Chapter 26
“You didn’t have to buy dinner. I could have cooked,” Haley pointed out as they followed a waitress to the back booth in the fifties-style diner.
“You’re not lifting a finger while you’re on vacation,” Jason pointed out, again. It was just another thing they were going to have to discuss, but later. Right now, he was too busy showing Haley how much he cared about her. They’d made progress over the past two days.
At least, he hoped they had.
Now, all he had to do was try not to screw this up again, not that Jason really thought that was possible.
He’d been on his best behavior, following her rules, and keeping his hands to himself over the past couple of days.
At night, he allowed her to decide their sleeping positions, and in the morning, he bolted from the bed before he did something to fuck this up and took a very cold shower or went for a swim in the ocean.
Then, he spent the rest of the day showing her how much he cared about her as he reminded himself to be patient.
It was more difficult than he’d ever imagined, but somehow, he’d managed to show her that he was capable of learning from his mistakes.
There was no doubt in his mind that she was ready to go back to the way things used to be.
Thank fucking God, because he didn’t think he could last another day with this friendship bullshit.
She was his little grasshopper, plain and simple. Not being able to touch her and hold her felt wrong.
“Can I get you a drink to start off?” the waitress asked, throwing him an appreciative look.
“We’ll take two Cokes, please,” Jason said, directing his attention to the menu in front of him.
He wasn’t about to do anything to encourage the woman.
Right now, he needed to be able to focus all of his energy on his little grasshopper and not on trying to get rid of some waitress in a tight pink shirt about two sizes too small that hoped to warm his bed tonight.
“I’ll go get those right now,” she said in a seductive tone. Jason snuck a look at Haley, wondering if the waitress’s obvious interest bothered her. If it did, it didn’t show. Apparently, Haley was too oblivious to care, which was probably for the best because he couldn’t stand jealous women.
“I need to use the bathroom. Could you order for me if she comes back before I do?”
“Sure,” Haley said, not bothering to look up from her menu. “What do you want?”
“Two cheeseburger dinners,” he said, not bothering to tell her how he wanted them or to ask for two extra sides since she already knew what he liked.
Five minutes later, he was walking out of the bathroom just as their waitress finished writing down their order. The waitress looked up from her writing pad and smiled at him. She said something else to Haley before walking over to him, smiling coyly the entire time.
“Your friend,” she said, gesturing behind him to Haley, who was watching them with bored interest, “said you might like the band playing over at TJ’s.
It’s a Nickelback cover band. She said that you could pick me up in two hours after I get off work, but if you give me fifteen minutes, I could probably get the night off. ”
“Wait,” Jason said, confused as hell. “She told you that I was interested?”
“Mmmhmm,” the waitress said, oblivious to the fact that he was fucking pissed.
“Excuse me,” he said tightly, stepping around her.
“I’ll go ask about getting off early,” the waitress announced, sounding giddy.
“Don’t bother,” Jason threw over his shoulder.
He walked over to Haley, placed his hands on the table, and leaned over until he was practically nose-to-nose with her.
“Tell me that you didn’t just try to set me up on a date with the waitress,” he bit out, trying to stop himself from wringing her fucking neck.
“I didn’t set you up, but I did tell her that you might like the band and that you were single,” she simply said, pushing her glasses up her nose.
“I’m single?” Jason repeated weakly.
“Yes,” Haley said hollowly as she looked away.
He slowly pulled away from her and stood up. Swallowing hard, he asked, “Is that what you really want?”
“Yes,” she said without the slightest hesitation, making everything suddenly crystal clear.
He pulled out two twenties and tossed them on the table. “Come on,” he said, heading for the door.
“Where are we going?” Haley asked when she caught up to him.
“Home.”
“Jason? Jason, talk to me. You’re really scaring me.”
For the past six hours, he hadn’t said one word.
When he’d announced that they were going home, she’d thought that he meant back to the cottage.
She knew that she shouldn’t have encouraged that waitress.
She didn’t want to and had been on the verge of informing the woman that Jason was spoken for when she realized that seeing Jason with another woman might be the one thing that she needed to help her get over him sooner.
She had no idea that he’d be this pissed otherwise, she wouldn’t have said anything, but she needed to get over him before she finally gave in to the pain threatening to bring her to her knees.
She loved him so much.
Instead of answering her, he threw the driver’s side door open and popped the trunk. She quickly climbed out of the car just as the outside lights on her house turned on.
“Please talk to me,” Haley said as she watched him grab the three shopping bags of clothes he’d bought and headed for his front door.
“Jason, don’t do this!” she said, unable to stand the thought of ending things like this.
“You want to talk?” Jason asked, slowly turning around to face her.
“Yes,” Haley said, relieved that he was at least talking to her now.
He threw the bags to the side and walked over to her. “Fine. Let’s talk, Haley,” Jason said, getting in her face. “I fucked up. I shouldn’t have let some bitch sell me a line of bullshit and I should have talked to you, but you know what? You screwed up, too.”
“You never even bothered to tell me why you didn’t want to have sex,” when she opened her mouth to argue, he spoke over her, “I know that I could have asked you a thousand different times, but I was too damn happy to care. I wanted to be with you. I loved you, Haley, and I thought you loved me, too. So, when that woman told me that you wouldn’t sleep with me because you didn’t love me, I panicked and did something that I will probably regret for the rest of my life. ”
“You regret sleeping with me?” Haley asked, feeling her heart drop.
“Yes, because I hurt you that night and it gave you the excuse that you obviously wanted to break things off,” Jason said, stepping away from her as he rammed his fingers through his hair.
“I wasn’t looking for an excuse to break things off,” Haley sputtered, taking a step towards him.
“Bullshit!”
“I wasn’t!” she yelled right back. “You’re the one who decided you couldn’t trust me! You’re the one who just had to prove-”
“Oh, give me a fucking break!” Jason shouted, causing her to jump back.
“I fucked up, Haley. I admit that. Hell, I admitted it right when it happened and I even told you when we started out that I would most likely fuck up,” he continued, not giving her a chance to speak, “You were happy that I fucked up since it gave you the excuse that you needed to get rid of me.”
“No, it didn’t! You don’t trust me, Jason! You should have-”
“I should have done a hundred different things, but you know what, Haley? I didn’t. I fucked up, but you’re acting like I fucked around on you!”
“Because you’re going to!” she shouted back, wiping angrily at the tears that spilled down her cheeks. “We both knew this wasn’t going to last, Jason!”
“Wasn’t going to last? I fucking loved you!” Jason shouted, getting closer. “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you! But the entire time I was picturing a house, marriage, and kids, you were just using me!”
“I wasn’t using you!” Haley cried, shoving him back.
“Then, what the hell do you call it?” Jason demanded, letting her shove him again. “I was good enough to hang around, date, fuck, oh, wait, no, I wasn’t, was I? The only thing you thought I was good for was a good time!”
“I can’t believe you’re complaining since that’s exactly what you’ve done to everyone else! You’re just pissed because someone did it to you!”
“I have never led anyone on. They all knew that I had nothing to offer them, but you,” Jason shook his head in disgust, “you made me think that you actually cared for me when all you were was a bitch looking for a good time.”
She stumbled back.
“You’re a fucking snob just like your family,” he said coldly.
“I hate you,” she mumbled hollowly.
She never used him. She’d been the only one of them who went into this relationship with a level head.
He might think that he loved her today, but she knew that would change one day and she wasn’t going to feel bad because she got out before that day came.
She’d seen it happen so many times. She’d watched it happen with her parents and-
She didn’t want that.
She couldn’t stand the idea of hating him so much that she-
God, this hurt so much.
Nodding to himself, Jason said, “You came to me for a good time, so I’m going to make sure you get just that.”
“Wha-”
He cut her off with a firm kiss. She tried to pull back, but he wasn’t having that.
He cupped the back of her head, holding her to him as he brushed his lips over hers, teasing her into kissing him back.
When he ran the tip of his tongue between her lips, demanding entrance, she was helpless to refuse.
Haley moaned when his warm tongue slid into her mouth, gliding over hers, and then tangled together.
Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, unable to stand the thought of being apart for another second.
No matter what he thought, she hadn’t been using him.
She loved him so much and even though she knew that she would wind up getting hurt, she hadn’t been able to pass up a chance to be with him.