The Keys to Jericho (69 page)

“But
you’re
leaving to live in Philadelphia.”

“I’m not leaving
you
.”

Kat shouts, “You already did! You said I was your girlfriend, we fucked, and then you said we’re over!”

Glaring at her, I snap, “There was more to it than that!”

Looking to the door as she moves away from me, Kat lowers her voice. “I shouldn’t have said what I did, either.”

“You didn’t mean it?” I clench my teeth as I shadow her.

She whips her head to me. “Does it matter? You were so upset that I did!”

I ask again, “Did you
mean
it?”

As she approaches the end of the counter, she anxiously says, “Jared, I can’t do this again with you.”

I’m determined to get to the truth. “Was it true?”

She wipes her cheeks as we stop, staring at each other in a showdown. “I have to go home.”

“Answer me.”

“I said I’m not doing this!” She goes to leave, but I block her.

Peering down at her, I angrily ask, “So you’re just going to move on without me? Date other guys?”

“I’ll have to!”

“Are you fucking serious? You’re dating
me
!”

“You broke up with
me
!” she cries, attempting to dodge past me again; however, I’m faster. Still trapped, she says, “Like you said before, relationships don’t work! So why are you holding onto me?”

“Why can’t you answer my fucking questions?”

She splutters, “You can’t even answer mine, and because I don’t want to fight anymore!”

I bitterly laugh. “Who’s fighting?”

“You’re so mad at me again! I’m trying to let you live your life! I won’t be around to be that burden!” She gasps and mumbles, “That ball and chain.” Fuck me.

“I’m going to lose you, all because you want a kid?”

“It’s more than that!” Her hands go to her eyes as she furiously brushes away tears.

I press on, “You’re leaving so you can let some motherfucker inseminate you?”

“Oh, my God!” Kat shrieks, shoving my chest with one hand. “I can’t believe you just said that!”

Grinding my teeth, I heatedly shake my head. “No. It’s not happening.” I lean closer to her and snarl, “If you want a kid so much,
I’ll
be the
only
one donating to the cause, not some offhand cocksucker.”

Her eyes and mouth gape at me before she yells, “Stop saying shit like that!”

“Why? Because you’re actually considering it?”

“No, because it hurts me you’d say something like that just so I won’t leave Annapolis!”

“And it hurts
me
because you’d leave for that very reason!”

“You expect me to stay here, date you, and then what? We’d resent each other for not meeting each other halfway!”

“Fuck! You’re not—!”

“Jericho, what the hell is going on?”

I look over my shoulder and Kat rushes past me. Dash tries to grab for her, but she jerks past him, too.

As I storm over to him, he asks, “When did you get in, and why haven’t you been answering my calls or texts?”

Without hesitation, I push him up against the wall and get in his face. “Are you fucking her?”

He nearly chokes on his fear. “Jesus! No! I’ve been helping Kat with her hours! That’s it!”

“Is she seeing anyone else?”

“I thought
you
!”

Ignoring his comment, I yell, “I know you’re behind her decision to leave! You put the goddamned idea into her head!”

“No! I found out after you did! I swear to God!”

“You’re not even stopping her!”

“I can’t!”

“She’ll listen to you!”

“No, she won’t! She’ll only listen to
you
!”

“I’ve tried it, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll do it!”

“So threatening me is going to make her stay, or make me work on your behalf?”

I grab his T-shirt. “Don’t get fucking mouthy with me, Dash!”

“Jared, calm down!”

“You’re telling me to calm down? You’re the reason I’m losing her! You’ve been feeding her bullshit about me ever since you found out we knew each other!”

“No, I haven’t!”

“You’re lying! Tell me the truth before I shove your mother’s stripper pole up your ass!”

He shoves at me, but still, I’m stronger. “I’ve been trying to help both of you!
That’s
the truth!”

“I fucking doubt that! You can’t be loyal to both of us at the same time! I’m sure you two laugh it up about me!”

“Fuck! We don’t!”

I ignore his lies. “I thought you were my best friend! But you’re off, talking about me behind my back, criticizing me! Telling her to leave me!”

“Christ! I’m not! We don’t! I just know what’s going on with you!”

“Fucking hell! Nobody does!” My eyes widen at the thought of Kat betraying me with what I told her about Blair. “Holy shit! What did Kat tell you?”

“Jared, I can’t…”

“You can’t tell me what? You can’t tell me what
I
told
her
not to tell you?”

He pretends to be confused. “What are you talking about?”

I double-fist his T-shirt, yanking him to me. “Goddamn it! I can’t trust any of you!”

Dash squeals, “Yes, you can! I promise!”

“Then who’s it going to be, Dashiell? Her or me? You can’t be friends with both!”

His hands go to mine, trying to pry them off him. “Jared, come on!”

I shove him against the wall again. “That’s what I fucking thought!” I let go of him and my hands go to the top of my hat, gripping it. “Fuck all of you!”

Dropping my arms, I turn and storm out of the kitchen with Dash yelling, “Jared!”

I blow past Tony and Cy coming through the front door, and go for the Nissan.

This time, I go to the marina, the park not being a favorite of mine anymore.

Sitting on the picnic table, I watch some people already preparing their boats for the races tomorrow night. Either they’re unemployed, or they’re gym teachers on summer vacation who lie to their best friends. If that’s the case, I hope they all fall in and drown.

I’m officially alone. I thought I was alone before, but no. This is solitary confinement. That’s what I get for caring about damned people. This is all my doing, though. Maybe I should embrace the robot inside and turn off every emotion I’ve ever felt toward another human being. Anger, happiness, empathy, sadness… Everything. They all can take a fucking flying leap off a tall building. It’s easier not to feel. I was stupid to feel things. I’ve been with Dash and Rio so long that I let them do the feeling for me. They were sort of that extension of me. I listened to their shit, and gave them advice if it didn’t pertain to females. Well, the joke’s on me.

Then came Kat Merrick back into my life. My junior year, she grabbed me by the nuts and hasn’t let go. Holy fucking shit. I thought she was gone forever, physically from my life, at least. Yet, in my head, she was with me every God-forsaken day. It has been my Hell on Earth. That was the truth. Always so close, but always so far out of reach. I can’t really blame all of it on her. Kat’s right. I
am
stubborn. However, I thought I had vastly changed in a matter of weeks, rendering me powerless. She got under my skin in ways nobody ever has, not even
her
, our first time around. Kat had wanted me to see and feel things, yet
she
was the one who didn’t see or feel a damn thing.

Letting her in was my fundamental mistake. I shouldn’t have offered to help her drive, just shrugging her off and continuing on my way. I should’ve kept to myself and not let her in to claw me inside and out. But I couldn’t.

I thought I felt…something…with her. Shit. I almost…

Jesus. I’m an idiot.

All that shit does is tear people apart, and I nearly fell for it. Christ. I was just as gullible as my father. Kat has no fucking clue what she feels, either. She spewed it, and look where that got us. Estranged.

Well, I’m not gullible anymore. I’m not anything. I’m closed for shop. I function better when I don’t feel. When I’m a machine.

Looking at my watch, I notice that I’ve been staring at the bay for almost two hours. Time flies when you just don’t give a fuck.

Since my phone had rung some time ago, I finally check my voicemail, expecting it to be my dad or Dash, but it’s the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania telling me that I have a meeting I need to attend Friday for my new job. Mostly meet-and-greet nonsense. Good, though. A distraction can’t come soon enough and I can soon throw myself back into work, forgetting this fucking place and all that inhabit it, or soon won’t.

With my dad still at work, that gives me time to go to his house, grab something to eat, and then switch cars again, before heading back to Philly. Unfortunately, when I turn down the street, I see his truck in the driveway. Christ. Of all the fucking days for him to be home early. Still, I have to get out of here.

I punch the garage code into the panel and go through the utility room, automatically looking for a case of beer, but knowing there aren’t any here.

Walking into the kitchen, it’s quiet, which is a welcomed respite. I go to the refrigerator, looking for something, but not feeling so hungry again, despite my stomach growling. I grudgingly grab a water and slam the door.

“Jared, can you come in here when you’re done?”

Fucking shit.

Twisting the cap, I sigh and mouth, “What the fuck?”

Tossing the cap onto the counter while taking a chug of the water, I walk toward the living room. Rounding the corner, I stop in my tracks when I see, Rio, Dash, and my dad sitting on the couch.

I snarl, “What the fuck is this?”

Dad raises an eyebrow. “Have a seat.”

I disbelievingly laugh. “I’m out of here.”

He yells, “Sit down, Jared!”

I turn around and head for the garage, but Dash, living up to his name, surges past me, cutting me off at the doorway, and I nearly spill my water. “Get out of my fucking way,” I warn through clamped teeth.

From behind me, Dad says, “You aren’t going anywhere. Your grandmother said she doesn’t want you driving her car once you’re here. Therefore, if you do, she will call the cops to report it stolen.”

I spin around, almost knocking over Dash. “What the hell?”

“Now.” He nods to the armchair. “Sit down.”

I confidently laugh this time. “She wouldn’t do that.”

“You want to try it? Lose your brand new job for grand theft auto?”

Dropping the merriment, I yell, “She has
my
car!”

“Uh, no. Not anymore.”

“You stole my fucking car?
I’m
calling the cops!” I reach into my pocket for my phone, but he shrugs with a cool smile that stops me.

“Go ahead. So will she. I hope you have a good lawyer.”

“She would never do that to me!”

Now, he laughs. “Oh, you don’t know my mother. You wouldn’t believe what she did when she caught me drinking in my room at 16. Do you really want to risk it?”

“How in the hell did you know I was back and had her damn car?”

Sitting next to my dad again, Dash clears his throat with a twitchy smirk.

“Shit! Damn Judas, Calder! I was right not to trust
any
of you! Not even my own grandmother!”

Dad shouts, “Zip it and have a damn seat!”

Squeezing the water bottle, I glare at him as his gaze follows me. I drop into the lone armchair, slamming my water onto the end table, dribbling water onto it. My glare then falls to the coffee table in front of me, since I’ll be physically ill if I look at the other two traitors again.