps to the side so fast her elbow slams into the wall. “Jake–”
“Stop.” I turn back once more.
For a split second she looks exactly like the girl who used to sit beside me on her parents’ couch, stealing popcorn out of my bowl and laughing at the worst parts of horror movies.
My chest tightens. Then she opens her mouth again. Whatever she’s about to say doesn’t matter anymore.
“I don’t want your apology,” I say quietly. “Or your opinion about my life.” My jaw locks. “Leave.”
Emily freezes for half a second like she wants to say something else. Then she steps out of the doorway.
No one says a word as she walks down the hall.