“Don’t do it.”
There it was. I’d meant it when I said I didn’t want him to do it anymore, but judging from the way his shoulders slumped and he looked away, I knew he was going to do it anyway.
“You were beat up for it in high school,” I added.
“Come on.” He jerked in his seat. His hands fell to his lap, but he still didn’t look at me.
“They threatened Claire,” I reminded him.
“That’s not fair.” His eyes lifted to mine, and they were heated. He held a finger up between us. “That’s so not fair, Taylor. It’s different now too. I’m not doing the betting this time.”
“You missed a payment, and they blackmailed me.”
He snorted, folding his arms over his chest. “Yeah, well, Claire told me what Kade did. You must be familiar with being blackmailed by now.” His eyes cut to the side again.
I’d never told him this next part. I waited. He had to be looking at me, and after a beat of silence, he did. “They were going to get their money no matter what—from you or from someone else.”
“What are you talking about?” His voice hitched now. He was uncertain.
“They said either you give them their money or they’d get it from my dad.”
His arms unfolded, and he leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”
“I never told you because you paid, but they were going to take me.” A big ball landed in my throat. Oh well. What was new? “They called me on the phone one day. They were going to make my dad pay. I mean, it was just a phone call, but—”
“Wh—” He choked. The blood drained from his face. I wasn’t the only pale one in the room now. “You never—I didn’t know that.”
“It didn’t happen.” So I hadn’t told anyone.
“Did Eric know?”
I snorted. “No way. He would’ve pissed his pants and run to the cops.”
Jason quieted, tugging at one of his shirtsleeves. He looked ridiculous. It was a short-sleeved pink shirt —shave off a few more inches and he would’ve been wearing a tank top. But he kept tugging at it. For what? It wasn’t going to cover his hand.
“Stop doing that.” I pulled his hand away. “You’re going to rip your shirt.”
A rueful laugh left him, but his hand went to his hair. He still wore a stupefied expression. “I—I mean... My God, Taylor. You never told me.”
“Why would I?” I needed something to do, something else to focus on. This was headed into territory I didn’t want to visit: what Eric would’ve done, what I had done. All of that would spiral into other topics I’d been able to avoid for months. No, thank you.
“You want something to eat?” I turned the heat under the pot back on. “I was making this for my dad.”
He glanced around. “I didn’t think your dad was here.”
“He’s not.”
“Oh...”
I had to ignore him. Ignore where this was going. That was my mantra.
“Uh, Taylor…”
“Do you want a beer?” I asked. “My dad has an entire fridge full. Trust me when I tell you he won’t miss any. I have to go out to the garage to grab something anyway. You want one?”
“No.” He watched me turn toward the garage, his mouth slightly open. “Thank you, though.”
When I got back, I handed him a beer and opened the sauce.
“Taylor.” Jason came over and took the jar from me. “Stop making food. Stop it.”
“No.” I pulled it back out of his hands and nudged him aside. A gentle nudge, but still firm. “I was going to make this anyway. If we don’t eat it, it’ll be here for my dad. He’ll be home any moment—”
Jason grabbed a note from the fridge and read aloud, “At Mike’s house. Be back late. Hope your first day was great.” He handed me the paper as he softened. “Signed, your dad.”
I stopped for a moment. I didn’t look at Jason. I didn’t do anything. I just stared straight ahead. He’d said we’d have dinner, that he wanted to hear about my first day at Cain University…Nope. No way. I wasn’t dealing with this.
I turned the burner off and took the note from Jason’s hand, ripping it in two. “Okay.” My chest was tight. “Let’s go out, shall we?”
Jason said nothing, trailing after me. We went and ate, but if someone had asked me later where we went or what we had, I wouldn’t have remembered. The storm was back. It’d been inside of me for nine months now. Jason knew what was going on, but he didn’t push me. Thank God. During dinner we were nearly silent, each in our own thoughts and when we went back to the house, he broke the silence when I didn’t move to leave the car. We sat in the driveway when he asked, “So did Kade call you yet?”
I frowned, but it was something else to talk about. “Why?” I wasn’t asking why he was asking about Kade.
“I need the cash.”
“We all need cash. Do something else.”
He made a disgruntled sound.
“I mean it, Jason.”
“And I mean it, too. Nothing will come back on you. Life’s different now that we’re in college. It’s bigger.” He held his hands in the air. “Grander. More freedom. More…I don’t know. We’re not so confined. I’m not tied to you and Claire. My problems won’t come back to haunt you. I promise. And it’s not the same either because I’m not doing the betting. I’m taking the bets.”