Just to annoy him, Pepper counted out two full minutes before stepping from the stall. Once the rush of water stopped, she could clearly hear Jack mumbling expletives in the hall.
“Stop lurking behind the door,” she called as she grabbed a towel off the rack, her borrowed T-shirt tumbling to the floor before she could catch it. “It’s creepy.”
His receding footsteps involved some stomping, and she grinned. Needling Jack was so damn easy. Didn’t hurt that she happened to be so damn good at it.
She bent over to retrieve the T-shirt, then realized it was soaked thanks to her dripping-wet hair and the fact that she’d now as good as used it as a bathroom mat. Ah well. Who needed a shirt? She secured the towel tighter over her breasts and left the bathroom, heading for the small kitchen at the other end of the apartment.
When she walked in, she found Jack at the counter, sulking over a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon. His head lifted at her approach, and he gaped.
“What the fuck, Pepper? Put some clothes on.”
“I don’t have anything that’s clean.” She sauntered to the eat-in breakfast counter and plopped onto a stool, making sure the towel didn’t ride too high up her thighs.
“What about the T-shirt I lent you?” he said suspiciously.
“It’s on the bathroom floor and it got all wet. Oooh—can I have some of this yogurt?”
A disgruntled noise rumbled from him. “Four years of living on your own and you didn’t learn to pick up after yourself?” He leaned forward on his stool and swatted her hand before she could grab the plastic yogurt cup. “Dream on. This is the last peach one in the pack. It’s mine.”
“But I’m the guest,” she protested.
“You’re not a guest.” He smirked as he peeled off the foil yogurt lid. “You’re a hostage.”
Pepper narrowed her eyes. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means you’re not taking a step outside this apartment until you tell me what happened to you.”
So. They were doing this right out of the gate, apparently. She’d hoped to have some coffee in her system before the interrogation began, but she should’ve known Jack’s patience wouldn’t last that long.
With a sigh, she reached for the second breakfast plate on the counter and pinched a strip of bacon in her fingertips, ignoring the cutlery he’d laid out for her. “Look, it’s really not a big deal,” she said between bites. “I fell down a hill.”
And more silence.
“It’s true,” she insisted when sheer disbelief flickered in his eyes.
“You fell down a hill,” he echoed.
“Feel free to make fun of me for it.” Her tone was gracious. “It was pretty fucking stupid on my part, so I deserve to be laughed at.”
His expression was stone-cold serious. “Does it look like I’m laughing?”
She swallowed another bite, then reached for her fork to spear into some scrambled eggs. “I get it. You don’t believe me. But it’s the honest-to-God truth. It happened the night before last. We were all drinking—”
“Who’s we?”
“Me and the friends I was road-tripping with.”
Jack shoveled a spoonful of yogurt into his mouth, then set down the container. “What are their names?”
“Oh, come on, are you serious—?”
“Names.”
An irritated breath flew out. “Kendra—she’s a friend of mine. We lived in the same dorm. Dirk and Ben, also from our dorm. And Adam from my digital media class.”
“I see.” Jack swept a hand over his stubble-covered chin. “Just so I’m straight on everything—Dirk, Ben, and Adam are all female, right?”
Pepper snorted. “Do those names sound female?”
He cursed loudly. “You were on a road trip with three dudes? Three dudes?”
“Yep, three dudes. With penises and everything.”
“Pepper.”
“Jack.”
He frowned. “Pepper.”
“Jack.” Her annoyance levels snapped into high alert. “Will you wipe that disapproving look off your face? I’m a grown-up. I’m allowed to go camping with my friends, female or male. And you, Jackjack, are not my father, my brother, or my protector. Got it?”
His sharp gaze studied her face. “Did one of the guys rough you up?”
“No. I told you, it was my own stupidity.” She paused, deciding to offer another piece of the truth. “Dirk and Adam roughed each other up, okay? There was this silly misunderstanding, everyone was drunk, and the guys got all up in each other’s faces. I foolishly stepped in the middle to try to break them apart, and accidentally took a fist to the eye.” She gestured to her shiner. “That’s how I got this.”
Jack’s jaw went so tight she was surprised it didn’t snap right off his face. “One of those bastards hit you?”
“By accident. They were both horrified afterwards, and that’s what ended the fight. I was pissed at both of them for acting like such fucktards, so I went for a walk to cool off, tripped over a rock, and took a not-so-fun tumble down a hill.” She offered a glum look. “It sucked.”