Red Flags (26 page)

“Are you fuckin’ serious? “ The southern
drawl that crept in when he was most angry was back with a
vengeance. “Secrets? I have no secrets. Just because someone
doesn’t give every gory detail of their past sexual escapades
doesn’t make them secrets.”

“Well, why didn’t I know about Stacey until I
had the unfortunate opportunity of meeting her? She is obviously
important Jason, why were you hiding her?”

He began yelling, “There is nothing to hide.
I fucked Stacey for a while; her family is friends of my family,
what more do you want to know? Would you like me to tell you about
her?” Well fine, she has a nice fuckin’ rack, about 36C; I loved
playing in those tits. Her skin was silky soft because she used
this sweet smelling mango lotion that I would rub all over every
inch of her tight body. I rubbed it all over her, and smacked her
ass over and over, watching it jiggle when I did.” My stomach
knotted into a pretzel, and I yelled for him to shut up but he kept
going. “She had a sweet little clit, not as sweet as yours of
course, but it was sweet. It was pink, warm, and wet… didn’t take
much for me to slam my cock into her and listen to her yell my
name, over and over again…” He finally stopped, seeing that I was a
sobbing mess. I didn’t ask to hear that, and sadly, it sounded like
he was reliving what he had, and almost wishing he had it back.

He came to sit with me on the bed and pulled
me into his lap, running his fingers through my hair. “I’m sorry
Cara, I didn’t mean to hurt you, but you wanted specifics so I gave
you specifics.”

“Those are not the specifics I was looking
for Jason, and you know it.” I managed to get out in between sobs.
“Do you want her? You sound like you miss her.”

“Of course I don’t want her. Cara, I want to
be with you, I just wish that you would trust me. I’m sorry about
Stacey, but I can’t make her go away.” He continued rubbing my
head, soothing the growing tension that had filled my skull. We sat
for a while – me crying in his arms, and my sobbing finally
subsided. I sat up and looked at him, through tear stained
eyes.

“So this gala where we saw all of those
pictures, what is it?” I already knew the answer, thanks to Jacob,
but I wanted to see if Jason could be truthful with anything – even
something so miniscule.

“It’s something my parents do every year for
charity. It’s in another few weeks.” He stopped, and looked at me.
“Would you like to go?” I stared at him -- flabbergasted, not sure
if I should answer excitedly, or remain calm. “I want to take you
to Heath, introduce you to my parents.” I nodded my head in
approval, failing to hold back my giddy grin.

“What about Jacob?” I asked, because I knew
Jason was no fan of Jacob and he still lived in Heath.

“I can avoid my brother for a day or two. I
really want to take you to this.”

I threw my arms around him and started
kissing him passionately. All it took was for us to fight about his
ex for him to open up to me. He laid me down on the bed and began
to undress me, and I lay completely at his disposal.

<>

I awoke up to an empty bed. As I moved, my
body felt like I had been through excruciating Crossfit training
sessions. What Jason did to me last night, I would venture to say
the Crossfit workout could take some lessons from him. I moved
slowly, throwing on a t-shirt and some shorts. I almost panicked
when the thought that I had missed morning workouts invaded my
mind, but I quickly remembered that because of playoff pairings, we
had the day off. I stepped out of my room to the warm aroma of
coffee, bacon and eggs, and pancakes. Jason was manning the kitchen
while Hunter and Chelsea were setting the table. I had to shake my
head to take in this scene; Jason and Chelsea in the same vicinity
and not killing each other, especially after last night. I’ll take
what I can get. Jason walked over to me, and kissed me softly on
the lips.

“Morning gorgeous…” There was that word
again; the word I swore didn’t fit me in the least bit. I smiled
and made my way to the table to join Chelsea and Hunter, giving
them polite smiles. Jason brought the food to the table and we all
dug in. Chelsea made eye contact with me and gave me a sly
smirk.

“Surprised you’re walking this morning,” and
I immediately turned to Jason who was basking in the glory of
Chelsea’s shameless ego stroking. I looked down at my food, shoving
more in, hoping she would drop the subject. To my horror, she
started making sex faces and moaning obscene things that I was sure
had never left my mouth.

“Ah... ahhh… oh-my-fucking-God-Jason…. Fuck
me harder Jason… beat it Jason… slam it Jason…” I seemed to be the
only person at the table not in the least bit entertained by
Chelsea’s show.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any
worse, Hunter – quiet Hunter, chimed in.

“How bad you want it? Tell me… yeah… fuck
yeah…” his voice was low and husky, and he too had thrown in the
disgusting sex faces. Jason was leaning back in his chair, clapping
his hands, laughing hysterically. On the other hand, I was
mortified and sitting there praying that the table would swallow me
up and never let me out.

“Hey, I have to know how she wants it done.
Gotta know I’m pleasin’ ma girl,” Jason arrogantly spit out,
grinning at me. I finished my food, and pulled Chelsea into my
bedroom, shutting the door behind me.

“Ewww… I still smell remnants of sex in
here,” she shrieked, holding her nose. I shoved her shoulder and
she let go. I leaned up against my desk, arms folded across my
chest, trying my hardest to look angry, but failing miserably.

“What the hell was that Chels?” She smiled,
and ran her fingers through her long hair.

“Ok, it doesn’t smell like sex, that plug-in
is amazing in here…” she grinned, but immediately moved on to the
topic that I really wanted to address. “Cara, I have to try and
stay on an even keel with Jason. He was pissed that I was spying on
him via Stacey, so I need to show him that I like him,” she rolled
her eyes, and her game plan became evident to me.

“Chels, I don’t want you to hate Jason. I
would love for you two to be able to get along -- and for it to be
real…” She held up her hand to stop me.

“Um, I liked him, when I first met him, but
the more I see, he is a control freak, and he has some skeletons in
that closet of his. Until he uncovers that shit, I have my guard up
with him. Plus, I think you might be better off with Chase anyway,”
and her eyes lit up as she said Chase’s name.

“I don’t want Chase like that.”

“Wasn’t always like that.”

“Well, it’s different now. And, besides, I
can’t go back down that route and you know it.” I gave Chelsea a
warning eye that she all but ignored.

“Too bad, Chase has grown into quite the
looker, and he’s totally into you.”

“He’s a friend Chels, that’s it.” I turned
away from her, and then my original topic of conversation popped
back into my head. I bit my index finger nail as I turned back to
her. “Did Jason say anything to you about the paper?” She looked at
me, crossing her arms over her chest and she took a seat in my desk
chair. Reading her body language I could tell that they had words,
but must have straightened things out.

“He did ask why I was so interested in
knowing about her.”

“AND?” I shouted, unable to contain my
anxiety.

“Calm it down Cara. You know, better than
most, that I can hold my shit when it comes to Jason. I told him
I'm your best friend and anything that concerns you concerns me. If
you’re happy, then I’m happy.” Her lips perked into a snooty little
pout, but at that moment, I smiled, because I knew for a fact that
Chelsea said every bit of that to Jason and meant it as well.

<>

The meeting was relatively quick, with our
coach informing us that we would be leaving to go to Las Vegas to
face Las Vegas University in the first round of the playoffs. We
had only played them one other time and we lost to them in an early
season tournament. I tried to figure out if Jason was going to be
excited or incensed by our departure to Vegas for four days.

I pushed the thought aside and giddily made
my way back up to the apartment with Chelsea in tow. She was going
on and on about how she planned to sneak out and run the town with
Hunter; and all I could do was shake my head and laugh, because
while it sounded ridiculous, it was very much like something that
Chelsea would do.

We burst into the apartment to find Hunter
and Jason watching a Padres game. Chelsea came bulldozing her way
through the door and shouted at the top of her lungs, “we’re off to
Vegas boys.” She looked more like a cheerleader than a softball
player by the way that she was jumping up and down. The guys looked
to us, and then back to each other. Chelsea grabbed Hunter by the
hand and pulled him back to her bedroom, while mumbling something
about helping her pick out her best Vegas outfits. Jason followed
me into my room and I was once again unsure of his ever changing
mood.

“When do ya’ll leave?” He asked, under hooded
eyes.

I ran my tongue over my top row of teeth,
“tomorrow,” I answered, unsure why I was so fearful of his
reaction. He ran his hand over his mouth and replied, “well, I
guess I better go and pack.”

“Huh?” I asked stupidly.

“Well, if you’re going to Vegas, I need to be
there to support you, so I need to get home and pack.” I breathed a
sigh of relief and my heart swelled; I was no longer apprehensive
about the trip. I really had no room to be anyway because it was a
sports trip, but I was worried that Jason would find some reason to
freak out about it. Classes came to mind, and while mine were
cleared, Jason’s were not.

“What about your classes? Finals are coming
up.”

“Oh well, I’ll take care of that,” he looked
wickedly at me, “there’s no way you’re going to Vegas without me.”
He emphasized the word Vegas, as if I was going to throw myself
into a brothel or something. He kissed my cheek, and then walked
out of the apartment. I took a moment to call my parents and let
them know.

My phone call with my dad was brief. He
already knew about us going to Vegas thanks to Mila. She had
already called Ryan, and since he was with my parents, he filled
them in. As silly and juvenile as it was, it bothered me that the
information was coming from her and not me. Mila and I had made up,
but there was still a bit of lingering resentment there where she
was concerned. I tried to push her out of my mind and continued
packing everything I needed for our four days.

The trip was really for business, but the
University usually allotted time for “team bonding”, as they called
it. I was almost sure Chelsea would use that as time to sneak off
somewhere. I threw in a couple of short skirts, and halter tops –
just in case.

We stayed up all night, with Chelsea planning
our trip around practice and game times. Her parents and my parents
were carpooling together, and Hunter and Jason were carpooling as
well. I tried to talk him out of taking the Raptor, but he said he
wanted to bring me home, so he would need the space for my bags,
and the Shelby wouldn’t allow for it.

The team was flying and as the University
buses dropped us off at San Diego International Airport, everyone
was riled up with excitement. We had had plenty of practice to
prepare, and were just anxious to get there.

The flight was rather short, maybe an hour
total flying time. The task of gathering all of the gear, getting
team vans, and loading everyone in was a completely different
story. Who would have thought that trying to split 15 girls and
gear into three vans would be such a fiasco? Chelsea started
barking orders, Mila was engrossed in her phone, and I was just
annoyed. I hopped into the first van and sat with my headphones on,
trying to drown out the unnecessary commotion. When we were finally
ready to go, the vans headed out on the 15 South towards LVU. I
decided to text Jason to let him know that we had made it, and was
on our way to the hotel. Chelsea shoved Mila, who was sitting in
the row in front of us, because she was laughing loudly at the text
messages coming through on her phone.

Once we arrived at our hotel, we unloaded our
personal belongings and lugged them up to our assigned rooms.
Chelsea, Mila, another team member, Kate, and I were all assigned
to one room. Unloading my things into the drawers, my phone finally
buzzed, only it wasn’t Jason, it was Chase. He just wanted to wish
me and the rest and of the team good luck, and said sorry he
couldn’t be there to watch us. That was sweet of him, but not who I
was hoping to hear from. I shot him a quick thank you, and then
pulled Chelsea over to my side of the bed.

“Have you heard from Hunter?”

“Yea. He says they’re at Primm, and that
Jason is driving like a bat out of hell trying to get to you.” She
laughed, but my I didn’t reciprocate.

My phone buzzed again, and this time, it was
Jason.

Jason Bradley

*I love you too!*

All of the color drained from my face, and
Chelsea stopped laughing, and snatched the phone from my hands. She
read the text, not understanding the concern on my face,

“What’s wrong with you Cara? All he said was
I love you too.” She shoved the phone back into my hands.

“I never texted him I love you.”

Kate and Mila turned to see what was going on
with us. I motioned for Chelsea to follow me outside, and caught
Mila and Kate eyeing us suspiciously. We walked down the hall and
Chelsea let go of her frustrations.

“I try so fucking hard Cara, but I just don’t
like him. I don’t trust him.”

“I know,” is all I could muster because I
didn’t have anything else to say.

“Who the fuck was that meant for if it wasn’t
meant for you? If he sent that to that Stacey bitch, I swear to God
Cara, I can’t be held responsible for what I say to him.”