Page 2 of Unofficial

"Yes, I swear, I didn't know."

Jess nods and swallows, her entire body becoming numb. "I believe you."

"He never mentioned you. How could you not mention the fact you have a girlfriend?" Lena screams.

"Aren't you... Aren't you his cousin?"

Her eyes widen and stare at her. "What?"

"When you called the other night, I was with him. He told me your name was Lena and that you were his cousin. Oh, God, I think I'm going to be sick."

On top of the whole sickening scene, she feels oddly offended she knows about Lena, but Lena doesn’t know about her. How long have the two of them been together? Is Jess the other woman? Can someone be the other woman when she's the one not related to either of them?

"I am not his cousin. You told her I'm your cousin? You told your girlfriend I'm your COUSIN?" Lena screams.

Kade grabs a pot from the stove and covers himself, seemingly realizing for the first time he stands in the kitchen naked. "I may have fibbed about who you were, yes."

As ridiculous as he looks with a pot covering his junk, Jess can't help but appreciate his body. Even though he just stood in the kitchen banging another woman, he looks good. Damn him. Why the hell does he have to look good wearing a pot she cooked him dinner in three nights ago? Can't God just smite him and give him a beer belly and take away a decent amount of the luscious chestnut hair on his head? That would be great. Just a bolt of lightning and Boom! No more sexiness.

"You cheated on your girlfriend with me!" Lena cries. She seems very much stuck on the fact he had a girlfriend and didn't tell her.

"Technically, I didn't cheat. She's not my girlfriend."

The words feel like a roundhouse kick to the face. Like Chuck Norris appeared out of nowhere. What kills her is how he managed to make the words cut deeper than watching him screw Lena on the counter. She makes a mental note to dissect this later. "I'm not?"

"I mean, we're seeing each other, but we never had the talk."

"The talk?"

"That we were exclusive. We were just dating."

Lena's jaw drops wider than Jess's as she points a red fingernail in Jess's direction. At least one of them can move. "I don't think you told her you weren't exclusive and dating other people based on the shock and horror on her face. And you told her you were sick to cancel plans just because you wanted to screw me?"

"Lena-"

"She brought you soup!" Her hands shake as she runs them through her pretty blonde hair. Hair that makes Jess’s own blonde hair look dull in comparison. "You are a pig. You hear me, Kade? A pig! Jess, I'm so sorry. I would never... If I knew..."

"Based on what I saw, I guess I can't really blame him. You're kind of an upgrade. For some reason, I'm still stuck on the fact he screwed you on the counter I set breakfast on for him in the mornings, but he's never once tried to take me anywhere in this room. It's stupid and completely irrational, and the image won't go away anytime soon."

Her eyes widen. "You make him breakfast?"

"And dinner a few times," she says, finally setting the glass container on the counter. The heat from the liquid inside finally permeated the numbness and burned her skin. It's a welcome distraction for a nanosecond. "I suppose he's not completely wrong. We never discussed being exclusive, but the past five months seemed pretty serious. At least they did to me."

Lena takes a step back. "He's been stringing you along for five months?"

The woman sounds on the verge of hysterics, and Jess knows she should be angry. Angrier than Lena, at least. She should throw something or hit him or scream and shout. "I guess so."

"I wasn't stringing you along!" Kade says, finally finding his voice. "This isn't the time or place to have this conversation."

"Yeah, you're covering your junk with a pot," Lena says. "You look ridiculous."

"This is a little out of control right now."

Jess nods her head, her stomach finally catching up to the situation and threatening to push the lunch she ate back up. "I should probably go."

"No, I should go."

"No, I think you should stay. You're the one he wanted here tonight, not me. I'm the one he canceled on and isn't officially dating."

---