Chapter 26

I turned to stare up at him. "Huh?"

Around us, the crowd was still milling, music was still playing, and the Earth, as far as I knew, was still spinning. But for me, everything stood eerily still as I gazed up at him, watching as he looked down on me with a blazing intensity that sent a bolt of heat straight to my core.

He moved his head a fraction toward mine. "Don't think," he said. "Just do it."

And so I did. I stood on the toes of my high-heels and pressed my lips to his. His arms closed tight around me, gathering me close as our lips finally touched. Slowly, my lips moved against his, and his moved against mine, even as our bodies remained nearly motionless amidst the surrounding commotion.

When I flicked the tip of my tongue into his mouth, he gave an audible groan that made my heart race and my knees go weak. My eyes were shut, my pulse was hammering, and my head was spinning – right up until the moment I heard a male voice say, "Jenna? What the hell?"

Jenna? Oh crap. He meant me. And that voice was all too familiar. Scary familiar.

Pushing away from Jake, I whirled around, and there he was – Rango, the ex-boyfriend from hell. His dark spiky hair was styled in a fashionable disarray, and he wore the same kind of expensive, designer clothes he always wore. Beside him, stood Bianca, who looked like she'd give anything for a stick to beat me with.

Jake stepped forward to wrap an arm around my waist. He looked toward Rango and said, "Is there a problem?"

Rango's jaw tightened. He gave me a hard look.

"Hey," Jake said. "I asked the question, not her."

Glancing from Jake to Rango, I felt my temper rise. Was that kiss merely a setup? A sham? Was Jake marking me as his territory or something?

Had I just been metaphorically peed on?

Even amidst all the chaos, one question echoed louder in my brain than the rest. Had Jake known Rango was there? Was that the reason for that kiss? Earlier, Jake had claimed that tonight was for me. Was this what he meant?

My stomach, dancing with butterflies just a few seconds ago, was sinking like a stone and fast.

In front of me, Rango remained silent, but the look on his face was all too familiar. It was the same look I'd seen at the last party we'd attended as a couple. Throughout the night, he'd mostly kept his cool, until we'd gotten into his car anyway.

A half hour later, his Beamer was smashed, and I was hiding out in the back of an all-night coffee house, calling for a cab.

In front of me, Bianca's gaze narrowed. "I thought your name was Luna," she said.

"It is," I said. "Sort of. It's complicated."

She rolled her eyes. "If you say so."

Bianca was the least of my concerns. I looked from Rango to Jake as they sized each other up. The way it looked, my name wasn't the only thing complicated around here.

Jake was giving Rango a hard look. "You got something to say?" Jake asked.

Rango's gaze shifted to me. "So you're with him now?" he said.

Oh God, this was so embarrassing. Not that I cared one bit what Rango thought, but something about this whole scene was way too primitive, like I was a piece of meat being tossed from one guy to the next. And here, I wasn't really with either one of them.

"No," I told Rango in my calmest voice, "I'm not with anyone. But that doesn't mean I want to be with you."

He made a hard scoffing sound. "Like I asked."

Color flooded my face. Talk about humiliating.

Jake looked down at me. "Baby," he said. "You don't need to be nice to him." He turned to Rango. "What Luna's trying to say is 'fuck off.'"

Rango's face froze.

I pushed away from Jake. "That's not what I’m trying to say." Oh sure, the sentiment fit, but the last thing I needed was more trouble.

"Sorry," Jake said. "My mistake." He turned to Rango. "What I meant to say was that I think you should fuck off."

I glared up at Jake. "That's not what I meant."

Rango still hadn't moved. I snuck a quick glance in his direction. That vein in his forehead was pulsing in a way I knew all too well.

But when he spoke, his voice was a lot calmer than I'd have ever anticipated. "I don't know what you've heard," he told Jake, "but I don't want your girl." His gaze shifted to me. "I've moved on, Jenna. Get over it."

Next to him, Bianca gave a half-laugh, half-snort. "Jenna."

"Oh shut up," I said.

I returned my gaze to Rango. Had he really moved on to someone new? If I was lucky, he was telling the truth. But that didn't make anything less humiliating when he added, "And stop calling me, alright? My girlfriend doesn't like it." 

"Me?" I said. "Call you?" I'd literally changed my phone number to get rid of this guy. I'd had to move out of my apartment. I'd had to replace most of my stuff. Correction – I still had to replace my stuff, someday, when I wasn't broke and semi-homeless.

Jake, which his free hand, reached up to stroke his chin. He looked at Rango. "You know what you need?" Jake said.

Rango's answer was a clipped, "What?"

Jake pointed to Rango's shirt. "A new tailor."

Rango's shirts were hand-made, a distinction he was overly proud of. Rango looked down. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," Jake said, "I just figured you'd want to know."

Rango gave Jake the squinty-eye. "Are you messing with me?"

"I don't know," Jake said. "Am I?"

Rango looked around. After a long moment, he gave a shaky smile. "I know who you are." He forced out a laugh. "Alright, you got me. Where's the camera?"

"I dunno," Jake said. "Have you checked your mom's room?"

Rango's smile faded. "What the fuck's your problem?"

"No problem here," Jake said, before adding under his breath, "Dipshit."

Rango's gaze narrowed to slits. "What'd you just call me?"

Jake's brow wrinkled. "What'd it sound like?"

"It sounded like you called me a dipshit."

"Did it?" Jake said. "No kidding?"

Rango gave another shaky laugh. "Yeah."

Jake nodded. "Good hearing."

I grabbed Jake's elbow. "You know what?" I said. "I think there's some painting or something we wanted to see." I gave the elbow a tug. "Right?"

He grinned over at me. "But we're not done talking to Ringo."

Rango's vein gave a special little jump. "It's Rango," he said.

Jake looked at him. "Dingo?"

"No," Rango said through clenched teeth. "Rango."

Jake was nodding. "Wasn't there some movie about a slug named Rango?" He turned to me. "It was a cartoon or something, right?"

I knew what movie he meant, some animated thing from a while back. "I think it was a lizard," I said. "Now come on, let's go."

"Oh for God's sake," Bianca said, "it was a chameleon."

Jake and I turned look.

"I saw it with my nieces," she said. "Jeez."

"Well, there you have it," Jake said. He held out a hand toward Rango. "Nice meeting you, Dongo."

Rango's face was red, and that vein looked in danger of exploding. He looked down at the hand. He didn't move.

"Aw come on, man," Jake said. "Don't leave me hangin' here."

Rango still didn't move. Neither did Jake. I gave another tug on Jake's elbow. He didn't budge. Finally, with obvious reluctance, Rango reached out a hand. But just when it almost reached Jake's, Jake pulled back his own hand and said, "Gotcha." He shook his head. "Man, I can't believe you fell for that.  Dumbass."

I gave the elbow another tug. "Yeah. Ha ha. Let's go." I gave him a pleading look. "Please?"

Jake hesitated. And then he grinned down on me. "Whatever you say, Jenna."