“Come on, I’m in a hurry!” I shout, waiting impatiently for her to get into the freaking truck. Okay, it’s harsh, but I’m not in the being-nice mood at this moment, getting out of bed … or off the sofa … on the wrong foot and all.
And I’m anxious about what Mel is going to think. I wish I could wipe this whole thing under the rug … but first, we made a deal not to hide any secrets from each other. And secondly, this has something to do with D – we can’t just ignore it.
If I thought I was thinking about Mel a lot before, it’s nothing compared to how much she’s in my mind these days. She fully controls me – from my mind to my dick – and although it’s scary for a guy like me … I’m slowly starting to adjust.
“Where are we going?” Shit, I totally forgot about the female sitting in the front seat of my truck. She stares at me as if waiting for me to say something. I take a deep breath. I suppose it’s not her fault, she was drugged.
“Can you remember what Enrique looked like?” I ask hopefully.
“He was handsome,” she says now staring out the window. “Dark hair, dark eyes.” She stays silent for a bit. “And he had a big friend. With tattoos.” That’s something new.
“What about the car? Can you remember what make it was?”
“It was white.” Not very helpful. “I don’t know cars. Where are you taking me?”
I drive through the gate and wave at Anton. He waves back with a big smile.
“I want you to meet Enrique.” I pull into the parking of Logan’s house.
“No, he drugged me … I don’t …” But before she can finish her sentence she scrambles out of the truck and starts running away. I run after her and grab her arm. She tries to fight me off and I turn her arm to the back, holding her against me to calm her down.
“Hey, dude,” I turn my head towards the voice, seeing my best friend walking towards me with a huge smile. “Are we interrupting something?”
My blood runs cold because a few steps behind him are Melaena and Kiara.
The latter looks at me as if the cat dragged me from the dumpster, while Mel stares at the girl in my arms, the expression on her sudden bleak face unreadable, but I can clearly see the sadness in her huge accusing eyes.
Fuck!
I realize exactly what this looks like – a repeat of the past. But it’s not. I quickly let go of my intimate-looking hold on the girl as if I got scorched … and figuratively that might just be true.
I look up into the sky, cursing fate and the good-for-nothing shitface that did this to me in the first place.
“Glad to see you found your balls again. Who’s the babe?” Logan asks when he reaches me, pointing to the brunette. Mel whispers something in Kiara’s ear.
I’m not missing the little skull stud in her belly button, nor the skin peeping through the holes of some wide-sleeved knitted white top she’s wearing over a white boob tube.
“Not a clue.” I have to choose my words carefully right now.
“So you don’t even know her name?”
I stare at the girl standing next to me and frown. Hell, I really didn’t even think to ask her name.
“Jessie,” the girl says.
Before I can get a word in, Logan busts my demise even further.
“You at least had a good time, Jessie?” Mel looks away and I see her swallow. “My friend is pretty good at what he does.” Okay, this is getting out of hand fast. I open my mouth to explain, but Enrique walks up to us.
“Is this the babe?” he asks looking at the girl. He doesn’t give me time to answer. “Some people came to the club this morning. Looking for a missing girl. Guess your house guest must be her.” The look on Mel and Kiara’s faces tells me exactly how disgusted they both are with me. They’re not even trying to hide it. Not even a little.
And on top of that Mel is clearly struggling to keep in her tears.
“We better go or else you’re gonna miss that race,” Logan suggests.
“Eh, Logan,” Kiara speaks, “Mind if I swap places with you? I have a paper due on the finances and cost of the racing industry. I need to ask Damion some questions.”
“Ug,” Logan shrugs, “Sure. We’ll see you at the track.” Kiara hugs Mel and gets into the back of my truck. Jessie reluctantly get into the front.
As soon as we drive through the gate she hits the back of my head. Hard.
“Okay, asshole, what the fuck are you trying to do?” I’m guessing there is no financial paper due anytime soon.
“It’s not what it looks like … I promise.” I need to save some grace here.
“Well, it looks like you’ve done to her what you’ve done before,” she hisses. “So, if not that please explain to me why you were hugging this brunette right in front of everyone?”
“I was not hugging …” I go quiet for a beat when I notice her angry face in the rearview mirror. “I was holding her,” I say flatly.
“There’s a difference?” She seems to get more than a little annoyed. “Between hugging and holding?”
“Yes, hugging is affectionate. Holding is like kissing your grandma.” Her annoyance kicks up a notch.
“I don’t have a fucking grandma.”
“I was trying to calm her down. She was scared.”
“Scared of what?” Kiara bitches. “The big bad wolf?” I open my mouth but the girl speaks first, her voice rather thin.
“Are you his girlfriend or something?” she asks.
“Or something,” Kiara chirps, the words dripping with sarcastic poison.
“Well, I can assure you that nothing happened. Even though I was naked, he didn’t even try a thing.” Kiara pouts while she listens to the girl. “He’s either gay, or he’s a pretty decent guy.”
“Or he’s in love,” I mumble under my breath, and now I have two females staring at me as if I’m from another world.
“Gmf,” Kiara snorts. “You still have to prove that to me.” I roll my eyes. Why are girls always so uptight and distrustful? Maybe it’s because their balls are all squashed up in their bodies.