The road to love (editing!!)

Chapter 28 - Getting back in the loop

It was Tuesday after work and I was sitting at a trendy new cocktail bar called The Loop, named after Loop Street that it was located on, two streets up from Mojo, flanked on each side by Jake and Sharon.  I was surprised that Sharon had agreed to let Jake come with us tonight, but being the best friend that she was, she was trying to make things easier for me and just try and accept my new friendship with Jake.  I hadn’t heard anything more from Dean since our wonderful night on Saturday and my mind had been starting to play tricks on my heart, telling it that I had heard Dean wrong, that he had no intention of accepting my challenge and had instead only used me for his amusement one last time.

I had decided I needed a distraction to ease my tension, so there we were, out on the town.

Our little group had actually been having a good time, chatting about everyday things and laughing  a lot while relaxing after a busy two days for all of us.  Sharon had gone to the ladies and Jake had just stepped away to get us another round of drinks, so I was left on my own in our little booth, my eyes roaming the room as I sipped the last of my delicious cocktail.

I almost choked on my last sip when I spied Sam Masters, the writer of that horrible short piece in the paper that ruined everything for me with Dean, across the bar.  The way that his smug profile picture next to that hateful article had taunted me when I read it, it was hard not to recognize the object of my hate.  He looked more than a little drunk, sitting between two buxom girls, laughing too loud at another guy at his table’s joke.  Before I knew what hit me, I jumped up and marched over to his booth, picked up a drink closest to me and threw it in his face.  I would have laughed at his stunned expression if I wasn’t absolutely fuming.

“What the hell…” came his surprised gasp as he tried to dry his face with his sleeve.  “Are you crazy, lady?”

“Sam Masters!  You are the lowest form of person on this planet!  How can you write about people’s lives in your column without checking facts or even asking permission?  You have no right to ruin people’s lives like you do!”

“You have to be more specific, babe.” He grinned at his fellow boot occupants, before looking back at me with a smug look on his face before reaching for his tall glass containing a blue drink, stirring it slowly.  “I run a gossip column, I write about many people.  And I don’t particularly remember your pretty little face…”   His eager gaze ran the length of my body, making me feel dirty.

“The piece of crap gossip you wrote about Dean Parker and DNA testing,” I bit out while balling my fists, feeling the anger course through my veins at the thought of that article.  “And don’t call me babe,” I hissed at him.

“Aaahhh, I see.  Let me guess – you are Jessica Jones?” 

“Yes, I am.  Where do you get off writing about people’s private lives as if it’s your right?  You made most of that up!”  I saw Jake hurriedly approaching me where I was still hovering above Masters’ booth, eyeing his drink for a second round of waterworks.  He reached me in record time and tried to get me away from the confrontation by dragging on my arm, but I easily shoved him off.

“Made it up?  Oh no, I had inside information honey!  What, with the juicy gossip and proof that your boyfriend Jake brought me, what more did I need?  He was eager to have the Parker-boy away from his girlfriend and the information, well it was just too good not to use.”  I felt Jake stiffen at my side as the cold reality of Sam Masters’ words hit me in the face.  I felt the blood drain from there before I turned to face the backstabbing bastard.

I whirled around to face Jake with all the pain and anger running through my mind showing on my face.  To his credit, Jake did look extremely uneasy at the moment, as he took a step backwards from the force of my aggression.