All Pepped Up (Pepper Jones #2)

by Ali Dean

  ***

  After kissing me thoroughly and working both of us into a frenzy, Jace pulls me onto his chest for a cuddle. He always does this just when I think he might take things further.

  Nestling my head into his chest, I listen to his heart beat as his chest rises and falls, wondering if he’s going to say anything about Annie. I desperately want to spill my opinion, but Jace knows me well enough that I’m sure my feelings on the matter came through without me articulating them.

  Jace’s phone beeps and he reaches to his bedside table to check the message. “That’s Wes. We’re meeting at the gym in twenty.”

  Jace’s hand draws circles on my back, and I’m in no mood to get up. “But I’m comfy,” I mumble.

  I feel his chest rumble with a chuckle. “You should come lift with us.”

  “I’m lifting with the girls tomorrow. And Dave will be sad if he misses his Sunday run with me.” I just started a three-days-a-week weight lifting routine. “Besides, it’s distracting having all those girls gawk at you and Wes. I swear they don’t even go to the gym to work out.”

  Jace scoffs. “Use the negative energy toward the workout. That’s what I do when I catch meatheads checking you out.”

  I giggle. “Yeah, but first you give them a death glare.”

  Jace squeezes me tighter to him. “Sometimes they need to know that looking is all they’ll be doing.”

  UC lets Brockton Public varsity athletes use their gym on certain days of the week. When I started going to lift weights a month ago, it quickly became clear that the place is just an ogling-fest for most people.

  We drag ourselves out of bed and I plop a quick kiss on his lips before scurrying out the door. Last time I lingered, Jace stripped down to change into his workout clothes right in front of me. Don’t get me wrong, seeing Jace stripped down is a fine sight indeed, but the rush of lust that accompanies the view is a bit overwhelming – particularly when I’m not sure the rest of me is ready to follow my body’s desires.

  The wind’s picked up by the time I head out for a run, but I know I’ll warm up quickly. My favorite dirt trails are too snowy today so I take the bike path, which gets snow-plowed each morning.

  Coach had me take three weeks off from running after Nationals in December. Since then, I’ve started both the weight-lifting program and building a base for track season. It’s an easy five miles or so on most days, with a ten-miler once a week. The low-key schedule is enjoyable for now, but I’m sure I’ll get restless soon. Track workouts don’t start for another few weeks.

  When we cross the bridge that takes us away from the residential streets and along the river, I let Dave off his leash. There’s hardly anyone out here this time of year, and Dave likes to explore.

  As expected, I heat up after several minutes. I’m wrapping my windbreaker around my waist when Dave takes off in a sprint toward an approaching couple.

  “Dave!” I call out. It’s not like him to do that. Hopefully these people won’t get mad at me.

  Fortunately, the guy crouches down to greet Dave, who eagerly licks his face like they’re best friends. I jog over to apologize and see that the girl is Lisa Delany, a senior at Brockton Public.

  “Oh, hi Lisa. Sorry about Dave, here. He doesn’t usually approach strangers.”

  The guy looks up and smiles. “I’m not a stranger.” Ryan.

  “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t recognize you!” It’s probably because his gait was different from jogging slower than his usual pace with Lisa. Plus he’s wearing a hat.

  An awkwardness settles around us. Lisa was going after Ryan all fall, and probably while he was with me. Ryan told me he wasn’t especially interested in her. But now they’re running together. I feel like an intruder.

  “So, I didn’t know you were a runner, Lisa,” I say in what I hope is a pleasant voice, trying to ease the tension.

  “I’m just getting into it. Ryan’s helping me. I figured it’d be good cross-training for tennis.” That’s right. Lisa is captain of the Brockton Public tennis team.

  Her long blonde hair is pulled into a ponytail and she has a hot pink ear warmer around her head. “Nice. I’ll let you guys get going before we start to freeze up.”

  Ryan stands up from petting Dave and waves before jogging off with Lisa. I head off in the other direction, Dave leading the way, and realize I hardly spoke to Ryan. Does he know about Jace and me? Is he with Lisa now?

  I don’t like the idea of Ryan and Lisa together. But it can’t be jealousy. I broke up with him. But I still care about him, and he’s too good for Lisa. That must be it.

  Chapter 4

  I recognize the Burton family’s minivan parked on the street when I finish up the loop, and I know Zoe must have stopped by. Jogging up the stairs, I kick off my snowy sneakers in the hallway and head inside.

  “Yo!” Zoe calls from the couch. She’s made herself comfortable with a mug of tea, her feet propped up on the coffee table.

  “What’s up?” I plop down next to her. “What are you watching?”

  “HGTV. You know anyone can come in here and just take whatever they want, right?” Zoe asks.

  I shrug. “I was only out for a little bit. We hardly ever lock up and nothing’s happened yet.”

  “Go take a shower, you stink,” she tells me.

  “Yes ma’am,” I reply with a salute. Fifteen minutes later I find Zoe painting her toenails in my bedroom.

  “I saw Ryan on the bike path,” I tell her as I unwrap the towel from my head and rub my wet hair. “Guess who he was with?”

  Zoe looks up. “Lisa Delany?”

  I pause with my hairbrush in hand. “How’d you know?”

  Zoe shrugs. “Something’s been going on with them for a couple of weeks. You’ve just been too wrapped up in Jace to notice.” She blows on her toes before adding, “Not that you ever pay attention to who’s with whom anyway. But Ryan’s different.”

  “Jeez, now I feel dumb for insisting on keeping me and Jace a secret for so long.” I tug the brush through my hair. Although, after last night, it’s probably best that I avoided the wrath of Madeline Brescoll. No need to get into that with Zoe. She’ll just get all worked up.

  “Nah, it was better you waited. You’re the one who broke the poor kid’s heart,” Zoe says nonchalantly, but I catch the evil little smirk on her lips in the mirror.

  “Yeah, yeah. Enough of that already. You know it’s different with Jace. It was the right move, admit it.”

  She flexes her toes in front of her. “Do you think it’s too bright?”

  “Zoe, it’s February. No one’s going to see your bare feet.”

  “Except for Charles.” She wiggles her eyebrows knowingly.

  I throw the hairbrush at her. “Gross.” We were buddies with our teammate Charlie Owens for years before he and Zoe started dating this past fall. They’re cute together, but that doesn’t mean I want details.

  “But you know I’m cool with you and Jace. It’s just weird because he’s still, like, the Jace Wilder to me. Maybe now that you guys are out in the open we can all hang out more together and I’ll be able to think of him as a real person.”

  I slide on my fluffy red slippers and check my cell to see if Jace has called. No messages. A light snow has started falling outside, and Zoe and I decide to forgo homework in favor of baking cookies. It’s just that kind of a day.

  Gran comes home later in the afternoon with groceries and a baking agenda of her own.

  “Where’s the Christmas music?” is the first thing out of her mouth. When it snows, Gran puts on Hanson Brothers’ Christmas Carols, no matter the time of year. Yes, those Hanson Brothers.

  By dinnertime, we’ve baked multiple batches of cookies and none of us are hungry for a real meal. My belly is full of batter.

  Gran insists we invite some friends over to help with the cookies – eating them, that is. Zoe sends a text to Charlie, who is “studying” with Rollie and Omar. Apparently Zoe and I aren’t the only ones in pr
ocrastination mode, because they seem happy enough to drop the studying; they show up at our apartment twenty minutes later.

  Roland Fowler and Omar Hernandez are both juniors on the cross team, and we’ve been friends since freshman year. Omar plays baseball in the spring instead of running track like the rest of us, but he still spends most of his time hanging out with the running crowd.

  Jace doesn’t answer when I call, which surprises me. We usually meet up on Sunday evenings. I send him a text message about the cookies, knowing he won’t want to miss out.

  “Hey,” Zoe bumps her hip against mine as I open the fridge and pull out the milk. “Why so glum, chum?”

  “I’m not!” I say cheerily. It’s true – kind of. I’m not so much glum as I am – perplexed? Yeah, that’s it. Where is Jace? He saw his mother for the first time in 14 years and he gave me nothing. He’s got to be feeling something. And aren’t I supposed to be his rock? At least, that’s what Wesley told me when Jace went off the deep end a few months ago. I know the boy has never been an open book when it comes to his emotions, but I thought he’d at least want to hang with me, be with me, right now.

  “Sure, chica.” Zoe pats my butt, knowing well enough that I won’t be getting into it with her. Jace is a private person, and it doesn’t feel right talking about his mother to anyone else. At least not now, when I don’t even know what the heck is going on.

  The snow falling outside has picked up, and the Weather Channel is calling for a major blizzard through the night and into tomorrow. We keep the news on in the background while hanging out in the kitchen, hoping to hear about school cancellations. Since I haven’t done my homework, and it doesn’t look like I will, a snow day would be awesome.

  It’s not until 9:00 that Jace finally calls.

  “Where have you been all day?” I cringe at my own question, hoping I don’t sound clingy.

  “Hanging out with Wes. Came over to his place after working out and just got lazy. Did you hear school’s cancelled tomorrow?”

  “Huh? How’d we miss that? We’ve been listening for it!” I call out to Zoe to check the website. “Jace says we’re closed tomorrow!”

  “Who all is over?” Jace asks, having heard the background noise.

  “Zoe and some friends. Didn’t you get my text about the cookies? I figured that would get your lazy butt over here. We made six different kinds.”

  “Ginger molasses?”

  “You’ll never know. You snooze, you lose, pal.”

  “Don’t pal me. Is Ryan there?” Jace asks, seemingly out of the blue.

  “Noooo,” I respond, letting the question in my voice linger. Jace doesn’t bite.

  “You guys should come over to Wes’s place. They canceled Lincoln too so he’s having a get-together.” How is he so laid back right now? My stomach would be in knots if I were him. Not to mention my mental state.

  “I don’t know if Gran will be down with that. The roads are really bad.” The last thing I want to deal with right now is another Madeline run-in, but I’m anxious to see Jace, and that overrides anything else.

  “They aren’t bad yet, and you can just spend the night so you don’t have to drive.”

  “Yeah, she really won’t be down with that. You know how she’s gotten now that, we’re, you know.”

  “Together?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Let me talk to her.”

  “If you insist.” I hand my phone to Gran, who’s rocking a leopard-print gym suit. I don’t know where she finds her outfits.

  Zoe confirms that the Brockton Public website has, indeed, announced a cancellation for tomorrow, and I fill them in about Jace’s invite to Wes’s. “Anyone wanna come?” My teammates aren’t really into the Jace Wilder/Wes Jamison party scene. But it’d sure make things easier for me if they started to mingle more. I’d have my own little group to back me up when dealing with Jace’s fan club.

  “Yeah, right,” Zoe says. “Like my dad would let me go to a coed sleepover party, especially one at Wesley Jamison’s house.” Zoe’s dad’s a cop and is pretty strict. Not to mention he had some intel about Wes’s drug involvement and was not so thrilled the last time he found out we’d been hanging out at Wes’s house.

  “Boooooooo,” I respond. “Gran probably won’t be down with me going anyway now that, well…” The guys are watching me, waiting for me to finish my sentence. They weren’t at the party last night and, since they aren’t exactly part of that crowd, wouldn’t have heard about Jace and me yet. “Jace and I are, you know, together now,” I tell them.

  Charlie doesn’t change his expression – and it doesn’t surprise me that Zoe spilled the beans to him already – but Rollie and Omar look shocked.

  “Are you serious?” Rollie asks.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “What? It’s not that surprising, really,” Omar says, masking his disbelief. “I play baseball with the guy and he’s always been, like, extra cool with me because Pepper’s my friend. And everyone on the team just seems to get you don’t talk about Pepper like you talk about other girls. At least not around Wilder.”

  I let the guys digest the news while I try to eavesdrop on Gran’s conversation. I get that Jace Wilder seems untouchable to them, like he still is to Zoe, and that I’m just their teammate and buddy. But still, the looks on their faces! Is it so hard to believe Jace wants to be with me?

  Gran hands me the phone before giving me a chance to listen in. “Gran, you need to push the red button when the call is over.”

  She waves her hand. “I don’t know how to work those silly things. The regular telephone works just fine.”

  “So what’s the verdict?” I ask her.

  “You can go, and you can stay, but no shenanigans. I’m only letting you stay because it’s already late and the roads are going to get worse.”

  I don’t want Gran to know how excited I am about this news so I feign indifference. “Who else wants to come?” I ask the guys.

  “I’m down,” Omar says. He actually hangs out sometimes with Jace’s friends, since they’re on the baseball team together. “Rollie?” he asks.

  Rollie’s eyebrows are scrunched up and I can tell he’s conflicted. He’s curious to check out the scene, but is hesitant for obvious reasons. We’ve heard the rumors about how crazy parties hosted by the likes of Wesley Jamison can get. And long-distance runners aren’t known for being crazy. At least, not that kind of crazy. But Rollie bobs his head after a short contemplation, his red hair falling into his face. Rollie comes from money, so he at least won’t feel out of place in the Jamison mansion.

  “I’m just going to call it an early night.” Charlie tugs Zoe closer to him with his arm around her shoulder. “I’ve got a research paper I should work on tomorrow anyway, so I don’t want to be up all night.”

  “Awww, you’re such a good boyfriend, Charles.” Zoe rubs his head full of curly blonde locks. “You just don’t want to ditch me.”

  Charlie smiles sheepishly.

  I stuff some sleep clothes and a toothbrush into a backpack and bundle myself into my down jacket, hat, scarf and mittens. Remembering Wes’s hot tub, I throw a bikini in my bag before heading out the door.

  Rollie’s got some big SUV that looks like it will handle the snow and I hop into the back, letting Omar take the front. Zoe waves goodbye as she pulls out with Charlie in the passenger seat. Good boyfriend? Sure. But he is totally using this opportunity to get some alone time with Zoe.

  “Who all is going to be there?” Rollie asks. “Is it, like, a Lincoln party, or will there be Public people there too?” He pushes his glasses up on his nose, a nervous gesture of his.

  “No idea, Rolls. Sounded like just Wes and Jace were there a few minutes ago.”

  “Wesley doesn’t play a winter sport either, right?” Omar asks.

  “Nope. Jace and Wes always just played football and baseball.” And they’re both really good. Though Jace is better.

  “Where’s Wes going to college?
” Omar asks. “I know Jace signed with UC, which totally rocks. He might get to start there as a freshman. Their QB really hasn’t pulled through the past couple years.”

  “No idea where Wes is going.” His dad wants him to go to his alma mater, Princeton. Although not as good as Jace, Wes would be able to play football at an Ivy. I think he actually does pretty well in school too, despite his partying ways.

  But Wes applied to a bunch of other colleges too. He knows he’ll only get accepted to Princeton because of his dad, and I think he wants to do his own thing. The two have never been close.

  Wes likes his privacy just like Jace, so I refrain from unloading the entire explanation on Omar and Rollie, who have moved on to talking about college football.

  Glancing out the window, I reflect on my relationship with Wes. I’ve spent more time with him the past couple of months than I had throughout high school. Jace, Wes and I were inseparable until Wes and Jace started their freshman year at different schools. They had some sort of falling-out that I never got the details on, but apparently reconciled this past year… as drug dealing partners. That’s all over now though, and they’ve started hanging together a lot more. As friends. Wes was the first to know about Jace and me. He didn’t act the least bit surprised when we told him, and actually told us “it was about time.” I felt the same way.

  Chapter 5

  When we pull up to the Jamisons’, there are only a few cars in the driveway.

  “Whoa, this place is even crazier than yours, Rollie,” Omar exclaims as he jumps out.

  We wander inside. “Hello?” I call out.

  “Hey Pepper!” Wes shouts from the kitchen.

  Jace shuffles into the entryway. My eyes immediately take in his low-riding jeans that hug his butt and a thermal shirt that makes it look like his pecs and biceps will burst through.