Page 45 of Jack

*****

I held on to Jack’s hand as he practically dragged me out of the house, still reeling from his proclamation. Had he meant it? I had been all prepared to give Jack a speech about why I couldn’t hang out with him anymore, that it was too difficult for me, and I just wasn’t cut out for casual relationships – now this.

Before I could question him, we were stopped by Addison and Casey. At first, he didn’t notice them, as he seemed hyper focused on walking us away from the house as fast as possible.

“Hey, Jack, hold on a second,” Addison and Casey said almost in unison.

He stopped abruptly and frowned. “Oh, hey,” he responded distractedly.

Addison looked at our joined hands and shot Jack a tense smile. “Hey, we just wanted to say sorry about what happened earlier, at your car. We don’t agree with Shelby, you know, how she was acting.” Addison looked around, then leaned in toward Jack and spoke in a lower voice. “We think she’s getting way out of hand. You might not see us hanging out with her much longer.”

“That’s right,” Casey replied, nodding her head in furious agreement.

Wow, the incident with Shelby felt like a million years ago. Jack shook his head, looking nonplussed. “Shelby? Right, uh, okay, thanks.”

Addison’s smile brightened a bit, as though Jack had given a more effusive response than he actually had. “So, you know, we can stay friends, even if you’re done with Shelby.”

During this weird conversation, both girls stared almost exclusively at Jack, as though I wasn’t even there. A perverse part of me wanted to wave at them, get their attention, if only to see if they would allow their insistent gazes to stray from Jack. As if reading my mine, Casey shot me a quick, curious look, but Addison’s intense, blue eyes never left Jack’s face.

Jack shrugged. “Yeah, well, thanks again.” Jack nodded his head at the girls and pulled me over to where Hannah and Nikolai were sitting by the fire. Hannah was sitting on Nikolai’s lap, but there was an unoccupied lawn chair to the left of them. “Sit here, I’ll got get us some beer.”

I sat, still speechless and trying to process what had just happened.

Hannah leaned forward. “We read the text Jack got. What the hell happened in there? I can’t believe Mike Crenshaw did that to you! Did Jack kill him?”

I flopped back the chair. “No, he didn’t kill him, he just pushed him around a little. He also announced to everyone in the kitchen that I was his girlfriend.”

Hannah gasped, her hand flying to her mouth in shock, but Nikolai only grinned. “I knew it,” he said.

I smiled because he sounded just like Hannah had in the house when she’d said it. Hannah shot Nikolai a curious look but turned back to me.

“I can’t believe it! What happened?” Hannah took a look around the fire. “Oh, boy, you can tell everybody is finding out right now. Look,” Hannah said as she nodded her head in the direction of several large groups of people whispering, then looking over at me in shock.

Jack returned, holding an opened twelve pack, which he handed to Nikolai. He took my hand and tugged me gently out of the seat, sat down, and then pulled me onto his lap. While it was a sweet gesture, it also felt like he was using me as a buffer from the rest of the party.

Hannah looked at me and opened her mouth, her face filled with curiosity. Nikolai tugged a lock of her hair and shook his head. She pouted, and he kissed her, distracting her from me and Jack.

He grabbed two beers from Nikolai, opened them, and handed me one. “Here.”

“So, are we going to talk about what happened in there?”

He looked me in the eye. “What’s there to say?”

“Um, if you wanted me to be your girlfriend, you could have asked me,” I said tartly. I took a long sip of my beer, which had never tasted so good. All this drama made me thirsty.

Jack shot me a half smile, his hand reaching up to cradle my jaw. “And give you the chance to say no? Why would I do that?”

I chuckled. “You think I would say no?”

I thought he would give me a joking response, but he looked at me seriously. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I’m not exactly ideal boyfriend material, Ava,” he murmured, taking a long sip of his own beer.

I stared at him, looking past his cocky façade, seeing his doubt, his uneasiness. I rested my hand on his chest. “Do you really want this, Jack? If all you were doing was trying to protect me, or I guess my reputation, in front of Mike, that’s okay. In fact, it’s very sweet, but I won’t hold you to anything you don’t want to be a part of.”

Jack a took deep breath, then a deeper sip of his beer, then looked me in the eye. “I will admit, I’m uncomfortable with the idea of being in a relationship.” He shifted slightly in his seat, as if to reinforce that discomfort. “But after seeing Crenshaw with his hands on you, after hearing him talk all that shit about you—I couldn’t tolerate it. I’m done ignoring how much I want you.” Heat leapt into his eyes when he said that, and I felt myself unconsciously grinding my hips into him.

“How much is that?” I asked seductively, continuing to squirm against him. He put his beer in the little cup holder on the lawn chair and used his hands to grip my hips and pull me tightly against him.

“Fuck, Ava, if you keep moving like that, I’m going to…” he rasped.

---