Page 84 of Jake Forever
As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back. Knowing my brothers, I'd never hear the end of this.
Already, they were both laughing their fool heads off.
I flopped back onto the sofa. "You know what? Just forget it."
Steve was still laughing. "In your dreams." He looked to Anthony and said, "Dude, I've gotta say, twenty bucks? You start tapping anythingthatcheap, and things are gonna fall off." He gave a slow nod. "Important things."
Anthony leaned back and said, "Hey, if money changes hands,I'mthe one getting paid. And not for no twenty bucks neither."
It was all a load of crap. I knew my brothers. Sex for money – whether paying or charging – wasn't remotely their thing.
Thank God.
Steve looked to me and held out his hand, palm-up. "Now come on, let's see it."
I gave him a horrified look. "The picture?"
With a nod, he shoved his hand closer. "Come on. It's on your phone, right?"
"Yeah, but you're not seeing it."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't wantanyoneseeing it."
"Because you looked like a ho-bag?"
"Oh, shut up," I said. "Seriously. Don'tyouhave any photos thatyoudon't want passed around?"
Steve shook his head. "Not me." He looked to Anthony and asked, "You?"
Anthony shookhishead, too. "Nope. Sorry."
Inside my pocket, my cell phone buzzed. "Oh, crap," I muttered.
"What?" Anthony asked.
I wanted to groan. "It's probably Rango again."
Steve gave me an odd look. "Again?"
"Yeah, he's been calling me off and on for the past few hours. It's really annoying, actually."
"What does he want?" Steve asked.
"I dunno. He says he wants to get together, but I don't think that's really it. It's gotta be something else."
"Like what?" Anthony asked.
"Well, I have a theory." I leaned forward and said, "I think he's trying to lure me away from Jake, so Bianca can move in for the kill. You know, like they're working together or something."
Anthony glanced toward my phone, still buzzing in my pocket. "Why don't you just block his number?"
"I did," I said. "I've blocked like twenty numbers already, but it's like he's got a million phones or something."
I pulled out my own phone and checked the caller's number. Sure enough, it was another one that I didn't recognize.
Just great.
