The Girl in the Mirror (Sand & Fog #3) (15 page)

The last part trails off on a raspy whisper that runs my nerves like electricity, and I’m not sure if she’s being flirty or messing with me—my eyes fix on her parted lips—but I know which one I want it to be. The delusional answer because I want to kiss her in the worst way.

“I’m just telling it how I see it. I think your dad would agree with me about Daryl.”

She pulls back first, and inwardly I groan. That was the perfect entry to revealing in a small way what I really feel, and instead I shot myself down with my own mouth.

I spot Madison’s car and pull the keys from the ignition. “Let’s go find Maddy and Nick.”

Krystal climbs out of the car quickly before I can get around to her side to open it for her, and hurries up the walk in front of me in
girl being angry
style.

The car incident is going to make this another fun day with Krystal. There’s got to be some way to walk a line between pissing her off every two seconds and making a move on her.

She reaches to open the restaurant door, and I plant my palm there, stopping it. “Listen, about what I said. Daryl wouldn’t bother me if I didn’t like you, Krystal.”

She swallows, rapidly scans my face, and then a bit of her unapproachableness wanes. A smile fills her eyes. “There you go again, saying something sweet.”

I grin. “Even a Rambo who uses his fists can be sweet.”

Crap, did I say that?

The smile reaches her mouth this time. “You’re not a Rambo, Jacob Merrick. I don’t know what you are, but you’re not that.”

She didn’t call me a nice guy. Time to take my winnings from the table and move on. I slip my hand into hers. “I’m your boyfriend for the weekend.”

“That is if we break up on Monday.”

That one was easy to read.

Just a joke.

“Don’t break my heart while you do it,” I tease.

She laughs, amused. “Don’t break my heart as you walk away.”

When her eyes lock on mine, my brain deserts me. “I could never break your heart, Krystal,” I whisper, and how quickly her smile vanishes makes me want to reclaim those words.

As I open the door, I can’t block the thought that girls like her break the hearts of guys like me, my walking away on Monday is going to be short lived, and I can’t get carried away with this.

Tuesday I’m off to Manhattan with her.

Kissing her in the car would have been another bonehead move. Thank God I didn’t lose control. I need to kill the fantasy that I could ever get anything real going with her. And I need to shut off that want to kiss and touch her.

I don’t have a chance of ever being anything to Krystal. To be the guy she defends instead of Daryl. The guy who treats her how she deserves.

It’s what I want, but it’s never going to happen.

Face the ugly truth waiting in the future for you, Jake.

You’re the guy who gets a ringside seat in Manhattan as she finds another Daryl.

“Krystal”

Abandoning the idea of finishing my lunch, I set down my fork on my plate of grilled salmon and steamed veggies as another flutter against my shoulder sends a new blast of heated discomfort through me.

I look left, seeing fingers dancing on me there, and then shift my gaze right to find Jacob smiling at
her
, fully engaged in whatever they’ve been babbling about for the last half hour.

I struggle to find a way into the conversation, but no, not happening. Both my ability to concentrate and speak deserted me the moment I slipped into the booth to be awkwardly pinned between Jacob and Sierra.

Why did Madison’s friends have to showed up in full force at The Cove to crowd us, and why does Jacob’s arm have to rest behind my shoulders, and what’s with the touching?

My brows lower as I covertly study him—though I don’t have to be stealth about it, because his eyes are locked on her as he listens to the drivel from her mouth unwantedly pouring into my left ear.

Volleyball.

Who the hell can talk so much about that boring sport?

Sierra can, and apparently Jacob can, too.

Maybe I should slip from the table and let them have at it, which undoubtedly is what
she
wants if how she’s turned toward us in a posture that pushes her boobs forward so they are in
both
our faces is a tell.

Can that girl be any more obvious?

I lean back in the booth to no longer block a clear view between them and push my plate away. No point in trying to finish—I lost my appetite when Sierra joined us. Her being within a hundred yards of me is a potent hunger blocker even surrounded by the aroma lingering from platters left by two artisan pizzas, a tower of onion rings, and a variety tray of fried macaroni and cheese with dip.

Hello, waitperson, they’re devoured and wiped clean. Can you get rid of the dishes finally? God, why do the wrong foods always smell so good? No, I’m not reaching for that lonely onion ring left on the tower.

Another tantalizing glide of his fingertips against my flesh pulls me from my food preoccupation, this time down my shoulder to my arm. My insides shimmy as my brain holds up a yellow card. This is only part of the act we’re putting on, but enough already with the PDAs and the wandering hand.

Two hours of this. Worse, he’s done it by hardly noticing me in his Sierra obsession, and the unfamiliar sensations building too rapidly are as infuriating as the mocking awareness that I like it. As humiliating as this is, I can’t escape how it feels.

There, I’ve admitted it to myself, now time to make it go away. Though I never thought I’d become so aware of a guy in this dreadful circumstance.

I stare down at the table, feeling my temper build.

True, it was my idea for Jacob to pretend he was my boyfriend. But I didn’t say he could touch me, and damn it, I didn’t expect to like it. Never with this guy. Awkward, introverted—and, yes, undeniable male hottie—Jacob.

Why can’t I maintain control over my body?

I don’t want to feel anything and I can’t block it.

Another unexpected thing: he’s one of
those
guys
.
The unassuming girl magnet. Every one of Madison’s girl friends at the table has been dewy-eyed over him.

Ding.

Carefully, I angle my phone from beneath the napkin on my lap to read the text.

Maddy:
Convo. Now.

Me:
Bathroom.

I hear a ding across the table and she nods before slyly sneaking from the table.

Closing my hand around my cell as I toss the napkin on the table, I start to move and run into a wall. No easy getaway for me and I wonder how long it will be before Jacob takes a breath from talking so I can ask him to move from the seat beside me.

I wait, exhale, then decide to interrupt. “Can you move, please? I need to use the ladies’ room.”

Jacob looks at me, startled, and my insides chill because nothing says a guy’s not thinking about you faster than being surprised to find you there…
and jeez, Sierra’s pushing toward him so much I’m practically sitting on his lap.

My gaze narrows. “Will you move?”

He flushes and stands. “Sorry. Do you want me to pay the check so we can get out of here?”

I contain my reaction to that one. Oh, anxious to leave, are we? I wonder where me, Jacob, and Sierra are off to now.

My mouth tightens. “I’ll take care of it on my way back to the table. I never expected you to buy lunch for everyone. It’s pricy here even though it looks like a dive.”

His color deepens, and I can see my comment embarrassed him. Rat farts, that was an all kinds of wrong statement. Makes him look like a loser and makes me look like a bitch.

“No, I’ll take care of the check,” he says in quietly. “I’ll be waiting by the door for you.”

Without another word, I hurry away.

I barrel into the bathroom to find Maddy at the sink, leaning into the mirror, fixing the tiny specks of mascara around her eyes, and fully intend to unload on her since Sierra’s her friend.

Catching my reflection, her eyes fly wide and she exclaims, “I’m sorry,” as she whirls to face me. “It’s not my fault. Don’t blame me.”

Well, this is the cherry on the cake of my day: coming face-to-face with the fact that my irritation over the Jacob-Sierra blooming romance was transparent.

I close my eyes and take in several gulps of air. No, not working. I’m furious.

“How could you invite her here?”

“I didn’t. She showed up on her own.” She fretfully runs her fingers through her hair. “She must have heard us talking about it at the beach and decided to barge in. I would never do anything so awful to you on purpose. No one is more pissed off at her than I am. It’s never all right to stalk another girl’s guy, but what kind of girl does it when he’s with his girlfriend? Totally never saw that one coming. She’s my teammate and one of my closest friends. I can’t believe she did that to me.”

Pièce de résistance. Her feeling sorry for me before she makes my humiliation about
her.

“Did you really say that part about not being able to believe she did that to you, Maddy?”

“I’m sorry, K-bell. I don’t know what I’m saying. And for what it’s worth, I think Jacob is even less into how she’s behaving than you are. He did not look like a happy camper at the table. He looked really worried about how this was going down with you.”

I stare at her, stunned. Did we just spend two hours in different restaurants? Jacob not into it? He’s probably already gotten her phone number. What the heck was Madison watching at the table?

I shake my head as I search for words. Pointless. Nothing worth saying here. Madison the peacemaker, though did she actually think that
Jacob not into it
comment had a chance of flying?

I shrug. “It doesn’t matter. Jacob can do what he wants. Even if he wants
that
.”

She laughs at the way I call Sierra
that
and then pouts.

“Don’t pretend with me. I saw your face back there. Why do you think I asked for a convo? I didn’t know what else to do. Never once did I ever see you this upset over Daryl, and he was jerk-guy sometimes when other girls were around. You never got upset at him. But, whoa, you should have seen your face. You really like Jacob, don’t you?”

That was said hopefully and I tuck my phone into my bag as something to do rather than look at her. “Don’t get all excited, Maddy. We’re still in the getting to know each other phase.”

“You like him, don’t pretend you don’t. Not with me.” She laughs, giddy, and then growls. “And I could smack the crap out of Sierra for what she did. I felt so bad, like I’m ruining something that could become really good for you. And I didn’t mean to. And I didn’t mean for Sierra to tag along.”

“Can we just pay the check and get out of here?”

“Sure, K-bell. But I am going to rip into Sierra first chance I get. Not cool what she did. Not cool at all.”

“No. Don’t bother, Maddy. It doesn’t matter.”

“Well, it does to me,” she says fiercely as she holds the bathroom door open for me. “And don’t tell me again not to. It’s a slap to my face, too. If she fucks with you she’s fucking with me. No way I’m letting that go.”

We walk down the hallway and I spot Jacob in the entry area. “Jacob is waiting by the door for me. I think we’re going to cut out,” I tell her.

She nods vigorously. “Good idea. Give you guys some alone time. Don’t be too hard on him. Honestly, the guy looked uncomfortable and not interested in her. Meet you back at the house after I’ve had a few words with Sierra.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do.”

Madison races back toward the table in
girl ready to kick ass
mode as I make a right to where Jacob is waiting for me.

Angry words bubble to my lips, but I hold them in check, because the things I have to say to him are better said in private. And definitely out of earshot of Sierra. Though why that should matter, I’m not sure, except that she’s rude and I’m positive she’d eat up my reading Jacob the riot act over flirting with
her.

Yes, that’s the MO of girls like Sierra and I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing she really pissed me off.

When I reach Jacob, he slips his hand into mine as he pushes the door open. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you,” he whispers in unmistakable relief.

Once outside, his hand drops from mine and his posture collapses as he groans again. “I was ready to be out of there an hour ago. How did you stand it? Another minute of Sierra talking about herself and volleyball, and I seriously would have lost my shit.”

My head spins. We were all sitting at the same table, weren’t we?

He takes me in the sloppy drape of his arms around my shoulders and groans again. “I don’t care where we go, so long as it’s somewhere not near her.”

“Jacob”

I watch until Krystal disappears from view with Madison then, groaning, I collapse back onto the booth as everyone laughs.

“Stellar performance,” Nick announces. “She doesn’t suspect a thing.”

I stare at Nick, shaking my head. “I don’t know how you guys convinced me to go along with this. You do realize she’s furious with me.”

Nick laughs. “Yeah, that girl is heated. Krystal’s one ballistic ballerina.”

I shift my gaze to Sierra. “You didn’t have to lay it on so thick. I thought you were just going to make her annoyed enough that she would want to a take drive or something before we go back to the house.”

She shoves my arm. “Don’t pretend you didn’t love it. What guy doesn’t get off on his girl getting all territorial over him?”

“You better watch your back, Sierra,” Nick jeers good-humoredly. “There were a couple of times I thought she’d rip out your hair right at the table.”

“I know. Can you believe it?” Sierra turns bubbly and excited.

I’m about to cut out when Sierra turns with a bounce to face me, eyes bright. “She must have a killer crush on you to be that territorial, but Madison was right. It worked. She’s angry. I guarantee she’s in that bathroom going cray cray about
moi.
All you have to do is take her somewhere for a while, make up, and this night is going to be awesome.”