Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Are you okay?” Jake asked once they were back in his Jeep. They’d stayed with her parents a while longer after Laurel had returned. Jake had tried to go into the other room to give them some privacy, but Laurel had held onto his hand like a lifeline, and there was no way in hell he’d been willing to abandon her.
Her parents had both apologized to Laurel and promised to visit her class soon. Jake wasn’t delusional enough to think things would magically change overnight, but it seemed like they were finally listening, and that was a step in the right direction.
“Yeah,” Laurel answered. “I actually think I am.”
Her words helped relieve the tightness in his chest. He reached over and squeezed her hand.
She squeezed back. “Thank you.”
“Princess, you don’t have to thank me. You know I’ll always have your back.”
“I do now,” she whispered.
“Good.” He lifted her hand and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles. “So, where to?”
To his surprise, she leaned over the center console and kissed him.
“Take me home.”
“I can’t do that. You know your apartment isn’t?—”
She kissed him again, and he forgot what he’d been about to say.
“ Your home,” she clarified when their lips parted.
His heart stopped. He knew what she was saying—at least, he hoped he did—but hearing it and believing it were two entirely different things.
With a certainty he hadn’t seen in her eyes before, she instructed, “Drive, bad boy.”
That snapped him out of it. He sure as hell didn’t need to be told twice. Shifting the Jeep into reverse, he backed out of the driveway.
They’d made it to the stop sign at the edge of the subdivision before realization kicked him in the nuts.
Grand was at his house.
“Fuck!”
Laurel jumped in her seat. “What?”
“Sorry,” he said, fighting to temper the building frustration from the worst fucking luck of the century. “Give me a minute,” he told her, retrieving his phone from where he’d stuck it in the cup holder behind the gear shift.
Laurel looked unsure, but waited, like he’d asked.
After turning off the Bluetooth, he called his sister.
Jess answered on the second ring. “Hey, Jake. What’s up?”
“I need a favor.”
“What kind of favor?”
“A huge one. I need you to go pick up Grand from my house and take her shopping,” he said. “Or lunch. Or even better, shopping and lunch.”
“Right now? She’s?—”
“Jess,” he interrupted. “I need this.” He glanced at Laurel, who was blushing furiously, obviously having realized he was talking about getting rid of his pushy little squatter so they could be alone.
“I can’t go get her. I’m in the middle of baking cookies.”
Fuck the cookies!
“Jessa, I’m beg?—”
“With Grand,” she interrupted, sounding pleased with herself and probably sporting her annoying I-love-torturing-my-brother grin. “At my house.”
Relief tackled him like a linebacker. “She’s there?”
“Yep. And after we’re done, she’s going home. To her house. The carpet smell has dissipated enough to meet her approval, so she’s not going back to your place.”
I’m buying a fucking lottery ticket!
“Messa, I could kiss you right now.”
“Um, eww! ” Jess groaned, the cringe in her voice unmistakable.
“You know what I mean.”
His sister laughed. “I do, and I want details.”
“Not a chance in hell.”