Chapter 8 #2
Before I could climb off the back of the bike, Drew laid a hand on my knee.
“Anything I need to know before I go in?” he asked.
“He’s a pretentious bastard that I thought I used to love.
He’s arrogant, confrontational, and loves to push buttons.
If you react, he knows he has you and will press harder.
He’s going to use the fact we used to have sex against you.
He may try to call Sutton in so he can witness you hitting him first. That’s what he’s known for.
He’s banned from some of the casinos in Louisiana because he’s pulled that on the security there.
I don’t care about him. I don’t respect him, and I hope he gets the clap. ”
“Remind me never to cross you,” Drew said through a smile, giving my thigh a squeeze. “Let’s go and deal with this.”
I nodded once and swung off the bike, leaving my helmet on my seat.
Not waiting for the guys to follow, I headed to the doors and pushed inside, losing confidence with every step.
I wasn’t scared of Jacob. I wasn’t afraid of what he might say.
I just hated that he had the power to twist everything.
He’d always been good with words, and he might have played the repentant ex when it had just been he and I on the side of the road, but with an audience?
I was about to be painted as the town whore who spread her legs for anyone.
Thank God Drew knew me better than that.
“—can’t say I’m surprised,” Jacob said, turning his stool to face me with cocky assurance painted on his face. “Talking about trash.”
I continued in, reaching behind me to squeeze Drew’s hand while the others fanned out and took up some of the empty tables and booths around the diner. I eased forward and slid behind the counter, kissing a scowling Janette on the cheek.
“Sorry about this,” I stage whispered.
“Why the hell are you apologizing?” Jacob asked, leaning forward on his stool and resting his elbows on the counter. “For bringing in the piece of shit club everyone hates?”
I laughed humorlessly and shook my head.
“That the best you got, Jake? How long have you been gone now? Oh, that’s right, you skipped out the moment life got hard, and my parents died.
Then you spread rumors at school that I’d had to drop out because I’d contracted an STD when I’d cheated on you.
Then you broke up with me in a fucking email after one of my friends called to tell me.
You’re the scum of the Earth, and you don’t know anything about this town or the people in it, so maybe you should just go home, do whatever the fuck you’re here for, go back to the hole you crawled out of, and leave us in peace. ”
“You’re still booty hurt I broke up with you, beautiful. I get that, but you know I’ve got better to give than that,” Jacob said suggestively, flashing his grin my way.
Standing there in front of him, I wondered what I—and half our class—had seen in him.
The boy I’d once known was still visible, he just wasn’t attractive by any stretch of my imagination anymore.
He still wore his ball cap, but the thick hair that used to curl under the edges was thinning.
His bright green eyes now looked more like an evil glow from a child’s movie, and his skin looked ashen and pitted.
There was nothing attractive about him. There was no nostalgia buried deep inside of me, just an intense dislike and exasperation at having to share oxygen with him for any length of time.
“Do I?” I asked sardonically. “I’m having a hard time remembering with all your bullshit piled on top.”
“And I’m having a hard time believing your memory is that bad. I’m pretty sure you remember that first night we had together over by the water tower. The night that I took the only thing you had to offer.”
I rolled my eyes. “There’s the cheap shot. Believe me, if that hadn’t been my first time the sex wouldn’t have been that memorable. You were an asshole, but I was just too stupid to see that. That night you took something big, never giving a fuck what that meant to me.”
Jacob eyed me, his humor at my reaction giving him an unattractive dimple in his sallow cheeks.
While he was preoccupied with that, I glanced at Drew, noting the twitch in his jaw and the white of his knuckles as he balled his hands.
He wasn’t going to take much more of this, of that I was certain.
If I had a point, I needed to get to it quickly.
“Babe, as much as you think that’s the truth, we both know it’s a lie.
” He turned on his stool to face Drew, and I tensed as he said, “Does she scream your name, too, buddy?” He raised the pitch of his voice in an attempt to emulate mine.
“Oh, Jacob. Jacob, don’t stop. Don’t stop.
” He laughed and spun to face me again. “Did that slip your mind, too, Ayda?”
I made a face, glancing at Drew briefly.
“Damn, he’s got you on a tight leash, A. You can’t respond without looking to your man to make sure it’s okay first?”
I was losing ground fast and I knew it. It was the only reason I’d looked up at Drew because the moment he saw that control slipping, he would take over.
I was so focused on Drew that I hadn’t noticed Kenny approach the counter.
The moment he reached it, he slipped onto the stool next to Jacob’s and focused his entire glare on the side of Jacob’s head.
It was a reminder for Jake to stay polite.
“Whoa, easy, pup. You’re not my type.” Jacob turned to me and thumbed over his shoulder at Kenny.
“Who’s this joker?” Jacob asked, spinning his stool in Kenny’s direction.
It went to show how little he was actually paying attention to his surroundings.
Jacob didn’t realize the guys were beginning to circle around him like a pack of wolves around their prey.
They would inch in and tighten the circle until he could feel their breath on his neck, stalking him and his every move.
I ignored the question he’d fired off, my hand slapping down onto the counter to bring his attention back to me. “Why are you here, Jake?”
“I missed you, baby.” He made a foul gesture with his hands and smiled at me, an unreadable look in his eyes.
“Why are you really here?” I asked, ignoring the way his greasy stare made my skin itch.
“My parents live here, you stupid bitch. Why the hell do you think I’m here?” He never noticed the Hounds moving in closer and tightening around him. He never saw the glares of disgust because he was too busy trying to read my reaction and get a rise from me.
Me? I just smiled. Name-calling was a sure sign that I’d finally pissed him off. “Then take care of that and go back to wherever you came from.”
“Can’t. I accepted a job here.” His smile grew again, that cockiness rolling back into his posture as he leaned back, right into Deeks’ elbow. Jacob jumped forward before composing himself and swinging in Deeks’ direction to glare at him.
“You’re not welcome here, Jake. I’d advise you find another job somewhere else,” I spat.
“Can’t,” he repeated, leaning forward toward me. “I want this one.”
“God, you’re such a dick,” I hissed between my teeth. “Whatever. Just stay away from my brother and me. If I so much as see your face, you will regret it.”
“Oh, honey, you’re going to see my face every day and every Friday night. And every time you do, you will think about me, and what we used to do behind the very bleachers you’ll be sitting on.”
“What?”
“Say hi to the new coach for the Babylon High Bulldogs.” He spread his arms and shrugged, knowing he’d just dropped the money shot.
“No!”
“That’s not what you used to say.” He laughed.
He swung his hips, using his arms for emphasis in a lewd emulation of sex.
“If I remember you used to scream the word yes and beg for more. Behind the bleachers, in the guy’s locker rooms, the water tower, and the back of my truck at the Roller Freeze.
All it took was my hand up your skirt as you stared down that high—”
He didn’t get to finish. Drew had reached his limit.
He’d escaped my hold without me realizing until it was too late. The dull yet heavy thud of Jacob’s head being smacked down onto the counter echoed all around the diner, leaving everyone inside of Rusty’s to hold their breath and wait to see what the hell was about to go down.