Aftershocks (26 page)

“I’m going to get a coffee,” Jack said to me then. “I’l be back at closing.”

He kissed me once, and before I could respond he was out the door leaving me with Connor who was stil looking at me like I was too young to be kissing boys. I just ignored his look as I brushed past him and headed back to the floor.

When Jack came back so we could go the movies, I stood there eyes wide as Connor brazenly invited himself along. Initialy, I could have shot daggers at him as I wondered how far he would take this pseudo big-brother stance, but when he stopped by his car to get his jacket, Jack whispered that he thought our plan was working. He thought Connor was definitely jealous, so I figured what the hel. He could come with us.

“Why did you come on my date?” I asked Connor when Jack went to the snack bar to get me Reece’s Pieces and a water.

“Because you obviously need a chaperone,” Connor said, not taking his eyes off the screen with the pre-movie trivia and fun facts.

I roled my eyes. “I do not need a chaperone,” I said, scooting away from him as much as I could in the smal seat. Connor just gave me a look that said he disagreed.

Why did he have to look at me like a brother? Why couldn’t he just be jealous like a normal guy? That would be much easier to handle, and more preferable if I was being honest because at the end of the day, Jack could take me on a hundred dates and he could kiss me until my lips were chapped, but Connor was who I wanted.

In an effort to make him jealous, and yes, I realize it was pathetic, I held Jack’s hand during the movie and giggled with him at the funnier parts. I noticed Connor glance at our hands once and make a face, but he didn’t say anything. I looked over at him, chalenging him to make a comment but he didn’t. He just directed his eyes back to the screen, but I could see they were narrower than they’d been before.

After the movie, we al walked back to South Shore where our cars were parked.

“Thanks for the movie, Jack,” I said, puling my keys out. We were standing in front of my car. “I had a
really
good time.”

I realized I was putting on a little bit of a show in front of Connor, but I knew Jack would play along. Connor’s car was parked two down from mine, and he seemed to be idling a bit, fumbling around in his trunk for something, so I figured I’d give him something to listen to. Jack looked down at Connor for a second and then back at me.

“He’s hating this,” he whispered, and I could hear the glee in his voice. He was enjoying our little charade.

I put my hands on either side of Jack’s cold cheeks and kissed him deeply.

“So, I’l see you tomorrow?” I asked, trying to add a little flirt to my voice.

He smirked. “I’l pick you up at seven, beautiful.”

“I can’t wait,” I said, just loud enough that I knew Connor could hear.

“Oh,” Jack said, turning around when he was halfway to his car. “Wear those sexy furry boots you wore in Michigan, okay? Your legs so look hot in them.”

“Okay,” I said, as my face flushed just a little. I wondered if he was being serious.

“Wow, you guys are just adorable together,” Connor said sarcasticaly as I unlocked my car. I shot him a dirty look.

“What’s it to you?” I asked, crossing my arms in front of me and staring at him. “I thought you wanted me to date Jack. You were pushing me on him at the beginning of the year.”

“Yeah, that was before,” he mumbled.

“What’s that?” I asked, cupping my ear and leaning toward him.

“Nothing,” he said. “Just be careful.”

“Connor, I already have a brother who is overprotective of me when it comes to guys and a best friend who has had my back in the guy department for years. I don’t need you to play guardian too. I’m a big girl, and I can make big girl decisions.”

Connor looked at me like he knew I’d been goading him, and he wasn’t happy about it. He stepped closer, closing the distance between us, his narrowed eyes boring down on me.

“I’m just looking out for your best interest, Abby.”

“Wel, I have a father too, so no need for you to fil that role in my life. Thanks though.”

“When did you become so feisty?” he asked, shaking his head in amusement. “It’s kind of sexy. Not as sexy as those furry boots apparently, but what do I know.”

He shrugged as if he was so innocent, and I was left wondering if he realy thought I was sexy or if it was just part of our banter.

“Bite me,” I said, choosing to keep bantering. “I’l un-friend you again. Don’t think I won’t.”

“You know you won’t. You’ve missed me,” he said, looking just adorable enough for me to cave.

“Whatever,” I said, thinking how right he was.

At 6:55 the next night I was dressed in warm clothes, bouncing up and down on the heels of my apparently sexy suede and fur boots as I waited for Jack to get to my house. I was excited for the hockey game, but I was slightly on edge because I was also waiting for Connor text me to let me know that he’d talked to Alexis. I was secretly dying to hear her reaction to his revelation.

The doorbel rang, and I smiled to myself before opening the door.

“Hey you,” I said, coyly.

“Hey sexy,” Jack said, puling me into a hug. “You ready to take in a hockey game?” He held up his right hand, and I saw two tickets in his grip.

“Hel, yeah.” I grabbed the tickets. “These are amazing seats,” I said, looking at them as we walked to his car.

“Yeah, my Dad’s been a season ticket holder for like the past 15 years, so he’s been able to move closer to the ice each year. These are to the right of one of the goals.”

“Wel, let’s go,” I said, walking past him to his car. “I’m pumped for some hockey.”

He folowed along behind me, laughing at my enthusiasm. “Did you happen to notice there are four tickets?”

I looked down at what I was holding. There were four tickets there – two on top of the other two.

“Why do we need four tickets? There’re only two of us,” I said, turning to face him.

“Wel, right now there are only two of us, but when we get there, we wil have four in our group.”

“What are you talking about? Are your parents going?”

I didn’t realy know Jack’s parents, and for many reasons I definitely didn’t want them tagging along on our date.

“No, they’re not. I actualy invited some friends.”

“Who?” I asked, wondering if the footbal jerks were coming with us. That would just be awesome. An evening with Cameron and Rich who would probably be drunk out of their minds by time we got there and spend the whole evening ogling the Bruin’s dancers. Super.

“I invited Connor and Alexis,” he said, smirking.

My eyes went wide for a second as I thought of how the night would unfold.

“Why?”

“Because Connor wasn’t a huge fan of us as a couple last night, so I figure we can rub it in his face a little more and see what happens.”

“Jack why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?” he asked, as he took a step closer to me.

“Fake dating me. Trying to make Connor jealous. Making trouble for him and Alexis?”

He reached out and fingered a lock of my hair. I looked up at him, trying to see the expression behind his eyes, but he wouldn’t look at me. His gaze was near my forehead, and I could tel he was far away, lost in thought.

“Because I owe you,” he said softly, his eyes finaly meeting mine.

“You owe me?”

His arms threaded around my waist, puling me to him. “You saved my best friend’s life, and I’m not sure I can ever repay you for that.

You got to him before I could. You kept it together enough to cal the paramedics. He’s alive because of you.”

I looked up at him, a familiar ache in my chest building like it did every time I thought about that night. I smoothed back the hair that had falen into his eyes. “Jack, you don’t owe me anything.”

He smiled a smal smile and nodded his head. “Yeah . . . I do.” With that he leaned forward and kissed my forehead, his lips lingering just a beat longer than I expected before they moved to my ear. “Besides, you do look realy hot in those boots,” he said, before pressing his lips against the spot just below my ear, causing twinges to flutter through my body.

I took a moment to inhale deeply, feeling as if I couldn’t get enough oxygen to my brain. “You do very disturbing things to me, Jack West,” I said, leaning forward to whisper in his ear.

He smiled. “That’s the point, good girl. Maybe if this whole Connor thing doesn’t work out, you and I could try dating for real.”

“You’re a realy great guy, Jack. I’m not sure what Kerry was thinking.” I watched his eyes briefly cloud over at the mention of Kerry, but he came back to me quickly.

“Maybe you could return the favor for me,” he said. “It couldn’t hurt to make her realize what she gave up.”

I shook my head. “She cheated on you. Why would you want to get back together with her?”

He looked down at me for a few seconds. “I love her,” he said simply. “Besides, she didn’t cheat on me. I cheated on her.”

I just stared at him, mouth open, eyebrows raised in shock. That was about the last thing I expected to hear.

“Stil think I’m a realy great guy?” he asked, laughing a short non-humorous laugh.

“Yes,” I said, firmly. “You made a mistake.”

I could see in his eyes how much he regretted what he’d done and that he’d give anything to have Kerry back. He just shrugged as if he had no response worthy enough for my statement.

“Worst mistake I’ve ever made,” he finaly said.

“Give her time. She’l forgive you.” I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but for some reason I knew it had to be true. A great guy like Jack deserved to be happy, regardless of his indiscretions. He deserved forgiveness.

As we drove into the city, I couldn’t help but think was that the night was going to be a disaster. Jack had been silent since we’d left my house, no doubt pondering how to win his ex-girlfriend’s trust back, and I had been thinking about Connor. Alexis hated me already, but she’d hate me even more once she realized what I’d done with her boyfriend. Since he’d planned to tel her that night, she was sure to be especialy awful to me. What a nightmare. Why on earth had Connor agreed to go to the game? He was such an idiot sometimes.

As Jack and I stood outside the TD Garden, I realized I was nervous and hugged my arms around me to provide some kind of comfort. Jack saw this, assumed I was cold and threaded his arms around my waist, puling me back against his chest. Just as he did that, I spotted Connor and Alexis walking hand in hand toward us. They were stil together, so she’d either gotten over his indiscretions or he hadn’t told her.

I took a deep breath as they approached.

“Hi guys,” I said, as they were within a few feet of us, figuring I could be the bigger person and let bygones be bygones.

“Hi Abbs. Jack,” Connor said.

Alexis gave Jack a big hug and made a production of kissing his cheek. Then she turned her razor sharp glare in my direction, and just as I expected, she was pissed, but it seemed she was only pissed at me. She wasn’t pissed at her boyfriend who had been an equal player in our tryst which was so typical of her. She always did favor guys she was dating over everyone else.

“Jack, you look hot tonight,” she said, and I reeled back for a second.

Was she openly flirting with him in front of Connor? What was her problem? Oh, he wasn’t paying any attention. I looked over and saw him frowning at his phone as he texted someone. I wanted to ask what was wrong but he quickly shoved his phone in his pocket and looked up at us, a forced smile on his face. Something was up.

“Okay, wel, let’s do this,” he said. He sounded a little too excited for it to be genuine. “I’m psyched for some good hockey. Hopefuly we’l see some fights tonight, right Jack?”

“Yeah, absolutely,” Jack said, not picking up on Connor’s fake excitement. “It’s the best reason to go to hockey games.”

“Where’s Jordan tonight?” I asked Connor as we walked into the arena.

I knew their dad had left to go out of town that day, so I hoped Connor hadn’t left his brother at home. That would be a crappy thing to do just so he could go to a hockey game. I would have gladly given Jordan my ticket.

“He’s with our mom. She wanted us to come over for an early Thanksgiving celebration since she’s going to New York with her boyfriend this weekend but I told her I had plans, so Jordan went alone. I’m picking him up later.”

Just the way he said it, with acid in his voice, made me realize how much contempt he had for his mother.

“Wel, tel him I said hi, and remind him of our showdown this weekend,” I said, nudging Connor in the ribs. Jordan and I had agreed to go head-to-head against Wyatt and Aaron, who would be home for Thanksgiving.

He laughed. “Oh, I won’t have to remind him. He’s been talking about it al week. I kind of think he has a crush on you, Abby.”

“Wel, I’m a very sought-after woman. I’l just add him to the list of men who are lining up to date me.” I laughed, but Connor didn’t think it was so funny, and I hoped he knew I was just kidding.

We settled into our seats just as the teams were warming up on the ice. I sat between Connor and Jack. Alexis was on the end at Connor’s left. She looked around apparently already bored, and I found myself wondering why she came.

“I’m going to get a hot chocolate,” I announced. “Does anyone want anything?”

“I’m good,” Jack said, as he watched the players practice shooting drils.

“I want a hot chocolate,” Alexis said.

“I’l get one for you, baby,” Connor told her and stood up a little too quickly.

I realized then that he seemed to be trying to appease her a little more than usual. So, maybe it wasn’t just me she was mad at. She glared at him, but he didn’t notice. Then she turned her glare to me and narrowed her eyes until they were slits. She looked like a snake. I wanted to laugh but didn’t want to rock the boat any more than I already had. It would be an even longer night if I did.

I folowed Connor out of the row and up the stairs. Once we were outside and around the corner, he turned to me. “She was a little pissed when I told her,” he said.