Page 17 of Jaked

Oh crap.

Slowly, I turned toward Jake. "Wait a minute," I said, my mouth feeling way too dry. "You're not taking me tohim,are you?" I reached toward the door handle and eyed the next red light.

"What are you gonna do?" Jake said. "Jump?"

I bit my lip. "Maybe."

"Well don't," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because," he said, "Rango can kiss my ass."

I swallowed. "He can?"

"Yeah," Jake said. "Because from now on, you're with me."

Something about the way he said it made butterflies dance in my stomach. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. When we reached the light, Jake turned to face me. Briefly, his gaze dipped to my lips, and I felt my tongue brush the back of my teeth.

Okay, so the guy had just spent most of the previous night screwing my roommate. I should've been disgusted. Part of mewasdisgusted. But there was another part – the remnant of the girl I used to be – that was more than a little intrigued. What exactly had he been doing to her?

Somehow, I found my voice. "What do you mean?" I asked.

His dark gaze met mine, and I saw possessiveness in his eyes. If looks could claim, I'd have already been his.

But then, he spoke in a voice cold enough to give me goosebumps – not the good kind, the other kind. "No one," he said, "fucks with my family."

I stared over at him. "Huh?"

A few cars behind us, a horn honked. I glanced ahead. The light was green. Jake hit the accelerator, and we roared forward.

Jake glanced in the rear-view mirror. His jaw tightened. A horn honked again.

I refused to be distracted. "What do you mean, family?" I said.

"Not now," Jake said.

"Why not now?" I demanded.

Jake reached back to wave a hand in front of Trey's face. Trey looked up and removed the headphones.

Jake turned to me. "Hang on," he said.

Before I ask why, he whipped the car onto a narrow side street. I glanced outside my window. There was barely any traffic, but along the sidewalks, I saw a fair number of pedestrians, some in business attire, some in workout clothes.

We weren't speeding, but something about Jake's demeanor was making my uneasy. I glanced behind us, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, just some oversized luxury car, mostly white, except for a big gold grill that took up most of the front end.

I returned my attention to Jake. "So," I said, "you live around here?"

"No."

"Oh fine. I give up." I closed my eyes and leaned back in the seat. Maybe if I were lucky, I'd wake up in my own bed – correction, Monica's old bed, before she was busted – and before Jake got me fired and kicked out of my sorry excuse for an apartment.

"Luna," Jake said.

I didn't bother to open my eyes. "What?"

"Brace yourself."