Page 14 of Crave

“Amen. That I agree with,” Tash says, refilling my glass again.

“And he completely forgot I existed when I mentioned Tracy’s pregnancy. You should have seen the way he yanked his arm from my grasp. I refuse to come second to some guy’s sister-in-law. No way.”

“You’re worth way more than that. Screw Jacob Clark.”

“I’ll never get to screw him.”

“Don’t let her have any more alcohol, Tash.” Chris tells his wife.

CHAPTER 4

JAKE

“Rise and shine, asshole!” My front door slams and JD comes walking through my house. The dogs go running out of my room, barking at the intruder.

“Go home, JD. Whatever you have to say, I’m not in the mood.”

“Too fucking bad.” He walks into my room only to find me lying under the covers. “When your mother calls me at eight o’clock on a Sunday morning because her so-called grown ass son acted like a five year old who got his favorite toy taken away, you don’t get to ask me to leave.”

Irritated at his tone, I jump out of bed. Wearing nothing but my boxer briefs, I take a few steps towards him.

“I’ll be happy to throw your ass out.”

JD, who’s the same height as me, meets me head on. “I’m not Troy. Try me.”

“Fuck you. I don’t need a lecture.” I walk past him, hitting his shoulder with mine as I walk out of my bedroom. I grab a clean pair of sweatpants and a matching shirt from the laundry room. “I’m going to walk my dogs. Be gone by the time I get back. I already have a father. I don’t need a lecture from you too.”

I leave JD standing in the middle of the hallway as I slam the door behind me.

The problem is, he’s still there when I get back from walking the dogs. He’s sitting on my couch watching Meet the Press as he eats a bowl of Froot Loops.

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“I do. I have to be at work in three hours, but I had to come over here first to babysit a thirty year old man. You know that you live in the opposite direction of the hospital?” I resist the urge to slap the bowl out of his hand. I walk into the kitchen instead, but the asshole follows me.

“What?” I open the pantry a little too forcefully and grab coffee for my Keurig.

“Didn’t I tell your ass to behave last night?”

“I don’t need you to tell me shit. And I don’t need you in my face right now.” I slam my mug down and wait for the coffee to brew.

“Obviously you do. What the hell, man? At your mother’s party? And for what?” He's clearly exasperated with me.

I turn to him and fix my eyes on his face. “Did you know?” I ask.

“Did I know what?”

“Did you know that Tracy is pregnant? Did you keep it from me?”

“How the fuck would I know something like that? I’m not an obstetrician and she’s not my patient. I didn’t know, but what does it matter? She’s married to your brother. Nothing you do will change that, man.” He tries to rest his hand on my shoulder, but I shove it away.

“How could he do this?” I ask.

“Do what? Make a baby with his wife?” I wince at his words. “Yes, his wife, Jake. What did you think you were going to accomplish?”

“Just stop. I’ll go over and apologize to Mom. Everything will be fine.”

“You think that’s your biggest hurdle? Just apologize to your mom and everything will be fine? What planet do you live on, man?”

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