‘Ready?’ Heller asked, stuffing lecture notes into his portfolio.
I wrenched my attention from Jacqueline. ‘Yeah. Sure. Ready.’
He arched a brow at me, and I followed him from the room. ‘Sure you aren’t working too hard, son? You seem a little preoccupied lately.’
He didn’t know the half of it.
This was not my day.
First, Gwen arrived in the first bad mood I’d ever witnessed her have. She was like a completely different person. She was like Eve.
Who was also working the afternoon shift.
I had no idea when Jacqueline would show up, if she would show at all, but I knew – as Landon – that late Friday afternoons were when she scheduled her high-school music lessons. She’d either be here any minute or not at all. When Heller showed up, ordered a venti latte, and parked it in a chair in the corner, I selfishly prayed he would slam his drink and go home.
He pulled out the Wall Street Journal and started at page one.
Not five minutes later, I heard Eve’s familiar, barely civil greeting: ‘Can I help you?’ with a double shot of attitude. I glanced up to see Jacqueline, chewing her lip as though she was reconsidering her decision to stop by.
‘I’ve got it, Eve,’ I said, stepping up to the counter.
As I got her coffee and refused to let her pay, my coworkers continued to scowl at her, though I couldn’t imagine a single reason why. Choosing one of the bistro tables on the opposite side of the café from Heller, she pulled out her laptop.
‘What the hell?’ I finally asked Gwen, stepping into her viewing path. ‘Why are you staring at her like you’re trying to reduce her to ashes?’
She crossed her arms and stared up at me. ‘Please tell me you don’t actually like that girl, Lucas.’
I flicked a glance at Heller, who’d not moved except to turn the page of his paper. ‘What do you mean? Where’d you get that?’
She pinned her lips together, grimacing. ‘You’re more transparent than you think. And also, we think she’s playing you.’
‘What?’ Thank God no customers were at the register and Jacqueline was too far away to hear this cracked conversation.
‘It’s true,’ Eve hissed, appearing next to Gwen. ‘Her friends came in here again the other day – you know the two I mean? The sorority chicks?’ Her words said sorority chicks. Her tone said disease-infested hookers. Good God. I was giving her five seconds to get to an argument I could squash.
I nodded once.
‘Well, I couldn’t hear everything they said over the damned steamer, but I heard your name and her name and the fact that she’s using you to be her … ugh …’ She made air quotes. ‘Bad-boy phase. I’ve never heard anything so f**king lame.’
My brows rose. Bad-boy phase. Right. ‘You are both insane.’
Eve crossed her arms. ‘Um, no. We’re not. They’re plotting the whole thing out and she’s just following along. You’re supposed to be like – a rebound stud to help her get over some other guy. So – for a million dollars and a chance to advance to the next round: do you like her or do you just want to screw her?’
They stood there like shoulder-to-shoulder crazy.
Rebound.
‘This is not your business.’
‘The hell it’s not.’ Eve poked me in the chest with one black-lacquered fingernail. ‘You’re our friend, and we aren’t letting some stuck-up bitch play you.’
My jaw clenched. ‘Do. Not. Talk about her like that.’
They looked at each other.
‘Crap,’ Gwen said, as Eve said, ‘Well, f**k.’
After an hour, Jacqueline and Heller left, minutes apart. Before leaving, he stopped at her table, telling her how pleased he was that she was catching up – which I only knew because that was the topic he’d wanted to discuss with me this morning after class.
Then he stepped to the counter to talk to me about her – while she watched – and I remembered an old saying my grandfather had been fond of quoting: Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive. I was getting a taste of what tangled meant.
The rest of the afternoon was so dead that our manager asked if anyone wanted to go home, and I volunteered. Eve and Gwen shared yet another pointed look. I’d never requested to be cut before.
Gwen followed me to the back and stopped me as I shrugged into my jacket. ‘Lucas?’
Turning, I sighed. ‘Yeah?’
Lips pursed, she laid her hand on my arm. ‘I know Eve can be a little harsh …’
I smirked. ‘Really? I hadn’t noticed.’
Her eyes crinkled at the corners when she smiled, and the Gwen I knew reappeared. ‘But we both care about you. We don’t want to see you hurt.’
I zipped the jacket to mid-chest – a soft, dark chocolate leather that I wouldn’t have been able to afford on my own. Charles and Cindy gave it to me for my birthday my freshman year. It had been a little oversized then. It fitted perfectly now. ‘I’m a big boy, Gwen. I can take care of myself. I have for a long time.’
‘Yeah, I know. Just … be careful. Some things aren’t worth the pain, whether you can survive it or not.’
She never said much about her baby’s father, but I knew she was speaking from experience. I could hardly compare Jacqueline Wallace to a guy who was too much of a selfish prick to man up to being a father. But what I knew about Jacqueline wasn’t mine to tell.