Page 44 of Jake Forever
I turned back to Pete. "Sorry about that." I wasn't even sure why I was apologizing. Obviously, Bianca's rudeness wasn't my fault, but that didn't change the fact that I was really sorry to see it.
But Pete wasn't even listening. He'd pulled out a cell phone and had it pressed against his ear, as if waiting for someone to answer on the other end. A second later, he said, "She's back." Pausing, he glanced briefly in my direction. "Here. In front of the building."
He waited a beat, and then said, "Yes, sir. Will do." He disconnected the call and shoved the phone into his pocket. He turned to me and said, "Let's get you inside, shall we?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "Was that Jake you were talking to?" I knew the question was kind of nosy, but since his conversation had obviously been about me, I figured a little nosiness was perfectly justified.
But before he could answer, we were interrupted, once again, by the sounds of loud throat-clearing. We both turned to look, and there she was, Bianca, standing just outside the building's glass double-doors.
Her eyebrows lifted as she eyed Pete with obvious impatience – waiting, apparently, for him to get one of those doors, too.
Oh, for crying out loud. The building's lobby wasn't even locked, not at this hour. And unless her arms had mysteriously broken within the last minute, she was perfectly capable of pulling open at least one of those doors all by herself.
But apparently, she had something else in mind. She was still glaring at Pete. "I'm waiting," she told him.
I made a sound of annoyance. "For what?" I called. "For him to carry you inside?"
Her eyes flashed in my direction. "I wasn't talking toyou." She lifted a long finger and pointed it at Pete. "I was talking tohim." She gave Pete a stiff smile. "You do realize that I'm friends with the owner of this building, right? One call, and I'll have your job."
That made me pause. Whodidown the building? Honestly, I had no idea. But based on Bianca's confident demeanor, it seemed a mistake to goad her further – not for my sake, but for Pete's.
The building was nice. It had twenty floors of high-end apartments, along with a few condos and a fitness center.
As far as premium space, Jake had claimed a good chunk of it. He owned the penthouse on the top floor, and rented – or owned, I still wasn't quite sure – the floor just beneath it. No doubt, that meant he had a lot of pull as far as building-politics were concerned.
But if the building's owner wanted to get rid of Pete, I wasn't a hundred-percent sure that Jake would be able to save him, assuming he'd even want to.
Suddenly, I was drowning in a sea of uncertainty. Was Jake on his way down, right now, to kick me out? And if he did kick me out, where would I go? More importantly, how would I ever live without him?
And then, there was the other thing, something that I didn't want to think about. What, exactly, had almost happened to me today? Considering the worst-case scenario, I stifled another shiver.
I'd been so incredibly stupid. And I'd almost paid for it, too. Bigtime.
And, on top of everything else, there was Pete. I had a sad suspicion that somehow, I'd already gotten him into trouble for reasons unrelated to Bianca.
I wrapped my arms tight around my torso and tried not to shiver. It was almost July, smack-dab in the middle of summer, but I was freezing cold and not feeling so great.
It would be nice to blame it on the pizza, but somehow, I knew that wasn't it. It was everything else – the fight with Jake, the stress of that weird encounter, and now, the sudden cold.
Sometime between the time I'd left Jake's office and now, the temperature had dropped at least twenty degrees. Or maybe, it just felt that way, because I was soaked to skin and weighted down with cold, damp clothes, as skimpy as they were.
I started to shake, harder now, whether because of the chill, or because of everything else. When my teeth started to chatter, I couldn’t seem to make them stop.
Pete reached for my elbow. "Are you alright?"
Before I could answer, Bianca's voice rang out yet again. "Hey, Doorman! Do you want to keep your job, or what?"
That was the jolt I needed. A rush of anger flashed hot and hard against my skin. I stalked forward, heading toward those stupid doors. Once I reached them, I grabbed the nearest door handle, and yanked hard, flinging the door wide open.
And then, I laughed like a crazy person when Bianca had to leap out of the way to avoid getting smacked in the face. She made a show of stumbling backward and dropped her purse in the process. Still moving, she tripped over the fallen thing, fell backward, and landed hard on her ass.
She was shrieking now. "You did that on purpose!"
"Did what?" I hollered back. "Opened the stupid door? Wasn't that what you wanted?"
She was still sprawled across the ornate, outdoor rug. Glaring up at me, she yelled, "I didn't wantyouto open it. I wantedhimto open it!"
Oh, crap.Him. Pete. Reluctantly, I looked over at him and felt my cheeks grow hotter still. Standing, dumb-struck, near the curb, his gaze was darting from me to Bianca. Obviously, he had no idea what to say.
