Page 41 of The Second Kiss
“All of December? Doesn’t Gage have school?”
Jacob hesitates. “He's had some issues. Mom's homeschooling him for the rest of his semester. He has to work to pay off the damage he did to Steve’s car… among other things.”
“Other things?”
Jacob shakes his head. “Gage has been screwing up a lot lately. With his dad gone, my baby brother is a little out of control, like I was. Mom’s even considering having him finish his senior year here.”
I sit back, taking it in. Gage and Nathan, back again. I’m not sure what to think about that. Gage is the same age as I am. He used to be the bane of my existence; spiders, snakes, dead mice—all found their way into my bedroom when he was around. Nathan ignored me when we were growing up, but he's a lot quieter than either of his brothers. He’s the same age as Matt, nineteen.
“It will be just like old times,” Jacob continues.
“Great.” I make a face. “That means Gage will chase me around with a frog, and Nate and Matt will try to ditch me.”
“I can definitely see Gage chasing you, but I don’t think it will be with a frog. Besides, I didn’t think you were afraid of frogs. I seem to remember you catching them out by the pond.”
“I wasn’t afraid of them. I just didn’t enjoy having them put down my back or in my hair.” I have a terrible memory of alittle frog getting tangled in my hair, courtesy of Gage. I totally freaked out. Jacob got it untangled, but the frog didn’t survive.
“Yeah, Gage was a jerk to you when you were kids. You should probably hold that against him when you see him again.” He gapes at me. “We didn’t always ditch you, did we?”
“Youdidn’t,” I say. Jacob was good at including me when we were kids. Sometimes he even carried me on his back so I wouldn’t get left behind.
“I’m glad you remember it that way. I'm guessing Gage will be a lot nicer to you now, and Nate might even ditch Matt to be with you..” Jacob looks at me thoughtfully. “It will be interesting to watch my brothers’ reaction to a grown-up Jess.” I’m not sure how to take that. I keep watching his face, but he doesn’t say anything else.
When we get to my house, he jumps out of my car and walks around to open the door for me, leaning against it. “So, are you impressed yet?”
“Impressed?” I’m pretty much impressed by everything Jacob does, but I’m not sure what he means.
He looks at me incredulously. “With my repair job, bringing the Nag back to life.”
“It’s nothing short of a miracle. So, what do I owe you?” I ask.
“Absolutely nothing.”
I stand up next to him, put my hand on his arm and look at him through my eyelashes, something I’ve seen Jasmine do. My pitiful attempt at flirting. “Let me pay you something.”
“Okay.” His eyes glint again. “Two things. One, forgive me for putting you in a tree.”
“I said that wasn't your–”
He holds up his hand. “And two, don't let those guys at school get to you. Especially that oversized moron from the paintball game. If he tries anything...”
Jacob is close—close enough to smell the musk of his all-night shift and the grease from fixing my car still lingering on his hands and clothes. I wish I could melt into his arms and tell him everything. I swallow hard. “It's not really payment if you have to come to my rescue again."
He puts his hands on my shoulders. I look up, getting caught in his deep brown eyes. "Maybe I like the idea of coming to your rescue.” For a heartbeat, I think he's going to lean forward and kiss me goodbye. Instead, he slides his hands down my arms and steps away. “Try to stay out of trouble. At least for the next few weeks, okay?"
twenty
Between the Raindrops
When the phone rings, I look at the clock; it’s nearly midnight. Leave it to Jasmine to call this late. Not that I was asleep. I’ve been lying in bed analyzing my conversation with Jacob, why he came back to fix my car, why he keeps showing up at my house. Mostly, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do for the next couple of weeks while he's gone.
“You can come back to school,” she sings into the phone. “I guarantee nobody will be talking about you tomorrow.”
“What?” I sit up in bed. “What did you do?”
“It wasn’t me,” Jaz says. “It’s Lexie.”
“Lexie?” I’m thoroughly confused. “Is she the one who told my counselor I had an abusive boyfriend?”
