Page 29 of Fight for Me
Jake talked her through positioning the jack beneath her car and cranking it, and the Infiniti rose slowly off the ground with jerky movements. After a while, Lexie realized he’d never once said she should have already known how to do this or that she was lacking in any way. He simply gave her the skills she didn’thave, without question or accusation, and that made her feel like she could conquer anything.
With the lug nuts gone and the tire off the ground, Lexie reached to remove the old wheel. Jake’s hands brushed over hers as he did the same.
“Maybe let me get this,” he said. “They can be pretty heavy.”
“I can do it,” she insisted, and Jake looked at her with something that was almost admiration.
“Alright, Wonder Woman. You can do it,” he said, moving back—though Lexie noticed he didn’t go very far.
She yanked on the tire and immediately pitched forward when it plummeted to the ground. Jake’s hands darted out and grabbed her shoulders, keeping her from smacking her forehead on the fender.
“See? I told you I could do it,” she said, panting as she sat back on her heels.
Jake was grinning from ear to ear.
“I never doubted you,” he answered. “Although, I do think gravity helped a little.”
Lexie smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand, forgetting to second-guess herself. This was the Jake she’d wanted.
“I’ve missed you,” she said, the words slipping out before she could censor them. Jake stilled, his expression frozen, and Lexie cleared her throat. “I’ve missedthis,” she clarified as she gestured between them. “I hated this last week.”
A muscle in Jake’s jaw twitched, and he swallowed hard. “Yeah. I hated it, too,” he admitted.
“I’m sorry,” Lexie went on, casting her eyes toward the ground. “I should have told you. I just... didn’t know how.”
Jake sighed and rubbed one hand across the back of his neck. He obviously knew what she meant.
“It’s okay, Lex. We’re good.”
“Yeah?” she asked, more hopeful than she should have been.
“Yeah,” he confirmed, bumping his shoulder against hers.
“Thank you for coming out here,” she said again, picking up a few lug nuts and rolling them in her palm while he reached for the spare tire. There was a long silence as she debated whether or not to ask the question that had imprinted itself in her mind, but friends talked about this kind of thing, didn’t they? And that’s what she and Jake were—friends.
“Did your date from Friday go well?” she finally asked, trying to calm the jitters in her belly. It didn’t matter what he said. Not really.
A deep crease formed on Jake’s brow as he stopped. He seemed to be studying the side of her car as if it might answer his next question.
“My . . . what?”
“The girl from the pool hall? She’s pretty.”
He blinked several times, as if the words weren’t registering.
“Last Friday? I was there with friends. You were with somebody? Sorry, I just assumed...” Lexie trailed off, unsure why he didn’t understand. Maybe she’d been wrong about him after all. Maybe he went out with so many girls that he didn’t remember them all.
The thought made her stomach clench.
“Last Friday...” Jake seemed to be thinking hard, and then his face smoothed out. The corners of his mouth flickered, like he was fighting a smile. “Oh, you mean Brooklyn,” he supplied. His attention seemed to shift back to positioning the new tire.
Lexie tried to ignore the way his fingers brushed across her palm when he retrieved the lug nuts, leaving licks of fire in their wake.
“Brooklyn,” she repeated, testing the word. “You looked comfortable together.”
Jake glanced over, and their eyes met for a fleeting moment.
“We should be. I’ve known her since I was four.”
