“Crunching supermodel ass? Seriously? That’s more cliché than my work uniform.”
“Nothing is more cliché than your work uniform! Anyway, I was joking. What about you? What have you been up to?”
“The tabloids said you were engaged to one girl.” I shifted the conversation back to him.
“They’re so full of it. I’ve never been engaged. If I had, I would’ve gotten in touch with you regardless of whether you wanted to see me or not.” I knew he was about to bring up the fact that I hadn’t wanted to see him. I didn’t try to stop him. “Why did you cut me off? What did I do?”
I was a little confused. I thought he would want to talk about it, tell me how immature it was, but not ask why. He knew why I hadn’t wanted to see him in the past five years. He knew what he’d done, but he seemed to be talking about before that. “You mean seven years ago?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s not like I decided one day that I didn’t want to talk to you anymore. It wasn’t like that.”
“What was it like then? I really want to know.”
“I don’t know, Jake. Your career blew up, and I was really proud of you, but when you didn’t return my calls, I gave up pretty easily. You had a new life, and I’d just gotten married. I guess we just drifted apart. It happens.”
“I did return your calls! I got the messages about a week after, but when I called you back, your number was disconnected.”
“No, it wasn’t. Listen, it’s fine. I get it. You became super successful overnight. I’m not mad.”
“No, really, I returned your calls, Katie.”
“Okay, well, if you couldn’t get in touch with me, why not go through your mom?”
“I tried that too. She told me that I should respect the fact that maybe your husband may not want us to be so friendly.”
“Why? Why would she say that?”
“She said she ran into George at the grocery store, and he admitted he was uncomfortable with our friendship. He told her that the two of you agreed that you and I wouldn’t talk anymore, but never in a million years would I have thought that you would agree to stop talking to me until you did.”
“I never said that! George is a liar!” I slammed my fists on the table. He had lied so much that I wasn’t surprised that he’d sabotaged my relationship with Jake. It just made me angry with him all over again. It was just one more thing he’d taken from me, a thing I held very dear to my heart, my friendship with Jake.
The thought of all of George’s betrayals and lies, not to mention the money laundering scheme that had him on the run, infuriated me. I got up, dropping a couple of dollars on the table and headed for the door.
Jake scrambled to sign and leave his cup as promised before jogging after me. “Katie! Wait up!” Even though I wanted to run home and crawl under the covers, I stopped. “What happened, Katiebug?” He brushed stray strands of hair from my face. “You can tell me anything.”
I wanted to fall into him, just ugly cry, but I resisted. “You heard about it all already. What more can I say?”
“I didn’t hear it from you.”
“You heard that I was aiding and abetting a fugitive. I imagine that has something to do with why you haven’t come around since you knew George was long gone.”
“Are you serious? I didn’t come around because you told my mom you didn’t want to see me!”
“You think I know where he is, don’t you? You think I knew what he was doing the whole time, right? You can admit it. All my other friends have!”
I turned to run away, but he grabbed my arm and looked me in the eye. “I would never, ever believe that. Ever. Do you understand me? I am not like everybody else. I know you, the real you, and you know it,” he said sternly.
“Then why weren’t you there for me?” I felt the tears threatening and didn’t know if I could hold them back any longer. “Why did you abandon me?”
“I didn’t—”
“My mom died, Jake! She died, and you were too busy to comfort me! What kind of friend does that make you?” I held back the tears, refusing to lose control.
“I didn’t even get word until—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses! I don’t care!”
“You do care, Katie. I can see you do. Please, let me explain.”
“No, there’s no explanation for not being there. You were my best friend!”
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He pulled me into a hug. I relished the comfort of his arms around me, but pulled back because I didn’t want to cry, and I could feel how easy it would’ve been for me to latch onto him again.
“It was nice seeing you again, Jake. I’m going home. I suggest you do the same.” I walked back toward the house. He followed behind me. “Now what?”
“Let’s do something fun this weekend.”
“Jake, I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can get close –I mean I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to…” He didn’t say anything.
I rubbed my forehead, trying to figure out how to say what I was thinking without being mean. “I don’t mean to be ugly, but we don’t know each other anymore.”
“I’m the same person I’ve always been.”
“Well, I’m not,” I interjected. “I’ve changed. Things have changed. You can’t just expect to pick up where we left off seven years ago.”
“Why not? You’re the best friend I’ve ever had,” he said with an innocence I recognized as all Jake. “Listen, I’m in town all week. Let’s just hang out. We could get to know each other again. Give me a chance.”
“I don’t know if I can look at you the same,” I blurted. The truth was I didn’t think he would look at me the same if he knew the new me, and I would rather not go through that.
His blue eyes bore into mine. He gave a slight nod. “I understand.” He teetered in thought for a second, and I thought he would walk to his car, but instead, he came toward me, pulling me into a strong hug. “Katie, I wish things could have been different. If I could change one thing…” He trailed off, holding me as if he thought he would never see me again. He released me, kissed my forehead, and walked away.
Something I couldn’t explain stirred inside me at the thought of not seeing him again for another seven years, if ever. “Wait,” I yelled. He turned around fast, looking hopeful. “I guess it couldn’t hurt for us to hang out for a little while.” I shrugged.
One side of his mouth tipped up. “You think too much.” He slid his arm around my shoulders, casually pulling me toward the house. “As I was saying, before you tried to break my spirit, let’s do something fun this weekend.”
“Break your spirit? Gah, drama king much?”
“Fun. This weekend,” he reiterated.
“I can’t.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “I’ve got stuff to do.”
“Such as? I know you don’t have work because Looney Lauren told me you don’t work weekends.”
“Clean house.”
“Let’s do it. We’ll work faster together.”
“You’re going to clean my house?” I laughed.
“No…I’m going to help you clean your house, and then we do something fun.”
“I’d love to see that!”
“I can clean!”
“Since when?”
“Well, I’m a fast learner. But then we do something fun. Deal?”
“Yeah, if we get the house clean, and I mean sparkling”—my house hadn’t sparkled since ever—“then we’ll do something fun.”
“Awesome. Then you promise to let me take you out? No switcheroos with crazy girl. Just you and me, hanging out. Deal?”
“Deal,” I told him with a smirk. I reasoned that I wasn’t getting attached to Jake. Rather, I could use a little more fun in my life. Fun is good.
I put Jake on bathrooms because that was the hardest part. He whined but did it anyway. I knew he’d half-ass it, but I didn’t care. I ran the vacuum, wiped down the kitchen, and cleaned the littl
e fingerprints off of the windows.
I put the radio on a 90s pop music channel. The music was thumping through the house but when “California Love” came on, I smiled from ear to ear. Jake and I had worn this cassette tape out when he got his license.
He ran out, holding my hairbrush like a microphone right when Dr. Dre’s part started. The routine came back to me naturally. We rapped the whole Tupac song just like we had when we were teenagers.
“Was that our fun thing for the day? Because that was awesome!” I yelled over the music.
“I don’t even remember when I’ve had so much fun.” He laughed. “But I think we can do better.”
“Then get your ass back to work!”
We hardly got anything else accomplished because, one song after another, we stopped cleaning to goof off. At nine thirty, I gave up.
“So something fun now?” he asked.
“I’m not sure how much more fun I can handle.” I fell back on the rocking chair.
“Come on, you promised.”
“Okay, let me jump in the shower. Then we can do whatever you want.”
“Really? Whatever I want?” He flashed a grin.
“Within reason.”
“Oh come on! You were just looking like yourself again! Say we can do whatever I want…”
“No.”
He stalked toward me, holding out his hands. “Say it!”
I laughed anxiously, knowing what he was about to do. “No!”
“Tickle Monster!” He pounced, knocking us both onto the floor. He tickled me until I almost peed myself before I relented. He’d always done that to get his way when we were kids. He was pulling out all his old tricks.
“Fine! Just stop!”
“See how easy that was,” he said, still lying on top of me, and I noticed again how different he was. He wasn’t a boy anymore.
“Get off!” I shoved him.
“Okay, go shower, and hurry up!”
Chapter 3
I couldn’t help but feel giddy at the prospect of enjoying the day with Jake. When I got out of the shower, I walked into my room with just a towel around me and found Jake standing there on the phone, holding up one of my shirts by the hanger. He stopped talking mid-sentence when he saw me. His lips parted as his eyes swept over my body. Suddenly, I felt warm all over, as if I’d been touched in all the right places. What is this?
He blinked at me a few times, as if he could read my thoughts, then turned his back on me, continuing his conversation.
“Just for the night, Mom,” he said into the phone. “I know…I know…I know…Love you too, bye. Are you decent, Katie?” he asked, still facing the corner like a little boy in trouble.
“I haven’t been decent in years.”
“Everyone knows that. Are you dressed?”
I went to my closet but paused. “Where are we going?”
“Wear something comfortable.”
“Okay.” I grabbed a tank and yoga pants and threw on a sheer long-sleeve shirt. “Okay, you can turn around. Hey, where’d you get the clothes?” I asked, realizing he’d changed into dark gray baggy sweatpants and a fitted white T-shirt.
“I ran to my house while you were in the shower,” he said. I nodded. His mom’s house was only a few blocks over. “Grab your purse. Let’s go.”
“You aren’t telling me where we’re going?” I asked, trying to push away the way I felt when he had given me the once-over. It was only natural. Friends or not, he was a man, and I was a woman. Any man would look twice at a nearly naked woman, and any woman who hadn’t had a man for as long as me, would enjoy being looked at that way by Jake.
“The first stop is a surprise, but you get to choose the second.”
I walked out expecting his mom’s minivan, but it wasn’t there. Instead, there was a taxi. “What’s this?”
“My mom needs her car.”
“We can take my car. There’s no reason to waste money on a taxi.”
He let his head fall back, clearly exasperated with me. “Just get in.”
“Fine, fine, fine!” I tossed my arms up.
Jake slipped the driver a folded piece of paper. The guy looked in the rearview with a smile, handing the paper back to Jake, who slipped it back in his pocket. It was all so mysterious that I got butterflies in my stomach. I closed my eyes for the ride, not because Jake had asked me to, but because I secretly wanted to be surprised.
We rode for about a half-hour before we stopped and I heard Jake’s door open.
“The airport?”
“Surprised?”
“Well, yeah, but I can’t just get on a plane and jet away. I have responsibilities, a job…”
“It’s just for the night.”
“I didn’t bring anything!”
“Where’s your sense of adventure? You said anything I wanted…” He batted those long, dark lashes over those baby blues and caution was thrown to the wind. I slid out of the taxi, noticing the folded paper that must’ve slid out of Jake’s pocket. I snatched it and handed it to him. He promptly stuffed it back in his pocket.
“Where are we going?” I asked, the butterflies fluttering away.
“Wherever you want. Where’s your favorite place to jet off to for no good reason?”
“Vegas…”
“Sounds great!” After he bought our tickets, he grabbed my hand, and we ran straight to security since we didn’t have any bags to check. They put us through just in time to get on the plane. I briefly thought that maybe I should have offered to pay for my ticket, but with what? So, instead, I just thanked him.
Jake put on sunglasses and a baseball cap, but it was useless. People noticed him. They photographed him and tried to talk to him, but this time he just ignored them.
“That’s really rude of you,” I remarked.
In answer, he tossed his arm around my shoulder, pulled me close, and spun us toward the camera flashes. “This is my best friend, Katie. Say hey, Katie.”
“Hey,” I whispered, extremely thrown off by his impromptu introduction to fifty strangers.
“Where are you off to, Jackson?” a guy with a big camera asked.
“The sky’s the limit!” They all laughed at his little joke. He looked at me. “Get it? Sky, plane…”
“You really are a nerd,” I whispered as we boarded the plane.
He greeted the other passengers as we took our seats in coach. I was glad he hadn’t spent the extra money for first class, but a little surprised since he was a movie star.
“You’re crazy, you know?” I said as the plane was taking off.
“Whatever, you love it,” he said. He was right. This trip was just what I needed. “Alright, you woke me up early, made me walk for coffee and clean your house, now be quiet so I can take a nap.”
I agreed. Three and a half hours in closed quarters would’ve given Jake plenty of time to ask about my personal life, so I’d just assumed he sleep.
I fell asleep somewhere over the Grand Canyon and was awoken a few minutes later by the pilot announcing our descent into Las Vegas, Nevada. The temperature was eighty degrees; the local time was noon, and all was right with the world!
I nudged Jake, the man who could apparently sleep anywhere. I remembered when he’d been too afraid to spend the night away from home, but he didn’t seem to have any problems falling asleep wherever his head landed these days.
As soon as we got off the plane, Jake put a dollar in a slot machine. “Sucker,” I taunted as it ate his money. “This town was built by people like you.” I used my dad’s favorite Vegas line.
I used to come to Las Vegas with my family every year, when my dad played poker, but I hadn’t been there since Ty was born, which reminded me… “Jake, I need to make a call really quick. Can I use your phone?”
“Sure.” He handed it to me. “Where’s the phone I gave you?”
“Oh! I forgot about it!” It was in my purse, but I used his anyway because I needed to tell Julie what was going on pronto
. This was so unlike me. I was ashamed that I’d left without calling her. “Um, can I have a minute?” I asked Jake.
“Boyfriend?” He gave me a look I didn’t recognize.
“No, nothing like that. I’ll meet you at the main entrance.” I dialed Julie to tell her what I had done. “Jake, can you pick me up a charger for my prepaid?” I tossed the little flip phone to him and pointed to the gift shop.
I was expecting to hear a tone of disapproval from Julie when I told her where I was, but I didn’t get it. She assured me that Ty was fine and told me to enjoy myself. With that, I decided I would.
“Where to, princess?” He held his arm out dramatically to escort me.
“You know I love Mirage, but I haven’t been here since they built City Center…”
“You’ll love it.”
We grabbed a cab to The Aria. I was so excited I could hardly contain myself! Even though I hadn’t been in years, I had kept up with the developments. I was proud to say I had never spent more than twenty-seven dollars in Las Vegas. I had always played enough to get everything comped: that is complimentary room, food, beverage, and entertainment. My dad was a bit of a Vegas celebrity since he’d won The World Series of Poker twice, so that had helped a bit too.
Of course, I wouldn’t get to play this time because I refused to spend any of my money gambling. I needed it to go to Huntsville with Ty on Thursday.
“Welcome to Aria,” the man said as we stepped out of the cab. “Luggage?”
“No, sir,” I told him, but Jake stepped in, lifting his sunglasses.
“We’re just here for the night. Your discretion would be greatly appreciated.”
“Absolutely, Mr. Jacobs! My name is Shane. Ask for me, and I’ll take care of anything you need.” Jake thanked him with a handshake laced with cash.
“First things first. We need a room, Shane. Can you arrange that?”
“Yes, sir. Would you like a villa or a Sky Suite, perhaps?”
“A regular room will be fine,” I interjected.
“As you wish. Now, go have some fun. I will have you registered, so when you’re ready, your key will be at the VIP desk.”
Love Reconnected (Hollywood Series Book 1) Page 4