Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
As soon as Bradley leaves, reluctantly while giving me a what the hell are you doing glare, I turn on Jake. “What the hell is going on?” I ask him.
“I don’t trust him,” he says.
“He’s been your friend longer than I was,” I remind him.
“It doesn’t matter. I need to make some calls. Get you out of here without being seen.” Jake turns and walks away from me.
“Stop!” I yell. “Stop walking away from me, Jake.”
He turns back around. His eyes, red raw from crying, stare directly into mine. Waiting.
“I have never walked away from you. Stop leaving me. It’s not fair.”
“I’ve never left you, Jazzy,” he says.
I scoff. “You did, and you’re doing it again. Right now. Just… let me help you.”
He needs a friend. He’s just become an orphan. He’s an only child and he pushed out one of the few friends he has. I need him to let me help him.
“You can’t be here,” he whispers.
“Why? Why can’t I be here? Have you got a wife I don’t know about? A girlfriend? Oh god, do you have a girlfriend?” I ask, mortified. I kissed him and I don’t even know if he’s attached to someone else. Not only that, I’m not sure I can stomach seeing him with them.
“I wouldn’t have kissed you if I were seeing someone, Jazzy,” he says.
I raise a brow at him. “I wouldn’t really know where your morals on relationships and faithfulness stand.”
“You know I’ve never had a girlfriend,” he states as if this is common knowledge.
“You’re constantly photographed with women at events,” I tell him.
“I didn’t say I haven’t fucked other women. I said I’ve never been in a relationship. There is only one woman I want anything with and I can’t have her. So, no, I don’t have a girlfriend.” He shakes his head at me.
“And why can’t you have her? This one woman you supposedly want.”
“Because we don’t live in a world where you get to have your cake and eat it too,” he explains cryptically. “I’m calling your father to come and get you.”
“No, you’re not. Are you forgetting my father did that to your face yesterday?”
“Nope. But I know he’ll come for you. And you really need to stay away from me, Jaz.”
“Why? Give me one good reason?” I dare him.
Jacob doesn’t say anything. He takes hold of my hand and drags me through the house.
“Where are you taking me?”
He looks over and holds his finger to his lips. We end up in one of those secret rooms hidden in the walls. This old house has so many of them. Jacob shuts the door and then flicks a few switches on the wall.
“Give me your phone,” he says.
Without question, I take my phone out of my dress pocket and hand it over to him. And now realize I probably shouldn’t be so trusting. This is the same boy who left me to wake up alone the night he took my virginity.
Jake places both of our phones into a metal box. “What is that for?” I ask him.
“I don’t want anyone listening to this conversation,” he says.
I look at the man in front of me, because that’s what he is now, all man. Gone is the boy I used to know. Jacob Westmead has filled out nicely, broad shoulders, sandy-blonde hair, and dark-blue eyes, like the ocean. I’ve always loved Jake’s eyes. I wonder what he looks like underneath his shirt…
Nope, no, I don’t.
“Who do you think is listening to our conversations? Last I checked, you were the only person creeping on me.”
“I wasn’t creeping. I was… It doesn’t matter. What I’m going to tell you, you have to keep it in this room, Jazzy. I mean it.”
“Okay.” I walk over to the sofa and sit down. “Spit it out then. What’s so important and mysterious that we have to be in a panic room?”
“I didn’t want to leave you. On prom night. I didn’t have a choice,” he says.
Sitting up straighter, I tilt my head. “What do you mean?”
“I did something, and the only way my father could get me out of the trouble I caused was to pull me into his organization earlier than he wanted to. I got a message from my dad after you fell asleep, and I knew everything I wanted for us was never going to happen. I couldn’t keep you.”
I don’t understand what he’s trying to tell me. “Why? Why couldn’t you keep me?” I would have let him. I wanted him to keep me.
“Because you would become a target and I’m not going to be the reason you get put into danger,” he says.
I laugh. He has to be kidding, right? “Seriously? You know what my family does, Jacob. I’m always in danger of becoming a target.”
“It’s not the same. The Court, the reach they have, it’s a lot more than anything your family can do.”
“What’s The Court?”
“The organization my family is in. Fuck, I shouldn’t be telling you this.” He starts pacing the room.
“Just tell me, Jake. Help me understand what’s going on here.”
“There’re six families, all old money. One representative from each holds a position of power in The Court, rules over everything from business ventures to, well, a lot of shit,” he says.
Something clicks. Old money families. Bradley’s family is old money. “The Levines too?”
“Yeah.” Jacob nods.
“That’s why you don’t trust him?”
“His knowing you’re here isn’t a good thing, Jazzy. It puts you at risk. If they know we’re friends, or anything else, they will come after you.”
“Why? If all of your families are in this Court thing, why are they coming after people you love? Not that you love me, but I’m assuming that’s what happened to your parents,” I quickly correct myself.
Jake stares at me. “You think I don’t love you?”
“I’m not digging for that, Jacob.”
“I do,” he says. “Love you.”
I suck in a lungful of air. It’s not the first time I’ve heard him say this, but it has been a really long while. I’m an idiot for believing those words from his mouth, but I do believe them.
“Every choice I’ve ever made is because I love you, Jazzy. My parents, they’re dead because I chose you. You can’t seriously think that I don’t love you.”
My eyes widen. “What do you mean you chose me?” How are his parents dead because of me?
“I always have. It doesn’t matter. I need to get you out of here, and you have to promise not to come back. Not to seek me out,” he says.
“I’m not doing that.” I shake my head. I’m not making that kind of promise. “Let me help you.”
“You can help me by staying far away from me. That’s the only way for you to keep off their radar,” he says.
I stand and my knees buckle slightly. The fear of being rejected is strong, but I need to try. I want to comfort him. I want to be here for him, and I want him to use me as an escape, even if it’s only my body he’s using. I can give him that. It’s not like I haven’t before.
“I want a redo,” I say, stopping when I’m right in front of him.
“A redo? Of what?”
“Prom night. We were sixteen and neither of us knew what we were doing. I want a redo. Right now,” I clarify, my cheeks heating up at the thought.
“You came twice.” He smirks, as if he’s proud of that fact.
It wasn’t hard. He just had to touch me and my body came alive like it never had before. And never has again. Don’t get me wrong… I’ve had good sex. Great sex even. But It’s not the same. I’ve never loved anyone else.
“So, you don’t want a redo? You don’t want to see if what we had that night was a fluke?” I lift a challenging brow. “I’m not a little girl anymore, Jake. I’m not asking for a marriage proposal or expecting you to be there when it’s over.”
Reaching behind my back, I pull the zipper of my dress and let the fabric drop to the floor. Until I’m in nothing but a pair of pink lace panties and a matching bra.
“Fuck!” Jake growls, his jaw closed tight as his gaze roams all over my now-exposed body.
“Show me how much you love me, Jake. You say you do. Make me believe it.” I have no idea where this bravado is coming from. On the inside, I’m shaking, terrified he’s going to send me away. But I have to know. I need to see if he still feels everything that I do when I look at him.