Secret Storm (7 page)

Don
'
t knock. Please don
'
t
knock. Please don
'
t—

"Jack?" Austin rapped on the door.

Damn it.

He turned his back. Whatever he had to say
could wait until morning. Jack closed his eyes and re-lived his
encounter with Sara—her kiss, her touch, her body wrapped around
his like it a part of him. He couldn't give up now, not with his
goal in sight.

They would make this work... somehow.

Jack waited until he heard Jane leave before
getting out of bed. He'd never gotten back to sleep, so it had been
a damn long night. It would have helped if he could've stopped
thinking about Sara for half a second.

Not gonna happen.

He groaned and fumbled around the room
looking for his clothes, but he had to laugh when he found his
shirt hanging from the bookshelf across the room. She'd ripped that
thing off and tossed it like a Frisbee. What he wouldn't give to
have her do that again.

"Good mornin', sunshine," Austin said as Jack
stumbled into the kitchen.

"Morning."
God help me.

Austin hummed and sang his way through
breakfast. Jack didn't mind the humming so much, but Austin's
singing....

He poured a cup of coffee and shuffled back
to his room. While making his bed, he kicked something across the
floor. Sara's cell phone. He dropped to his knees to grab it, but
it slid up against the wall in a spot he couldn't reach from either
side.

"Hey Austin!"

"What?"

"See if you can reach that phone. Your arms
are longer than mine."

"Sure." Austin flattened himself on the floor
and stuck his arm all the way under the bed. "Got it."

"Thanks." Jack stuffed it in his backpack
without turning it on.

"Is that Sara's phone?"

"Yeah." He grabbed a towel from the closet
and headed for the shower.

"How did it get under your bed?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He closed
the bathroom door.

"You have to talk about it," Austin yelled.
"It's a rule, man."

Austin was still waiting outside the bathroom
when Jack got out of the shower.

"Seriously?" He tried to shut the door again
but his friend blocked it.

"You've been waiting for this for three
years. What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He turned on
the sink, hoping the running water would drown out his annoying
roommate.

"That bad, huh?"

"No. It was... awesome. Even better than I
imagined."

"So why did you wake up alone?"

He picked up his razor, but the light plastic
tool weighed his hand down. "I don't know. She was talking to that
idiot... David? But I made her hang up the phone. She got really
pissed." He tossed the razor in a drawer and grabbed his comb.

"So how did you end up in bed with her?"

He shrugged. "I told her I was here for her,
and the next thing I knew she was throwing my clothes across the
room." A slightly guilty but more-than-a-little-satisfied smile
touched his lips.

"Nice."

"Yeah, but she wouldn't look at me afterward,
so I have no idea what she was thinking. She left in the middle of
the night." He grabbed his toothbrush and turned the water on
again.

"That sucks." Austin frowned sympathetically,
but then his eyes lit up and he smiled. "Good thing you still have
her phone."

"Yeah."

"I'm sure she wants it back—the sooner, the
better."

"Or maybe she was in such a hurry to get away
from me, she left it on purpose."

"No, if she wanted to get out so bad, she
would've done it sooner."

"She put a blanket on me before she left.
Weird." The slashed scar on his stomach caught his eye as he
reached for his shirt, and he wondered if she'd noticed it last
night. Had it horrified her so much she had to cover it up?

"That's Sara for you—always taking care of
everyone else."

"True. Maybe I dreamed it, but I think she
kissed my cheek too." He still felt her soft, warm lips on his
face.

"See? She
does
like you." Austin
punched Jack's shoulder and went to get his books.

Jack rolled his eyes. Of course, Sara liked
him. That wasn't the problem. She'd said last night that she wanted
him.

You
'
re not what I need.

That statement had cut him to the bone, but
she'd pushed him down on the bed so fast he hadn't had time to let
it hurt. Things had gotten out of control after that, and when he'd
woken up alone, he'd wondered how they were supposed to sort it out
if she never stuck around long enough to try.

***

"You left early." Jane sat down beside Sara
at the courtyard picnic table. "Or did you make it home?"

She sighed and closed her book. "I came
home."

"Alone?"

"Yes, alone."

"Hmm. So what happened to you guys?"

"David called."

Jane drummed her fingers on the table. "I
already know that. I was there, remember?" Her persistent roommate
lingered.

"I tried to tell him we'd talk later, but
Jack took my phone away."

"I'm not surprised. He has no tolerance for
BS."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He knows David's no good. He can see how
much David is hurting you, but you keep worrying about David's
feelings when the only person you should be worrying about is
you."

But David
'
s feelings are important,
aren't they?
"I don't like hurting people."

"How did you hurt him? He cheated on you. The
creep got what he deserved."

"I know. I'm just so sick of trusting a guy,
only to be played for a fool again... and again and again."

"Do you think Jack would do that to you?"

"No. Never. Last night—after he stole my
phone—he offered to help me, told me he'd always been there. He
didn't push me into anything. He let me make the first move."

"Did you?" A little smile lit Jane's
face.

"Did I what?"
Playing dumb won't work with
her, dummy.

"Did you make the first move?"

"I don't kiss and tell."

"So forget about David and see what happens
with Jack."

"I want to."

"What's stopping you? David isn't worth the
trouble, and believe me, I know trouble when I see it."

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and dark
clouds gathered overhead. Sara looked over Jane's shoulder, and her
heart flipped. "There's Jack."

"Do you want me to leave?"

"Yes." Her friend stood up, but Sara grabbed
her and pulled her back down. "No. I don't know." She rearranged
her books, doing her best to pretend not to notice him. Jane's
laughter didn't help.

"Hi Sara." Jack smiled and his gorgeous blue
eyes stripped her naked.

"Hi Jack."

"Good morning." Jane scooted to the other
side of the table so he had to sit next to Sara.

"Morning." He handed Sara her phone as he
slid into the bench. "I found your phone under my... um... on the
floor."

"Thanks." She took it from him, but didn't
turn it on. "I didn't even miss it."

"That's good." His eyes shifted toward Jane
and she smiled.

He started to stand, but Sara couldn't let
him leave. "I missed you, though."

A slow grin lit up his face and he sat back
down. "I missed you too."

"Oh, there's Austin." Jane jumped up and ran
across the courtyard.

Suddenly alone with Jack, Sara wondered what
to do with him. He just smiled at her, his arm on the table,
stretching out his fingers like he wanted to touch her.
Is he
waiting for me to make the first move again?

"I'm sorry—" They both spoke at once.

She laughed and he shook his head. "I told
you I wasn't going to say, 'I'm sorry.' I'm not—not for anything I
did last night. I'm not sorry for taking your phone away, not for
telling you to let him go, and especially not for calling you
mine."

"I'm sorry." She could almost hear his heart
stop. "I'm sorry it took me so long to figure out I'm done with
David."

He smiled and slid his arm across the table.
Their fingers laced together. "No apologies."

She squeezed his hand and felt the strength
and comfort she'd wanted last night. "I guess I needed to hear it
from someone else—from you, from Jane."

"It's hard to hear your own voice when you're
so close to the situation."

She smiled and stroked his arm with her free
hand. "How did you get to be so wise?"

"Some people call me a wiseass."

"I don't."

"I've learned a lot of hard lessons," he
said, gazing into the distance. "Wisdom—if you want to call it
that—comes with the territory."

"I still don't.... It's hard for me to...."
Did she want to do this again? Did she want to get involved with
another guy so soon after David? Jack wasn't just another guy—she
trusted him with her friendship. Could she trust him with her heart
too? She looked down at their interlocked fingers. Such a simple
touch, but it meant so much to her.

He curled his finger under her chin and
lifted her face. "Talk to me."

"I want to trust you."

"You can. I'll prove it to you—every
day."

Sara drew circles on his arm with her
fingertips. "What do we do now?"

"That's up to you. Do you want to go back to
being just friends?"

"I don't think we can do that after last
night." Heat rushed to her face.

"Good point." He caressed her cheek. "Can I
kiss you? I love kissing you."

"I noticed. And for future reference—you
don't ever have to ask."

He slid closer to her and pressed tiny kisses
on her lips, her cheeks, her closed eyes. "I'll remember that." He
pulled her against his chest and kissed her with parted lips.

She closed her eyes and melted into him.
Wow. Did I really do that?
She never melted for anyone, but
Jack's kisses did things to her no one else could. His lips touched
hers with the softest caress, and his tongue chased after hers like
an elusive prize.
Mmm... yes, melt.
The only thing she could
do. The only thing she ever
wanted
to do.

"This is going to be good," she whispered on
his lips.

He beamed, his eyes bright and happy. "It
already is."

She couldn't argue with that, so she kissed
him instead, playing with the buttons on his shirt.

"Again? You guys really need to get a room."
Austin scooted in across from them.

She dragged herself away from Jack and
snarled. "You need to stop interrupting."

"I told you to leave them alone," Jane
scolded.

Jack laughed softly, pressing his lips on her
ear, his breath hot. "Getting a room isn't a bad idea."

She stared into Jack's playful face. "We've
already broken-in your room. Want to try mine next?"

"We could, but don't forget I promised you a
ride in my Mustang."

His naughty smile made her tingle down to her
toes, and shot tingles through her belly again. "Yes you did. Is
there enough room?"

"We'll have to be creative." He winked. "Or
we could borrow Austin's Jeep."

"You two aren't going anywhere near my Jeep.
Hey, are you girls coming to our game tonight?" Austin pulled Jane
close to him and nuzzled her neck.

"Yes we are," said Sara.

Someone's cell phone rang, and everybody
checked. "Mine," Jack said, frowning at the number. "It's my mom."
He hesitated for a moment before answering, a worried crease
forming on his forehead. "She never calls during the day."

Jack strode away from the table, flipping
open his phone. His mother's nursing job only allowed personal
phone calls in an emergency. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"He's dead, Jack." Mary Wallace's voice was
calm, almost relieved.

His heart froze, and he held his breath. "Say
that again."

"He's dead."

He let out a slow breath, but his heart
remained cold. "Good. Are you sure?"

"Yes. Your grandmother called to tell me
about the funeral arrangements."

"You're not going—"

"I have to."

"Don't do that to yourself, Mom."

"I have to make sure he's really dead."

Jack sighed.

His mother cleared her throat. "I think you
should go too."

"No."

"He was your father."

"That asshole was never—" He lowered his
voice. "He's been dead to me for a very long time."

"I know, but I think it would be good for you
to go. You need closure."

He turned his back to his friends and growled
into the phone. "I got all the closure I needed when the prison
door slammed shut." Over the phone, he heard a loudspeaker
announcement. He couldn't make out the words, but the tone sounded
urgent.

"I have to get back to work. I'll call you
with the funeral information."

He said nothing.

"Think about it, okay, honey?"

"I don't have to."

"I love you, Jack."

"I love you too, Mom." He hung up the phone
and stood very still, breathing deep and even. The man who'd caused
him and his mother so much pain, so much fear, was finally out of
their lives forever.

"What happened?" asked Austin.

"Robert Prentiss is dead." His lips formed a
tight line.

Austin sat up, his jaw set. "Good. You've
waited a long time to hear those words."

"Yes I have."

"How'd it happen?"

"Mom didn't say, and I don't care. He's dead.
That's all I need to know."

"Why would you want this man dead?" Sara
asked, staring at Jack.

"Either of you." Jane looked from Austin to
Jack. "Who is he?"

"No one." Jack shook his head, turning away,
but Sara pulled him back to the table. He let her, but avoided her
eyes and stared at his phone as if it might come to life and bite
him. Why didn't he know how to feel? He should be happy, relieved,
even justified, but instead he felt... nothing.