Bent not Broken (209 page)

He goes over to the bouncer and says something to him quickly and then as he looks up and sees me approaching him, his face registers a fleeting look of surprise, but then softens and he takes my hand.

“Ready?” he says.

“Who were you talking to?” I ask, frowning slightly.

He looks at me and pauses for a second before answering. “Just some woman who was drunk, making a scene. The bouncers called her a cab and I just lead her to the door. Hold on, let me get a glass of water for you at the bar before we leave.”

“I’m okay,” I say. “You looked mad.”

“Not really. She was just being kind of belligerent. She tried to make a pass. I said no. That was that.”

“Now trust me on the water. You’ll be glad you drank it tomorrow morning, especially since you’re working.” He orders a water when we get to the bar and then watches as I suck the whole thing down. I smile up at him when I’m done, putting the glass on the bar.

“Take me home,” I say smiling. “Before I have to beat more women off of you.” He laughs, shaking his head.

We walk to the door and Jake leans in and says something to the bouncer, and within minutes, the bouncer signals to Jake and the valet is bringing his car around, and we’re on our way home. He seems a little tense for a few minutes, but as we laugh about Landon’s hilariously dramatic dance moves, he relaxes. We reminisce about how he was doing them to crack us up, lip-synching and being completely over the top. I don’t think I’ve laughed that much,
ever
.

When we pull into Jake’s garage, he shuts off his car, and instead of getting out, he looks over at me and takes my face in his hands and starts kissing me, deep and wet. He feels so good, and I’m kissing him back with equal enthusiasm when he pulls me on top of him, and I press down and that feels
great
and so I keep doing it when suddenly, I hear the sound of material tearing. We both stop, confused, and when I pull slightly off Jake, I realize that the seam at his crotch is torn straight down the middle, gaping open. “Oh my God,” I breathe. “Your boy part is like the Incredible Hulk.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Boy part?”

I nod. “Is he angry?”

“Not yet. But if you keep referring to him as a ‘boy part,’ he could get there. He’s all man. You don’t want to see him get angry.”

“Oh, I definitely want to see him get angry.”

He laughs out loud and then says, “Come on, let’s get you upstairs.”

He helps me out of the car and then leads me toward the entrance to the lobby. As we walk past the front desk, Jake places me directly in front of him to hide his torn pants and walks pressed against me, saying, “Hey Joe,” as the night deskman looks at us, a confused expression on his face. I get a fit of the giggles and Jake rushes me to the elevator, practically pushing me inside and then following quickly. I laugh all the way upstairs.

When we get inside Jake’s apartment, we stumble against his wall, still laughing, Jake’s body pressed against me. As I watch his beautiful face, smiling at me, I turn serious. “Jake, I’ve never really been silly a lot in my life and so I want to thank you for that. I know that sounds kind of crazy and maybe even a little dumb, but, really, it’s a big deal to me so, honestly, thank you for tonight.”

He’s looking at me seriously now too, as if he completely understands. “I look forward to lots more silly moments with you, beautiful.”

Then his mouth comes down on mine as he presses me harder against the wall. We kiss for long moments, Jake’s tongue plundering my mouth as I moan and whimper, the taste of him dizzying, even though I’m mostly sober now.

He lifts me off my feet and I wrap my legs around him. I reach down and put my hand into his already torn pants, stroking him as best as I can with our bodies pressed so closely together. He lets out a low growl, and I feel moisture trickle between my legs at the sound of it.

He takes one of his hands off my ass, pressing me harder against the wall as he reaches down and tears my thong right off of me. I take in a sharp breath at the surprise of it, and then moan as he fingers my opening.

“Always so wet for me,” he chokes out. I lean my head back against the wall as he licks and kisses up my throat and it feels so amazing that I am writhing against him, moving my core against the huge erection I can feel pressed tightly against me.

When Jake leans his hips back, I whimper in protest.

“Take my cock out, Evie,” he growls, and I reach down, through the tear in his pants, into his boxers, doing as he says, springing him free.

He grips my ass tighter as he slams foreword, impaling me against the wall, and I cry out as he fills and stretches me, my internal muscles tightening around his shaft. For several seconds, we just stare into each other’s eyes, and the heat and intensity coming from his has me mesmerized.

He keeps looking straight at me as he slowly pulls back, almost withdrawing completely and then slamming back into me.
Oh God that feels so good
. My eyes close involuntarily and I moan deep, my lips parting. I hear Jake let out a guttural hiss.

That’s when things get a little wild.

Jake crashes his mouth down on mine and begins thrusting into me, hard and deep, almost punishing, my back slamming against the wall. But I love every minute of it, feeling owned by this beautiful man, hammering into me, too far gone to be gentle.

He reaches down between us and presses his finger against my clit, and I start panting and moaning into his mouth as an orgasm crashes and rolls through me.

He rips his mouth from mine as he growls, “Mine. Only mine. Only. Ever. Mine,” still slamming into me, pounding me against the wall. His eyes close and his lips part as his orgasm builds, and then he throws his head back, letting out a deep moan as I feel his hot seed jetting inside me.

He looks back at me lazily as he glides in and out slowly, drawing out the pleasure of his climax.

I blurt out, “You are so beautiful.”

He smiles at me, his eyes warm as he lets me down to the floor. His arms must be killing him.

“You’re the beautiful one.”

I kiss him sweetly on the lips, and then we adjust our clothing as he takes my hand and leads me to bed.

CHAPTER 21

On Saturday morning, surprisingly, I wake up feeling pretty good which I’m thankful for since my shift starts at ten o’clock. I take a shower, which I needed badly as Jake and I had pretty much fallen into bed last night after the dancing and the wall activities. I smile at the memory. I blow my hair partially dry, and put it in a loose braid that falls over my shoulder, light makeup and pull on my uniform. I kiss Jake goodbye and nuzzle into his neck as I lean over him to which he growls and says, “Don’t tempt me. I’m three seconds away from making you very late for work.” I giggle, and give him one more quick kiss on the cheek, leaving him in bed.

He arranged one of his company cars to pick me up at his building, and it’s waiting for me at the curb as I step outside. I don’t mind the bus but I could get used to this. It takes less than ten minutes before I’m clocking in.

The day goes by quickly even though I’m tired from our late night and lots of physical exertion. Before we fell into bed last night, Jake and I had made plans for him to pick me up from work. But close to the end of my shift, my manager asks if I want to leave an hour early because of an over scheduling issue, and I jump at it.

I text Jake but he doesn’t text me back by the time I’m clocking out, and so I change my clothes quickly, and then ask one of the other girls leaving at the same time if she’d mind dropping me at his place.

She drops me in front of his building, and I try calling him one more time, but he doesn’t answer so I call to someone entering to hold the door and go in behind them. I get on the penthouse elevator alone, and since I remember the simple code Jake used to get to his floor, I punch that in. I hope he doesn’t mind me coming over early, but why would he? What if he’s not home? Darn, I guess I’ll come downstairs and wait in the lobby and just keep calling him. There’s probably a coffee shop somewhere close by.

The elevator opens and I notice that the door to his condo is open a little bit, and I hear voices coming from inside. I frown a little and stop to the side of the door, unsure now if I should knock. I decide to anyway, but as I lift my hand, I hear a woman say, “You don’t have to act like this. Let me make it better, honey.” I freeze.
What the hell?

Jake responds and his voice sounds clipped, angry, “Don’t start this shit. I explained to you in San Diego the nature of our relationship and that is that there isn’t one, okay?”

“You lie to yourself, Jake. You can’t just make this go away. You can’t just make
me
go away.”

“The fuck I can’t. Get out.”

There’s silence for a couple seconds, and then I hear a rustling and Jake yells, “Get the fuck OUT!” and it sounds like the woman is sniffling.

Footsteps come toward the door and I panic.
Shit!
What should I do? Before I can even come up with any sort of plan, the door is flung open and I’m staring into Jake’s seriously livid eyes. He sees me and a look of shock runs over his features before he says under his breath, “Shit. Evie. What the
fuck
are you doing here?”

It feels like a rock drops into my stomach. I stand there gaping at him like a stupid fish, when a woman walks out his door. She’s gorgeous, with thick, light brown hair to her shoulders and big, green eyes. She’s older than Jake and me, probably in her late thirties. She looks at me, and then looks at Jake, and then looks back at me with a look of scorn on her face.

“Really, Jake? Already?” she clips out.

Jake closes his eyes for a second and then repeats in a barely controlled voice, “Get out.”

She ignores him and walks over to me and extends her hand. “I’m Lauren,” she says, but the way she says it, I can tell she’s anything but happy to meet me.

I have no idea what to do, and so I take her hand, whispering, “Nice to meet you, I’m… “

“Mom!” Jake yells. “If you don’t get out, swear to God, I will call security to haul you downstairs.” Jake is clenching his jaw and his hands are fisted at his sides.

Mom?

I’m flabbergasted, and my mouth opens and closes stupidly again. I guess I really underestimated her age because she seriously doesn’t look a day over thirty-five. I guess that’s what money can do for you.

A look of hurt passes over Lauren’s face, but she pulls herself taller and says, “Fine, Jake, have it your way.” Then as she’s stepping on to the elevator, she turns and looks at me and says, “You’re just one of many. You should know that.”

I gasp as the elevator door closes and I lean to my right so that the wall will hold me up.

What the… ?

Jake is standing just outside his doorway, staring straight ahead, unmoving except the continued clenching of his jaw.

I walk over to the elevator and push the down button, and that seems to snap him out of it because he takes three big steps over to me and puts his hand on my arm and says, “Evie! Where are you going?” He looks desperate now.

“I’m leaving, Jake. Obviously you don’t want me here. I’m sorry, I got off work early and I thought, I mean, I thought it would be okay. I called you… “ I trail off, my eyes filling with tears because I feel stupid and confused.

“Evie, baby, please. Let me explain. I’m so sorry. So fucking sorry. I keep messing up.” He runs his hand through his hair and looks like such an uncertain little boy, I crumble,
again
. I let him guide me into his condo so he can tell me what the
hell
that was. I leave my jacket and my bag by the door though in case I need to leave quickly.

****

Jake closes his door and leads me to his living room area, pulls up a leather upholstered ottoman and pulls it in front of the couch and pulls me down to sit knee to knee with him. He takes both my hands in his. “First of all, I’m so sorry I made you feel badly for coming here. You can show up here anytime you want to. I never expected my mom to…” He sighs. “We’re… estranged. Things are not good between us, which I guess you could tell.” He lets out something that sounds like a strangled laugh. “I had no idea she was coming here today. The last time I saw her I told her I didn’t want anything to do with her, and I meant
ever
.

“It’s complicated, but, my mom has issues, serious issues, and she made my home life a living hell. She’s the reason that I acted out the way I did when I was a teenager, and she’s the reason for the stilted relationship between my dad and me.

“When I saw you standing there, I couldn’t believe that you were even about to share her
air
. She’s a ruthless bitch, and she’ll do or say anything that she thinks will further her own agenda. I wasn’t mad that you were here, I was mad that you were even in the
vicinity
of that pit viper. And that was not your fault, but I lost it, and I’m so sorry.” His eyes are pleading.

“She only made that comment to you about being one of many because she was being vindictive since I was throwing her out. She doesn’t even know you, Evie. And she sure as shit doesn’t know anything important about me.”

“Jake,” I say, squeezing his hands. “I feel like when you’re talking about yourself, you’re talking to me in code. I get the gist of what you’re saying but you really haven’t told me anything.”

He sighs. “I’ll give you some examples, just give me some time, okay? This is stuff I’ve never talked about to anyone and it’s hard for me to get into. I’ve spent so many years trying to pretend it doesn’t exist. I know that’s not the healthy thing to do. But just… trust me, okay? Can you do that?” He’s looking at me desperately, like my answer means his life or death.

I say the first thing that pops into my head. “Okay, Jake. I trust you.” And despite all my doubts, I do, I honestly do, and that makes me happy as much as it scares the shit out of me. Nothing makes sense anymore.

He’s holding back. Questionable things keep coming up. I shouldn’t feel safe with him. And yet, I do. I have to wonder about my own judgment.