Page 21 of Jaked

Was I the only sane person in the world?

Craning my neck, I hollered toward the crowd just outside my car window. "What's happening?" I called out to no one in particular.

A tall guy near the front said, "Fight."

"No kidding!" I yelled. "Who's winning?"

The guy shrugged.

With a low curse, I tried the door-handle again. Nothing happened. Frantically, I unbuckled my seat belt and pushed myself up to crawl out my car window. I was maybe halfway out when two bodies thudded against the front bumper.

I ducked back inside and watched in open-mouthed horror as Jake and the big guy faced off. Jake's shirt was torn and splattered with red, but the rest of him looked surprisingly unscathed. In contrast, the stranger's face was a bloody mess. The guy was swinging wildly as Jake bobbed and weaved, avoiding blow after blow.

And then, Jake reached out. He grabbed a handful of the guy's shirt and somehow managed to toss the guy forward, sending him sliding, face down, across the hood of the car.

The guy kicked back, catching Jake in the chest. When Jake reeled backward, the guy crawled forward until his face, leaving a trail of blood across the glass, was mashed against the front windshield mere inches in front of me.

"Oh my God," I said, whirling toward Trey. "Do something!"

Holding the camera-phone steady in his right hand, Trey reached out with his left. He hit a switch near the steering wheel. A stream of water squirted across the windshield's glass. A moment later, the wipers started moving back and forth, whacking the guy in the face.

"That's not what I meant!" I screamed.

In front of me, the wipers were still going strong, leaving a trail of soggy blood as the guy sputtered and tried to swat the wipers aside.

From the driver's seat, Trey started to snicker.

"It's not funny!" I said.

And then, as if my prayers were answered, I saw the flashing of police lights. On the hood, the big guy was still sputtering. Beside me, Trey was still filming. In front of the car, Jake was still standing.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God.

And then, through the blood-smeared glass, Jake's gaze zoomed in on me. When he caught my eye, he gave me that same cocky grin I'd seen a million times in my memories.

Oh yeah. I'd seen that smile before. It did the same thing now as it did back then. God, he was such an ass. But I couldn’t help it. There was a part of me that wanted to smile back.