Page 54 of Jake Forever
Chapter 21
Holding Jake's cell phone, I scrolled until I found it, that awful photo of me. Trying not to cringe, I gave it a quick glance, but noticed nothing new.
I kept on scrolling, not through his pictures, but through the other screens. I knew exactly what I was looking for, and I wasn't planning to stop until I found it.
By now, I had a theory. The scary duo had taken that picture from the window of that gold SUV. And then, trouble-makers that they were, they'd texted that stupid picture to Jake, along with some sort of message.
Finally, I found it – the series of texts that accompanied the photo. Turns out, I'd been right.
Score one for me.
Hey, I needed the point. Today, I was so far behind, I needed all the help I could get.
I squinted down at the sender's name. "Who's Moe?" I recalled the two losers who'd given me such a hard time. "The guy or the girl?"
"If there was a girl," Jake said, "it's first I've heard of it."
I looked up. "So, that guy, Moe, you know him?"
It was a stupid question. Of course, Jake knew him. Not only had Moe practically fled at the mention of Jake's name, he was a personal-contact on Jake's cell phone. And to top it all off, the way it looked, he and Jake were on texting terms.
What were they? Best buddies or something?
Jake gave a shrug. "Yeah, you might say I know him."
"How?" I asked. "Are you friends or something?"
"I wouldn’t go that far."
Well, that was a relief. I guess. I looked down to the phone and started scrolling up, looking for the first text in the series.
"If you're gonna read them," Jake said, "read them out loud."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
Well, that wasn't bossy or anything. But fearful of Jake snatching his phone away, I decided not to argue.
Already, I'd found the first text. It was the one that accompanied the photo. It had only four words, from Moe to Jake. Reluctantly, I read those words out loud. "This belong to you?"
The words burned in my throat.This?Meaning me? What the hell?
I looked up, meeting Jake's gaze. "So I'm a 'this'? Like a possession?"
"In Moe's world? Yeah. You are." His jaw clenched. "But you're my 'this,' which is why you're standing here, nice and safe, right now."
His words, filled with hints of unspoken danger, sent another cold shiver down my spine. Trying for a bravado that I didn't quite feel, I said, "Yours, huh? As opposed to what? Moe's newest party girl?"
Silently, Jake looked down at me for a long, tense moment. And then, when he finally spoke, his voice was deadly quiet. "That's not a party you'd enjoy."
"Well, obviously." With an effort, I shook off the chill and looked back to his phone, determined to keep on reading. "And then you say, 'Yes. That's mine.Allmine.'" The "all" was in capital letters. But that wasn't what caught my attention. It was the way Jake had phrased it.
With growing resentment, I said those first words again, this time as a question. "That'smine?"
In a sense, it was true. I was his. And he was mine. But the phrasing was off in so many ways.
It felt wrong and foreign. I was so offended I could hardly speak. And yet, I'd be lying if I didn't admit, if only to myself, that it sent an embarrassing thrill straight through my heart and lower, to places covered by the cold denim of my soggy Daisy Dukes.
