Page 85 of Jaked

"Pretty much."

"Well maybe," I said, "I'd have been more helpful if you had told me what was going on."

"Why?" he said. "So you could spend half the night looking over your shoulder? Now answer the question. What'd you see in that guy?"

I didn't want to discuss it. I stalled. "Maybe you're not the only one with questions around here," I told him.

"Fair enough." He crossed his arms. "Answer mine, and I'll answer one of yours."

"Anything?" I said.

"Anything."

"Deal," I said.

I knew exactly what I was going to ask him, too, and it wasn't going to be a simple yes or no thing. This was going to be a full essay question, something that required multiple pages. I smiled. And footnotes. Jake had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Sucker.

"What are you smiling about?" he said.

"Nothing." Just that in a few short minutes, he'd be telling me everything he'd been doing since I'd seen him last.

"I'm waiting," Jake said. "About Rango?"

"Oh alright," I said. "Fine. I'll go first."

I made my way to the nearest sofa and sank onto it. Jake pushed away from the wall and claimed the love seat opposite me. He stretched out his long legs and made a forwarding motion with his hand.

"Okay," I said. "I guess he was fun. At first." I cleared my throat. "And hot."

"Hot." Jake gave me a dubious look. "Rango?"

"Well, I don't think that anymore," I said. "Now that I know he's a jackass."

"That's one word for him."

I rolled my eyes. "I know, he's a dick. I got that." I leaned forward. "Now, it's my turn, right?"

"No."

I sank backwards. "Why not?"

"Because you need to hear something."

"What?"

"Guys like that? They're not for you."

"Guys like what?"

"Guys who come on strong and have more flash than brains. Guys who think that just because they're somebody, they can treat nice girls like shit." His voice hardened. "Guys who'd make a girl like you afraid and get their rocks off doing it."

"Get real," I said. "I wasn't afraid of Rango."

"Yeah?" he said. "Is that why you were living in some shithole with some low-life skank?"

My jaw dropped. Well, that was rich. Before I could stop myself, words I never planned on saying flew out of my mouth. "You mean the lowlife you fucked last night?"