he universe that knew about what he had done back in high school—they’d saved his life. And now… now they were gone.
The idea of going to the wedding put a bad taste in his mouth. Kacey had no father to walk her down the aisle, and she deserved that more than anyone. The worst part was Jake had been just fine living his life until he’d mistakenly pleaded with Kace to be his fake fiancé for a weekend. He had never expected himself to be so affected by her. But the final blow to his pride was Kacey falling for his older brother—the same older brother who used to chuck rocks at her and had a stutter. How was that fair?
He wanted to have his shit together for the wedding. He had to. After all, appearances and money… Really, those were the only two things he had. He knew he didn’t deserve anyone’s love and he never really asked for it. He just hoped that his false security lasted long enough to get him through the next two weeks and to his best man duties.
Shit. Now he needed to start over and find a girl willing to be his date for the wedding. By the looks of Aileen’s colorful text messages, she would be out. The girl before Aileen had reminded him of Kacey so she was out as well.
He felt a headache coming on, but ignored it as the taxi took the next exit. His exit. The exit toward Lake Washington. He shrugged; maybe Grandma was getting dropped off after him.
Once the taxi pulled up to Jake’s house on the lake, he hopped out and grabbed his bags and turned toward the door. It wouldn’t be nice to wake up Grandma. After all, she was in a dead sleep.
Did that make him a bad person? It wasn’t as if the taxi driver was going to kill her or anything. After all, who would kill a sweet old lady with drool running down her—
“Ta, ta! Thank you!” Grandma yelled.
Praying for the first time in years, Jake turned to see his grandmother, bags in tow, waving to the disappearing taxi.
Just as Jake was getting ready to open his mouth she announced. “Get my bags! I’m fatigued. Where’s my phone? Have you seen my phone, Jake?” She dug around in her giant purse and finally pulled out the zebra covered iPhone.
No. Hell no. She was staying with him? For how long? Please God not up until the wedding not—
“Oh my heavens! The wedding is in two weeks. That gives us plenty of time!”
“Time?” God was punishing him; either that or Grandma was possessed. Truly it was a tossup.
“Yes.” Grandma’s smile softened as she reached for Jake’s hand and kissed the top of it. “Time to ruin you.”
“Ruin?” Jake chuckled as he pulled his hand back. “I’d rather stay… um, un-ruined. Thanks, though.”
“Have it your way.” Grandma shrugged. “Oh, and Jake?”
“What?” He grunted as he lifted her heavy suitcase toward the stairs.
“You’re fired.”
The suitcase dropped out of his hands. Black spots appeared in his line of vision as he repeated, “Fired?”
Chapter Six
“I need a drink,” Char announced once she and Beth were safely at their shared apartment on Queen Anne Hill. “Scratch that. I need ten drinks and a sedative.”
“So what?” Beth opened the wine bottle and pulled out two glasses. “You were arrested and zip-tied to some hot man candy. Really, there are worse things in the world.”
“You mean like going into anaphylactic shock and having your grandmother stab a needle next to your man parts?” Char chuckled and took a sip of merlot. “That part, I enjoyed.”
“Yeah, well, hopefully Grandma has good aim and Jake can still sire children after that little escapade. How the heck did I sleep through it?”
Char shrugged. “No idea. At any rate, I’m glad it’s over.”
“Right.” Beth snorted. “And I don’t stalk Damon Salvatore on Twitter.”
“Not his real name, Beth.”
“Don’t kill the dream, Char.”
Char sighed and leaned against the table. “I was totally fine; seeing him again, I mean. No flashbacks of that crazy night we shared, no lustful thoughts or feelings, or—”
Beth’s eyebrows arched. “Oh, do continue. It was just getting good.”