Page 36 of Trip Through Your Wires

Tonight was it. One time, and never again. Jake needs to focus on his career and forget about this little arrangement of ours so he can achieve his dreams. And me, I need to let go of these weekends and go back to Cherry Cove and start working toward mine.

“Goodnight, Jake.” I look up and take a step back.

“Jake.” His eyes search mine as his arms fall away. “No Hot Shot?”

“No.” I give him a wistful smile then press up on my toes and kiss his cheek. “Not tonight.”

He will always be, Hot Shot. The golden retriever who made me feel safe when no one else in the world could. But now it’s time for him to go back to what he was always supposed to be. The best friend of my best friend’s boyfriend. The guy I met, the summer before he became a star.

But as I close the door and head back to my room, I can’t help feeling as if I’ve lost something. Something that in another life, could have been everything.

Chapter 7

Jake

I keep my head down, waiting for the next pitch. I have ten more to go before my time is up, and I plan to smack the hell out of every single one.

A perfect fast ball crosses the plate and I swing. “Shit,” Cruz whistles. “That shit’s gone.”

I’ve always loved my time in the batting cage. It’s my church. A place of focus and reflection. Nothing but my eye on the ball, and my mind on my form. But today I can’t focus worth shit. My striding is off and I’m dropping my shoulder, which is sending every ball that I hit, high into the net.

“Focus!” Cruz calls out.

“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble. Focus. Like I can.

It’s been a week since Jenica’s visit, and we haven’t talked. She hasn’t called nor returned any of my calls. I knew having sex would change things between us, but I didn’t think it would in the way that it had.

I thought for sure we were on the same page. Her admission that night, proof that she wanted me, the same way that I did her. But instead of bringing us closer it only pushed us apart.

Keeping my head down, I wait for the next pitch, and when I swing and connect, the bat cracks, sending the ball flying right back at the machine. Better. Thank fuck. That’s all I need, a drop in my batting average, this early in the season.

“Nice,” Cruz whistles. “There you go.”

I do the same with the next few pitches, and when the last one crosses the plate, I knock the hell out of it. When I’m done, Cruz turns off the machine, and when the light above the gate changes from red to green, I exit the cage.

“Want to tell me what that was about?” He looks at me out of the corner of his eyes.

“Nope.” I hang the bat up, then remove my helmet, and peel off my batting gloves. “You’re up.”

He watches as I toss them down to my bag. “You sure?”

“I’m sure.” I run a hand through my hair, scalp tingling. “Get in there. Don’t you need to get in and out so you do the same back home?”

He smirks and picks up his bat, pointing the end at me. “Don’t be jealous.”

“I’m not. I just didn’t think when I suggested you and Ellery bury the hatchet last summer, you would take that to mean bury your dick all the fucking time.”

“Aw,” he pretends to pout. “Is Iceman not getting any action?”

“Fuck you, my action is fine.”

He looks at me as if he doesn’t believe me, and why should he? I haven’t brought a girl home since we lived in the apartment. The first weekend we were back at school, to be exact, because the next one Jenica came up to visit and we picked up right where we left off at the end of the summer and that was it. My nights became about her, whether she was visiting or not.

She’d call at night when she couldn’t sleep and I was perfectly content to stay home and wait for her call because it meant hearing her voice, which was the next best thing to having her here. Actually, the next best thing was my mouth on her pussy and her hand in my hair, but since she only visited once a month, those nights were limited.

I didn’t mind, however. There was a different kind of intimacy in talking on the phone, which allowed us to get to know one another on a whole other level. We shared everything from music and movie recommendations to our favorite memories and how we were doing with our classes. Sometimes we talked until the sun came up without even knowing that night had passed.

We may have evolved into friends that respected one another and hooked up when the opportunity presented itself, but I knew the deal. There was no commitment. We were free to do whatever we wanted. Keep it simple. Easy, breezy. I never pushed. I even let her come to her own conclusion that night of the party. She came to my room on her own desire and will. So why did it feel like we had crossed a chasm and now stood on opposite sides, practically strangers?

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