Page 67 of No Place Like Home

“And here I thought you ran away from m—”

It was not Jess on the other side of the door. I think at this point, I would have preferred if it was Cubbie who had come back.

Simba shot out to go pee, leaving me all by myself.

Jake was standing there, looking unimpressed. If anything, I’d say he looked a lot like the girl I took to prom's dad.

“‘Sup, man,” I raised my hand so we could shake hands on it like when always had, but he didn’t bother to raise his hand.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

Oh, nothing, man. Just came to fuck Jess's brains out.

I couldn’t exactly say that.

“Nothing. Just came to grab my dog from Jess.”

Which wasn’t a lie. Simba was peeing in the yard. Jake’s eyes slid from mine to look at my dog, and I was thankful I had put my shirt back on.

“Where’s Jess?” he asked as he stepped in through the threshold.

“She went to get us some coffee,” I lied again. “You know, I think I’ll go find her.”

I walked outside and stopped dead when I realized my car was at the fucking station. Fuck. I had let Clark drive me here yesterday.

I heard the door close and Jake walking toward me.

"Need a ride?” He lifted a brow as he pointed at his truck.

“You know, my therapist said I needed more exercise, so I'm just going to go ahead and do that.” I raised my hand and began to walk away.

I was almost out of the driveway when Jake called after me.

“Didn’t you come to pick up your dog yesterday?”

Fuck.

Jake was going to kill me. Jess was like a little sister to him. Just as I contemplated what to say to him, the sound of tires screeching caught both of our attention.

Emma's sunny as fuck Beetle came to a stop in front of me.

The window rolled down, and Freya screeched, “Get in before you get killed!”

My shoulders dropped.

I was a football god.

A legend.

This shit wasn’t supposed to happen to me. I swore there was something in the water in this town that made people act fucking crazy.

Not looking back at Jake—because if he didn’t know it before, he sure as fuck did now—I ran, and I didn’t feel guilty about the limp in my leg. Not when I didn’t want to die.

I looked at Freya, and she waved at Jake with a smile as she drove us away. I sighed and let my head drop. Maybe staying with Jake would have been a good idea, because Freya was crazy sealed with a pretty face.

“I do not want to hear a word come out of that smartass mouth,” I warned.

She smiled at me and pretended to zip her lips. I raised a brow, since there was a reason her closest friend called her Gabby: she couldn’t help but gab.

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