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“Give me the fucking phone, Jamie!” he shouts in rage and I jump at the violence in his voice. He loses all sense of control when it comes to Nathan.
“Don’t be like this,” I beg in disbelief. “I need you to trust me.”
He huffs and runs a hand in his hair, slightly pulling at it. I can see him grinding his teeth and I’ve come to know the bad habit he gets when he’s stressed.
“I trust you,” he finally says. “But I sure as fuck don’t trust him. Promise me you’ll tell me if he gets out of line.”
Hasn’t Nathan been out of line from the beginning? The whole time he lied to me about his identity? All the times he let me open myself to him while feeding me lies in return? The whole thing still makes my chest tighten but I can’t admit this to anyone, especially not Jake.
“I will,” I conclude as I open the door. Jake grabs my wrist and pulls me back close to him.
“I think you’re forgetting something,” he growls as he pushes his lips onto mine.
My phone beeps again and he freezes mid-kiss. “Just let me see,” he insists in a huff. He hovers his lips over mine. “Please, Jamie.”
I pull away and grab my phone from my pocket. I overlook the countless texts, scrolling through my locked screen to check there’s nothing I wouldn’t want him to see.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” I rasp, my throat suddenly dry at the sight of the messages.
One of them makes my heart skip.
Nathan: We’re in love with each other, don’t let this ruin us. I’m begging you.
“Jamie?” Jake’s voice makes me jump.
“I–” I don’t know what to say or what to think.
I can’t deny what I’m feeling at seeing this text. It’s not love, but I can’t just flush Nathan out of my system when he’s been in my veins for the last few months. While Jake was occupying my every thought, Nathan was keeping me safe and worshipping me.
I scroll to another text where he apologizes for losing his control on Rose and I struggle to swallow the lump in my throat. It reminds me of all the reasons I can’t feel anything for him anymore. It’s like a cold shower and hatred for him overtakes anything else.
Jake’s spellbinding scent becomes more intense before I realize I’ve zoned out again and he’s looking at my screen. He’s reading the text and when he looks up his eyes are burning with an animosity I’ve never seen before. He sits back in his seat and grips the steering wheel so hard it’s bound to break.
“Did he hit her?” he asks through gritted teeth. He’s not even looking at me. Just looking ahead at the road in front of us. He’s calm. Too calm to be genuine.
“What did she say to you?” For some reason, I know Rose wouldn’t want me to repeat anything that happened without her prior approval and I don’t want to be on her wrong side. She should be able to trust me.
“It doesn’t fucking matter!” he explodes as he brings a hard fist on the steering wheel. He stops, takes a deep breath, and clearly tries to calm himself. “Look, Jamie, it doesn’t matter what Rose says because half of what comes out of her mouth is a fucking lie anyway. She’s so fucking used to the abuse she doesn’t realize when it smacks her across the face. Do you understand that?”
I don’t think either of the twins will ever tell me everything that truly happened at Bianco’s but seeing him so worried over her is making it hard to keep what Nathan did to myself.
“So you need to tell me. Did he hit her?” He turns to face me and grabs both my hands gently. “It’s important. I need to know.”
I nod, incapable of explaining in detail the moment he punched her in the stomach for standing up to him. He nods back, clearly thankful for my honesty.
“Thank you,” he says as he cups both my cheeks. He kisses my lips one last time and turns on the car. “So, am I allowed to drive you to school tomorrow or is that on the no-no list?”
I chuckle as I open the door. “No-no. But we can hang out after school.”
“And in empty classrooms, empty locker rooms, my car at lunch…”
“You’re incorrigible,” I laugh as I close the door. He winks at me and revs the engine before leaving at a speed that’s certainly not allowed in the neighborhood.
I find it strange that he suddenly dropped the Rose and Nathan topic and I’m scared his sudden disinterest was only pretend. All I can do is hope he’s not about to do something incredibly stupid.
