Pieces (Riverdale #1)

by Janine Infante Bosco

  He debated on whether or not he should tell her that he had ended things with her. Instead of committing himself to a decision, he changed the topic back to her; he was clearly not done with his questions. “If you’re only looking for fun, I’d be happy to oblige.”

  Her smile faltered and she turned back to watch the chicken cook. “Right, well since that would be a disaster of epic proportions. I’m going to stick with strangers they are the safest kind of fun.”

  “Strangers and safe don’t usually go hand in hand.” He said evenly.

  And then she surprised him, she moved towards the breakfast bar and gripped the edge of the counter and stared right at him. He raised an eyebrow at her boldness and leaned in waiting for her to gather her courage. “Maybe not, but you my friend are not the answer.” She leaned closer and looked him square in the eyes. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit turned on. He liked watching the fire in her eyes. It was a rare occurrence and he was absolutely mesmerized by it. “Read my lips.” She whispered and then she killed him, by running her tongue over her lower lip. Her now moist lips, glistening as she enunciated each word slowly and thoroughly. “Not. Going. To. Happen.”

  “What a shame, I am tons of fun.” He smiled his eyes still on her wet lips.

  “Don’t I know it.” She murmured. “Make no mistake about it; I love your kind of fun. I love having fun with you. But we both know I’m looking for a different kind of fun.”

  “That kind of fun is my specialty.” He didn’t skip a beat, and he thanked God, because he was struggling with the marathon his heart was running, and the party that was going on in his very thin pants.

  She closed her eyes for a moment, and then turned abruptly back to the stove, and turned the chicken. “You my friend are chicken cutlets. Fried, messy and oil will shoot at you if you get too close.” And when the oil shot out of the pan, she ducked. “See!” She said as she lowered the flame.

  Jake looked at her, shifting in his chair to accommodate his hard on. He was trying to wrap himself around the idea that she had just compared him to their dinner, and what that meant. “I’m a chicken cutlet?”

  “Yes!” She said as she stared at the frying pan. “I can’t afford to get burned. I’m more in the market for stew. You know? It takes forever to cook, it’s good for you. It comforts you.”

  “I comfort you.” He didn’t want to mention that they’ve been taking forever to admit there is more than a friendship between them. He rubbed his temples. Maybe he was stew, after all.

  “Yes, but you’re not stew. You’re so far from stew.” She began to fix a salad, and grabbed another bowl from one of his cabinets. She looked over at him. “Do you get what I’m saying?”

  “Not at all.” He admitted, and threw his head into his hands. He peered at her from the cracks between his fingers and saw she was biting her lip, holding back a giggle.

  “Come on Jake. Let’s just drop this before I compare your to apples and oranges.” She reached out and grabbed one of his hands. “It’s okay to be chicken cutlets. I bet you Joanna loves chicken cutlets.” She raised her eyebrows, obviously trying to either, turn this conversation on him or lighten the mood.

  “Joanna and I are done.” He removed his hands from his face and stared at her. She cocked her head to the side as confusion crossed her features.

  “I’m sorry. What happened?” She said softly.

  He wanted to tell her, you happened, but he stopped himself. He reworded his answer in his head and then spoke. “I’m beginning to think I want more out of a woman.” He shrugged his shoulders. “The fast rides and flings are getting old, not to mention I’m not getting any younger.”

  She looked surprised, but masked it very quickly. “No more ride or die chicks?” She laughed. “You’d be bored in a week.”

  He shook his head. “Wrong. Just one ride or die chick, and I’d never be bored of her.” Her mouth dropped open slightly, and remained like that as she just stared at him. “Close your mouth or you’ll catch something.” He said before looking over her shoulder at the stove. “Cara? Your chicken cutlets are burning.”

  She closed her mouth with a smacking sound and then muttered a few curses as she grabbed the frying pan that was shooting oil. He leaned back against his stool and grinned as he watched her rescue their dinner and play with the hot oil.

  The following afternoon, Ava’s birthday party at Bounce-A-Rama, was in full swing by the time Cara got there. She was on her way when Luke had called her and asked her if she could pick up the cake, since she lived two blocks from the bakery. Of course she helped him out, but in the interim, she ran into Dart Guy from last week. Apparently when he wasn’t playing darts at Rudy’s he was baking cupcakes, because he was the head baker at Riverdale Sweets. Yep, he was definitely a slow-cooking stew. And she couldn’t stop craving chicken cutlets.

  She sighed and pushed her analogies out of her mind as she took a look out onto the party that came to life around her. There were about six huge inflatable bounce mazes. She spotted Ava on top of the middle one that was a huge inflatable slide. The little girl threw her arms over her head and smiled, showing off the gap in her top front tooth, that had fallen out this morning. She slid down and let out a happy scream. Cara smiled when she saw Luke at the bottom of the slide with his camera, taking pictures of his happy little girl. He was a great dad, she marveled. Sam grabbed Luke’s camera from him and he grabbed Ava and hoisted her onto his shoulders. Father and daughter smiled as Sam snapped a bunch of pictures of them.

  Cara turned around when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Deb smiled at her and took the cake box out of her hands and handed it off to her husband. “Cara, sweetie. Thank you for picking up the cake. Luke completely forgot this morning. Joe, would you give that to the party host, tell her it has to be refrigerated.” Cara looked over at Joe, he was donning his usual dress pants and knit shirt, only he had a Cinderella party hat on top of his head. She felt the smile tug at the corners of her mouth and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

  “Looking good, Joe.” And then she hugged Deb. “It was no trouble at all.”

  Joe threw his scarf over his shoulder and winked at Cara. It would be seventy degrees out and the man still wore a scarf. She watched Deb blow out an exasperated breath and unravel the scarf from his neck.

  “Really, do you need to wear this damn scarf?” Deb said as she crumbled it into a ball.

  “Hey! Give it back woman or I swear you’ll wear this cake!” He said to his wife, but they both knew he wouldn’t dare. He let out a huff and stomped away with the cake. Deb turned back towards Cara.

  “I swear that man is going to be the death of me. You kids didn’t give me as many gray hairs as he has.”

  Cara laughed and stuck her hands in her back pockets. “Well, he definitely keeps things interesting.”

  Deb laced her arm with Cara’s and walked towards the main floor where the bounce houses. “When you get married dear, you’ll sing a different tune.” They stared at the kids running around and jumping in the bounce houses. They all looked like they were having the time of their lives and Cara couldn’t help but think of her childhood. She didn’t remember once having a birthday party. After her mother had passed away, she barely celebrated her birthday. Her father never once went out of his way for cake much less a birthday party. Once she became a teenager, she would go to the cemetery on her birthday and spend some time with the one who brought her into this world. She still did, and next week when she turned twenty nine, that’s exactly where she’d be, wishing that her mother would be there with her to blow out the candles on a cake, just once.

  She was pulled from her thoughts when she felt an arm swing around her and Deb. “There are my two favorite ladies.” Jake said and squeezed the women closer to him.

  “You’re all out of breath, where were you Jake?” His mother asked.

  “Bouncing!” He grinned like a little kid as Cara turned around and looked at him. He was dressed in jeans that were
well worn and hung a little low on the waist. The sleeves on his gray Henley were pushed up to his elbows and his tattoos were out on display. She looked down and noticed he was just wearing socks, and had indeed taken his shoes off to bounce around with the kids. Damn it, her heart melted a little at the sight of him. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Hi.”

  “Hi.” She smiled back at him and then noticed Deb staring at them, with a goofy grin on her face.

  “Jake told us, you went by his place and cooked dinner for the two of you.” She tucked one of Cara’s loose curls behind her ear and smiled affectionately at her. “Such a good egg you are, my sweet Cara.”

  Jake crossed his arms on his chest with a cocky grin on his handsome face. “She sure did, she makes some pretty good chicken cutlets.”

  She eyed him, wishing she could knock the grin off his face. “I burnt half of them.”

  He shrugged, still grinning at her. “They were much better than stew.”

  She pushed her palms against his chest and he laughed before wrapping his arms around her waist. The smile faded from her face and she looked down at his hands on her hips and then back at Deb. “Your son is losing his mind.”

  “Funny, I was just thinking how he finally is finding it.” She smiled and wandered off leaving them alone.

  Cara pried Jake’s hands off of her and shoved them away, but he wasn’t having it. He laced his fingers with hers and began to pull her towards the huge inflatable Castle. “Take your boots off.” He demanded and when she bit her lip, he bent down and dragged the zippers down on them himself.

  “I can take my own shoes off Jake.” She said and then her words caught as she watched him on his knees before her. She didn’t know why, but just seeing him on his knees, peering up at her did a number on her. She wiped her hands down her jeans and stepped out of her boots. Still on his knees looking up at her, he took her hand in his and she stopped breathing. He kissed her hand softly and then rose to his full height.

  “God, you’re pretty.” He murmured, as if he had laid eyes on her for the first time. He shook his head, and she figured he was shaking sense into himself. His smile appeared again and he dragged her towards the castle. “Ready for, some fun?”

  Ava ran to them, wiggling her little body between the two of them. “Uncle Jake, Cara!”

  She looked up between them smiling. Cara crouched down and hugged her.

  “Happy Birthday, Princess.”

  “Thank you! Are you and Uncle Jake going to bounce with me?”

  “Lead the way kiddo.” Jake said as he took Cara’s hand in his then grabbing Ava’s hand in his other.

  Ave crawled into the big inflatable with ease, and immediately started jumping up and down. Cara was next and when she began to crawl in she heard Jake let out a groan behind her. She looked over her shoulder, against her better judgment and saw he was staring at her ass. Balls brazen, she wiggled her ass and found her way inside the castle. Jake dove in right behind her and the three of them started to jump up and down to the beat of the music. Ava’s giggles filled the castle and Cara couldn’t help but join her. Jake tumbled and fell as the girls jumped around him.

  When he tried to get up, Cara jumped higher and he fell back again. She threw her head back and laughed and kept bouncing around the castle.

  “Aunt Sam is going down the slide! I want to go with her.” Ava said and slid out of the castle like a little snake, leaving Jake flat on his back and Cara by herself. She stopped jumping and peeked out of the castle and watched Ava run towards Sam. Jake’s hand snuck around her ankle and he tugged her gently. She fell forward and on top of him.

  “Jake!” She cried as she braced herself against him.

  “Love it when you scream my name.” He chuckled and she pressed her elbow into his stomach. “Ouch!” He wrapped his arms around her and flipped her onto her back, and his six feet of male perfection sheathed her. “Having fun yet?”

  “Too much,” She admitted and stared up at him, her arms snaked around his neck and before she could talk herself out of it, she pulled him down. His smiling mouth fell onto hers and his lips instantly went to work. His mouth was hot and wet and his tongue eager. He explored her mouth ravenously and he nudged her legs apart with his thigh, allowing her to feel how his body responded to her. Her hips arched and she wasn’t sure if she moaned or if it was him. His teeth grazed her lower lip, and tugged slightly. Her breath was coming out in little short pants.

  “Hey kids, keep it PG we’re at my daughter’s seventh birthday party.” Cara heard Luke say, and she pushed Jake so hard he fell backwards off of her. Cara’s cheeks flushed as both brothers burst out laughing and at that moment she wished the inflatable castle would suffer a punctured hole and collapse on her, hiding from the Lanza clan.

  Chapter Seven

  That night, after Ava’s birthday festivities died down and she was tucked in safely for the night at grandma and grandpa’s the five friends ventured into Luke’s truck. Once a month, on Cara’s weekend off, they made it their business to go out for a few drinks, leaving Riverdale behind them. This would be the first time in six years that Nick would be with them. When Jake had first brought it up to him, he was skeptical since Jake and Cara were the ones responsible for choosing where they went, he made Jake solemnly swear they didn’t take him to a Swingers Club. For none other than the look that would adorn Nick’s face, Jake wanted to do just that, but refrained. Instead Cara had found a karaoke club in a town about an hour away.

  Jake offered to drive, to give Luke free reign to cut loose, being as he seldom did. He waited as everyone piled into the car. Cara and Sam climbed into the second row, while Luke sprawled out in the third, completely taken advantage of responsibility free night. Jake was fiddling around with the GPS when Nick got into the passenger seat. “You know how to set this thing up?” He said, handing him a Post-It with the address to where they were going written sloppily on it.

  Nick stared at the piece of paper, trying to determine what it said and looked back at Jake. “Are you serious? I can’t read this shit.”

  Jake rolled his eyes as he started the car. Cara leaned over the console and grabbed the paper from Nick’s hand and looked down briefly before punching in the address. Nick looked at her and then at Jake. “You can’t possibly read that.”

  Cara didn’t say a word, she just hit begin route on the GPS and sat back in her seat. Jake held back a smile and Nick mumbled. “Two idiots.”

  The first hour of their drive they went around in circles on the interstate. On and off, u turns galore. Jake was two seconds away from throwing the GPS out the window. His electric cigarette dangling out of his mouth as he let out a stream of curses, that if his mother was there she’d shove a bar of Ivory soap in his mouth.

  “Jake just pull over.” Nick grunted and Jake did just that. He couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t follow directions well, and when he did it always backfired in his face. He and Nick switched seats and, re-routed the GPS. A half hour later, Nick pulled, into the parking lot of the bar. Jake was never more happy to get out of a car before in his life. Instantly he lit up a cigarette, like it was his salvation.

  Sam squealed in delight, grabbing him, pulling him towards the bar. “I love karaoke!” She exclaimed excitedly.

  “You sing?” Nick asked, walking into the bar behind her.

  “Yeah, she’s great too.” Jake rolled his eyes, mocking her. “Sounds like a fog horn.”

  “Hey,” Sam nudged her brother defensively. “I’ve gotten better.”

  “I’m sorry, sis. You’re right.” He looked at Nick. “She’s got the voice of an angel.” He leaned over and whispered to him. “If they sell ear plugs, do yourself a favor, and invest in a pair.” Nick laughed and eyed Sam.

  The club was decently packed, with people letting loose and having a good time. Luke grabbed them a table close to the stage. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Alright, so who’s drinking, what?”

  “Uh oh,
he’s cutting loose.” Cara teased. “If we get him drunk enough, he may even sing.”

  Luke laughed, “I don’t know about that. Take a beautiful woman home? Now that’s a strong possibility.” He said as he glanced around at his prospects. Jake smiled as he watched his brother. He remembered this side of Luke. He hadn’t seen it in a really long time, since before Ava, actually, before Marie. When Luke had become serious with Marie, there were seldom nights that she wasn’t with them when they went out. The nights that they did manage to go out without her, Luke, was always the designated driver. Nobody did responsible, quite, like Luke. He never looked upset with his life or his responsibilities. Jake admired him for that.

  “You doing a shot, Nick?” Jake hollered over all the noise.

  “Sure.” He said as he next to him at Sam. “So when do I get to hear you sing?”

  “That depends.” She looked at him, challengingly. “Will you sing with me?”

  “You have a better chance of seeing Jesus Christ walk through the door, and request a duet with you.” Nick said and she shrugged her shoulders.

  “Your loss, Foti.”

  The shot girl came back to their table with ten shots of whiskey.

  “Shit’s going down tonight.” Jake exclaimed, passing around the shots. He let his fingertips linger when he handed one to Cara.

  “Nick, you really should’ve let him drive. He’s going to get buck wild now.” Cara said as Jake wiggled his eyebrows, agreeing.

  Luke raised his shot glass. “Alright, let’s do this. To a good night.”

  “To Luke, getting laid.” Jake added. They laughed and downed the shot. “Woo!” Jake said, slamming his empty glass down, already, reaching for the second. He raised the glass and waited for them to join him. “Come on guys!” They lifted the glasses. “To breaking down walls.” He said as he stared directly into Cara’s hazy eyes.

  None of them understood that one, but they drank to it anyway. Jake grabbed Cara’s hand.