Misbehaving(37)

I turned and headed for the door, needing to get away from her. I couldn’t talk right now, or think. I had to clear my head. This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have brought her. She was getting under my skin in a way I wasn’t familiar with, and I didn’t feel safe. It was also unfair to her.

“Jason?” she asked. Her voice wavered nervously.

I closed my eyes and mentally cursed myself. I had to distance myself from her, but I couldn’t hurt her in the process. She was my date. She was in a strange city. Ignoring her completely was not an option, but I needed to remind her of exactly what we were. A fling. Just a summer fling.

I masked the panic on my face before turning to see her standing where I had left her. She was clutching her hands nervously in front of her. Damn. I couldn’t be an ass. I held out my hand. “Come on. Time to go party,” I said with a smile. She didn’t seem sure, but she placed her hand in mine and I focused on getting us the hell out of that hotel.

The limo was waiting for us, and Kane stood at the door.

I didn’t slide in close to Jess this time. Smelling her and feeling the warmth from her body was too hard to resist. I reached for a crystal tumbler and poured myself some bourbon before sitting back. Taking a long drink, letting it burn my throat and take the edge off, I remained quiet.

Jess didn’t say anything, and looking at her was out of the question. I needed more to drink first. The ride to the party wasn’t long, thankfully. When Kane parked in front of the building, I set my glass down and prepared myself for a very long night.

“Did I do something wrong?” Jess asked quietly.

I wanted to tell her that no, she had done nothing wrong. I had let this go too far. I hadn’t been careful. But instead I smiled and shook my head. “Of course not. We’re here,” I replied as Kane saved me by opening the door.





Chapter Thirteen





JESS

I had done something. I just couldn’t figure out what. Was he embarrassed by my dress? That was all I could think of. We had been talking about it when he had gone cold. I didn’t have designer clothing. However, this dress was one of my best pieces. I wasn’t talented at many things, but I was good with a sewing machine. When I had cried because I didn’t have a nice dress to wear to the homecoming dance my freshman year, my momma had gotten out the old sewing machine that her mother had left her. She had brought me several dresses of hers that she no longer wore and told me to stop feeling sorry for myself and figure it out.

It had taken me a week of staying up most of the night to figure out how to work the machine. The designing had come easy. I was good at it. Making it work was more difficult, but I had worn an original dress to that dance. Making my own dresses had become a hobby. I enjoyed it. Momma brought me costumes from the club that needed mending, and they paid me for it. I even started making new stuff for them too.

This dress was my favorite creation. If he was embarrassed by it, then he shouldn’t have invited me. I wasn’t one of these people, but I refused to feel like less than a person because my label wasn’t a designer one.

He was intent on not speaking to me, so I remained quiet. I’d asked him twice now if I had done something. He’d said no. I wasn’t asking again.

When we arrived at the double doors of what I assumed was a penthouse because it wasn’t a normal-size apartment, he rang the bell and the doors swung open almost immediately. The music was loud and the girl at the door looked like something out of a magazine.

“Jason!” she squealed, throwing her arms around him. “You’re here! We’ve missed you.”

I watched as he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. I would not care. Besides, she was probably the girlfriend of his friend who was throwing the party.

“Told you I’d be here,” he replied, stepping back and scanning the room. I was almost prepared for him not to introduce us. I wasn’t sure how I would respond if he didn’t. It wasn’t like I could leave. I had no money. I hadn’t brought my purse because it didn’t match this dress and wasn’t nice enough.

“Vanessa, this is Jess. Jess, this is Vanessa, a friend of mine from school,” he said, surprising me.

Vanessa’s appraising gaze made me nervous and angry at the same time.

“Guess it’s a good thing Jo isn’t here,” she replied, shooting Jason a look that made me cringe. “It’s nice to meet you, Jess.”

“You too,” I managed to choke out.

Jason placed his hand on my back and led me inside. That small touch helped ease my fear a little, but the moment we were inside he dropped his hand.