Unraveling (9 page)

“So… you’re like paid to fight people?” I questioned.

“Yeah, basically,” he groaned, looking sheepish.

“Oh,” I whispered.

“I swear, I’m not a hot head,” Jared smiled. “I just happen to be very good at-”

“Beating people up?”

He winced. “It sounds really harsh when you put it that way.”

“Your job is to hit people, Jared. It seems to me, you’d have to enjoy hitting someone to do that,” I took a disgusted step back.

“Katy, wait,” he begged. “I’m not a bad guy. I would
never
hurt you, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

I swallowed. “Jared,” I looked around the deserted parking lot. A
street light flickered. “You must have violent tendencies-”

“Jesus
, Katy, I’m not like that. In all the time you’ve been around me, have I ever gotten angry?”

“Well, at the club-” I started.

He snorted. “I was defending you, Katy! Did you really want the bastard’s hands all over you?”

“No,” I shrugged.

“Exactly, I wasn’t hitting that guy because I just felt like it. Don’t judge me, or what I do, you don’t know me, Katy.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

Jared took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “Is tonight totally fucked up or do you still want to go out?” his brown eyes met mine, and there was something reflected in his chocolate orbs. Something, that almost looked like fear that I would say no.

“Yes… I still want to go out… with you,” I said, looking anywhere but at him.

“Good,” he replied, and I could hear the smile in his voice. He walked around me and opened the passenger door of his car. “Hop in,” he nodded.

I blushed and put one foot in front of the other. “Thank you,” I whispered, as I attempted to climb in the car.
Jeesh, this thing was tall, and I was short. I needed a stepladder or something.

“Do you need some help?” Jared asked.

“No, no, I’m good,” I waved him off. The last thing I needed was him touching me, I’d either flinch and freak-out or… or I might actually somewhat enjoy it, like I had the previous times he’d touched me.

I finally
made it into the car and I could hear Jared trying to hide his laughter. I know I gave him quite the show.

He pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, heading out of town.

“Where are we going?” I asked, my heart beginning to jump in panic.

“I’m not telling,” He glanced at me and winked.

I crossed my arms and looked out the window, going through a mental roster of possible places he could dump my body. I mean, why would a guy as good-looking as Jared want to go out with me?

Not able to hold my tongue, I asked, “Why me?”

“Huh?” Jared flicked his eyes my way for a second, before looking back at the road.

“You could be going out with any girl of your choosing, tonight. Why me?” I twisted the seatbelt strap nervously.

“Why not you?” he countered.

I snorted. “I know I don’t come across as the nicest person. Am I just a challenge to you?”

His jaw clenched and his knuckles turned white where he gripped the steering wheel.

“You are definitely not a ‘challenge’ for me, Katy. Is it impossible for you to believe that I may actually want to get to know you?”

“It’s just… I
know
guys like you. You’re used to getting what you want and when you don’t, you get angry,” I looked out the window, shrugging my shoulders. “You can have any girl you want, Jared. Just look at you.”

“So, you’re saying, that because I’m good looking, I’m a douchebag?” he looked at me with a raised brow. With a sigh, he continued, “Katy, I don’t know what kind of guys you’ve dealt with in the past, but I’m not like that. At least not anymore,” he muttered under his breath. “As for the, ‘any girl I want’ part, did you ever think that
, maybe, I want you,” he whispered the last word. It seemed to hang there, suspended, between the two of us.

You.

A word had never affected me the way that one did.

“I’ve said it before, Katy,” Jared adjusted his grip on the steering wheel, “but I’ll say it again.
You don’t know me, so don’t pretend you do. I
want
you to know me, but you don’t, not yet. So please,” he begged, “don’t make prejudices’ against me. I’m not judging you, the least you could do, would be to show me the same respect. Deal?”

“Deal,” I gulped.

11

We rode in silence for a good thirty minutes before we entered a small town.

I figured Jared was going to stop at one of the various restaurants, but instead, he kept driving.

Five minutes later, we came to a small park; Jared turned onto the gravel parking lot and parked.

“We’re here,” he announced, unbuckling his seatbelt.

I looked around.

“We came all this way, to go to a park?” I asked, incredulous.

Jared chuckled. “Oh, how you doubt me, Katy.”

“But I’m
hungry
!” To further drive home my point, my stomach growled, loudly.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got the food part covered,” he hopped out of the car and jogged around to open my door. He held his hand out to help me. I glared at his hand. “I’m not going to hurt you, Katy,” he whispered.

I took a deep breath and placed my hand in his.

Just like at the club, I didn’t feel much of an urge to pull away.

I let him help me out of the monstrous vehicle and promptly removed my hand, before I did something weird, like hang on.

Jared laughed and shook his head.

He moved to the back of the SUV and opened the trunk. He grabbed a cooler and a couple of blankets.

“Are we planning on sleeping in the park?” I asked.

“Only if you want,” he winked.

I gave him a horror stricken look.

“I’m just kidding, Katy,” he assured me.

I almost wanted to tell him that my scared expression had nothing to do with his words, and more to do with the butterflies attacking my stomach.

“This way,” he nodded for me to follow him.

I shook my head to snap myself out of my thoughts. “Want me to carry something?” I asked, when I saw him struggling with the blankets.

“I got it,” he said, adjusting his grip.

I snorted. “Jared, I won’t think you’re less of a man if you ask me to carry something.”

He chuckled and looked down at me with those chocolate eyes. “You’re funny.”

“I’m really not,” I said, struggling to keep up with his long legged stride. The guy was easily, six foot one, and I was barely five foot.

“And that, my kitten, is precisely why you are,” he stopped and looked around. “This is the spot,” he said, sitting the cooler and blankets on the ground.

I looked around and saw that there were other people sitting around with blankets and snack food.

Jared had picked a spot a fair distance from everyone else and closer to a line of trees.

He took one of the blankets, shook it, and spread it out
, doing the same with the other.

He sat down and opened the cooler, rummaging through it.

When I continued to stand there, he looked up at me. “Sit down, Katy,” he patted the blanket beside the one he was sitting on. “Look, I even brought you your own blanket, I thought it would make it seem less like a date if we had separate blankets,” he grinned.

“I do not understand you,” I sat down on my blanket, a good two feet of space between us.

“Ah, on the contrary, I find you to be a far greater mystery than myself,” his brown eyes shimmered with suppressed laughter.

I rolled my eyes. “We can just agree to disagree
, then.” I folded my legs under me and tucked my hair behind my ears. “I know there’s more to your story than you let on.”

Jared sighed. “Yeah, you would notice that.”

“Why would I notice that, when other people wouldn’t?” I questioned.

Jared sighed. “Kindred souls.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

Jared went back to rummaging through the cooler. “When people
go through horrible, unspeakable things, it changes them, Katy.” He closed the cooler and turned to me. There was a haunted look in his eyes. “You can always recognize that pain in someone else.”

I looked down, away from his eyes that saw too much.

“It gets better, Katy,” he whispered. “I know, that right now, it doesn’t seem like that, but whatever happened to you… one day it won’t hurt as much.”

“I doubt that,” I whispered.

“Well, I know, because I’ve been in your shoes. I know what it feels like, to think that the pain will consume you. But one day, you just have to let go,” Jared, said. “Now, enough heavy talk. Turkey or ham?” he held two saran wrapped sandwiches in the air. “I wasn’t sure which you’d like so I made you both.”

“Ham,” I said, reaching for the offered sandwich.

Jared grinned. “Somehow, I thought you might pick that one. Want some chips?”

“Depends on what you have?”

He held up a bag of Doritos and Sun Chips.

I grabbed the Sun Chips.

“So, are you going to tell me why we’re here?” I asked as I unwrapped my sandwich.

“They play old movies in the park, every Friday night, all summer long. This is the last night until next summer,” he motioned to a large screen. I saw a man fiddling with a projector.

“Are you trying to woo me?” I asked, with a raised brow. “Romantic old movie in the park screams seduction.”

Jared threw his head back and laughed. The sound of it filled my body with warmth.

“Trust me, kittycat, if I was trying to woo you, I’d have a much better scheme up my sleeve. Why do you ask, is this working?” he leaned back on his elbow, stretching his legs out, and looking up at me with those perfect brown eyes framed by lashes I’d die for.

I blushed.

“It
is
working,” he chuckled.

“I hate you,” I snapped.

“No, on the contrary, I think you’re falling for me. It’s okay to take the leap, Katy. I’ll be here to catch you,” he said, in all seriousness.

Oh boy, I was in over my head when it came to Jared.

“No thanks, I’m afraid of heights.”

He
laughed; the sound was warm and rich like honey. He shook his head and grabbed a Dorito.

Oh my, had I rendered Jared speechless? Score for me. Normally, Jared was the one leaving me flustered.

  The lights in the park dimmed at that moment and the projector flickered to life, filling the screen with a black and white image.

“I brought popcorn if you want some,” Jared leaned towards me and whispered. “Do you want any?”
he asked, when I didn’t say anything.

“Sure,” I said, just so he’d move away. He was far too close and it was making me feel frazzled.

“Here you go,” he said, handing me a Ziploc bag full of buttery popcorn. Our fingers barely grazed but it was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

“Thanks,” I said.

“You’re cold,” he commented, having noticed my shiver.

There was no way I could
tell him that, no, I wasn’t cold, it was just the affect he had on me, so instead I nodded in agreement.

“I have a sweatshirt in my car. I’ll be right back,” he was gone before I could protest.

I wasn’t really comfortable sitting here by myself with a bunch of strangers, so close to the woods where someone could easily drag me off.

I took a deep breath and told myself that everything would be okay.

In no time, Jared was back and kneeling down beside me.

“Here,” he handed the gray sweatshirt to me. “It’ll be huge on you but it’ll do the job.”

“Thank you, Jared,” I said, slipping the material over my head. It was large enough to fit three of me, but I didn’t mind. It smelled like him, slightly citrusy.

I inhaled the scent, soaking it in and trying to memorize it. I blanched when I heard Jared chuckle.

With reddened cheeks, I peeked at him, but thankfully he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were glued to the movie as he munched on his Doritos.

I silently thanked God that Jared hadn’t noticed. That would have been beyond embarrassing and I would’ve had no reasonable explanation for sniffing his shirt.

I finished the sandwich and started on the popcorn.

I found myself sucked into the movie, absolutely riveted.

When it ended, I wiped away a tear.

“Are you crying?” Jared asked.

“No,” I sniffled.

“You’re totally crying. Why?” he asked, there was no laugh to his voice. He wasn’t mocking me.