I could have lost myself in those blue eyes. I was pretty sure I already had.
I picked up my camera bag, and we turned toward the parking lot hand-in-hand as a group of people approached us. There were about twelve of them, some familiar. Owen was among them. He led the group with his arm around a small brunette girl wearing itty-bitty white jean shorts and a red bikini top that did nothing to cover her huge breasts. Big Willie Ray was at his side, dragging a cooler on wheels through the sand. Several girls—including Alissa—hung to the back of the crowd.
I tensed when they spotted us.
Alissa was the first to acknowledge us... or the first to acknowledge Jake, at least.
“Hey baby,” she said, eyeing our joined hands skeptically. “Where you been?”
She reached out to put her arms around him, but he stepped back and pulled me in front of him instead. He wrapped both arms around my waist. Alissa looked at him with her jaw open and her eyes wide.
“Home, mostly we’ve just been hanging out at home. Right, baby?” he asked me.
I didn’t get a chance to answer before Alissa interrupted. “She lives with you?”
“Technically, we live together,” he clarified. She looked like she was going to be sick.
Owen left the brunette and strode toward us, stumbling in the loose sand, a beer in his left hand. He had a soft cast on his right hand and wrist. I was glad to see I’d done some lasting damage. Alissa backed away when Owen approached. “You get tired of fucking all the other whores in this town, Dunn? You gotta make a move on my sloppy seconds?” Owen was either looking for a fight or just very, very stupid. I was thinking it was a bit of both.
Jakes clenched his fists. He was ready to fight back, but I’d been fighting my own battles my entire life.
“Nice cast, Owen. Seems like you might be the one who needs a whore now, seeing as how your right hand appears to be out of commission for a while. How’d you hurt yourself, anyway?” I asked.
“Shut up, you fucking freak. Why don’t you take that shirt off and show everyone what you’re hiding under those sleeves? ‘Cause I tell ya, I got a glimpse, and it ain’t fucking pretty under there.” He turned to Jake. “Good luck with that shit, brother. Hope you don’t mind losing your hard on. When she takes that ugly hoodie off, she’s even uglier underneath.”
My face flashed hot. I didn’t think Owen had seen me. When I’d woken up, all my clothes had been intact. He obviously had seen something. All the blood rushed from my face. Jake tightened like a bow being drawn back. His eyes darkened and he reached for the back of his jeans. Before he could make a very huge and very public mistake, I reached over and held my hand over his and the gun.
“Not worth it,” I whispered. I was trying to keep calm when all I really wanted was to set Jake loose on Owen.
Jake looked at me like I was crazy. “It’s worth it to me.”
I shook my head. “Too many people around. Too impulsive.” I was reasoning with him on a level I thought he would understand. What was I going to tell him, that it was wrong to take out his gun and pop Owen right there on the beach?
How do you reason with someone who kills people for a living? All I knew was that I was talking him down from a ledge I didn’t want him to be on.
Jake released the hold on his gun and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He was fighting for control. When he opened his eyes again, he looked down and smiled at me.
Control intact.
“Why are you smiling, motherfucker?” Owen taunted him. “You can’t be too happy about fucking a freak. If you haven’t tapped that yet, you should reconsider now. The shit she’s got going on under there is a cock-blocker, for sure.” Owen winked. “Somehow, it didn’t keep me from getting the job done though.”
Jake squared his shoulders and grabbed me by the waist. He walked me right through Owen’s group of friends. Just as we passed Owen, Jake pushed me to the side and landed a punch squarely across Owen’s jaw. He went down hard. His eyes were still open when he crashed on his back in the sand. Jake didn’t miss a beat. He just kept on walking, grabbing my hand and towing me away from the gawking crowd.
“So, that’s it?” Alissa ran to catch up to us, keeping pace alongside. “You’re just with her now?” She looked me up and down like she smelled something foul.
“Yes, Alissa. I’m with her now.” Jake stopped in his tracks and turned to flash her with a look of pure anger, strong and stern. Alissa looked scared, I could see her shaking. Her mouth was open like she was trying to speak but couldn’t. “You should know that if I find out you’re talking shit about Abby, I’m not above laying you out, too.”
I could still see Alissa in the same spot we’d left her, gawking at us with an open mouth as we rode away on Jake’s bike.