Page 26 of Jaked

I turned to zoom in on the rear of the car, bothered by something I couldn't quite place. And then it hit me. "My suitcases."

"What about them?" Jake asked.

With a shaky finger, I reached out and pointed toward the damage. "They're in the trunk."

Trey reached up to stroke his chin. "Well that's not good," he said.

I looked down and covered my face with my hands. In the big scheme of things, it shouldn't have been a big deal. When I considered all the destruction – two vehicles and some guy's face – my two cheap suitcases barely registered on the scale of importance.

But for some reason, they suddenly seemed very important. Within the last couple hours, I'd lost my apartment, my roommate, and the job that was supposed to be my stepping-stone out of crapville. Instead, I was on a joyride to nowhere fast.

No. Not a joyride. Because there was nothing joyful aboutthisjourney. Why had I even gotten into Jake's car? Sadly, I knew the answer all too well. I had nowhere else to go.

Oh sure, I could slink back to my hometown and crash with one of my parents, but the thought of hearing "I told you so," was more than I could stomach. Everyone had expected me to fail, and I'd be damned if I'd live down to their expectations. Again.

But who was I kidding? I already had.

Desperately, I ran through my options. Maybe I could call my sister. She'd take me in. Probably. Sure, we hadn't talked in a few months. But shehadbeen calling me, well, before I changed my phone number, anyway.

I blew out a long, unsteady breath. Damn it. But between both my jobs and the thing with Rango, I'd been avoiding almost everyone and everything. Just until things settled down, I told myself. But somehow, they never had.

"Is she okay?" Trey asked.

"Hey, I'm right here," I muttered into my hands. "I can hear you just fine, you know."

"Are you sure?" Trey said, "because you've been standing there like a zombie for like ten minutes."

Behind me, I heard Jake say, "Lay off her, will ya?" A moment later, I felt strong arms gather me into him. I caught my breath. I'd never been this close to him, but he felt exactly as I'd always imagined – lean and hard and utterly invincible. I turned and buried my face against his chest.

I tried to laugh. "This is all your fault," I said against his shirt.

He stroked my hair. "I know," he said.

I pulled away and gazed up at him with bleary eyes. "Really?"

"No," he said. "But I'll still make it up to you."

This time, I did laugh. I couldn't help it. Reluctantly, I pulled away to look at his car. I winced. "I'm sorry about your car. How bad is it?"

"Eh, it's drivable," he said.

"Yeah, but for how far?" I asked.

"Far enough," Jake said. "Now come on." He flicked his head toward the vehicle. "Let's get out of here."

I studied his shirt, ripped and splattered. "That's blood, isn't it?' Of course, the question was utterly stupid. What else could it be?

Jake tucked his chin to look down. "Well, it's not ketchup. That's for damn sure."

I swallowed. "Is that yours? Or his?" I closed my eyes. "Forget it. I'm not sure I want to know."

When I opened my eyes again, Jake was staring straight down at my breasts. And frowning.

My face grew warm. Okay, so I wasn't the best endowed girl on the planet, but I didn't have anything to be ashamed of. And besides, talk about rude.

"Hey!" I said, pointing to my face. "I'm up here. Okay?"

From off to the side, Trey said, "Oh man, that's gross."