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Grunt.
What the fuck? He grunted at me? So itwasme. I tried another test. “Yeah, and apparently Mindy…you remember how Becca and Mindy were inseparable in high school?” I continued babbling on when he didn’t acknowledge me. “Yeah, so anyway, Mindy’s thrown the biggest fit, because she wants to be pregnant together with Becca like she was the other two times but her husband doesn’t want any more kids. How crazy is that?”
He didn’t respond, his jaw clenching as he eased along the street in front of the restaurant.
“Jake? How crazy is that?” Annoyance flickered in my mind. Why in the ever-loving fuck would he be mad at me?
“Pretty crazy.” He scrubbed his hand over his face, not looking at me. “Where did you park?”
“Up here, in this parking lot on the right.” Not another word as he pulled into the lot, looking for my car. The small flicker of annoyance turned into a bright flame. “Are you mad at me?”
No answer.
“Jake!”
He slammed on the brakes, and I realized we were behind my car. There was no way I was letting him off the hook by getting out of this truck just yet. Huffing out a breath, I took the seatbelt off and turned to face him, folding my arms across my chest. It was obvious I wasn’t going anywhere. The look he shot me was full of rage. “No. I’m not mad at you.”
“Liar! Please tell me exactly what I’ve done to deserve having you silently raging at me so hard, I’m surprised I’m not burnt to a crisp.”
He turned away, staring out his window for so long that I started to think he wasn’t going to answer me. “I’m not mad at you. I just—I don’t understand how you could do that.”
“Do what, exactly?”
“Put yourself in harm’s way like that.”
“Put myself in harm’s way? How dare you! Women are allowed to go on dates, and on those dates, they’re allowed to expect they won’t be assaulted!” Hot, angry tears burned my eyes and I reached for the door handle. “Fuck you and your victim-blaming! I’m not the one at fault here.”
Before I could push the door open, he wrapped his hand around my upper arm, stopping me. I turned back and opened my mouth to give him another earful, but he cut me off.
“I’m not… I’m not mad atyou. I’m mad at what nearly happened to you,” he finally ground out.
Still seething, I pulled my arm free. “Well, it’s your fault!”
“What the fuck?! How is it possibly my fault?”
“If you didn’t make me so hot and horny and desperate to get laid, I wouldn’t go out looking to have sex with strangers, would I? If it’s good enough for you it should be good enough for me. Goose, gander, sauce. All that good stuff.”
“If what’s good enough for me?”
I hesitated because he seemed confused, but I’d already made the accusation and there was no stopping now. “Fucking strangers.”
“When exactly did I fuck a stranger?”
“When you took that girl home from Lacey’s.”
He frowned and I could see he was searching his mind. Surely he couldn’t fake being that bewildered.
“Don’t even try to tell me you don’t remember, buddy, because that’s fucking rude. She was short and pretty, with long dark hair. You were near the pool tables. Isawyou, jackass, so don’t try and deny it.”
“There’s nothing to deny. She hit on me, I said no thanks, she was about to drive home. She was way too drunk to drive, so I took her outside and called her an Uber. I went home. On. My. Own.” He looked at me for a long moment, a riot of unnamed emotions swirling in his eyes. Then his shoulders dropped, all the fight gone out of him. “Ask me why.”
I stared at him, trying to make sense of the thoughts clamoring in my mind. He…he hadn’t gone home with that girl? My entire premise for trying to get laid was flawed?
“Ask me why, Em. Go ahead, ask me.”
I swallowed. “Fine. Why did you go home on your own?”
“Because since the second accident, spending so much time with you, I can’t imagine being with anyone else. I haven’t even tried. You’ve ruined me for other women.”
