“What the hell does that even mean?”
I tried not to smile, deliberately avoiding Lowe’s eyes because I knew he’d make me laugh.
“It means,” Claudia gave a long-suffering sigh, “what’s your problem?”
“I don’t have a problem. I just sat down.” Beck pulled his buzzing phone from his pocket, glaring at Claudia. He looked at the screen. “According to Maggie, Melissa is doing okay. She’s even got a date this weekend.”
A little weight lifted off my shoulders. “That’s good to hear.”
Claudia caught my eye. “Feel better?”
“Much,” I admitted. “You know I hate guilt.”
Relaxing, I had a drink with my friends, listening to Beck and Claudia snipe at each other. They were on the cusp of giving me back the tension I’d just gotten rid of, so I decided it was time to leave.
“I need to go too.” Lowe slid out of the booth at my announcement. “I have stuff to do. Claudia, if you and Beck can stop griping for five seconds, why don’t you show him the plans for this summer?”
Claudia’s green eyes filled with something like panic.
“Go ahead,” Beck said, clearly not in the mood to leave her company. “Do you want another coffee?”
Instead of answering, my friend looked to me for help.
I needed to get her out of this somehow. I looked at Beck, but any excuse that might’ve been making its way from brain to tongue melted upon seeing the puppy-dog look on his face.
Crap. No wonder she has such a hard time resisting him.
I looked back at Claudia and shrugged. “I’ll catch you guys later.”
Seriously. Where was my willpower? If I couldn’t harden my heart enough against Beck to keep them apart, how the hell was she supposed to?
Lowe and I hit the top of the steps off Chamber Street that led to my apartment. We were about to descend them when I started at the sight of Jake coming up them.
His head down, hands jammed into his jacket pockets, he was listening to whatever band was singing through his earphones. A rush of longing ripped through me. My heart soaked in what little it could see of his familiar face; my eyes drank in his broad shoulders and long legs.
I missed him.
Even when I was with him I missed him. What we had wasn’t what we’d had before. At this point I only had myself to blame for that.
Lowe chuckled beside me as we waited for Jake to reach us. “I never had a chance, did I?” he joked.
I made a face. “I’m that obvious?”
“Only when he’s not looking,” he said, seeing way more than he should.
Perceptive pain in my ass.
Jake looked up, faltering on a step. At first he didn’t seem sure how to react to the sight of me with Lowe, but he quickly shrugged it off, bestowing a gorgeous smile on me. He pulled his earphones out. “Hey, you,” he said, coming to a stop at the top of the stairs. He leaned down to kiss me, his lips soft. He smelled great.
“Hey,” I whispered back, unable to speak any louder over the force of my emotions. It still surprised me that my feelings for him had the ability to bowl me over without warning.
“Hey, man.” Jake nodded congenially at Lowe. I was relieved.
Lowe seemed to be too. He gave Jake a small smile and nod. “Well, I better get back to the apartment. I have an essay due in two days and we have a gig tonight.”
“Good luck.” I waved goodbye and watched him take the steps two at a time.
“I was coming to get you.” Jake tightened his arm around my waist, and I found myself swiftly falling into his eyes. “I called Beck and he mentioned you were worried about Melissa?”
I shook my head. “It’s fine. Just guilt. But apparently she’s doing okay.”
His dark eyes looked troubled. “I’m glad she’s okay. But you have nothing to feel guilty about.”
I could see his own guilt in his eyes and instantly felt bad for bringing Melissa up. “Ja—”
My ringtone blasted, cutting me off. Giving Jake a look of apology, I dropped his hand and dug through my bag.
My pulse sped up at the sight of the caller ID. My dad.
Relieved more than I could say but still angry and hurt that he hadn’t called in ages, I hesitantly answered.
“Where are you?” he asked abruptly.
Disappointed by his tone, I huffed, “Last time I checked, I was in Scotland.”
“Smart-ass,” Dad grumbled, the edge chipped off his tone. “What I meant is where exactly are you, right now? Because I’m standing in your apartment after your roommate stupidly let me in without checking my identification first. Does that happen a lot? Because maybe while I’m here, I should hold a stranger awareness meeting with you girls.”
I didn’t hear anything after “I’m standing in your apartment…”
“I’ll be right there.” I hung up, eyes wide on Jake’s curious expression. “My dad is here.”
Jake’s eyebrows squished together. “Here, here?”
“Yup.” I turned and started down the steps.
“Hey, I’m coming too.” Jake hurried to catch me.
Marching into the courtyard of my building, I threw over my shoulder, “Do you think that’s wise?”
“I think he’s here for a reason and I think we need to reassure him.” His hand curled around my arm. “Would you slow down—as in, calm down?”
My breathing was way too fast. “I can’t.” I pushed my building door open and rushed the stairs. “My dad has flown all the way across the ocean to come talk to me. That’s not a good sign, Jake. My parents don’t exactly have the kind of money where plane tickets aren’t a luxury.” I stopped in the middle of the first floor and Jake immediately wrapped his arms around me.
“It’s going to be okay,” he promised. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I don’t want you to get punched.”
“If I get punched, I get punched. It’s no less than what I deserve.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”
I gasped at the sound of my dad’s voice, wrenching back from Jake to gaze up onto the next landing. My dad stood above us, huge, intimidating, and not at all happy to see me in Jake’s arms.
“Before anyone says another word,” Jake said, “let’s get inside.”
My dad threw him a disgusted look but turned and headed back upstairs toward the apartment.
There was a great deal of pounding going on in my chest as Jake and I followed.
Dad stood in the middle of the kitchen. His dark hair, speckled with gray, was mussed, and he had day-old bristle on his cheeks. He looked exhausted.
“Your roommate left,” Dad’s voice rumbled. “We’ll have privacy to talk as soon as he leaves.”
I braced for the battle to come, the nerves suddenly disappearing as indignation moved through me. Dad was the one intruding on our lives. He’d flown clear across an ocean to have this out without even telling me, after having shut me out for days.
I was not a child.
“Jake stays.”
Dad opened his mouth to argue and I held up a hand to stop him.
“Jake stays,” I insisted.
Jake was treated to a look that would fell a mountain lion. “Fine,” Dad snapped.
“Can I get you anything?” I gestured to the kitchen.
“Coffee.”
“Jake?”
Jake gave me a small smile but shook his head.
I brushed past my dad to prepare his coffee. “I can’t believe you flew all the way over here. I take it Mom knows.”
“Of course she knows. I had to dip into our savings.”
“You didn’t have to do anything.”
“My daughter is in the middle of making two momentous decisions in her life and she wasn’t even in the same country as I was. Of course I needed to do this.”