Page 10 of Jaked

I turned to Jake. "Why am I supposed to know where you live?"

Still driving, Jake shrugged. Again, I turned toward the guy in the back. "And who are you?" I asked.

The guy grinned. "I'm Trey. His assistant."

I turned to Jake. "You have an assistant?"

"Apparently," Jake said.

Apparently? What did that mean? I turned to Trey. "What do you do, exactly?"

The guy slid a wary look in Jake's direction. "Whatever he wants."

"Well that's a pretty broad job description," I said.

Trey's grin widened. "Don't you know it."

Jake, with his left hand still draped over the steering wheel, reached toward the back with his right. He opened his hand, palm up. "Shirt," he said.

Trey reached down into a thick black satchel. He pulled out a cream-colored dress shirt with the tags still attached. Pulling a small pair of scissors from his pocket, Trey snipped off the tags and draped the shirt over Jake's open palm.

I glanced down at the fallen tags and caught my breath. If that shirt was the real deal, it cost nearly as much as my rent. I gave Jake a sideways glance and instantly regretted it.

Still shirtless, he leaned back in his seat. He looked like sin and sex and something a girl like me would be smart to avoid. I hadn't always been smart. I straightened in the seat. Well I was smart now. I felt myself nod. Yup. Utterly reformed.

Next to me, Jake was shrugging into his shirt. His ab muscles contracted, making the washboard shadows twist and shift in the morning light. My tongue brushed my upper lip. I sucked it back in and clamped my lips shut.

Annoyed – half with him and half with myself – I opened my mouth to ask, "Aren't you gonna pull over to do that?"

"Nah," he said. "I do this all the time. No big deal."

I glanced back at Trey, who gave me a solemn nod. "It's true," he said.

I leaned back and closed my eyes.

"If you're planning to sleep," Jake said, "forget it."

I didn't bother to open my eyes. "Why's that?" I said.

"Because," he said, "you've got some explaining to do."

My eyes flew open, and I whirled to face him. "Me?" I said. "Ihave some explaining to do? Well, that's rich."

"You can start any time," he said.