Jake: Jake Understood Part 24

It was at that moment that I became sure the talk couldn't wait any longer. Deep down, I'd always known this night was going to end in one of two ways: with me inside of her or gone from the apartment. There wasn't going to be a middle ground.

I was done.

Done pretending.

Done waiting.

Done overthinking everything.

Nina belonged to me, and this s.h.i.+t needed to be worked out tonight.

Douchebag Mike was still attempting to talk to her. Nina was in the middle of politely answering one of his questions when I placed my hand on her thigh under the table. I smiled mischievously as she flinched and tripped over her words. Moving my hand slowly upwards, I made my way to her bikini line and brushed my thumb along the seam of her underwear. She had no idea how close she was to getting finger f.u.c.ked right then and there while in the middle of talking about her molecular biology requirement. Thinking better of it, I slid my hand down the length of her thigh as I squeezed it, sending her a message loud and clear with my hand that she was mine, not his. When she looked over at me, I slid my tongue ring between my teeth, both out of frustration and because it was the one thing I did that she admitted drove her crazy.

I hit my limit. I'd waited enough. Getting up from my seat without excusing myself, I took a deep breath and walked out. Returning to the spot in the empty hallway where Tarah and I had been talking earlier, I took out my phone.

Meet me in the hallway.

My heart was beating faster with each second. I had no clue what I was going to say or do to her. All I knew was that she wouldn't be returning to that seat across from him.

My hands were in my pockets when she appeared.

"Hi," she said.

The skin below her neck was red and a little blotchy. This situation had apparently gotten to her good, too.

"Hi."

"What's going on?"

"That guy was looking at you like he wanted to rip your dress off with his teeth." I'm the only one that's gonna have the privilege of doing that. "I had to get out of there before I killed him with my bare hands."

"Why would that bother you?"

She was f.u.c.king with me.

"You know why."

I moved in closer to her so that she could feel my words on her face when I spoke. "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?"

"I figured you'd be away anyway, so I just never mentioned it." Her admission filled me with regret. Nina clearly felt that she was playing second fiddle to something.

"I would never miss your birthday. Never. You underestimated how important you are to me, Nina."

"I'm sorry."

"You should have told me. Tarah called me Friday when I was already in Boston, so I decided to surprise you tonight."

"You're sneaky."

"You're f.u.c.king gorgeous."

I shut my eyes, feeling my composure slipping away. I needed to get her out of here as fast as possible and get the talk over with. Birthday or not, we couldn't go on this way any longer. Seeing her tonight had changed my ability to even wait the twenty-four hours.

"Thank you. You're not so bad yourself," she said. Then, she placed her small fingers on the bottom of my s.h.i.+rt and pulled lightly at the material, causing my d.i.c.k to harden.

I cleared my throat. "Tarah explained to me about what's his name in there. She didn't know he was going to be here when she invited me. She told me Ryan ambushed you."

"What if I were on a date?"

She wouldn't have wanted to hear the true answer to that question because it would have made me sound like a nut.

"I guess if he made you happy, I'd be okay with it."

"I see."

"That was a lie."

"Oh."

"I wouldn't be okay with it. f.u.c.k...I missed you." My hand landed on her tiny waist. When I squeezed it, she closed her eyes instantly as if I'd hit a magic spot. Our first kiss wasn't going to be in this dingy hallway. Still, the need to have my mouth on her was uncontrollable, so I grabbed her hand and kissed it hard.

"I missed you, too," she said.

"Go on a date with me."

"What?"

"Spend the rest of your birthday with me tonight. Let's get out of here right now, go somewhere, anywhere. I just want to be alone with you. I can't say what I want...do what I want...in this hallway."

We devised a plan to make up an excuse and leave. She just needed to use the bathroom first. So, I returned to the table and waited.

Mr. c.u.n.t was busy chatting about work with Ryan. I winked at Tarah and nodded to silently let her know that Nina and I were moving forward with her suggestion that we leave the dinner party.

My stomach was in knots as I used the time that Nina was in the bathroom to plan out the next couple of hours. We'd go to an intimate restaurant for a private dinner. I'd let her in on the secret that today was my birthday, too. We'd return to the apartment, and I would lay everything on the line tonight, hoping and praying that she accepted it.

Never more nervous about anything in my entire life, I grabbed Nina's wine and downed the rest of it. She wouldn't have time to finish it anyway, since my plan was to whisk her away the second she came out of the bathroom. I was going to leave first, call her on her cell pretending to be a family member with an emergency, and then she'd follow soon after. We might have left together, but that would have made things obvious, and Ryan really didn't need to know our business.

My phone vibrated. It was a text from Nina.

You f.u.c.ked Desiree???

I stood up, staring down at the phone as my heart nearly exploded out of my chest. My stomach churned. What was happening?

f.u.c.k.

f.u.c.k.

f.u.c.k.

When I looked up, Nina was squeezing through cramped tables with mascara running down her cheeks.

My call was urgent, "Nina!"

She wouldn't look at me as she made her way toward the exit. Desiree was watching the whole thing unfold with her arms crossed. It felt like a vein was going to pop out of my neck as I turned to her and screamed, "What the f.u.c.k did you say to her?"

She shrugged her shoulders with a smug look on her face.

f.u.c.king wh.o.r.e.

Needing to get to Nina, I didn't even bother to push Desiree for a response. The loud thud of a chair falling caused heads to turn as I knocked into things while running out of the restaurant.

Snowflakes tauntingly danced around my face in the air outside. Mrs. b.a.l.l.sworthy was in the window.

I held up my hands. "Not tonight, b.a.l.l.s. f.u.c.king not tonight."

I didn't need to be told to f.u.c.k myself right now because I was already royally f.u.c.ked.

CHAPTER 18.

Past Panting as I skipped over steps to get upstairs as fast as possible, I stopped briefly in front of our apartment door to grab my bearings. My gut told me that nothing was ever going to be the same after I walked in there. And now with this major hiccup, there would be another hurdle to get through before telling Nina about Ivy.

I burst through the door.

Nina was standing in front of me holding a duffel bag. My chest tightened in agony at the vision of her walking out on me. She would leave tonight over my dead body. If either one of us was going to disappear, it was going to be me.

"Nina, please...talk to me. Please."

She placed the large bag in front of her chest. "Stay away from me. I have nothing...nothing...to say to you."

My heart fell to my stomach upon seeing her use the bag as a s.h.i.+eld to protect against me. The best course of action was to keep my distance, but there was no f.u.c.king way I was going to let her run away. Trying to catch my breath, I stood right in front of the door to prevent her from leaving.

Her hair was disheveled, but she still looked so amazingly beautiful. The blue of her irises was even more striking in contrast to the racc.o.o.n eyes caused by her bleeding eye makeup.

"You have to let me explain."

"Explain! You want me to stand here and listen to you explain how you f.u.c.ked that wh.o.r.e so easily while you put my feelings through the wringer for months, confusing me and sending me mixed messages? You had no problem 'making her come until she screamed'...did you? And believe me, it was a doozy. I heard it for myself."

I blinked repeatedly trying to comprehend it. At first, the words hadn't sunk in.

I heard it for myself.

"f.u.c.k...what? What are you talking about?"

"That's right. The day I moved in. You were f.u.c.king her in your room. Remember that day? Well, I was here unpacking. I thought I was alone and didn't realize what was going on until it was too late. I heard everything, Jake...everything." She started to cry.

Flashbacks from the day that Nina moved in played out in my head like a movie on fast forward. Earlier that afternoon marked the final time Desiree and I were together.

The pink scarf on the floor in the living room.

f.u.c.k.

Nina was there.

It felt like I was going to throw up. All this time, she was hanging onto that, probably wondering how the f.u.c.k I could be with someone else intimately and not her after all these months. Desiree must have spitefully confronted her in the bathroom, and now, Nina had a face to go along with that memory. It boggled my mind to imagine what it would feel like if the situation were reversed, if I had to endure hearing Nina f.u.c.king someone else.

My heart was breaking.

"Oh my G.o.d." Walking toward her with pleading eyes, I said, "I am so sorry."

She wouldn't relent. "If you'll excuse me, please get out of my way. I need to find somewhere else to stay tonight."

"You're not going anywhere. Not until you hear me out."

"I told you. I have nothing to say to you."

I placed my hands on her arms that were covered in gooseb.u.mps. "I'll leave tonight, but I'm not going anywhere until you let me explain. Do you hear me?" I took my hand to her chin and turned her face toward me. "Look at me." She kept her eyes pointed downward. I repeated, "Look...at me."

Never more determined to get a message across, my stare burned into hers until I was sure I owned her full attention.

I tried my best to explain the situation with Desiree, how it was just s.e.x, nothing more. She didn't really seem to be understanding me. When Nina called me a wh.o.r.e, I nearly lost it.

Her bag landed on the floor in a loud thud after I threw it violently on the ground. Taking her hand, I forced her down the hall.

Once in her room, I backed her against the wall and tried once again to get it through her head how big of a mistake Desiree was. I told Nina that my heart hadn't beat the same since the day she moved into the apartment. The next minute or so was a blur as feelings held captive in my heart for months just poured out of me. Eventually, her expression began to soften. My nerves became more shot with each second because I knew I was about to tell her everything.

"You're the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about at night. And then, you invade my thoughts and dreams in between. I have tried so hard to stop these feelings. I've put up as many barriers as I could stand to, but they are crumbling down. I can't do it anymore." Burying my face in her neck, I spoke onto her skin, "I can't do it anymore...I can't do it anymore." I placed my hands on her hips and covered her mouth with mine. "I've come undone."

Unleas.h.i.+ng those three words had set me off. It was like a final b.u.t.ton had been pushed. Grabbing her face, I moaned into her mouth as I kissed her deeply with everything in me. The first recognition of her taste made me immediately addicted, needing to not only taste her mouth but every inch of her. Wanting to kiss her deeper, I urged her mouth open as my tongue lashed at hers repeatedly. It wasn't enough. As the kiss became more intense, it was impossible to keep my hands off her body. Her dress ripped as I frantically pulled at the material at her sides.

When Nina grabbed my hair, a groan so deep from the back of my throat vibrated into her mouth. My d.i.c.k was so excruciatingly hard that when she started to rub up against me, it became necessary to push back before I came. It was that bad.

Panting, I placed my hands on her cheeks. "I need to tell you something, Nina. We need to have that talk now."

A look of pure terror washed over her face as several seconds of tense silence pa.s.sed.

"I don't care about your past or what's going on in Boston. Please...I'm begging you. Let's not do this now. Don't say anything tonight. We'll have the talk tomorrow like we were supposed to. What I need right now more than I have ever needed anything is for you to make love to me, Jake."

My hands shook as they remained cupped around her face. The temptation of taking her up on that offer was simply too strong to resist.

Don't say anything.