Page 3 of Trip Through Your Wires

“Where?” I ask snidely. “Grade school paper route?”

“No,” he runs a hand over his head. “I’m talking about baseball.”

“That’s not a job,” I laugh.

“The hell it’s not,” he laughs back. “But since you seem to be keeping score, yes, I have had a real job as well.”

“Let me guess.” I look him up and down, noting how his buzz cut and tan skin make him look like a cast member on Baywatch. “Lifeguard?”

His lip hitches, which I take as a yes, and I can’t help but shake my head. God, does his confidence know no limits? “You know, they say guys with big egos are compensating for small personalities.”

He drops his head back and laughs. “Is that right?”

“Mm-hmm,” I smirk.

“Well, my personality is as big as I am.”

“Is that so?”

“Haven’t had a complaint yet.” He flashes me that sexy grin of his and lifts his beer, taking a sip.

I don’t know how he stacks up in the dick department, but Jake’s a big guy, that’s for sure. At six foot two, maybe three, he’s built like Jose Canseco, and with sandy blonde hair, hazel eyes and a jaw that could cut glass, he’s what most girls call hot.

For this girl, however, he wasn’t my type. I wasn’t into athletes. Didn’t matter I used to be one. I was attracted to guys with a rock n’ roll vibe. Like Pearl Jam’s front man, Eddie Vetter. Now that was sex on a stick.

“Why are you always so…”

“Charming?” he asks with a wink.

“Annoying,” I counter.

Jake is always in a good mood, which grates my nerves. I like a guy with more angst and fire. Though, I suppose if there was anyone I had to be stuck with, there were worse people in the world than Jake Chambers.

“Now come on Sparky.” He sets his beer down on the rock and gives me a sly smile. “We had fun today, didn’t we?”

While on one hand, the reason we spent the day canvassing the boardwalk had sucked, spending time with Jake hadn’t been all that bad. He asked questions about Cherry Cove and listened as I rambled on and on about the town and its history. He even insisted on buying food when my stomach started growling.

“Shit.” He stops me just as I am about to answer. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

The way he’s looking at me reminds me of a puppy that’s just been scolded. “It’s fine,” I wave off the apology. “I know what you meant.”

I’d gotten to know Jake some over the past few weeks, thanks to Ellery and Cruz always going off into the shadows when they ran into each other on the boardwalk, and I knew what he meant. He actually did make today bearable when it could have been awful.

Jake was surprisingly easy to be around. While yes, he was confident, his good guy nature wasn’t an act. Case and point—on Fourth of July he saw me puking my guts out in the boardwalk parking lot after the snotty society dinner I’d gone to with Ellery and rushed over to hold my hair back. If he hadn’t been there, I’d have blown chunks all over myself.

He stayed with me until I could stand without shaking, then bought me a 7-Up and crackers from the convenience store across the street before driving me home. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for me, which is why it didn’t surprise me when he offered to hang up fliers with us today.

“You know,” Jake says when the song playing on the boombox changes from “Highway to Hell” to Tesla’s “Love Song.” The slowed down tempo shifts the energy in the cave, with one group laughing as they hold up Bic lighters. “Back home there’s a quarry I used to hang out at in high school. The rocks were spray painted and letters written on the walls of the old foreman’s shed. This place reminds me of it. Has a vibe that’s cool and creepy. Kind of like…”

“Lost Boys?” I ask.

“Exactly,” he smiles. “That day Cruz brought us here, I thought that very thing.”

“Does it scare you, Hot Shot?”

He cocks his head and smirks at the name I gave him weeks ago when I refused to call him Iceman as he insisted everyone did back at school. “Not on your life, Sparky.”

He holds my gaze for a moment and when my cheeks flush with heat, I clear my throat and look around. “How do you think things are going with Cruz and Ellery?”

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