Page 97 of Hyde and Seek

Jake leaned down and kissed me. I knew his touch wasn’t to provoke a reaction, but just because he wanted to do it. “Yeah. I’ll come with. Don’t want to have to punch anyone else.”

A shiver ran through me when he placed his hand on my bare back.

As we walked away, I subtly looked to the side. Unsurprisingly, Chloe was glaring at us with her arms crossed. What caught me off guard was also seeing Dana staring us down with envy darkening her face.

She’s always had a thing for James. Shouldn’t she be dancing on a table or something?

The animosity was a physical feeling that hit me hard.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, letting everything go. I couldn’t control how other people felt. I could, however, control how I dealt with it.

And, tonight especially, I’d deal with it by enjoying time with my man.

When we got to the bar, Jake looked down at me, eyes searching my face. “You good?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Chloe. Sorry, babe, her man works for one of the companies that we invite. She never comes. I don’t know why she’s here.”

Oh, I know why she’s here. And it isn’t to bid on the theater tickets.

“Do you love her?”

“Fuck no. What the hell would make you ask that?”

“Do you want to take her home tonight instead of me?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t care.”

Jake backed me into the bar, his arms at my sides holding onto the ledge. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“I like hearin’ that. A lot.”

“Good, ‘cause I like saying it.”

“Remind me never to piss you off, though. The way you handled that? Sweet as fuck, but you made it clear if she was gonna be a bitch, you’d outdo her. Instead of being pissed at her interruptin’ us, I was tryin’ not to get hard at your sweet version of attitude. So, never mind what I just said. Expect me to piss you off.”

I laughed up at him, but did it while pushing my body closer. “Don’t you have some official business to handle that would be hard to do if you were, well, hard?”

“Yeah, shit, I gotta go finish up.”

We walked towards a table near the stage where Xavier, Key, and a couple other people were sitting.

“Who’s that next to Key?” I whispered to Jake.

“Everett. They’re… complicated.”

“Wait, you mean that’s his date?”

“If Everett had his way. Like I said, complicated.”

I looked back at the table. “He looks familiar…” Suddenly it dawned on me where I recognized him from.

“What?”

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