Jake Undone(10)

He had to be kidding me. I barely knew this guy, but he could read me like a book.

“What if I don’t want to participate in this bet?”

Jake got up and threw the bottle in the recycle bin. “Then, you’re on your own, chica.”

I felt like throwing up, not because I was about to fail math but because I knew I was about to agree to his terms. It scared the living hell out of me, but at the same time, I felt a bittersweet excitement like never before.

He stuck out his hand. “Deal?”

I hesitated then shook his hand as he squeezed mine tightly. “Deal.”

Gosh, if my body reacted like this to just the touch of his hand, I couldn’t imagine what it would do if he were to—

“You want to start tomorrow night?” he asked.

“Okay.”

“Give me your phone,” he said.

I looked at him strangely.

“Give me your phone,” he demanded again.

I didn’t ask why and just handed it to him. To be honest, with the way I have been reacting to this guy, I probably would have done anything he asked me to at this point.

“Stay here,” he said.

He walked away down the hall to his room with it, and that made me extremely nervous. I didn’t want him looking at my browsing history or text messages, even though there was really nothing incriminating.

I shouted. “What are you doing with my phone?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I heard him yell from his room.

“Can I have it back please?” Why was I listening to him and staying here in the kitchen like an idiot?

A few minutes later, he came back down the hall and handed it back to me. “I programmed my number in. So, if for some reason, you have to reach me for anything, you have it. I’ll also call you if I am running late from work tomorrow night before we study.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Don’t be scared. You’re gonna do fine.”

I nodded silently, wondering how I got myself into this.

Jake grabbed a banana, then his jacket and laptop from the couch. “I have to get back to work. I just came home because I forgot my laptop. I’ll catch you later.”

“Okay. Catch you later. Oh, wait…Jake?”

He turned around. “What’s up?”

“I never thanked you for my bat.”

He said nothing, just smiled, winked and stuck out his tongue in jest. For the first time, I noticed it was pierced too.

Damn.

When the door slammed shut, I closed my eyes and sighed.

Oh yeah, I was in deep doo doo…in more ways than one.

From the street, I could hear Jake in the distance. “Fuck you too, Mrs. Ballsworthy!”

I covered my mouth in laughter. My new home was a bizarre place, but there was nowhere else I wanted to be at that moment.

Then, I looked down at my phone and noticed he had changed the wallpaper on the screen. It was one of those “Keep Calm and Carry On” sayings that pretty much summed up my day, in honor of my encounter with our lovely neighbor:

Keep Calm and Go Fuck Yourself.





CHAPTER 5





Tuesday was my day off from classes, and I spent the day doing laundry and nervously anticipating my tutoring session with Jake that night. I was 22-years old, but the level of obsession I was experiencing made me feel like I was sixteen.

I still could not believe I had agreed to the terms of his bet. Truthfully, I knew I wasn’t going to get A’s on my tests no matter how hard I studied, so I could pretty much start mentally preparing myself for the worst. Even though what Jake proposed terrified me, I really didn’t ever consider telling him no.

He was like no other guy I had ever known. It wasn’t just that he looked different (in a very good way). He had a self-assurance and commanding way about him that was hard to resist, but that oddly, also made me feel safe.

Growing up in my small town, the guys I had met from the time I was a teenager up until I moved here were cookie cutter. I had yet to meet someone like Jake: dark and dangerous on the outside but smart and clever on the inside; someone who owned a room the second he stepped into it.

My last serious boyfriend, Spencer, could not have been more different from Jake. He was a clean-cut, church-going kind of guy, who my parents and everyone else just loved. He was a few years older and sold insurance for a living, but looking back, if you ask me, the only thing he was ever really good at selling was a false impression of himself. What my family didn’t realize was that behind that squeaky-clean exterior, was a man that constantly tried to berate me with critiques and put-downs. And ultimately, he cheated on me. I felt like I wasted three years and got nothing out of it, except a certificate of completion in Asshole 101. He was the only guy I ever slept with. What a waste.