36. I Love It When It Rains
I LOVE IT WHEN IT RAINS
PRESENT
When I woke up this morning, I didn’t have it on my Bingo card that I’d end up at a dive bar today.
Yet, here I am. Cooper’s has all the classic features of a “hole in the wall”—low lighting, cheap liquor, and furniture two decades too old—but it’s also much cleaner than expected, which is a massive plus since I’ve spent the entire morning and most of the afternoon here.
My intention was to just knock back a shot or a beer and face the music at Maggie’s, but once the salivating scent of steak and nachos hit my nose, I found myself taking a seat and grabbing a menu.
I hadn’t eaten since last night, and to my amazement, the knots in my stomach weren’t enough to deter my appetite.
Thankfully, given the time of day, the only other customers here are a few regulars who all prefer to keep to themselves.
I’m able to sit snuggled up in the back booth with my beer and nachos and no one to bother me.
Since my cell died a couple of hours ago, the only person keeping me company is the bartender-slash-cook, Al, who swings by my table every half hour or so to ask if I need anything.
When a shadow falls across the table, I assume it’s him bringing me another beer, but when I look up, I’m not greeted by the sixty-something Santa look-alike.
“It’s still raining, I take it?” I smile sweetly, hoping for a smirk or a lopsided grin, but I’m rewarded with neither.
The front strands of Jase’s hair lay plastered to his forehead, and his t-shirt is damp enough to cling to his body, showing off the muscle definition of his chest and arms. The look would be swoon-worthy if not for his expression being a bit of a buzzkill.
It’s not quite the same look Maggie gave me on the ride home—that blend of pity and concern—but it’s still in the ballpark, meaning he’s aware of the pictures.
I roll my eyes. “Did Maggie tell you, or should I just assume it’s splashed all across the news by now?”
“Not sure about the news, but given Trent and Sienna are still very much out for blood, I doubt even the squirrels in town haven’t heard,” he admits, brushing the damp hair away from his forehead.
I narrow my gaze at him. “How did you find me?”
I hadn’t told anyone where I would be, and the only person who would know is Reed. No way in hell would he rat me out.
At this, Jase finally cracks a grin. “I have my ways.”
When my expression doesn’t change, he actually chuckles.
“When I called you earlier from Reed’s phone, I was still standing there after I gave it back to him, so I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation. Not to mention, I’m the one who told him about this place.”
Oh.
Jase proves his point by making some vague hand gestures towards Al, who just smiles and nods, immediately fetching a beer for him.
When Jase returns to my table and slides into the vacant booth across from me, his own grin dissipates.
“We all figured you wanted to be left alone, especially after Maggie said you wouldn’t talk about what happened after she dropped you off at your house, but with a couple of vengeful Untouchables on the loose, we were beginning to worry when you wouldn’t answer any of our texts or calls.
” He shrugs. “At least for Maggie or Reed, I mean.”
Because I never get Jase’s texts or calls.
With the chaos of last night and this morning, I had yet to process that little nugget, and now that I am… “Can I borrow your phone?”
Asking any guy that is pretty much guaranteed to get you a cagey response, but Jase doesn’t hesitate to pull out his cell, unlock the screen, and slide it over to me. I keep the phone on the table so he can see I’m not snooping as I do some basic internet sleuthing.
And the results are what I expect. The three primary ways a phone number can be blocked on your phone are that 1.) you yourself blocked it, 2.) the person you’re trying to reach blocked you, or 3.) an account owner (be it a spouse, parent, etc.) contacted service provider directly to block the number in question without needing access to your phone.
The laugh that leaves me isn’t a welcoming one. I’m baring my teeth more than anything else. I already know the answer, but I have to ask. “Did either of your parents have an issue with me back in the day?”
This makes Jase chuckle, but not in the way I’d like.
He’s wholly confused. “You never really got a chance to meet my old man, but since you were a straight-A student who never got in trouble and has a father who’s a famous athlete with a pristine record himself, my dad probably would have tried to get me to marry you for the positive PR if he found out. And my mom absolutely adored you. Why?”
I slide his phone back over to him, and the second he reads the article I pulled up, his grip tightens around the device.
“Do you know when it started?” he growls.
“Depends. Did you ever delete any of the messages you sent me?”
Jase shakes his head, and I motion for him to give me back his cell.
I don’t need to consult my own phone to recall what the last thing he sent to me said.
Pulling up the text message thread, I scroll and scroll and scroll through the abundant one-sided conversation Jase has kept going these past four years until I finally reach it.
July 5th.
The words that were forever burned into my mind appear once again on screen, and the sight of them still slices through me.
He had ditched me in favor of Sienna and then couldn’t be bothered to stand up for me when she and Trent found me on his front porch. And all he could write was, “I am so fucking sorry. Please meet me at our spot. I’ll explain everything.”
Only, he didn’t.
He did far worse. Jase brought them both to our spot and then kissed that bitch right in front of me.
But the messages sent afterward have my stomach knotting for an entirely different reason.
I’m here. Can you please come?
Birdie?
Please let me explain.
I need to see you.
Seriously, I know I fucked up. Please just give me a chance.
I’ll sit in the cave all night if I have to.
Each message comes in one right after the other, until that last one. There’s a five-minute break before:
I don’t know how they found me, but Trent and Sienna are here, and they’re pissed.
I won’t let them see the cave, but whatever you do, please just DON’T COME HERE.
My vision blurs, and blinking doesn’t help. It just forces the moisture building in my eyes to fall off onto my lashes. “Why were Trent and Sienna pissed?”
I’m well aware there are far more pressing issues to address right now, but I can’t help it. My voice cracks, and asking what I really want to know may very well break me.
Jase gives another humorless smile. “Why do you think? Sienna is used to men falling and worshiping at her feet. I’ve never treated her that way, but she just assumed it was because I was playing hard to get.
By the end of freshman year, she made her intentions clear what she wanted from me, and I was supposed to be flattered.
We’d be going on our class trip to Italy, where Sienna promised to do everything to me any teenage guy would kill for.
But she was a bitch then, and she’s an even bigger bitch now.
I’d sooner shove my dick in a running garbage disposal than her. ”
This gives me pause, because…
What?
Sienna spent most of our sophomore year in Jase’s lap. No way in hell am I going to believe nothing happened between them.
I don’t need to verbalize my doubt, because it’s evidently written all over my face.
“When I managed to get out of the trip, I figured all I’d have to do is stay on Sienna’s good side until she found herself a new boy toy, but she came back from Italy ready to pick up right where she thought we left off.
Then you showed up at my house, and Sienna knew something was up.
All of the other guys who were participating in the Dogfight weren’t giving their so-called dates more than a single night of their time before ghosting them for the rest of the summer, so when Sienna realized you and I were still spending time together more than a month after the bet had started, she knew what was going on.
And my old man didn’t help things either, because shortly after you left, he made an offhanded comment asking where my ‘dark-haired friend with the glasses’ was.
And he was too busy shoving his head up Clark’s ass to remember that I had lied to everyone about the trip, so when Trent asked him how much longer my punishment would be, my dad told him I had never been grounded in the first place. ”
Oh…
“Shit,” is all I can say, because what else is there?
Trent Easton, the billionaire golden boy that every guy wants to be and every woman wants to be with, found out that his best friend would rather blow off a month-long stay in Italy than have to spend time with him.
And a spoiled princess got passed over for a random bookworm she couldn’t identify in a lineup.
“Pissing off two of the biggest narcissistic assholes on the continent isn’t very smart, yet I managed to do so in an hour,” Jase says with false cheer.
“Sienna left my place soon after with steam practically pouring from her ears, and by the time Trent exited, he looked like he wanted to snap my neck, but I didn’t give a shit.
I just wanted to make things right with you.
But then Sienna showed up at the falls, and I realized she and Trent had been following me. ”
“You kissed her.” I loathe how my voice catches, but that image has lived rent-free in my head these past four years, no matter how hard I’ve tried to exorcize it.
The muscles in his jaw flex as he grinds his teeth, honestly looking like he may vomit. “ She kissed me, and I sure as hell didn’t reciprocate.”
“You didn’t pull away—”
“Because Sienna Hawthorne doesn’t make empty threats. You, of all people, know that.”
I do, but—