Solace In The Silence ✓✓

chapter 25

I was trying to remain level-headed about all of this, but when he kissed me like that, like he was declaring to the whole student body that his former playboy ways were, indeed, past tense... well, it was hard not to break out into a fit of hysterical giggles like I was thirteen again.

Before I could even react, or respond, Jake murmured low, "Remember what I told you the other night?"
My brain officially needed to be jump started. I couldn't comprehend the first thing he'd said. All I could think about was that kiss, and the fact that quite a few people were still blatantly staring at us.
"About just going with it," he prompted, and those adorable dimples appeared.

A flood of warmth engulfed me, and the conversation we'd had when his parents had invited me for dinner last weekend flashed through my mind.
Somehow, I was able to keep my voice sounding impressively unaffected when I said, "So, I didn't know you were going to be here."
"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision." He smirked. "And that's funny, seeing as you never mentioned you were coming tonight, either, when I brought it up."

"It took a while to persuade her, Jake," Vicky contributed, shooting me a dark glower. "Maybe she wouldn't have dragged her heels as much if she'd known you were going to be here."
I pursed my lips.
Jake's hand traveled down my spine, sliding dangerously low, and a jolt of heat seared me. My eyes involuntarily widened, and I placed my fingers over his, deterring his palm from sliding anywhere below the top of my ass.
When my fingertips grazed his knuckles, I almost didn't feel it at first. And then I skimmed over them again, slower this time, and Jake's hand immediately dropped from my lower back.

I didn't need to see his knuckles to know that they were raw and split open.
Even though the three of them were still chatting, their voices loud as they competed with the music, I couldn't focus on a word they were saying anymore.
Cobwebs of dread spun inside me, catching me in its inescapable grip.
"Jake, can you come with me for a sec?"
He blinked at my sharp tone. "'Scuse us," he said.
Vicky and Kelly exchanged a look. A very long look, as if they were astonished by how we'd gone from sucking face to having a spat in record speed.

Without delay, I pulled Jake away from them, and we slipped out the back door and into the cool night.
The air was easier to breathe out here, the music quieter still. Even though there were a couple of people already out on the deck, smoking, I knew it was the best place we were going to have this conversation.

Jake edged closer, and the scent of him enveloped me like a thick haze. "If you wanted to take me someplace quiet to have your way with me, sweetheart, all you had to do was ask."
He was being cocky and flirtatious as all out, and ordinarily, I would be going a little weak at the knees, but damn it, I was stronger than that. And I wasn't just going to ignore the fact that my gut was almost a hundred percent certain Jake had gone and roughed up Joe , after I'd specifically told him not to.

"I'm being serious," I said firmly, and he halted mid-step. "We need to talk."
His expression went blank. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

I drew in a calming breath.
The night sky above Kelly's house was a deep purple, and dark odd-shaped clouds blanketed the stars. Casting my gaze to the hedges and rocks surrounding the in-ground pool, I forced myself to ask him, "What happened to your hand?"
His brows furrowed as he glanced down at his right hand, a dark look momentarily shrouding his face. A second later and it was gone, his trademark, easygoing grin spreading like honey. "Oh, that. It's nothing. I have this photography project due soon, and man, it was so stupid, I was trying to—"
"No way," I cut in. "I'm not going to listen to some bullshit excuse. Do you honestly think I don't know when you're lying to me?"

Jake seemed ready to argue but then something changed. Defeat carved his features. "I went after Joe, all right?" he admitted, sighing.
Muscles in my stomach cinched at his admission. "Why would you do that, Jake? I told you I didn't want you getting involved, and I meant it."
"Do you seriously expect that I'll just be a bystander in all this?" he demanded. "I know how scared you are, no matter how many times you try to convince me that you're not. And I'm not about to let something happen to you, so yeah, fuck it, I told him to leave you alone. That if he ever so much as looked at you the wrong way again, I'd be using more than just my fist."
Frustration whirled, eclipsing the sliver of patience I'd been holding onto. "You can't just get angry and start throwing punches. You do realize that not only have you endangered yourself, now, you've potentially sabotaged the entire case."
His throat dipped in a visible gulp. "Damn. I hadn't thought of it like that."