“You can’t be here,” he whispers.
“Why? Why can’t I be here? Have you got a wife I don’t know about? A girlfriend? Oh god,doyou have a girlfriend?” I ask, mortified. I kissed him and I don’t even know if he’s attached to someone else. Not only that, I’m not sure I can stomach seeing him with them.
“I wouldn’t have kissed you if I were seeing someone, Jazzy,” he says.
I raise a brow at him. “I wouldn’t really know where your morals on relationships and faithfulness stand.”
“You know I’ve never had a girlfriend,” he states as if this is common knowledge.
“You’re constantly photographed with women at events,” I tell him.
“I didn’t say I haven’t fucked other women. I said I’ve never been in a relationship. There is only one woman I want anything with and I can’t have her. So, no, I don’t have a girlfriend.” He shakes his head at me.
“And why can’t you have her? This one woman you supposedly want.”
“Because we don’t live in a world where you get to have your cake and eat it too,” he explains cryptically. “I’m calling your father to come and get you.”
“No, you’re not. Are you forgetting my father did that to your face yesterday?”
“Nope. But I know he’ll come for you. And you really need to stay away from me, Jaz.”
“Why? Give me one good reason?” I dare him.
Jacob doesn’t say anything. He takes hold of my hand and drags me through the house.
“Where are you taking me?”
He looks over and holds his finger to his lips. We end up in one of those secret rooms hidden in the walls. This old house has so many of them. Jacob shuts the door and then flicks a few switches on the wall.
“Give me your phone,” he says.
Without question, I take my phone out of my dress pocket and hand it over to him. And now realize I probably shouldn’t be so trusting. This is the same boy who left me to wake up alone the night he took my virginity.
Jake places both of our phones into a metal box. “What is that for?” I ask him.
“I don’t want anyone listening to this conversation,” he says.
I look at the man in front of me, because that’s what he is now, all man. Gone is the boy I used to know. Jacob Westmead has filled out nicely, broad shoulders, sandy-blonde hair, and dark-blue eyes, like the ocean. I’ve always loved Jake’s eyes. I wonder what he looks like underneath his shirt…
Nope, no, I don’t.
“Who do you think is listening to our conversations? Last I checked, you were the only person creeping on me.”
“I wasn’t creeping. I was… It doesn’t matter. What I’m going to tell you, you have to keep it in this room, Jazzy. I mean it.”
“Okay.” I walk over to the sofa and sit down. “Spit it out then. What’s so important and mysterious that we have to be in a panic room?”
“I didn’t want to leave you. On prom night. I didn’t have a choice,” he says.
Sitting up straighter, I tilt my head. “What do you mean?”
“I did something, and the only way my father could get me out of the trouble I caused was to pull me into his organization earlier than he wanted to. I got a message from my dad after you fell asleep, and I knew everything I wanted for us was never going to happen. I couldn’t keep you.”
I don’t understand what he’s trying to tell me. “Why? Why couldn’t you keep me?” I would have let him. I wanted him to keep me.
“Because you would become a target and I’m not going to be the reason you get put into danger,” he says.
I laugh.He has to be kidding, right?“Seriously? You know what my family does, Jacob. I’m always in danger of becoming a target.”