Chapter 7

Nate

Fuck.

I dropped down in my chair and glanced out toward the street. The sun sat perfectly in the sky, creating a slight glare on the windowpane, and allowing me to stare at Jenna without her knowing it.

Anger burned through me, which I quickly reassessed as possessiveness. Whoever the preppy cock that had the nerve to get in my damn face was, he'd better keep his pocket-protecting ass away from my woman.

"Hey. What the fuck about meeting me at your place?"

"Hey." I glanced over at Mikey and tried to force myself to chill the fuck out. "Sorry. I thought we said here."

I stole a peek at her and ignored the thick swelling of my dick in my jeans. She could glance my way and I'd be hard as a rock and ready to fuck for hours. Why though? She couldn't be nearly as innocent as I'd made her out to be in my head, and in all honesty, I didn't enjoy innocent. I wanted a woman who knew her way around the bed and was ballsy enough to demand what she needed from me.

Maybe it wasn't innocent or virginal that I wanted. Maybe it was just whole, unbroken, tight, relatively pure. Not half-shattered and loose as a vacuum hose, like Ash had become over the years.

"Earth to Nate." Mikey waved his hand in front of my face.

I reached out and grabbed it tightly. "Stop, dude. I'm in a mood. Seriously."

"No shit. What happened?" He jerked his hand from mine and rubbed it. "Why you gotta be violent? Damn. I didn't even do anything."

I glanced down at my coffee and forced myself to calm down. Nothing had happened and everyone was fine. Jenna didn't belong to me - yet. "Sorry. Some prick was in here hitting on her when I got here. It just got me riled up and shit."

"It's the stuff with Ash, right? Tell me what the plan is. It'll make you feel better to get it off your chest. You can't carry all this stuff around by yourself, Nate. It's going to eat you alive."

I glanced up into the warm eyes of my best friend. He was likely the only person on the planet who would weep at my funeral. Ashley would have at one time, but me refusing her more than a friendship with a few benefits over the years had closed that door - hopefully. I needed it closed.

"I don't want you getting involved in this shit. It's my darkness to carry around. The less you know, the better." I turned as Jenna walked from around the counter and toward the back of the shop. Their storage closet was down by the bathrooms, and it was small, but it would work.

"I want to know. I'm here for you."

"Stop trying to tell me you're in love with me and just say it already." I winked at him and stood up.

"Where are you going?" He glanced up.

"To make one more mistake in my life." I walked toward the hallway, not sure of what the hell I was going to say to her. I'd just told her that I was dangerous and she needed to back the fuck up. I needed to be tested for a mental illness. I obviously had one.

The door to the storage closet was open, and Jenna was on her toes, reaching for something that she was never going to get.

"Need help?" I walked in as she yelped and spun around.

"From you, Johnny Danger? No. I've got it." She turned and lifted back up.

The thick curve of her ass in her jeans made my heart skip a beat. Wonder if she'd let me press my face against her soft flesh and spend time memorizing her smell.

"It's Nate, but I think you knew that." I moved toward her and pressed myself against her back as I lifted up and grabbed the box of coffee she seemed to be after. The softness of her ass pressed against my cock, and fuck if I didn't wanna thrust forward.

She stiffened and dropped down, only to turn around and give me an accusatory stare. "I could have gotten it."

"Maybe I wanted a reason to touch you."

"You need a reason? Seems odd for a guy who looks like you."

"Mouthy. I like it." I didn't budge, and luckily enough for me, she wasn't getting around me. I filled up the small closet.

"What do you want, Nate?" She put her hand on her hip and tilted her head a little.

I gave myself a few seconds to appreciate her fully. Big tits, long thick brown hair, and a beautiful smile. Thin waist and full hips. So fucking hot.

"You for starters, but I'm thinking it's just a matter of time at this point."

"Me? A year of you coming in here and you've not said a word to me."

"It’s complicated." I reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. "You smell good. Really good."

She pulled at her t-shirt, pressing the front of it to her nose. "I don't even have perfume on."

I reached out and jerked her around before pressing myself against her back and splaying my fingers out across her tight tummy. I leaned down and pressed my mouth to her ear, breathing in deeply as I did it.

"It's not your perfume I smell, Jenna."

She pressed back against me, rolling her hips just a little. It was enough. "We're going to Kadia on Friday night. Come with me."

"I thought you weren't the kind of girl to ask a man out." I slid my hand down her tummy and stopped at the top of her mound. "And why would an innocent girl like you wanna go to a shithole like Kadia?"

"My friends are going." Her hand slid over mine, her fingers wrapping around mine. "Please don't."

"Don't what?" I closed my eyes and breathed her in deeply again as I wrapped my free arm around her, above her breasts. "Make you wet?"

"I'm already wet. You know that." Her head dropped as if she were ashamed of the fact.

"Good. Then we'll both be in pain for the rest of the afternoon." I ran my nose by her ear. "See you Friday night."

"So you're coming?" She groaned as I let her go and turned to walk out of the closet.

"Not yet, but I will be soon. Mind if I borrow your name while I do it?" I spoke over my shoulder and kept moving.

Mikey looked up from his cup and gave me a quizzical look. "Everything okay?"

"Yep. I just wanted the girl to know that I was interested."

"I was thinking about that."

"Me and Jenna? You filthy pig." I winked at him and downed the rest of my coffee, grimacing as the cold sludge went down my throat. "Ugh. Disgusting."

Mikey waved his hand at me as if to shut me up. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to her. You know how Ashley gets about any other women in your life."

"Ashley is my partner in crime. Nothing more." I stood up and adjusted my dick.

Mikey growled and turned his head away. "Come on. Really?"

"Sorry, man. Is what it is."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm headed over to talk with Ash about Friday night."

"What about Friday night?" His eyes widened a little.

"None of your business. See you later." I tossed my cup in the trashcan on my way out and didn't turn back to find Jenna until I was too far to see her anyway. What the fuck was I doing?

I didn't deserve anything in life, especially not a woman like her.

Besides, Mikey was right. Ashley would find out about her and go apeshit and then what? Would I defend the girl who'd stood beside me my whole shitty life, or the one I'd fallen in love with over the last year?

Something told me that Jenna would be getting my vote. Why the thought bothered me so much was a mystery, but it did. Loyalty meant something to me, but for the first time in a long time, love did too.