Page 37 of Breaking the Rules of Love

He takes a few steps forward, angling to get around me and up to the house. I immediately step in front of him, blocking his path.

“You’renotgoing up there, pal,” I snarl, ready to react at a moment’s notice.

Howard takes a step back. He must see in my eyes that I’m not fucking around, because I can see him contemplating his options once again.

Every instinct I have in me is telling me to subdue this creep, to grab him, pin his arms behind his back, incapacitate him, and turn him over to law enforcement. The only problem is there’s really nothing to suspect him of right now other than being a creeper.

“Wh-who do you think you are, man?” he asks, raising his voice at me. “I used to live there!” He points over my shoulder at Sadie’s house and puffs up his chest. I guess he’s trying to be threatening, but it’s not working.

“I’m the guy who’s telling you how it is,” I reply. “So you can either walk away now, or you can find out what happens when you don’t. I would highly suggest option one.”

My protective instincts are at an all-time high. Sadie may be at work right now, but I still don’t want this son of a bitch anywhere near her house. I don’t want him near anything associated with her.

His eyes flicker from the house to me then back again. Finally, he lowers his arm and nods, but I can still see a danger in his gaze.

“Okay, Mr. Bigshot,” he says. “I see Sadie’s gone and got herself a bodyguard. Well, you can tell her Howard says hi for me, okay? Tell her HowardandTiffany say hi, and that Tiffany’s pussy iswaytighter than herseverwas!”

And with that, Howard spins around and starts to sprint away down the sidewalk.

“What the fuck…?” I mutter.

I watch until he’s completely out of sight and wait several minutes to make sure he doesn’t come back before I go back to my car.

Up until the last thing he said, I never would have thought that man would have known Sadie. But now, I’m not so sure. And I need to find out. If I’m going to protect her, I need to know everything about her. She can’t continue to keep me in the dark like this.

So I climb back into my car and back out of my driveway. Look like I’ll be crashing her work tonight after all.

25

Jake

I can seeSadie through the window as I sit parked outside Cherry’s Diner. It reminds me of the first time I watched her through a window, only this time is infinitely less exciting.

There’s another girl working with her tonight. Julia, probably, the one who told me about her favorite type of ice cream.

It’s actually pretty busy, so I’ve been waiting for there to be a lull in the dining room to go in and talk to her, but it’s been over twenty-minutes now, and I’m getting tired of sitting here.

“Fuck it.” I shut the car off and march up to the front door. I’ll just go talk to her now. Julia’s a sweet girl; she can cover for Sadie for a few minutes. I’ll leave a tip for her.

But as I’m walking up and just about to reach the door, Sadie spots me from inside, and what she does next, I can’t believe. She actually rushes over to Julia, whispers something in her ear, and quickly disappears through the door leading into the back of the restaurant.

Seriously? This is getting ridiculous now.

I go inside anyway and am “greeted” by Julia at the door. She’s giving me one of those fake smiles as though I might be some kind of crazy ex or current stalker, which given what just happened back at Sadie’s house is the most ironic thing in the world.

“Hi,” she whispers. “She, um…she doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that from what I just saw,” I reply. “But it’s important. So if you don’t mind…”

I brush right past Julia and head for the door Sadie went through, moving at a brisk pace. Julia follows after me, but what’s she going to really do to stop me with a dining room filled with diners? It’s not like she’s going to make a scene.

“Jake?” she whispers. “You, um…you can’t go in there!”

“Watch me,” I reply.

I push the door open and find myself in the kitchen. A few cooks look up and see me but look back at their stoves. They really couldn’t care less. But then I glance to my left and see Sadie leaning against the wall. She has her head tilted back and is taking long, deep breaths.

“Sadie,” I say softly.

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