I flopped back against the bed and stared at the ceiling. How many weeks until I turned eighteen and this wasn’t my problem anymore?
Chapter Three
I Would For You…
“You didn’t have to get up,” Jake chided me as I yawned at my cereal for the third time in as many minutes. Somehow, I’d failed to make the connection between Jake sleeping over and crack of dawn football practice. Another reason to avoid sports.
Sports bad.
Sleep good.
“I know,” I said. He was already dressed. Normally, he wore his practice gear, but since he had at least another week of sitting it out, he didn’t bother. “But you have your first session with Diane today.”
I was half-dressed, sitting there in a bra, shorts—his boxers too, because Jake had lost his mind a little bit when he’d peeled off my shorts last night and found me in them.
A little shiver went through me. Sex was a hell of a lot of fun. Even better was the fact Jake could make me laugh, even when he was blowing my mind.
He made a face. “I know. Hopefully, it’ll be quick.”
The mandatory sessions were going to cut into some of our time. His first session after lunch since we had study hall.
“She said twice a week. I didn’t start last week because she had other crap going on, and I kind of hoped she’d forget about it.” He shrugged. “Coop said to just agree with her, listen to her questions, act contrite, and I could probably bounce after a couple of sessions.”
“Yes, because Coop’s had anger management before.” I didn’t roll my eyes, but I thought about it. “Not that his advice is bad, but just be careful.”
Jake grinned. “Don’t worry about me, baby girl, I got this.”
Every time he called me that, I got a little flutter. It was ridiculous how much I enjoyed it. “I’m going to worry,” I reminded him before I drained the milk from my cereal bowl and he did the same. It was great that we could both sit there and slurp up the milk without missing a beat.
“Because you’re you,” he said, and kissed me before grabbing the bowls. “Archie’s going to swing by to get you and Coop, and I’ll see you after practice.”
I sighed a little. He’d kiboshed the idea of me going to see Ian before practice. They needed to focus on the game, and while Ian might be acting like a jackass—Jake’s word, not mine—distracting him could cause injuries.
“I’ll make sure Bubba shows up, too,” he promised, and I made a face.
“Don’t.”
“Excuse me?” He paused in pulling on his backpack as I stood. I still needed to go grab a shirt and finish getting my shit together to go to school. The cats had been fed, and I’d take out the trash on my way to Archie’s car. I kind of hated not being able to take my own. The guys were awesome, but even if they were willing to pick me up and drop me off for the rest of the year, I wasn’t.
I liked having independence.
Exhaling, I said, “Don’t make Ian come to coffee if he doesn’t want to.”
Jake squinted at me.
“I told him how I felt. I told him I wanted to talk to him. He promised he would talk to me today. If he wants to avoid coffee, that’s on him.”
“Hey,” he said, wrapping an arm around me. “Bubba just needs to get his head out of his ass. That requires assistance sometimes. But this isn’t your fault, Frankie. You know that, right?”
“It feels like my fault. Everything seemed—crazy but all right, and then he left and he didn’t talk to me. I guess I owe all of you a bigger apology for when I ghosted you.”
“No you don’t,” Jake told me. “We’re good. We talked, we worked it out, and you know what? We’re in amuchbetter place. Maybe we had to get our heads out of our asses too before we could appreciate the good thing we almost screwed up.”
“Keyword there,” I reminded him as I nuzzled a kiss at his smooth jaw. It had been fun to watch him shave this morning. “We. If I had talked sooner, maybe we would have figured it out sooner.” Now I was whining, because instead of four boyfriends, I might only have three. Only. Ian said we were still friends. So maybe I shouldn’t complain. “I guess it all worked out.”
“Yep, and this will, too. You wait and see.” Then with a groan, he gave me another kiss. “I really gotta go. Even if I don’t do shit, I’ll catch hell if I’m late.”
“I know, see you later.”