Page 50 of Hyde and Seek

“I never asked him to. Sure, I’ve been bummed, but I know he did the right thing.”

Ray shook her head slowly. “No, you aren’t getting it. Hanging out a couple times with Jake is the same as spending a couple months in a relationship with a regular man. To him, thatislong term. Only thing crazier would be him spending the night.”

My face must have given something away because all three screeched.

That seems to be happening with them a lot. I wonder if they get together to practice synchronized screeching?

“No fuckin’ way. Having Jake fuckin’ Hyde spend the night is like hitting jackpot. Honestly, if the hype is true, it’s way better. It’d be like hitting the jackpot every time, all night long,” Marcy said.

“Nothing really happened. We kissed a little and then went to sleep. He only spent the night because he’d been drinking.”

Ray held up her cell. “I texted Edge to ask if he’s ever heard of Jake spending the night. Of course, he asked why I wanted to know. He said if I get sucked into the whole sexy, smart, and successful thing Jake has going that means no more free drinks for us. But, according to Edge, Jake rarely has sex with the same girl more than once. He hasn’t heard of him staying the night since his last serious girlfriend and she was eight years ago. I think he must be into you.”

“I don’t know what the deal is. Hell, I don’t think he even knows if he likes me half the time. He can be aseriousasshole. It doesn’t matter now anyway, it’s done.”

“What happened that made it done?” Lily asked.

I looked around and saw the three of them were on the edge of their seats.

It seems when I decide to do something out of the ordinary, I really go for it.

“He just said he wasn’t into it and that was that. I haven’t heard from him in almost two weeks.”

“There wasn’t more to it?” Marcy pressed.

“Not really. There’s just a… barrier between us.”

Ha. Barrier.

“What was tonight about then?” Ray asked.

“I think he feels bad. We had a… tiff before and he ended up coming over late at night to apologize. That’s when he crashed with me. He was being nice.”

“Jake Hyde is not nice. He’s an asshole. And, if you asked him, he’d unrepentantly say he was much worse than that. He can be great. He’s loyal as hell, smart, and somehow a good guy. But he’s still an asshole. There’s no way he’d go out of his waytwiceto try to clear up any ‘tiffs’.”

I was beyond ready to be off this topic. My mind was already muddled, and the conversation wasn't helping. Neither was the booze. “Well, it doesn’t matter. The barrier between us isn’t just going to disappear anytime soon. Well, maybe. I mean Ireallyhope it does.”

Okay, the puzzled faces mean I’m not making any sense. Moving on!

“By that time, though, it’ll be too late. I’m not mad. I like him and will probably see him around. Maybe he just doesn’t want things to be weird if we run into each other?”

“Jake isn’t the type to care if things are weird. He definitely isn’t the jealous type. I’ve seen girls he’s slept with make it really obvious they’re with someone new. I’m talking going at it with another guy against a wall. It’s not even a blip on his radar. You moving on with Rhys shouldn’t faze him one bit. But from what I caught in the hallway, he was plenty fazed.”

“There’s more to it. More to him. He’s hot—”

“Hell yeah, he is,” Lily muttered.

“Well, obviously in that way. But I mean he runs hot and cold. One minute he looks ticked at me. Then he looks bored. All of a sudden he’s so sweet that I swear I’m never going to stop smiling. But then he’s back to being an ass. It’s like he has male PMS that comes every twenty minutes instead of once a month.”

“Maybe it would be better if you started at the beginning,” Ray urged gently.

With some liquid courage courtesy of vodka, I began what was supposed to be a quick sum-up of what had been happening. I hadn’t planned on sharing much, but once I started talking, I couldn’t seem to stop. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed to get it out, or how awesome it would feel to finally unload.

Because my virginity was personal to me, I still didn’t get into the specifics of why things ended with Jake. But I did share everything else, including what had gone down tonight with both Rhys and Jake.

“Edge said this is all unheard of,” Ray declared as she looked up from her phone. “Jake even hinting at wanting to talk again is major. Edge also said Rhys left with a big smile on his face. Rhys doesn’t do weekends, repeats, anything more than a ‘wham, bam, thank you, now get the fuck outta my face’. All of that normally takes place in a backroom at Rye.”

“That sounds… unpleasant,” I murmured, scrunching up my nose. I liked Rhys. I didn’t like that he was that kind of guy, though.

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