In My Bed

by Jennifer LaCross

  My chest to tightens and my heart thuds. Don’t you want that?

  The thought surprises me and I try to ignore any answer I might come up with.

  Rachel coughs a little, drawing my attention to her. She turns back around to face us, a forced smile on her face and wide eyes. “So that’s your band?” she asks Nate.

  Her reaction seems a little strange until I turn to look at the stage and immediately notice the reason for her forced smile and wide eyes. Jake—her Jake—is one of the three guys setting up the drums. I quickly turn my head back to look at Rachel, my eyes wide.

  “Yep, that’s them,” Nate says, waving up at them.

  Rachel and I both turn our heads to look in the opposite direction of the stage. Rachel seems rattled, her hands shaking as she reaches for her beer. I can see she needs a minute, so I ask if she’ll come with me to the bathroom.

  “Uh, sure.” she says, looking up at me.

  “We’ll be back in a minute,” I tell Nate as she slides off her stool, but before she can follow, he wraps his arms around her and gives her a sweet kiss.

  She looks conflicted as I take her hand and start to guide her through the crowd. When we get to the bathroom, I ask, “You didn’t know they were in the same band?”

  “Neither did you.” She pouts and crosses her arms as she actually stomps one of her feet.

  I laugh. “You’re right,” I tell her, raising one of my eyebrows and lowering my voice before I add, “but I didn’t kiss both of them.”

  She groans, closing her eyes at my comment. I laugh a little harder. “That’s not helping, Jenna,” she complains.

  My smile softens and I hold up my hands so she knows I’m done. “I’m sorry, but you were the one who started playing the blame game first.”

  “It just never came up,” she breathes out, her arms falling to her sides.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, won’t it be awkward? They’re both into you.”

  “Nate’s into me. Jake’s just a friend, Jenna,” she explains as she shakes her head at my assessment.

  “Yeah, sure. You keep telling yourself that.” As much as she denies it, it’s obvious that Jake cares about her more than he tells her. She’s just choosing not to see it.

  “I will keep telling myself that because it’s the truth,” she grumbles. “We talked about it last weekend and I’ve moved on. I’m starting to like Nate, and the fact that they’re in the same band shouldn’t make a difference.”

  “I think it might.”

  “I think you’re wrong.”

  We’re more than halfway back to the table before Rachel stops me with a hand on my arm. “Wait, Jenna. Maybe Jake already knows I’m dating Nate?” she says, seeming both hopeful and disappointed at the same time.

  “Maybe, but we’re about to find out for sure.”

  Nate comes over to greet Rachel as I take a seat next to the guy with all the tattoos. They both sit down and Nate introduces her. The guy with the tattoos is Toby, Mr. Muscles is Brian, and then, of course, there’s Jake.

  Toby and Brian both greet her warmly, but Jake’s response is anything but cozy.

  “The guy you’re going out with tonight is Nate?” he growls.

  Whoa. If there was any question whether or not he knew about Rachel and Nate, he just answered that question right there.

  “You two already know each other?” Nate asks Rachel.

  “Uh, yeah. We work on the same floor at the dorm. I’ve told him a little bit about you,” she says, her voice a little wobbly from the nerves.

  “You just said you were dating someone. You didn’t tell me it was Nate,” Jake says, looking right at Rachel, his voice hard.

  This is jealousy in its rawest form. If Rachel didn’t know that Jake had feelings before, she should be able to finally see it now. There’s too much emotion here for them to just be friends.

  “Well, I didn’t know you knew him,” Rachel says, nearly spitting the words at him, all nervousness gone from her voice.

  That was not the reaction I was expecting from her. I was expecting something more like an epiphany—for her to see what I’m seeing—and instead I’m getting irritation.

  The silence stretches as Jake and Rachel stare daggers at each other.

  “Wait,” Nate says, looking over at Jake. “This is Rachel? I can’t believe I didn’t put that together.” He says Rachel’s name like it means something.

  I saw this coming when she decided to unintentionally string Nate along. I knew that there was no way this would go down without drama, and I hate that I was right. I’m definitely regretting that I didn’t push that conversation with her in the bathroom.

  Rachel looks at me with wide eyes. She needs help, and because she is my best friend, I do my best.

  “Hey,” I say, interrupting the tense quiet. “Don’t you guys go on soon?”

  Nate must have seen something during that interaction between Jake and Rachel because he asks to talk to her privately.

  As soon as they leave the table, Jake says, “I’m getting a drink,” and storms over to the bar.

  Toby, Brian, and I sit in silence for a moment until Toby starts laughing. “Shit! What the fuck was that?”

  Brian shakes his head and takes a sip of his water. “Seriously, Toby? That’s Rachel.”

  Toby stops laughing almost immediately and his eyes go wide. “Fuck.”

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  They startle like they forgot I was here.

  “And you are?” Toby asks with a sexy, bad boy smile on his face.

  “Jenna,” I respond, annoyed that they’re not already explaining themselves.

  “I’m To—”

  “Toby and Brian.” I point to them as I say their names. “I know who you both are. I was here for the awkward introductions. What I don’t know is why you said my best friend’s name like it’s some fucking code word. Explain,” I pause, putting a sweet smile on my face. “Please.”

  They both laugh, before Brian starts talking. “She works with Jake, right?”

  “Yeah, she just told you guys that.”

  “Well, we’ve heard a lot about her from Jake. We thought he was fucking with us when he said that they were friends. We all figured that he was actually having some sort of secret relationship with her. But he must have been telling the truth because she’s here with Nate,” Brian finishes.

  “But there’s obviously something there,” Toby adds. “Did you see that shit? Fucking awkward. And hilarious.”

  “Not hilarious when it messes with the band dynamic,” Brian says, shoving Toby as he continues to laugh.

  “Fuck that. Nate and Jake won’t let some girl come between them. Jake hasn’t gotten laid in over a month, not for lack of ladies available. He just needs to get some, and then he won’t be so tense,” Toby responds.

  Oh my god. They’re talking like I’m not even here. “So you guys think Jake has feelings for her?”

  “Definitely. But I think that …” Brian’s eyes focus on something near the bar. “Will’s signaling us to go on stage,” he says to Toby.

  They both get up off their stools and start to walk over to the stage, leaving that little revelation of Brian’s hanging in the air. I turn to look toward the hall where Nate and Rachel went to talk and I see Jake looking sad. A minute later, Nate comes walking out of the hall with a big smile on his face. He turns to look down the hall once more before he heads to the stage. Last out is Rachel, looking more confused than ever.

  “What the hell was with you and Jake?”

  “I have no idea,” Rachel says, shaking her head. “Why do you think he was so angry?”

  Seriously. She still can’t see it? “Jealous?”

  She shakes her head at my answer, and I nearly groan. “He made it pretty clear that we’re friends. He can’t be mad at me for dating someone else, even if it is his friend. It’s not like we were ever anything more
. At least to him,” she finishes softly, looking down at her hands.

  “You’re delusional!” I say, shaking my head at her.

  She goes to say something, but before she can respond, we hear Jake introduce the band.

  Why can’t she see it?

  Why can’t they both just admit it?

  Sometimes you have that connection with someone. The first time you look in their eyes there’s an awareness there, like you recognize each other. It’s hard to be near them without eventually going crazy. It’s like your heart skips a beat when …

  You know what? Never mind. She can do what she wants. I’m not going to make a judgment on something I’ve only observed from the outside

  Jake starts to play Bold as Love by John Mayer, and the band joins in. I take in the whole picture—four gorgeous guys, each with an instrument. The guys of Second Story look good, and they sound even better. I can tell why they draw such a huge crowd. My gaze remains on Nate as I watch him strike the drums so effortlessly, like it takes no thought. It seems so natural to him. When I look up at his face, I expect to see him smiling at me. I mean, if I’m paying this much attention to him, he should be giving the same attention back to me, right?

  Wrong.

  And when our eyes don’t connect, my heart misses the skipped beat it was expecting.

  Shut up, stupid heart.

  I follow Nate’s line of sight all the way to Rachel, but her eyes aren’t on Nate—they’re on Jake. I nudge her with my elbow, looking from her to Nate, who now looks a little crestfallen. He must have seen her looking at Jake.

  This is turning into a bigger mess than I thought. I see the way Nate and Jake look at Rachel like she’s someone special. And she is. But I’m concerned that she’s going to stay with Nate for the wrong reasons. I don’t have to worry for long because Jake makes his feelings for her known when he sings a song just for her—right to her.

  And I know she’s made her choice. Not that there was ever really a choice to be made. The connection that Rachel and Jake had from the moment they met was undeniable.

  ***

  Rachel leaves with Nate after the show, but I know it’s only because she’s going to break up with him. Apparently, Jake doesn’t realize that’s why she left with him because the expression on his face as he watches them leave is full of pain and anger.

  I’m about to go over to talk to him when Will jumps over the bar and heads straight for me. Putting one hand on my lower back and the other in my hair, he pulls my mouth to his, kissing me like he’s hungry for me and that kiss instantly distracts me.

  They’ll be fine…

  He has to know she wants to be with him, right?

  Will pulls away from the kiss and growls in my ear, “Watching you all night and not being able to touch you has me all kinds of worked up. I need you home and in my bed. Now.”

  I smile. “If you say so …”

  “Damn fucking right I say so. I’m parked out back.” He leads me by the hand through the back and out to his car.

  ***

  We’re lying next to each other on the bed when he reaches over to me, pulling me into his side. I slide one leg over him and snuggle into his chest, breathing in his scent which right now is sweat and sex.

  He clears his throat. “Jenna?”

  “Hmmm …”

  “I like what we have,” he says, pulling me closer.

  “Mm hmm,” I agree, riding this post sex wave of exhaustion. I don’t really feel like having a conversation right now and I hope he gets the hint.

  “It’s nice knowing there’s no pressure to be serious. That we can just have fun.”

  “Mm hmm.”

  “I just got out of a serious relationship and I’m way happier doing what we’re doing than I was when I was with her.”

  “Really?” I respond lazily. I don’t care about this conversation at all, but I don’t want to be rude to the guy. He just spent hours working hard to work me over.

  “Yeah … Well, maybe not happier, but it’s definitely different. There was a lot more talking and spending time just doing stuff.”

  Now he’s reminiscing. I know we’re not serious, but it’s seriously tacky to talk about another girl while you’re in bed with the one you just finished fucking.

  “Sure, yeah,” I say through a yawn.

  “It’s a different kind of connection.”

  Wanting to end this conversation I say, “Goodnight, Will.”

  “Goodnight, Jenna.”

  And I sleep the sleep of a satisfied woman.

  ***

  I walk out of Will’s apartment the next morning with his keys in my hand. I’m going to pick up coffee since he’s out at his place; I guess his roommate has a severe coffee addiction. When I get off the elevator, I see Nate walking across the parking lot. He looks sad, but when he sees me, his face brightens a bit.

  “Hey!” I say when we meet in the middle of the parking lot. “How did it go last night with Rachel?”

  “Eh, you know. I’m happy for her and Jake, but it sucks.” He shrugs.

  “Yeah.” I look down at the ground, not really sure what else to say.

  “I saw you watching me last night,” he murmurs near my ear. His closeness startles me, and when my head pops up, I’m looking right into his eyes. My heart skips as he takes another step closer to me, the fronts of our bodies nearly touching. “Did you like watching me play, Jenna?” he asks, his voice low and rough.

  My center clenches as my heart skips another beat. “What do you think?” I ask, my voice quiet but sure as I move towards him. I’m so close, our clothes are touching as the light breeze blows around us.

  We look into each other’s eyes, my heart racing, my body swaying into his, and then our bodies connect. It’s like we’re magnets, stuck together, fused and not wanting to separate. When he kisses me, it’s a deep passionate kiss that sends waves of pleasure through my body. Reaching down, he lifts me up so I wrap my legs around him. I can feel his erection hardening through his jeans. He carries me to the grass in front of the complex and lays me down, starting to rip my shirt over my head, when …

  I startle awake.

  It’s still Saturday night and I’m lying in bed next to Will as he turns over and mumbles in his sleep. My heart is racing and there’s no way I can get back to sleep now. Not after I just lived out a scene from a romance novel in my dream.

  Chapter 6

  Yet another bartender quit The Grove, so Will has been working crazy hours. It’s Friday morning and I haven’t seen him all week. I went from a week full of sex to a week full of absolutely nothing. Actually, I take that back. I’m getting laid like crazy since Nate has made an appearance almost every night in my dreams. I’m still not sure how I feel about that, but the dream sex is great. It’s just not what I want. I want real life penis and vagina type stuff, not fucking on a cloud—even though that was heavenly.

  I know Will is at home after his late shift last night, so I decide to head over to his place this morning. I’m going over there to either break things off since I’m not getting what I want from him or fuck him. I stop and grab coffee and donuts. I also have a bottle of maple syrup in my purse, but that’s not for our food. It’s for our bodies.

  What? I like to get a little kinky.

  When I walk into the hall of his apartment complex, instead of taking the elevator I head for the stairs. If I’m eating donuts for breakfast, I need to work off those extra calories. Plus, taking the stairs keeps my ass tight.

  When I get to his floor, I open the stairwell door and start to turn the corner. I stop when I see that his door is already open, and coming out of his doorway is a girl who’s not me. Will follows her out into the hall wearing just a pair of basketball shorts.

  I feel like I recognize this girl from …

  And before that thought can even fully form, she places both of her palms on his bare chest and leans up on her toes to kiss him. One of his hands slides into her hair and the other
goes to the small of her back, pulling her closer and deepening the kiss.

  My mind flashes between reality with Will and mystery ho and my memory of Simon and Jeanette, and it feels like a big slap in the face.

  I ease back around the corner a bit, peeking around just enough so I can see what is going on. He whispers something in her ear and she giggles before kissing him one last time and heading the other way down the hall to the elevator. He closes the door behind her, and my anger flares.

  This is why I don’t trust men. There’s a fifty-fifty chance that you get a good one, and I always seem to attract or pick one from the wrong half. It’s also why I won’t let myself develop feelings for a guy. If this thing with Will were anything more than it was, I’d be hurting right now. I’d made it easy, and I’m still getting fucked over. I had no expectations and the only stipulation was that if he wanted to get with someone else, he needed to tell me—no hard feelings.

  I head down the hall to his apartment, trying to school my expression so he doesn’t see my anger. I plan on teaching this asshole a lesson.

  When I get to Will’s door, I take a deep breath and put a smile on my face before I knock. A moment later, Will answers the door looking surprised to see me. I smile brighter, not letting on that I know what he just did.

  “Jenna?” he says, his voice catching a bit as he shows his nerves. He sounds fucking guilty.

  “Hey, Will! Just thought I’d stop by with some breakfast,” I say, holding up the box of donuts before leaning in to kiss his cheek. I walk past him into his apartment. “Is your roommate home?” He shakes his head no. “Perfect. I brought extra for him if he was here, but I’d much rather have time alone.”

  I look over my shoulder with a seductive smile on my face. Will still has that nervous and guilty expression on his face. This guy has to be the worst cheater and liar in the world. He can’t put on a poker face to save his life.