Page 111 of Jaked

I whirled toward him. "What'sthatsupposed to mean?"

Bishop eyed Jake with obvious disapproval. "Nothing."

My gaze narrowed. "You meantsomething." With a sigh of frustration, I turned to Jake. When I saw him, I caught my breath. His body was rigid, and his eyes were blazing. But he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at his brother.

When Jake spoke, his voice was almost scary. He took a slow step toward Bishop. "Get the fuck out."

Bishop didn't move. "You gonna make me?"

Jake took another step toward him. "If it comes to that."

"Oh for God's sake," I muttered. I turned to Bishop. "Just go. Alright?"

"You heard her," Jake said. "She's staying.You'releaving. Alone."

Bishop still didn't move, and he didn't speak. He gave me a penetrating look, and the silence became deafening. Slowly, he turned his gaze on Jake. Around us, the tension grew so thick I could hardly breathe.

Desperate to end the standoff, I blurted out, "Know what I need?"

Both guys turned to look at me.

"What?" Jake asked.

"Um…" Oh crap. I didn't actually have an answer. My gaze bounced around the penthouse and landed on the open kitchen. "Waffles." I gave a vigorous nod. "Yup. Waffles. Definitely. With bacon. And uh, extra butter."

For a long moment, no one said anything. Jake glanced toward the kitchen.

But it was Bishop who first spoke. "Not a problem," he said. "We'll hit a breakfast place on the way back."

"Actually," I said, "I meanthomemadewaffles."

Bishop turned toward Jake. "You cook?" Bishop said.

"Sure, he does," I said. "He's really good at it too." One time, I'd seen Jake roast a hot dog at the beach. That counted for something, right?

Bishop was still giving Jake that dubious look. "Right," Bishop said.

"So, uh, anyway," I told Bishop, "you probablyshouldget going."

He pulled his gaze from Jake. "Is that so?" he said.

"Yeah." I summoned up a smile. "But hey, you know what you should do?"

Next to me, Jake muttered, "Go fuck himself?"

I gave Jake an annoyed look. "No," I said with more patience than I felt. "He should get some waffles to go." I turned back to Bishop. "You know that breakfast place you were talking about? You could swing by on the way back, and maybe get a bag of them or something."

Bishop's eyebrows furrowed. "A bag. Of waffles."

"Or whatever they put them in," I said. "Jeez. You could surprise Selena. You know, she's not a morning person, so, uh, she'd probably really like that."

From the look on Bishop's face, he wasn't in a waffly mood. "You want me to leave?" he said. "Is that's what you're saying?"

Jake stepped forward. "It's whatI'msaying. Except I don't give a shit whether you pick up waffles or not."

I whirled toward him. "Shush!"

His eyebrows lifted. "Shush?"