“Yeah,” he said. “It did. I missed you.”
I smiled. “I missed you, too.”
“Frankie?”
“Hmm.”
“You can talk to me about anything, okay?”
“Right back atcha.”
“Do you want me to talk to you about the points thing?” The directness in the question didn’t shy away from what Ian had told me.
“You mean, besides was that the reason you punched him?”
“Yes,” he answered. “To both. Yes, it was why I punched him. Yes, if you want to ask me anything. I won’t lie about it.”
Settling my chin on my arm folded across his chest, I stared up at him, and he met my gaze evenly. “I only have one question.”
“Okay, hit me.” No hesitation, not even a wince.
“I’d really rather not, I actually think I could hurt you at the moment.”
He chuckled and wrapped his hand on my nape before dragging me in for a kiss. “You remain, adorably, the worst.”
I snorted and grinned.
“Now ask your question.”
“Are the points why you and Maria broke up?”
He sighed. “Yes and no.”
“Well, that just cleared it right up for me.” I crossed my eyes, but he massaged the back of my neck, and I let out a little sigh. That felt really good.
“Yes,” he continued. “Miss Impatience, she found out about the points and was well and truly humiliated.” He didn’t sound proud of the fact. “Particularly when she assumed that the points were the only reason I was dating her.”
“But they weren’t?”
“No. They were part of it, I won’t lie. But at one point, I thought she was cool. Easy enough to be around. When she found out about the points, we fought. Well…she fought. I just didn’t care enough to explain it.”
“Or apologize?” It was a guess.
He nodded slowly.
“She was—pretty pissed.”
“I can imagine,” I said with a sigh.
“Look, baby girl. I’m not a perfect guy, and to be perfectly frank, I was a jackass to her. She didn’t deserve it. The day I went to see her about the photos Sharon put up, I told her I was sorry.”
I studied him. “She didn’t believe you.”
“No,” he admitted. “She was pretty sure I was only apologizing because I wanted her help.”
“Which you were.”
He grimaced. “Yes.”
As hard and as ugly as it was, he didn’t hesitate to own any of it.
“You said you had stuff on them.” Apparently I had two questions.
“I did.”
“Photos or points?”
“Both.”
I groaned.
“Please don’t hate me,” Jake asked in a soft voice, and I pressed my face to his throat.
“I don’t hate you,” I promised him. Was I disappointed? Yeah. Did I feel bad for the girls in question? Hell yes. But…no, no buts. I couldn’t excuse it.
“But you’re sad now.”
“It’s…it was a terrible thing, Jake.” Lifting my head, I started to sit up, but he kept me caged close. “Tell me you see that.”
“It was bad she found out about it. That—shouldn’t have happened.”
“It was bad that you guys did it. Just finding out about it doesn’t make something bad.”
“I disagree.”
Raising my brows, I tugged to sit up, and he let me this time. I didn’t go far, and I didn’t drag the sheet up. Which might have been a mistake, since he fixed his gaze on my breasts until I cleared my throat.
The sheepish grin he wore was equal parts exasperating and cute. Intent on not getting distracted, I had to ask, “Why do you disagree?”
“Because our game was for us. The points, the numbers—it was to entertain us. It didn’t inform how we treated them or even why were dating them.” He must have seen the contradiction to his earlier statement. “Mostly. Look. I get that it hurt her feelings and humiliated her. Another reason she shouldn’t have known, another reason we didn’t advertise it. If she never found out, then it wouldn’t have hurt her.”
Folding my arms, I studied him. “If you had never found out about Mathieu and I kept seeing him behind your backs and somehow managed to keep it a secret, would that have been fine as long as you didn’t know?”
Straddling his waist, I was very aware of his cock resting between my legs. Even half-hard, it teased at my labia, but I tried not to focus on it. For his part, Jake didn’t stir. He seemed very focused on me and listening.
His expression hardened at the question, and his eyes chilled. “Goddammit, Frankie.”
He lifted an arm to cover his eyes and then lifted it almost immediately. Guilt swamped me.
“Goddammit,” he said again. “I’d have hated that.”
“Sorry,” I told him. “I’ve found that the truth hurts a lot more than I think it should these days.”
Setting his hands on my hips, he surged up so we were breast to chest. “Just…I need you to be all right with me. To not hate me for it. I’ll…I’ll find a way to apologize to her and mean it.”
“Okay.”
Surprise flickered in his gaze. “That’s it? Just okay?”
“Like I said, you didn’t do it to me. As much as I wish you hadn’t done it to anyone, I’m not the one who has to forgive you. I will say if it ever happens again, I can’t be friends with you.” I couldn’t. This lapse? This lapse I would forgive from my side because we all screwed up.
“Never,” he promised with a kiss. “Ever.” Another kiss. “Again.” Kiss. “I promise.” Kiss. “I mean it.” Kiss.
I laughed a little, then kissed him gently before he wrapped me up in a tight hug and I closed my eyes. “Thank you for being honest with me.”
“Not easy,” he whispered. “I mean, it used to always be easy. I could tell you anything and now…now I never want you to disappear on me again. I’m terrified of doing the one thing you can’t take anymore, and you vanish.”
“I promised to not ghost you again,” I reminded him. “That if something was wrong, I would talk to you.” His bunched shoulders relaxed. “But I need that same promise from you. If anything…Ian couldn’t tell me why he was so unhappy, and I feel like I let him down somewhere. That’s…that’s why I broke up with him.”
“You broke up with him because you feel like you let him down?” Jake pulled back some and cupped my face as we locked gazes.
“Because of the indecision and the confusion. It was hurting him and you two…”
“We’ll fix this,” he promised.
“Jake, you can’t fix this. I adore you for wanting to, but you can’t. I needed to put me first, and as selfish as I felt about wanting to date all of you—I don’t know how I’m going back to being just friends with him, but I have to try. He’s still Ian. I’ll get there, I just might need some time.”
“Baby girl, you have all the time you need,” Jake said, his eyes solemn and intense. “Except now.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“I really have to pee,” he admitted, and I burst out laughing. Tumbling sideways off of him, I grinned as he ran his hand up my thigh. “You’re also adorably the best, you know that, right?”
“I think what you mean is goofy.”
“Nope,” he said, then slapped a hand against my ass. The jolt went all the way through my system. “I mean adorably the best and the worst in every perfect way.”
The compliment might have been silly, but the intensity in his eyes and the liquid heat simmering in his voice seemed to strip me bare and wrap around me like a hug. In the same breath, the connection fulfilled something I craved and confused me. The weight of it blanketed me, and I didn’t know what to do with that emotion.
Somehow, I landed on, “You’re a weirdo.”
Shoving off the bed, he gave my ass another slap, and this time, I couldn’t mistake the heat for anything other than want. I shivered as he gr
inned at me, split lip and all. “That, too.”
As much as I’d have liked to shrug off the day, we had school. Coop showed up by the time we were getting breakfast, and my cereal was on hold while I got my good morning kiss. Then he turned me around, breathless, and Jake kissed me again. I was pretty sure they were intent on melting my brain before the day got started. Only, Coop never backed off. Jake kissed me while my back was pressed against Coop’s chest, releasing me only to spin me back to Coop, and then holy hell.
Burning up and panting when Coop lifted his head, I forgot what I’d been doing before this started. “You know,” Coop told me. “That just gets hotter every time we do it.”
Jake wrapped his arms around me from the back, and I leaned into him as Coop drew a finger down my cheek.
“I wish it was tomorrow,” he admitted.
“For a birthday kiss?” I asked.
He grinned. “Well, that too. But I was thinking the no school part and heading up to Six Flags for a day away from everything. Just us being us.”
My smile didn’t falter, but in the craziness of all of it, I’d forgotten about that part of the plan. A whole day of us. Which meant Ian, too.
I could handle it. I firmed my smile. It was Coop’s birthday. I would handle anything to make it a good day.
He tilted his head when I gave him a gentle push and wiggled out from between them. I still had to finish my breakfast. The fact that the two of them shared a long look wasn’t lost on me, but Jake and I had covered a lot of uncomfortable territory that morning. I’d skip the rest.
Besides, I was getting low on groceries. I needed to hit a store this week. After making sure the cats had water and dry food, we locked up and headed out. I rode with Jake, but Coop claimed bringing me home after school.
At school, Jake was the one pulling all the looks when we came in. Ian was at the table with Arch and the coffee. I settled in the chair next to Archie while Jake dragged out the chair next to me.
The conversation was awkward. Made more so by the number of eyes pointed in our direction. When Ian asked me about calculus, I was proud of my answer. I kept it pretty straightforward and neutral, and even offered him my notes, but I just slid them across the table. I didn’t hand them off.
Maybe it was the bruising on his face, or maybe he just felt like crap in general, but every time our gazes clashed, I swore he looked in pain.
Rachel said she and her friend had never been able to go back. There had to be a way to make it work. Thankfully, we had to split up for class.
The reprieve was brief.
Archie didn’t say much as we walked to calculus, distracted by some project he was now behind on. I told him to go on, I could make it on my own. Of course, he didn’t take me up on the offer.
I kind of figured.
Math class promised to be a blast, but Ian just gave me a small smile when I took the same seat I’d taken since the beginning of the year—the one right next to him.
“Hey,” I said, smile firmly in place.
“Hey.” He tried. I’ll give him that. He did try to smile, but if anything, his face looked worse today than it had yesterday. Guilt stabbed at me again.
“You doing okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Just tired.”
I nodded. The silence stretched out. “Ready for Friday?”
“Yep.”
I’d never been so grateful for a pop quiz in my life as when the teacher passed out those calculus tests.
Never.
After class was over, he fell into step with me. “Frankie…”
I glanced at him, but he stared down the hall and went mute. Following his gaze, it wasn’t hard to miss what captured his attention. Sharon had her phone up and pointed right at us.
Fuck. That.
Ian and I were friends? Fine. This was what I did for my friends.
“Excuse me,” I said, and diverted away to walk straight down the hall at her. No way she wasn’t pointing that camera at us, because she jerked her head up at my approach.
Her eyes narrowed, and I smiled.
“I’m ready for my close-up,” I told her, and then lifted my middle finger. “Just in case you wanted a real message for your next little puff piece.”
A scattering of giggles went up around us, and Sharon lowered her phone the rest of the way. “You really think you’re funny.”
“Oh, honey, I’m not the one obsessed by me and every step I take.”
A little woo went up around us, and red flushed Sharon’s cheeks. “You know, sooner or later, they’re going to figure out you aren’t worth it.”
“Maybe,” I agreed. “If that day comes, I guess I’ll look to you for all your experience with it and what I really shouldn’t do after.”
Dead silence filled the air, and tears welled up in Sharon’s eyes, but the hate in them was hard to miss.
Yeah. It was a lot like kicking a puppy. If it were a vicious little bitch who’d bitten me a few times already.
“Let me know if you need any more clips,” I told her with a little wave, and pivoted to head back to where Ian stood just a few steps behind me. He stared at me, a little wide-eyed, then at Sharon, then back to me. “French is this way,” I told him and tapped his biceps as I passed him.
A step before the door to French, Ian caught my arm. “Frankie?”
“Yes?”
“That was pretty kickass.” The warmth in his voice sent a shiver all the way up my spine. Bad Frankie. Just friends. Keep it just friends.
I grinned. “Well, a friend told me that I used to do that, and maybe I needed to be doing it a little more. See you later.”
In the classroom, I settled into the chair, heart racing and palms sweating. I barely heard a word of the French, and thankfully, it was all stuff we’d studied before.
Did you know there was a tense in French that actually makes everyone groan in despair?
Yep, Madame reminded us that began the following week. Subjunctive tenses, here we come.
Ugh.
By lit, I’d chilled out some. Some.
Then the texts came in.
Jake and Ian had to meet with the principal and the coach at lunch.
My stomach bottomed out.
Archie and Coop still insisted we go out anyway. We needed to eat, they reasoned, and there was nothing to do at school but sit and pace and worry.
They spent the whole lunch hour talking about Coop’s birthday, and try as I much as I wanted, I couldn’t generate the enthusiasm. Not when Archie wanted to give me a high five after they heard about Sharon, or when Coop asked me to tell him what I wanted to do for his birthday in French.
Faking it all the way, I fought to keep it upbeat. But I checked my phone a dozen times. So did they.
The only topic that didn’t come up was me breaking up with Ian. Since Jake knew and he said they’d all talked, I assumed they knew, too.
If they didn’t bring it up, I didn’t want to talk about it.
At school, Archie caught my arm as Coop headed off to class.
“You all right?”
“I’m great,” I told him, and he stared at me steadily. Had I turned transparent at some point? I used to be able to do this without them noticing.
Jake saw through it sometimes. Well, so did Coop.
Fine, they all did. But they didn’t always call me on it.
“I know you’re worried about Jake and Bubba. Whatever it turns out to be, we’ll figure it out, okay?”
I nodded.
“And, Frankie?”
“Do you want to come over tonight?” I asked abruptly. “I know Jake usually comes over on Wednesdays, but…maybe you want to? Or I could go over there?”
He blinked. “Whatever you want, babe. Seriously.”
“I’d like to…I’ll talk to Jake, but…we haven’t really had any us time, and tomorrow is everyone.” And I really had to get myself in a place where I could deal with Ian being there.
“No problem,” he m
urmured, slinging an arm around my shoulder. “Let me know, and we’ll make it happen, okay?”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
“Never have to thank me.”
Jake didn’t make it to Study Hall. There was no word from them. Most of my distractions didn’t work, so I settled for texting back and forth with Archie and Coop.
Both of whom scolded me for not studying.
I checked in with Rachel too, and thanked her for listening the night before.
She sent me back a thumbs up and then a link to an Instagram post.
It showed me flipping off Sharon and Sharon’s shocked face with the word schooled in the caption.
That got all the heart eyes from Rachel, and I giggled.
It helped.
When Jake arrived at AP Euro, I damn near said to hell with our lack of PDA rule and hugged him. G gave him a long look, then asked how he was feeling.
“I’m good, Mr. G. Real good. Looks way worse than it is.”
“Uh huh. You two fine to handle studying on your own? I have tests to go grade.”
We agreed readily, and he left us to it. As soon as he was out of the room, I twisted to face him. “What happened?”
“We met with Coach and the principal. We’re not suspended, but there are no more strikes. If I get in another fight, I’m suspended for a week. He didn’t say expelled, but you could hear him thinking it loud.”
I winced.
“Bubba’s in the same boat—only now, he’s also riding the bench with me.”
Oh shit.
“Yeah,” Jake said with a shrug. “He also has to see Diane…and that’s why I wasn’t in study hall. They took us straight from lunch to her office, where he and I have to sit down and talk about our feelings at least once a week for the next couple of weeks, so we can learn to manage our disagreements more positively.”
I gagged, and Jake laughed.
“It wasn’t so bad.”
“No?”
He shook his head. “Bubba and I are…well, we’re friends, and we have been for a long time.”
“I know that.”
“So, probably a good idea if we learn to get a grip on some things. Not be so competitive.” He locked gazes with me. “Put our jealousy and envy in perspective.”
Keys and Kisses: Untouchable Book Three Page 18
