Twisted(53)
“You think someone raped me and I don’t remember?” She shook her head again. “No. I’m sure that didn’t happen.”
“Jazz.” He gripped her chin and forced her to look at him. “Go check as best as you can, all right? For me. If something did happen, we have to know now so we can…” Jesus, he couldn’t do this. Couldn’t say this. “…take the appropriate steps.”
Her eyes filled. “What we? If someone hurt me, I’m all alone. I’ve always been alo—”
“No.” It took everything he possessed to keep his voice firm. She was shaking now, and he wasn’t far from it himself. “You aren’t alone anymore. I’m with you, for everything. I’ll wait for you right outside the door, and no matter what, we’ll face it together. Okay?”
She closed her eyes and nodded, then she slipped off his lap and walked down the hall with her head held high.
True to his word, he followed and waited until she came out of the bathroom a few minutes later. The relief on her face caused the knots in his stomach to untwist all at once. “Everything all right?” he asked, needing to hear her say it.
“Yes. Everything’s fine. No bruises, no…irritation or sign of anything anywhere. I’m fine.” She let out a long breath as his arms came around her, hard. “God, why do guys do that? Why would someone be that desperate for sex?” She gazed up at him, chin quivering. “You wouldn’t ever do that, would you?”
“Of course not. Never.”
“You promise?”
He set his chin on her hair and tried not to let the indignation through that she even needed to ask. She was understandably shook up. “I promise.”
“Okay.” She pressed her face into his throat and exhaled shakily. “Okay.”
“No, not okay. I get that you want to go to parties and all that, but I can’t risk this happening again. My parents would never forgive me,” he added hastily as she began to argue.
“You’re not responsible for me.”
“I damn well am. If you want to go to parties, fine. Awesome. But we’ll go together.”
She rubbed her eyes, smearing her mascara. The raccoon look only made her blue eyes more pronounced. “Why would you want to go with me? I’m a lame freshman. You’re a senior.”
“You’re not lame.” He pushed lightly at her shoulder. “Sometimes I even kinda like hanging out with you. Once a month or so.”
The corner of her mouth curved. “What about when you have a girlfriend? Won’t she get pissed you’re hauling around a spare tire?”
“Didn’t I already tell you I don’t have girlfriends? Besides, friends look out for each other. Do we have a deal?”
She studied him for a long minute then nodded reluctantly before gifting him with a gorgeous smile. His Jazz’s smile. “Deal.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Now
Jazz called Harper as soon as she hit the freeway. “I’m sorry. Hugely, fantastically sorry—”
“Jasmine Edwards, where the fuck have you been? Meet me at the Vicenza. I got a ride over to your spa shindig when my truck went missing.”
“I know I messed up, please don’t hate me.” Jazz flipped on her signal and switched lanes before bumping up her speed. It was handy that Harper had traveled to where they were staying. It was much closer than going all the way back to the Hollywood Hills. “Gray’s sorry too. We’ll totally make it up to you, I promise. And I swear, tomorrow I’ll get the truck back to you on time. No, I’ll get it back to you early. So early you won’t even have to think about—”
“Hold it.”
“Holding.”
“You and Gray. You wanting to borrow the truck again—not happening, by the way. That must mean that you got thoroughly plowed?”
Jazz couldn’t help the smile that stretched across her face. “Mmm-hmm.”
“Mmm-hmm?” Harper screeched. “I help you set all this up, I even loan you my spare hooker boots and that’s all you have to say? What in the actual hell?”
“You loaned me your spare hooker boots weeks ago, but yes, they were much appreciated.”
Jazz steered with her knees while she put on her lipstick in the rearview mirror. She’d left her purse in the glove compartment last night and man, when she’d checked herself out this morning, she’d looked completely fucked. Fucked squared. But there was no denying the old-fashioned sex glow in her cheeks and the love shine in her eyes, so she didn’t give a crap. Gray had seen her without makeup a zillion times, and he was the only one who mattered.