Page 79 of The Match

It’s now that I notice Jake rounding the side of the building and spotting Tyler doubled over and moving away from me. He immediately puts two and two together and shoves Tyler hard to the ground—so hard I’m sure Tyler’s tailbone is going to be bruised along with his other parts. “Apparently she did, jackass, or she wouldn’t have needed to kick you like that.” I guess he came outside in time to hear what I said.

I storm up beside Jake and hover over Tyler. “Listen to me. Don’t you ever try to kiss me like that again. And this is the last time you will ever try to pursue me. I’ve made it perfectly clear that I don’t want you anywhere near me, and from now on you will respect my decision or I will take out a restraining order against you. Am I clear?”

Usually, this is where Tyler would say something sarcastic in reply, but I think the kick to his balls has momentarily stunned him because he nods and silently struggles to his feet. He doesn’t apologize—predictably—and I don’t make him because I’m so done with this man I just want him gone. For good.

As Tyler skulks away to his fancy BMW parked by the curb, Jake looks like he’s about to call him back and force an apology, but I put my hand to his chest and tell him to leave it be.

Jake lets out a breath as Tyler peels off, then he turns his head and pierces me with his gaze. “Are you okay?” His voice is so tender it nearly melts me right here on the sidewalk. “Did he hurt you?”

I shake my head and finally let the tears roll down my cheeks. “No. But you did.”

He looks like I physically stabbed him. “What can I say to make this better, Evie? I’m so sorry for everything I said outside your parents’ house. I let your family get in my head for a minute, and I acted like a selfish jackass to you. I’m so sor—”

“This isn’t about what happened at my parents’ house, Jake!”

His head kicks back, and his brows dip together. “I don’t understand, then.”

My mouth falls open, and I let out a sad mock laugh. “Did she not tell you I came by?”

Jake blinks a few times. “Evie, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Came by where?”

“Your house, Jake!” I hurl my words at him as hard as possible. It feels good. “I saw her. The beautiful brunette with amazing boobs, standing in your doorway in her underwear! I saw her, Jake! How could you turn around and sleep with someone right after dropping me off at my house? I thought we had something special, but—”

“No! Evie . . .” He shakes his head vehemently. “That’s . . . that’s not at all what happened. I didn’t sleep with her. In fact, I slept at my parents’ house last night.”

What in the freaking hell did that man just say?

“You . . . didn’t sleep with the woman at your house?”

Jake’s face cracks into a tentative smile, and he shakes his head slowly. He opens his mouth to explain but is cut off by the sound of his phone ringing in his pocket.

“I’ve got to answer this; it’s my mom. But I’ll explain everything in a minute. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”

I nod and wrap my arms around myself because the past twenty-four hours have felt like a roller coaster, and I’m not sure I’m off the ride yet.

“Mom? Everything okay?” He pauses, and I watch as a heavy expression settles over his face. He stays perfectly frozen.

Something in me knows. “Is it Sam? Is she okay?”

He nods, and I didn’t realize that I had walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his middle, but apparently I did because his hand is wrapping around my shoulder. He mumbles a few replies to his mom before he says he’s on his way and hangs up.

“Sam had a seizure,” he says, squeezing me like he needs my support to stay standing. “But she’s okay. Apparently, she went upstairs to get her PJs on, then Daisy rushed back downstairs and started alerting my mom. Sam did fall, but it was on the carpet, and Daisy rolled her on her side just like she and Sam practiced. She stayed with Sam and hasn’t left her side since the seizure ended.” I see Jake’s eyes welling with tears, and I hold him tighter. “Daisy made sure she was safe.”

I smile. “Good. That’s so good, Jake.”

He nods and his jaws flex. “I need to get home to Sam, though.”

“Right, of course.” I let go of him and look back toward the venue. “Let me just go get Charlie, and we can leave.”

“We? You’re going to come with me?”

I freeze, hoping that wasn’t presumptuous of me to invite myself along. “Oh, I’m sorry, you probably just want it to be family—”

“No.” He cuts me off and gently takes my hand, raises it to his mouth, and lays a soft, slow kiss just under my palm. “I want you to come with me. But I know you have the fundraiser going on here and probably need to stay. Also I haven’t fully filled you in on what you saw this morning.”

I smile. “First, you and Sam are most important to me. Joanna can handle the fundraiser just fine without me. And second, you can explain it on the way to your house.”

A slow smile spreads across Jake’s mouth, and then, before I have time to breathe, he tugs me closer to him and captures my mouth with his. His hands are on my jaw, then sliding down my neck and shoulders and bare back to press me up closer to him. His lips shift gears back and forth from tender to firm to demanding, and I’m just trying to keep up. The kiss doesn’t last long enough, but it certainly does enough damage that I touch my fingers to my swollen lips when we part. I blink, feeling drugged, then start walking. Jake turns me around so I’m actually headed in the right direction.

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