Page 40 of Crave

“And why the hell was it such a bad idea?” Chris asks between bites of food. “Because of his family drama? Everyone on the planet would be single if we avoided relationships because of family drama. We have plenty of drama in this family. No need to judge his.”

“I was willing to listen despite that, wasn’t I? I’m avoiding him because of him. He humiliated me.”

“I agree that was messed up, but he obviously regrets it. We’re missing something here,” Tash says.

“Tash, no. My instincts told me this was wrong from the very beginning. I should have listened to myself.” I get up to leave, but Tash points back to the chair, so I sit back down.

“What happened after you told him to screw off?”

“You won’t believe this. He tried to kiss me, but I slapped him, got in the car and drove off. He followed me home.” Both Chris and Tash jump up and run to the window to look outside. I follow behind them just in time for us to see Jake’s Escalade drive away.

“Is that his car? Shit, that’s nice,” Chris says.

“He’s been sitting outside this whole time, Dee. That man is into you, girl,” Tash says as she continues to stare out the window. I see Chris nod at his wife’s words. “Let’s take bets on how long it takes before he tracks you down again.”

“If I ever see his ass again, he’s getting more than just a slap across the face.”

“You know what I’m curious about?” Chris asks as he sits down on one of the couches in the living room. ‘What was the conversation like with JD after Jake left.”

“He apologized for his friend, but I cut him off and told him I didn’t want to discuss Jake. Jake’s name was not to be mentioned. That was the one condition I had. I ordered practically everything on the menu, including a very expensive bottle of wine for our table. JD drank most of it and talked me out of ordering another one. Don’t know what that was about.”

“He didn’t want you to drink and drive, Dee. He was looking out for you for his friend. That’s why they followed you home.”

“He has some nerve. I should have slapped him twice.” I try to sound angry, but a part of me isn’t too angry at the fact that he followed me to make sure that I was okay. Then I remind myself that it wouldn’t have been necessary for him to follow me if he didn’t act like an asshole. “Misogynist asshole.”

“Stop throwing that word around.”

“He tried to pass me off to his friend, Chris. He acted like I was a piece of property. And then he follows me home because he’s not sure the little woman can drive herself home without a man looking out for her safety? What else would you call him?”

“Misguided. Flawed. Confused. Caring. Considerate. I can think of a lot of words other than sexist or misogynist.”

“Oh, please. Misguided? Considerate? You think trying to pass me onto another man is either misguided or considerate? And you sound like a damn woman.” For the first time tonight, Tash laughs.

“Who’s the sexist now, Dee?” he counters.

“Jacob Clark is!”

“I agree with Tash that something happened between yesterday and today. And I also think that you haven’t seen the last of Jake.”

CHAPTER 10

JAKE

“Are there any other questions?” Troy looks directly at me, but I ignore him and focus on my bouncing knee.

I look at the clock, hoping this is the end of this two-hour quarterly meeting being led by Troy.

Usually, at the end of these meetings, I end up pissing everyone off by bombarding him with question after question, delaying everyone from the catered lunch, but not today.

Today I didn’t say a word at this meeting. I’m eager to get back to my office to check my phone.

“Since there are no further questions, this concludes this quarter’s meeting.” Before he even finishes talking, I’m up and out the door of the conference room. I bypass the break room where lunch is set up and make a beeline towards my office to my phone.

Disappointment hits me when I see only one text from JD.

Fuck off. That’s all he says.

Nothing from Sandy. I would be thrilled to get a fuck off from her at this point, but she’s been radio silent. I’ve sent her eight texts in the past three days, and she hasn’t responded to any of them. I called but all my calls went to voicemail.

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