Page 8 of Jake

Jake ignored the man. He’d have to make up for it later, but he didn’t want to speak to anyone else right now. The elevator took forever to come down and even longer to reach Evan’s floor.

As it dinged, he turned down the hall and banged on Evan’s door before letting himself in.

“Who set that up?” he demanded as he slammed the door.

“Woah.” Cade stood from the table where they had all been sitting. “I take it things didn’t go well?”

“I’m not doing this again. You guys are ridiculous and that was bullshit.”

Everyone turned to Luke who was struggling to control his laughter. Jake made it to him in three long strides, pulling him out of the chair by his collar.

“Hey, it could have been an excellent date.” Luke didn’t even try to hide his laughter.

“You set me up with the same kind of chick I am trying to avoid,” he growled out.

Ryker came to Luke’s defense and eased Jake’s hand off this collar, pushing Luke back into the chair. Jake glared at him.

“It’s one awful date.” Evan pulled Jake to another empty chair away from Luke.

“Do you have any idea how loud it is to hear someone chew with their mouth wide open or talk around a mouth full of food when you can’t see? It’s fucking loud!”

Ryker shook his head as Cade and Evan joined in on the laughter with Luke. Jake folded his arms and stared down his friends.

“Never again.”

“Don’t let Luke spoil all of it for you. He’s always an ass,” Evan tried.

“She was fun when I hung out with her.” Luke at least attempted to look contrite.

“I’m done with this shit. It was a bad idea from the start,” Jake informed everyone.

“No, wait, the rest of us put real thought into who we put in for you,” Cade said as he took his seat again.

“I don’t care. That was a waste of time and money. I’ll probably hear the obnoxious sound of her chewing in my nightmares.” It was one of those things that he’d never been able to stand, like nails on a chalkboard.

“I forgot she did that.” Luke smiled across the table. “Do you want to see what she looks like?”

“No!” Jake gripped the table to avoid lunging across it and taking a swing at Luke.

“Come on, just make it through the rest. It’s got to get better,” Evan urged as he picked up his cards.

“One more,” Jake conceded, “but it if goes like this one, I’m out.”

“Fair.” Evan shuffled the cards.

“Deal me in.” Jake stood shrugged out of his jacket, carefully draping it across the back of the chair. Pulling his tie off next, he laid it on top of the jacket and took his seat again.

“Beer?” Ryker offered.

“God, yes.” Jake took the beer and let the alcohol soothe his temper for the moment.

This would be one of the dates he’d laugh about later, but it wasn’t later yet. Tonight, that woman had rubbed him the wrong way, and knowing that his friend had sent him on that date irritated him. He wasn’t fighting mad anymore, but he should have guessed it was Luke. No one else would have found this as amusing as him.

Chapter Four

Friday nights were usually spent in her room studying. She wasn’t even mad about it. Tonight though, she’d been watching movies with Catherine. It was weird having a good friend to hang out with again, something she hadn’t had since moving to the city.

“More popcorn?” Catherine asked, throwing her blanket back from her lap and standing.

---