Page 14 of Jack Rabbit (Dark Trails #1)

14

ADAIR

M y mind is still in a haze when I get behind the wheel, which is probably why it takes a few rounds of turning the key and listening to the engine cough before the reality that my car isn’t starting sinks in.

I get out of it and walk around, but I don’t have the slightest idea what the problem is or what to do now. The breeze has picked up again. I shiver and get back in the car, tipping my head back onto the headrest and shutting my eyes so I can try to think. Something pokes into my ribs. I twist around and find the culprit: a tag sticking up from the waistband of the pants I’m wearing.

At least Jack had the foresight to not make me drive home naked. After I scrambled across the parking lot, I found a tidy pile of clothes folded on the hood of my car. I wiggled out of the ties on my wrists and yanked everything on immediately, using a couple of fast-food napkins and the bedraggled strip of my T-shirt that had bound my wrists to wipe my face clean.

The new T-shirt is the regular brand I usually wear, but the pants are a nicer version of the ones I was wearing that Jack cut up. The briefs are almost uncomfortably silky, making me squirm as they rub against my cock when I twist myself around in the seat to snap off the plastic tail of the tag. Holding it in my palm, I look at the price. Yeah, these are definitely nicer. It almost makes me feel bad.

Headlights fall over me as I hear the rumble of an engine. A minute later, a big pickup truck rolls up next to me and the window slides down. Behind the wheel, Jack looks annoyed.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

“It won’t start.”

“You’re not allowed to leave it here overnight.”

I roll my eyes. “It. Won’t. Start.”

“So get it towed.”

I feel my eyes fly wide as I swing the door open and get out of the car. “That’s going to be, like, hundreds of dollars from here.”

“Not my problem,” he says coolly. “I’m just telling you it has to be out of this lot.”

“Or what?” I put my hands on my hips. I’m indignant. This bossy asshole has a lot of nerve riding my ass after what he just put me through. Especially about something that’s not even my fault.

“It’ll get towed.”

“I don’t have the money for that!” I’m suddenly fighting the urge to cry.

Jack shrugs again, indifferent and infuriating. “So call your parents.”

“I’m not rich!” I burst out.

He scowls, his bushy black brows drawing low. “Which is exactly what rich brats always say.”

“What the hell, dude?” I shake my head, emboldened by my anger. “Come on, what about this piece of shit —” I indicate my car, “makes you think I’m rolling in dough?”

Jack rolls his eyes, that dark glower still on his face. “Oh, please. All the little hipsters who come here from the city are driving decrepit old station wagons, Jeeps, FJs. It’s a trend or something.”

Now I roll my eyes. “Awesome. So I’m trendy now. I’ll remember that the next time I’m debating which flavor of ramen noodles to buy,” I snap. I’m a little over this by now, even though I’m curious why he thinks I’m a rich kid.

He snorts and I see a flash of deeper anger in his eyes. “Which is why you’re holding some fucking eight-dollar frozen coffee every time I lay eyes on you.”

My head snaps up. Now I’m the one not hiding my anger. “Are you fucking kidding me?” In hindsight, I’m sure it’ll be funny to think about me shooting that line at him derisively instead of the other way around, but right now I’m just hot. “I fucking work there.”

His eyes register surprise. “Yeah, I’m a barista. I’m literally every goddamn cliche about slackers you’ve ever heard. I have a handful of college credits in graphic design I’m never going to do anything useful with, I work at a fancy coffee shop and my hobbies are walking in the woods, reading trashy romance novels and jerking off. Happy?” I glare at him.

It’s just quiet between us for a minute. When he sighs, he still sounds annoyed. “Do you need a jump, then?”

“Um, I don’t know. Maybe, I guess?”

“Did you try to start it?”

I just look at him. “Duh.”

His lips quirk up for the briefest second. I watch him bat his amusement back down as his eyes narrow. “Watch your mouth, Bunny. Did it turn over at all?”

“Kind of.”

“Did you try it a bunch more times hoping it would start?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Hmm.” He stares out over the hood of his truck for a moment, tapping a thick finger against his pursed lips. “Do the headlights work?”

“I don’t —” I see his scowl and cut myself off to hustle behind the wheel. I try to turn them on. Nothing. I climb out and shake my head at him. “Uh-uh.”

“Alright, pop the hood.”

“What?” I’m stunned that he’s going out of his way to do anything nice for me, but when he narrows his eyes I realize I just made it look — again — like I can’t follow even the simplest instructions.

He noses the big front grill of his truck right up to mine and gets out, leaving the engine running as he approaches my car. “Key in it?”

I nod. He makes a face as he wedges his big frame uncomfortably behind the wheel. I see him turn the key but there’s just a sad little clicking noise when he does.

“Yeah, it’s your battery,” he announces. I get out of his way as he drops the tailgate of his truck, swings himself up into the bed and rummages around. He carries his considerable bulk easily, limber and light on his feet as he hops out with jumper cables in his hands.

I should look away before he catches me ogling him and crushes my ego with another cutting, caustic crack, but I can’t help myself. Jack opens the hood of his truck and connects one end of the cables to his truck battery. When he leans over into the engine compartment of my car to reach the battery terminals, the back of his shirt comes untucked and rides up.

I can’t tear my eyes away from the impressive view of his ass. My imagination leaps into high gear, thinking about him pinning me down, my face between his cheeks, nearly suffocating me as he forces me to lick his hairy crack all the way down to his hot, musky hole —

Fuck me. Even though he’s willing to chase me through the woods, degrade me and hate-dominate me, I should not be thinking filthy thoughts about Jack right now. Maybe it’s a good thing he’s a bossy asshole and the biggest fucking jerk I’ve ever met. Otherwise, I’d probably have a raging crush on him by now. Even with the fact that he makes no secret about hating my guts, thinking about him gets me all hot and confused at the same time.

I’m still pondering twenty minutes later when Jack disconnects the cables and tells me to start my car again. It’s the same clicky nothing. “Damn,” he mutters.

He slams the hood of his truck down with a bang that makes me jump and stalks over to the passenger side, opening the door with a jerk. “Do you need a ride home, then?” He sounds like he’d rather be doing anything but asking the question.

“But what about my car? You said it could get —”

He interrupts me with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry about it. But you’ll have to get somebody out here tomorrow who can replace the battery. Tomorrow — understand?”

“Yeah, uh-huh. Thank you,” I say, but my voice falters when he glares at me.

“Shouldn’t you lock it?”

I laugh bitterly. “Why? If somebody wants to try and steal it, they’re going to be shit out of luck. Would serve them right. Maybe if I leave it open, some good Samaritan will come along and fix it for me.”

Jack snorts and rolls his eyes like he can’t even be bothered to answer my stupidity with real words. I get into the passenger seat and look around. It’s a nice truck. I give him my address and text Gigi to ask if either her boyfriend or her brother could help me get a new battery in this thing tomorrow afternoon.

The hot intensity of the scene with Jack has faded with the more immediate, real-world problem of my car. I don’t have any idea how much a new battery will cost and I’m afraid to find out.

His deep voice breaks the silence. “This isn’t going to happen anymore,” he says tersely.

With my mind still on my car, I think that’s what he’s talking about at first. “No, no — I’m sorry. I’ll get somebody to put in a new battery so I don’t have to get it towed, and I really do appreciate the ride —”

“I mean, this isn’t going to happen anymore.”

“What —”

“In the woods. Anywhere. Any of it.” His voice is cold. “We can’t keep doing this.” He pauses. “Besides, I’m not going to be here for much longer, anyway.”

“Wait, you’re moving? When? How far?”

“Soon. And far enough,” he snaps.

“Why do you hate me?” I demand.

“I don’t hate you,” he counters. “I don’t care enough to hate you.”

“What the fuck? You at least care enough to get your rocks off dominating me.”

In the dim light of the dash, I can see him scowl and shake his head without answering. I press him. “What was tonight, then?”

Jack looks away from the road long enough to look me dead in the eye as he spits the words at me. “A mistake.”