Jaked, page 19
I forced out a laugh. "You're not planning to hide out in here, are you?" I lowered my voice to a mock whisper. "Because I'm pretty sure she'll find you."
Jake gave a slow shake of his head. "There's something I've gotta say."
"What?" I asked.
He reached for my hand. "I'm sorry. The thing with Bianca, it's complicated."
"Really?" I said. "I had no idea."
"I'm gonna take care of it," he said. "So don't worry."
"I'm not worried," I said in a voice that was hardly convincing.
He pulled me close, gathering my in his arms. Into my hair, he said, "This'll just take a few minutes. And then we'll go. Alright?"
I nodded against him, soaking up the feel of him, the scent of him. I wanted to melt into him and forget everything. Especially, I wanted to forget that another girl was waiting for him to discuss who-knows-what.
But a moment later, he was gone. And then, the yelling started. Or at least, Bianca was yelling. As for Jake, he wasn't saying a whole lot, at least not from what I could hear. What was he doing, anyway? Letting Bianca rage at him, so she'd get it out of her system?
If so, Bianca was definitely rising to the challenge. I heard phrases like arrogant jackass, reckless hothead, callous heartbreaker, and too many more to mention.
Desperate for a dose of sanity, I grabbed my cell phone and called my sister. When she answered right away, I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Hey, it's me."
"About time you called back," she said. "I was almost ready to hop in my car and track you down."
I tried to laugh. "Well, you wouldn't be the first one today."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Didn't Bishop tell you?" I said.
"Tell me what?"
"He stopped by this morning."
"What?" she said. "Where?"
"Here," I said. "At Jake's."
"Oh shut up," she said. "He did not."
"Wanna bet?"
"Damn it." She gave an irritated sigh. "You're serious, aren't you?"
"Yeah. Didn't he mention it?"
"Well, not really," she said. "But he did show up with waffles. It was really weird, now that I think of it."
So he'd actually gone and done it? He had stopped to pick up waffles for my sister? For some reason, it almost made me smile. "Weird bad?" I said. "Or weird good?"
"Well, the waffles were great," she said. "Get this. He even remembered the extra butter. Isn't that sweet?"
"Yeah. That's Bishop," I said. "Sweet."
"Oh come on," she said. "You just don't know him like I do." I heard fumbling on the phone. "Hang on. I think he's out of the shower."
Oh crap. He was there? Now? Probably, I should have asked about that in the first place. This definitely wasn't a conversation I wanted him to be part of.
A second later, I heard Selena call out, "Hey, why didn't you mention your little trip this morning?"
I heard Bishop's voice call back, "I was just about to."
Selena groaned. "Oh cripes, not this again."
Soon, I heard Bishop's voice a second time, closer now. It was low, flirtatious even. "Hey, you were the one distracting me. Remember?"
Oh God. This was the last thing I wanted to hear right now, not with everything else going on. "Hey," I said, "I've gotta go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"No. Wait," she said. "Why don't you come for a visit?"
"Because I don't have a car anymore."
"You don't?" she said. "What happened to it?"
"It's a long story," I said. "I'll tell you later."
"Then let me come get you," she said. "If you want, I'll leave right now."
I heard Bishop's voice in the background. "You mean we'll come and get her."
"Oh stop butting in," she told him in a hushed tone. "Let me talk to her, alright?"
"It's my brother," he said.
"Yeah," she told him. "And it's my sister." I heard fumbling again, and a noise that sounded a lot like a door thudding shut. "Sorry about that," she said. "So, can I come and get you?"
"Well, the thing is," I said, "I don't really have a place to stay."
"Oh stop it," she said. "Yes you do. With me." Her voice grew coaxing. "Come on. It'll be fun. I haven't seen you in forever."
I bit my lip. "I dunno. Maybe in a few days, alright?"
Outside the guest room, Bianca was practically screaming now. In a way, she sounded almost exactly like Maddie, except Bianca's words were a whole lot bigger and only slightly less profane. And, she wasn't naked.
At least as far as I knew.
"That girl yelling in the background," Selena said. "Who is that?"
"It's someone Jake does business with," I said. "That's another long story."
Too bad I didn't even know the story, not all of it anyway. But that did remind me of something. "Hey," I said, "A question. By any chance, do you know someone named Debbie?"
"No," she said. "Do you?"
How to put this? I tried to remember what Bishop had said – something about Debbie turning up naked in Jake's bed? Had Jake stolen one of Bishop's girlfriends? Was that the reason they didn't get along?
I was dying for more details, but I didn't want to upset my sister, so I tried to be vague. "I think she might've dated Jake. Or Bishop." I paused. "Or both. It sounds like she might've hung around their house or something?"
"Oh. Her?" Selena said. "No. If it's the person I'm thinking of, she didn't date either one of them."
Well, not as far as Selena knew, anyway.
"So who was she?" I asked. "Did you ever meet her?"
"Not really," Selena said. "She only lasted a few months. She was pretty rough, and a lot older than I was. But I guess that's to be expected, huh?"
"Why's that?" I asked.
"Because," Selena said, "that was their dad's girlfriend."
Chapter 45
I heard a sharp intake of breath. It was my own. I flopped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. So Jake had slept with his dad's girlfriend? That was disturbing on too many levels to count.
No. That couldn’t be true. This morning, Bishop must've been talking about someone else.
On the phone, I heard Selena's voice. "Luna? Are you there?"
"Yeah."
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Nothing."
I was still trying to add things up. Selena had met Bishop when she was how old? Eighteen. I did the math. If Selena was talking about the same Debbie, Jake would have been how old at the time? Twenty-one. Definitely old enough to know better.
Wasn't there anyone he wouldn’t sleep with?
I returned my attention to Selena. "Hey, can I ask you something else?" I said. "Has Jake ever hit on you?"
She laughed. "Me? No. Never. In fact, I hardly know him. Why would you even ask such a thing?"
"Just curious." I closed my eyes, hoping to block out my own ugly thoughts. It didn't help. "Hey, I need to go," I said. "Can I give you a call in a few days?"
"Oh, alright," she muttered. "But if I don't hear from you soon, I'm tracking you down. I mean it."
I had to smile. If I knew my sister, she'd do it too.
After we hung up, I didn't move. Somewhere outside the guest room door, Bianca was still raging. I wrapped a pillow around my head, trying to muffle the noise. It only reminded me that two nights ago, I'd done practically the same thing with a different pillow in a different place, when Maddie and Jake had been screwing like porn stars in the adjacent bedroom.
Jake had made Maddie scream too. Of course, Maddie's screams had sounded a whole lot happier than Bianca's.
The recollection didn't make me feel better, especially when Bianca's screeching picked up volume. Just when I thought I'd go absolutely insane, I heard a door slam so hard, I swear, the bed shook. And then abruptly, the screeching ended.
I flung aside the pillow and sat up. I listened. I heard nothing. Was she gone? Or had they killed each other?
Soon, I heard a knock on the guest room door, followed by Jake's voice. "Luna? You in there?"
Where exactly did he think I was? Hiding out in some closet again?
Not this time. Embarrassment aside, I'd learned that lesson the hard way. There were some things a girl was definitely better off not knowing.
I pushed myself off the bed and stood. I took a deep breath and made myself smile. "Yup, come on in."
Jake pushed through the door and stopped short at the sight of me. "Are you okay?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yup. I'm good. How about you?"
His eyebrows furrowed. "You want the truth?" he said. "Or the same bull you're giving me?"
"Actually," I admitted, "I'm not sure how to answer that. Maybe you should go first."
"Alright." He shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against the far wall. "I'm mad as hell."
"At who?" I asked. "Bianca?"
"And me." He made a hard sound. "And fuckin' Vince Hammond."
I squinted over at him. "Vince? That sports agent? Why him?"
Jake's expression darkened. "Who do you think put Bianca up to that?"
"I don't know," I said. "I just figured maybe you and Bianca had that kind of relationship."
"Yeah? What kind is that?"
"I don't know. Volatile." I swallowed. "Break up. Make up. That sort of thing."
"Well, we don't," he said.
"Oh."
"That scene today?" he said. "That was new."
"And you're blaming Vince?"
"I know how he works." Jake pushed away from the wall and strode toward me. He stopped just outside arm's reach. "You don't."
I looked up at him. "What do I have to do with anything?"
"Tell me," Jake said. "When he stopped by, was he Mister Charming?"
"What?" I said. "He was nice, if that's what you're asking."
"Nice? Let me tell you something. That fucker? He's not nice." Jake glanced away. "Any more than I am."
"Oh for crying out loud," I said, "that's not even fair."
His gaze returned to mine. "Yeah? Why not?"
"Because," I said, "you can't lump both of you together like that. When he stopped by, he was nice. And actually, I think you're nice too."
At this, Jake laughed, a hard sound that rang hollow in the quiet room. "Luna," he said. "I'm not nice. And the sooner you get that, the better off you'll be."
I wanted to argue. But something made me stop. Nice guys didn't have sex with their dad's girlfriends. They didn't start fights and film them for money. They didn't cost people millions of dollars and laugh it off like it was nothing.
And they didn't break up with one girl while another girl waited in the bedroom. What the hell was wrong with him? More to the point, what the hell was wrong with me?
I was still staring at him. I didn't know what to say. So I said nothing.
Jake's gaze softened. "Forget all that," he said, closing the distance between us. "Forget Bianca. Forget Vince. Forget my damn brother." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I wanted to fight it. But I couldn't. I leaned into him, soaking up the feel of him.
He spoke into my hair. "There's something I should've said right off."
"What's that?"
"I'm sorry," he said. "I would've told her to get the hell out. I should have. Wanna know why I didn't?"
I nodded against him.
"I didn't want her coming back." His voice softened. "Not now. Not with you here."
Did that mean he wanted her to come back later? When I was long-gone?
"Baby, what is it?" he said.
I said nothing. If I were smart, I'd push away. I'd call my sister and be gone before dark. Instead, I burrowed deeper into his embrace. I didn't want to move. Not now. Not ever.
But that was my own stupidity talking. I recalled what those two guys in the mall had told me. Jake didn't do the girlfriend thing. In a way, that was funny, right? Because apparently, he did do somebody's girlfriend. His dad's, in fact.
On second thought, that wasn't funny at all.
Damn it. Why couldn't I stop thinking about it?
I heard Jake's voice low in my ear. "Luna?"
Lost in my own thoughts, I was only half listening. "What?"
"If you've got something to say, just say it."
"Okay," I said, letting that dreaded question tumble from my lips. "Who's Debbie?"
Chapter 46
Next to me, Jake's body froze. "What?" he said.
This time, I made myself push away. "Someone named Debbie," I said. "Who is she?"
When Jake said nothing, I continued. "It's just that Bishop mentioned her, so…" I let the sentence trail off, hoping Jake would pick up the thread.
He didn't. "So?" he said.
"So I was just wondering. That's all."
In front of me, Jake's posture remained rigid.
I tried to keep my tone light, teasing even. "So, did she really fall naked into your bed? That had to be exciting, huh?"
He looked toward the door. "Ready to go?"
"Where?"
"To replace your stuff."
I stared up at him. Okay, maybe the Debbie thing was none of my business, but the way he was reacting, it was only fueling my curiosity. Worse, it was confirming my darkest fears. "So you're not going to answer the question?" I said.
He gave me a hard look. "Like you've answered mine?"
"What question?
"Questions," he said. "As in more than one." He spoke slowly and clearly. "What happened?" His jaw tightened. "To your clothes. To your stuff. To your apartment."
"As far as my clothes," I said, "You tell me. You're the one who lost those."
"I'm not talking about the crap in your suitcase."
"It wasn't crap," I said.
"Right." He crossed his arms and waited.
"Fine," I said. "You wanna know? Okay. It was stolen, just flat-out disappeared. And the stuff that wasn't stolen? It was ruined. Ripped to pieces, trashed. Almost nothing was salvageable." I took a ragged breath. "Not even my furniture, as crappy as it was."
"This was in your old place?" he said.
"Yeah. And before you ask, I reported it too. Not that it did any good."
"Why not?"
I threw up my hands. "Because there was no way to tell who did it. Or why. And I didn't have any renter's insurance, so…" I looked away. "You know what? Forget it."
"No," he said. "So? What'd you do?"
"I moved," I said. "The same day actually."
"In with Maddie?"
"Yeah, I mean, I saw her ad on the internet. The place was cheap. And already furnished, sort of, so, I figured I'd stay there a while and save up some money."
"Any idea who was behind it?" Jake said.
"Well, at first, I was sure it was Rango, so…" I looked away.
"So…?" Jake prompted.
"So," I continued, "as you seem to know already, I started giving him a taste of his own medicine."
"Meaning?"
"Well, I had that book with his passwords. So I started posting things."
"Like what?"
"Funny things mostly, under Rango's name." I almost smiled. "It made him so crazy."
"I wouldn’t look too happy about that if I were you."
"Hey, he had it coming."
"Maybe. But that's a good way to get the wrong kind of attention."
I gave him a snotty smile. "Says the guy beats up people for money."
His expression froze. "Not just 'people.' He said. Assholes. There's nobody I picked a fight with who didn't have it coming."
"Yeah. Sure."
"And I never swing first."
"Well aren't you the noble one," I said.
"No," he said. "And I never claimed to be."
"Whatever," I said. "I answered your questions. Now what about mine. Who's Debbie?"
"First, I've got one more."
"No way," I said. "It's my turn."
He continued as if I hadn't spoken. "When you heard Bishop talking about her, what exactly were you doing?"
"What?"
His voice hardened. "Okay, where were you?"
Oh. Yeah. I'd been skulking in his closet, eavesdropping on a private conversation. My mouth opened, but somehow, my lips couldn't seem to form an answer.
"I thought so," he said.
"Sorry," I said. "I guess I overheard it."
"Yeah. I guess you did." He glanced toward the door. "So are you ready to go? Or not?"
I so didn't feel like arguing. But somehow, I couldn't see us waltzing off to some shopping mall either.
"No, I'm not ready to go," I said. "And I don't think you are, either."
"Is that right?"
I threw up my hands. "Okay, you caught me. I was listening in. But trust me, it's not the kind of thing I normally do."
"Uh-huh."
"It's true," I insisted.
"Is it?"
"Okay," I said. "I get it. I know it was crappy. And I'm sorry. If you don't want to talk about the Debbie thing, well, I guess that's your business." I crossed my arms. "And I won't bother you about it anymore." I hesitated. "If that's what you really want."
"Good," he said. "You ready to go?"
I gave an exasperated sigh. "In case you're not aware of this fact, when someone apologizes to you, you're supposed to say something like 'that's okay', or 'hey, don't worry about it."
"That's okay. Don't worry about it. Now, you ready?"
"No," I said. "Not when you're still mad about it." And not when I'm still dying to know.
"Since we're still asking questions," he said, "I've got another one."
"What?"
"Why didn't you tell me about Vince?"
I shook my head. "Tell you what, exactly?"
"That he was here last night."
"I don't know," I said. "I guess I should have. I meant to."
Jake's voice was flat. "You meant to."
"Oh for crying out loud," I said. "In case you forgot? You and me? We got a little distracted last night. Remember?"
"If you're trying to change the subject," he said, "forget it."
"There's a subject?" I said.
"Yeah. Vince."
"What's wrong?" I said. "Are you worried he stole something? Because you'll be glad to know I didn't let the guy out of my sight."
