The last house in the subdivision was dark and silent, and a truck flew down the road so fast that it caused my pulse to spike. I stopped at the end of the road, lifting my hands and pulling the hair that had slipped free of my bun back from my face.
He’d kissed me. He’d touched me. He’d held me. He’d tried to make me find something other than dancing so I could fly again.
Stupid tears burned the back of my eyes, partly due to frustration and the other part—well, it was more stupid than me walking back home. I let go of my hair and the wind caught some of the strands, tossing them around.
What was I doing? Cam would freak when I didn’t come back. He’d probably call search and rescue. And Jase? He probably thought I was completely psycho, but he said . . . and I thought . . . I had thought wrong.
I squeezed my eyes shut against the tears. Seeing Jase with another girl hurt like a kick to the face. It made me doubt what I harbored for him was just a stupid crush, because this—this was not how you reacted when you saw your crush with someone else.
I opened my eyes, hating the fact that my lashes felt damp. This was not me. I was not this kind of girl. I was not—
Two headlights lit up the road, quickly bearing down on me. I twisted halfway, and my heart plummeted. It was a Jeep, but it couldn’t be.
No way.
Brakes squealed as the car screeched to a halt beside me, and I was suddenly staring at Jase’s face through the open passenger window. His eyes were shadowed, but his lips were pressed into a tight, furious thin line. “I’ve been calling you.”
I didn’t have a response to that which didn’t include fuck off.
Jase leaned half of his long body into the passenger seat, and now that I could see his eyes, they were a deep, stormy gray. “Get in the car.”
“No.” The word came out, and fuck, if it didn’t feel good saying it.
He glared at me. “Get in the car, Tess.”
“I don’t think so.”
He looked away, taking a deep breath before returning his attention to me. “What are you doing all the way out here? It better not be what I think you’re doing, because you cannot possibly be that stupid.”
And just like that, an emotional switch was thrown. Anger flooded my system. I skipped right out of drama llama land and straight into crazy bitch land. “I’m not that stupid? The fact that you have to ask me what I’m doing is pretty stupid when it’s damn obvious. I’m walking home.”
He stared at me like I’d just admitted to having a penis. “You’re walking home?”
“Did I stutter?” I snapped. Not my most clever of all comebacks, but I was rewarded when his expression clouded over.
“Are you fucking insane?” When I didn’t respond, he cursed and then jerked the wheel to the curb. Leaving the engine running, he hopped out of the Jeep and was in front of me in an instant. With his height, he towered over me, but all I saw was that his shirt was still unbuttoned. “First off, you are walking on a major highway. A car could come flying down too close to the shoulder and hit you! Kill you, Tess.”
As if to prove his point, a car flew down the road, music thumping from its speakers. Perfect timing. I folded my arms. “I—”
“Or someone could stop.” He caught the edge of my chin, forcing me to hold his gaze when I started to look away. “And not someone who’s interested in just giving you a ride home. Do you understand me?”
I blanched. “I do, but—”
“And then there’s your knee. Did you even think about that?” Man, he was on a roll. He still had my chin, daring me to even blink. “You think it’s good for your injury to walk that far? And because of what?”
I opened my mouth to say something that was probably not going to make this situation any better, but that’s not what came out of my mouth. “Was the cupcake for her?”
Damn me straight to hell and back. I was never drinking again. Fuck beer and the keg it rode in on.
Jase’s eyes held mine, and what felt like an eternity stretched out before he dropped his hand and cursed. “Get in the car, Tess. And do not argue with me.” He started to turn, but then whipped back toward me. “Fuck it.”
He didn’t even give me a chance to follow him. Like the first day he joined music class, one second I was standing and the next second I was over his shoulder. The world tilted and my hair fell forward in a tangled mess.
“What the hell?” I shrieked, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. “Put me down!”
“Hell no. I’m not standing out here arguing with you.” He stalked over to the Jeep and yanked open the door. “You and I are going to talk—”
“I don’t want to talk to you!” I slammed my palm into his back. He didn’t make a sound as he turned around, dropping me onto the front seat. “You—”
“You move out of that seat, I swear to God, I will sit on you,” he warned.
“I don’t—what? Sit on me? What are you? Two?”
Jase gripped the door. “Stay there.”
“I’m not a dog.”
He leaned in, putting his face right in mine. Up close, his eyes were a stunning shade of silver. “Stay here. If you get out, I will chase after you. Like a dog.”