A Little Bit of Truth (Little Bits) (55 page)

Then I raise my arms above my head and squeal like a little girl who just got the Barbie she wanted for Christmas. Fucking brilliant.

It feels like Christmas just came early.

I think it did.

******

Sure enough Jacob is waiting for me when I finish. Leaning casually on a very nice silver Mercedes that I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to afford on my paycheck.

He looks hot. Really hot.

“This yours?” I ask and clear my throat as he removes his body from the car and opens the door for me to sit.

“Yep.” He grins and slides his hand down my arm, to my wrist before taking my hand and helping me in. It’s lower than I thought it was. “Buckle up baby.”

“Always do,” I whisper to myself as I sink into the soft leather and cross my legs.

He strides around the car and climbs into the driver’s seat. I almost gasp and say, “You can drive?” But I don’t because it might ruin the moment.

“Where are we going?” I inquire as he gets himself situated and presses a button to start the car.

Yes… a button. Fuck me, this thing even has a TV.

That’s awesome.

“To eat, to talk,” he pulls out into the street with a powerful rev of the engine.

We stay silent for a while.

Then we stay silent for a longer while.
That is until I realize where we’re going, “Your place?”

“Yeah, I want to cook for you.”

I giggle a little, “You want to cook for me?”

“Yeah. I took a few classes in Rome. It was awesome. I can now make lasagna successfully.” I almost laugh at how proud he looks of himself but I don’t because again, it might ruin the moment. “You look beautiful Marie.”

My breath catches in my chest, “Thank you Jakey.”

I notice his hands tighten on the steering wheel, “Why is it that when anyone else calls me that I fucking hate it, but when you call me that it goes straight to my cock?”

“Because your cock knows its woman’s voice when it hears it?” I suggest boldly and don’t regret it for a second.

Especially when h
is arm comes around my neck, he pulls my torso over the console and without removing his eyes from the road, kisses me straight on the mouth before releasing me.

“I’ve missed you,” he admits and my eyes burn.

“Missed you too Jakey,” I admit quietly and place my hand on his thigh. He holds it there, his hand squeezing mine tightly.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not believing you. I’m sorry for not making you feel worthy when it’s me that doesn’t deserve you,” this makes my heart ache. How can he even think that? “I’m sorry for hurting you.”

“I’m sorry too.”

“I’m not sorry for kicking the crap out of your ex-boyfriend though.”

“You did what?” I choke out, not sure whether to cheer or be horrified. “He’s a cop.”

“A dirty one babe, I didn’t even get questioned.” He winks at me and rubs his thumb in circles over my wrist. “Fucking asshole did that, he deserved it. Besides, he hit me first. Then tried to sue me but my lawyers dragged up a lot of shit he didn’t want dragging out. He backed off immediately. It’s all good.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah babe,
‘course.”

I relax back into my seat, believing his vow
without question. “What did you do to him?” It’s a story I can’t pass up on.

“I confronted him, asked him why he lied, he continued lying. We called each other a few names, I said some things that got to him and he took a whack, got me straight in the jaw.
Then I pinned him to the ground and may or may not have broken his front tooth on my knuckle. It was gory. It was awesome.”

My brow shoots up, “What did you say?”

“Just some things about how you said you’d never go back because his dick’s as small as his brain which means it’s real fucking small. And he’s not a man because men don’t need bullshit tricks to get a woman.”

“I didn’t say that,” I laugh but it’s humorless.

He glares at me, “No but I’m hoping you were fucking thinking it.”

I give his thigh a squeeze and nod, “I did and I do.”

“Good.”

We sit in silence for a while longer, he pulls into the garage and helps me out before leading me up the stairs.

I sit on the kitchen counter watching him cook, laughing at the mess he makes, flicking water at his neck when his back’s turned and finding every excuse to touch him.

We eat dinner, sharing casual conversation. I love hearing about his travels. Some he shared with Landon, others he shared with only himself and now he’s sharing them
verbally with me. He tells me of the fact he hates pancakes which I don’t understand because he always acted like he loved mine.

Acted. That’s the key word here. Something Jacob does well even when he doesn’t realize he’s doing it. He acts.

How deep in someone else’s mind are you that you can’t even tell if you don’t like a certain kind of food?

He’s admitted instead of pancakes he’ll take scrambled eggs because those are the shit with a bit of butter.

He discovered his tremendous fear of heights which, according to him, he never seemed to fear before when doing his various action movies that involved heights quiet frequently.

Apparently he’s discovered that when he plays a character he doesn’t just take them on temporarily; he takes them on, on a more permanent basis. Something he never realized until Landon pointed it out.

I love listening to him talk, I love hearing this. I just hope at the end he doesn’t say goodbye.

We wash the dishes together
, even though he protests. I know how bad he is at dishes and make sure they’re done properly. Then he, with a gentle kiss on my lower lip, leads me back to his car and drives me home. The entire way, yet again, we stay silent.

I don’t know what to say and I’m guessing that neither does
he.

When we finally pull up outside of my apartment he switches off the ignition and turns to face me.

Then he states with no little amount of anguish, “I want you home Marie.”

“Jake…”

“No, I promised I wouldn’t do this but I can’t stop myself. I want you back, I want you home, I want you in my bed. No more going away for months on end. I’m only doing indie movies which take a hell of a lot less time. I want to live here permanently only leaving for as little as a few weeks with months in between,” he talks quickly but his words sink in. “I need you home. I just need you.”

“You don’t need me,” I shake my head, refusing to believe him this time. I want him to mean this but it’s not the right time.

“I said to myself I’d take it slow, date you for a while and ease you into it. I know I messed up. I know I have a lot of growing up to do and a lot of making it up to you to get on with. But I want to wake up tomorrow morning with you wrapped around me. If another morning passes where I don’t get to taste you I’ll go fucking crazy.” He grabs my hand and brings it to his chest, holding it flat against his thumping heart. “Come home.” It reminds me of the time he first placed my hand against his chest and whispered, “Like you there babe.” Sigh. That was a good day.

Licking my lips I t
ake in his face, the sorrow etched there breaks my heart but I won’t relent, not yet. “Jacob, I need… hell I just need more time.”

His shoulders slump, “Marie…
”

“It’s not what you did, it’s not how we ended. It’s just… we’re not fixed yet. I don’t think it’s a good idea. Neither of us can afford to go back to our old ways after all of the hard work we’ve accomplished to get to this point. I’m just glad you showed up at all and here we are. Trust me,” I add the last part when he looks away. “This… this has made my fucking week but I think
slow is best right now. We’re both changing, we’re both learning new things. Let’s do what you thought was best and ease into it first. Once we’re both in a good place then we can think about taking the next step.”

“We can do that together. We’re in good places, I can see there’s no hidden torment behind your eyes anymore. There’s no lies in mine. I swear, I’m good to go.”

“I don’t know…”

“Babe, I want you home. Don’t make me drag you kicking and screaming.”

I laugh at that and rest my forehead against his, “Goodnight Jacob. Thanks for a lovely evening.”

“Marie,” he climbs out of the car as I do and follows me up the few steps to the door of my building. “Marie, wait,” his hand on my arm halts me in my tracks. “Please. Come home.”

I sigh and wrap my arms around his waist, resting my face against his chest, “Don’t. Don’t try to talk me into something that we both know isn’t a good idea.”

“We’ll make it good.”

His arms tighten around me, I feel him stepping backwards, pulling me with him and laugh. “Stop it. Go home, get some sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Home is where you are,” I can’t help but agree with him. Home is definitely where he is. “Please, come back with me.”

I shake my head against his neck and step out of his arms, “Love you Jake.”

He lets out a deep breath and rubs his eyes. “Love you too Marie.” Then he walks away, each step slow and cautious as if waiting for me to call him back which I want to do but I don’t. If it doesn’t feel right then it probably isn’t. “Same time tomorrow.” Are his last words before I enter my building and lock the door behind me.

His words weren’t a question, they were a statement. I think Jacob has finally found his own way and his own way isn’t James’ romantic persistence or Lucas’ caveman persistence. It’s a mix of both but it’s none of either. It’s fully Jacob.

Sure enough Jacob comes the next day, takes me to a movie (without him in it) and then takes me home. This time kissing me gently and pressing his hips into mine. This time his hand grips the back of my neck tightly and his fingers weave through my hair in an effort to stop me from pulling away. An effort that doesn’t go wasted.

“Come home with me Marie,” he says again like the night before and again I say no and walk away.

He comes back again. And again. And again and each night has the same results not including the kiss. Each night the kiss gets more and more passionate until I’m gasping for air and aching so bad between my legs I feel like dragging him inside and riding him until I faint. I don’t do this.

He starts coming earlier, sitting with me while I work much to my customers delight and my annoyance. He starts coming even earlier and taking me to lunch. Then he starts coming to me even earlier and bringing me breakfast.

He doesn’t leave me alone and every night he ends it with, “Come home with me Marie.” To which I say no and walk away.

On day eleven we get into an argument about the bitch I saw him with when we broke up.

It started with me asking about it and him laughing, “What are you talking about?”

I showed him the pictures.

“Oh… her,” he even gulped. Fucking gulped!

“You fucked her!” I half screamed, feeling my heart plummet. “Are you kidding me?”

“I didn’t fuck her I swear!” He yelled back, following me around his apartment as I tried to find my purse. Did I mention that this time we entered his apartment kissing and
I dropped my bag on the way in? No, we didn’t have sex because my willpower rocks.

“You’re just saying that now because you know I’ll never go back if you did,” I hissed and didn’t regret it even though I saw the clear hurt on his face from my harsh words.

Harsh but true.

Never jump back into a pool you’ve pissed in.

“Even if I did
, you cheated on me first so it wouldn’t count.”

I gasped, horrified, “I didn’t cheat on you!”

“In my mind you fucking did,” he held my purse over his head once he reached it before me.

“In your mind I
fucking
didn’t. You always knew I didn’t!” He winced at my words but still held the bag high in the air where I couldn’t fucking reach. We ended up scrapping for it. Then he ended up holding me by my forehead while I swung my arms aimlessly, growling and feeling like a five year old. “Will you calm down and let me talk?”

“No. I’m leaving.”

He grabbed my arms and pushed me up against the wall, his body closing in on mine, shudder. “You fucking aren’t.” I shoved against his chest to no avail. “Let me talk.”

“Get off me.”

“I didn’t screw her!” He shouts in my face. “Christ, I couldn’t think of anyone but you. We just hung out a few times.”

I laugh coldly, “You couldn’t think of anyone but me yet you dated another woman? Right… that makes sense. Now get off me.”

“I was trying to get you out of my head.”

“I’ll do that for you. I’ll also get myself out of your sight. How’s that asshole?”

“We kissed.” He admitted and tears pooled in my eyes. The image of them almost too much to bear. “We kissed but it was shit. I swear baby, I swear on everything I stopped and walked away and I didn’t look back.” The tears fell and his face fell with them. “I’m sorry Marie. I’m so fucking sorry. I messed up but you have to believe me. I genuinely thought you cheated, I was just trying to take away the pain.” He pressed his forehead to mine and wiped away my tears with a thumb. “I felt so damn lonely. Nobody was talking to me. I’d lost everyone I cared about. You, Maya, almost completely nonexistent, even Summer barely spoke more than a few sentences on the phone to me. It sucked. I’d never felt so depressed in my life.” This made me cry harder, even a whimper escaped. “I’m so damn sorry. I love you Marie. Don’t leave me because of this. Please. I’ll beg if I have to.”