Page 103 of Fighting Jacob

I stalk Lola from a distance when she makes her way to Emily. Seeing them side by side reveals how similar they look but how differently they’re treated. Emily’s gazes are full of admiration and respect. Lola’s are not. I’d do something about it, but I lose the chance when she catches me watching her.

With a smile bright enough to illuminate hell, she saunters my way. The swing of her hips gains the attention of my cock, but the fire in her eyes utterly seizes it. I’ve still got a chance—I’m certain of it.

Her sexy scent engulfs me when she bands her arms around my shoulders to give me a quick hug. Pretending we don’t have the eyes of a dozen people gawking at us, I draw her into my chest. Her breaths heat my neck when she laughs about her feet leaving the ground. “Miss me?”

“More than you’ll ever know.”

Before she can respond, a voice breaks through my pulse thumping through my ears. “What, no love for me?”

My brows furrow when Lola climbs down to hug my father like he’s a long-time friend. “Don’t be jealous, Tom. There’s plenty of Lola to go around.”

Lola notices my confusion, but instead of elevating it, she winks before prancing to her mom, who’s sitting on the reclining chair next to Noah’s bed. Once she’s out of earshot, I devote all my attention to my dad. “How the hell do you know Lola?”

His eyes sparkle with respect as his lips curve high. “I met her a few weeks ago. I like that girl, Jacob.”

He walks over to offer an introduction to Lola’s mom, missing my mumbled, “You’re not the only one.”

With Noah’s room bursting at the seam with visitors, I don’t get the chance to talk to Lola before she announces she has to return to work. Our hug goodbye gains us another prolonged gawk, but only one man is brave enough to bring it up when Lola slips into the elevator at the end of the corridor.

“What’s the deal with you two?”

I wait for the elevator doors to snap shut before dragging my eyes to Slater. I'm prepared to shrug, genuinely unsure how to explain our relationship, but he sees something in my eyes before I can.

"Oh, man, you're screwed. Out of all the women in the world, you had to fall for that one.”

My nostrils flare as anger bubbles in my veins. “What the fuck does that mean?”

When I step up to him, so we're standing chest to chest, he holds his hands in the air, signaling for me to stand down. “Jesus, Jakeyboy, calm down. I meant she’ll keep you on your toes." My growl rumbles through both our chests. "In a good way, man. Fuck.” He chuckles. Idiot. I’m five seconds from ripping his nuts off, and he’s laughing. “You’ve got it bad. Does she feel the same way?”

“I have no fucking clue. She’s barely spoken a word to me since you fucked everything up.”

He balks. “Me? What the fuck did I do?”

I backhand him in the chest. “Did you have to put up every photo of the bachelor party on Facebook? You couldn’t have kept some private?”

He shrugs like it’s not a big deal. “I don’t know how that shit works. I just hit the button thingy, and voomp, every photo on my phone was available for the world to see.” He makes a face, as if he too is facing backlash from his stupidity. “Why does it matter, anyway? Is your dick getting served to you on a stick?”

"Yeah, something like that.”

When he laughs so loudly, everyone in the room’s eyes snap to us, I usher him outside. The last thing I want is for my dad to hear about the rumors that may be circulating about me.

“It was a bachelor party, man; strippers are a requirement.”

“Not when your girl sees another removing your pants.”

Slater’s pupils dilate as he swallows bleakly. “Are you talking about Nat?”

“I don’t remember her name, but if she’s the blonde in the photos with me, then yeah, I’m talking about Nat.”

He stomps from foot to foot like he just won the lotto. “You didn’t sleep with Nat. You didn’t even touch her.”

“I didn’t?”

“Nah. You pissed her off by calling her Lola all night; then when she wanted to sample your sausage, you shut her down like she had the clap. That lost you any chance of tapping her ass. You missed out, man; she sucks like a fucking Hoover.”

My heart beats triple time. “I didn’t do anything with her? Nothing at all?”

“She hung off you like a leech, but you didn’t touch her.”

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