Hyde and Seek (36 page)

“So much. I never knew I could be this happy. It was the best birthday, but also just the best weekend of my life,” I whispered like it was a secret.

“Piper,” Jake returned hoarsely.

Leaning up, I pressed my lips to his jaw. “About Nat and I. Maybe we did get just a little crazy.”

“Yeah, babe.” Grabbing my ass, he lifted me off the counter. “Just a little.”

“Sorry.”

“Worth it to see you happy.”

“Fuck, I love my man.”

Did I think that in my head?

“Love you, too. But no more with the love shit to anyone other than me, yeah?”

Nope, I said it out loud.

Okay, so more than a tiny bit drunk.

*******

“Earth to Piper.”

I opened my eyes, ready to open a can of whoop-ass on the cute voiced intruder for interrupting my sleep. “Huh, what?” Looking around, I realized I was still at school.

“You went into robot shutdown mode. Class is done,” Harlow said, grabbing her backpack.

“Shit. Did Professor Marns notice I was asleep?”

“No. You just looked like you were really focused on your book.”

“Thank the Sandman.” Standing, I packed up my bag quickly and headed towards the door.

The hallway was loud and chaotic as we tried to weave through groups of people.

“Long night with your sculpted from marble, god of a fiancé?” Harlow put the back of her hand onto her forehead dramatically. “Oh woe is you.”

“If by that, you mean elbow deep in fondant drama, then yes.”

“God, you guys are kinky.”

I laughed. “And that’s not including what we do with whisks, oven mitts, funnels, and baking sheets.”

“Do you guys really…” Harlow held up her hand. “You know what? Don’t answer. The image in my head is hilarious, I don’t wanna ruin it. So what’s the deal with fondant?”

“I just hate it.” I scrunched up my nose. “It tastes nasty and it’s so shitty to work with. I was up until way late trying to get it all right. I have no clue how I’m going to get through my last class.”

“At least you only have one left. Fridays are my longest days. I’m gonna need an IV of coffee.”

“So I take it you can’t go out tonight?”

“Nope. I can do Monday, though,” she said, her voice hopeful.

“No can do. I’ve got a fully booked baking schedule for the beginning half of the week and dinner at my mother’s house on Friday. Next weekend?”

Her brows lowered as she thought it over. “Maybe lunch on Saturday. But Sunday is packed with school work. Hooray,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

I smiled at her. “I’ll look over my calendar and see.”

“Sweet. I’m gonna haul ass to a vending machine for a much needed dose of caffeine. Talk to you soon.”

“See ya!” I waved as we went in opposite directions.

As long as there was nothing that absolutely had to be done next weekend, I’d rearrange to make lunch happen.

I felt like I worked all the time, but it was nothing compared to Harlow. She took more classes than I did, worked an internship, and bartended at a crappy place in the city. Even though she must be running on fumes, she was always perky and happy.

If I didn’t like her so much, I’d hate her for it.

*******

“I’m so pleased. Just thrilled. I mean, he’s a little rough, of course. But the way he looks at you? That thing he does with his thumb and your jaw? Wow. And that ring?”

Seeing my mother flustered by all things Jake, I burst out laughing. When she’d dragged me into the kitchen, I hadn’t known what to expect. “I know, he’s very
wow
.”

“I only wish I hadn’t invited Elaine and Dana. I know you like Dana, so I thought you’d want her here.” She shrugged. “And, fine, I may have wanted to rub Elaine’s nose in your engagement. Sue me.”

“Mother! I’m shocked.”

“See what it gets me? They’re making a scene. James is sulking. And Dana’s father is drinking all of Thomas’ good scotch.”

“At least it’s been entertaining.”

“Well, yes, there is that.” She smiled mischievously. “Speaking of, we should get back so we don’t miss anything.”

“I’ll meet you in a few.” I gestured with my head towards the bathroom.

Now that Jake and I were engaged, Mom had put her foot down about meeting him. This meant throwing us a small engagement party with her and Thomas’ friends.

How she’d managed to throw it all together in two weeks, I had no clue.

Though Jake wasn’t a big fan of my boring dress or my pulled back hair, he was being his usual charming, bossy self. It was no surprise that the women were gawking at him with a mixture of fear and lust in their eyes.

Is that how I look at him?

The worst, by far, was Dana and her mother. Dana was there with James, though they’d hardly said a word to each other. Elaine was blatantly flirting with Jake, and her husband wasn’t paying attention since his eyes were glued to whatever legs or chest were in his line of sight.

Mother had told me that Elaine didn’t treat James like he was a potential son-in-law. She was also more than friendly with her pool boy and gardener. Then there were the tennis lessons she took, though no one ever saw her play.

With overly processed blond hair, big, fake, stripper boobs, and a baseball mitt tan, she was a walking cliché.

I’d felt bad for Dana until she’d begun hitting on Jake so overtly it made her mom look demure.

I opened the bathroom door to go rescue my fiancé from whatever fresh hell he was facing when I was pushed back into the bathroom and a mouth was on mine.

I jerked away and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “James! What’re you doing?”

“Just a friend, Piper? Then you were just casually seeing him? And now you’re marrying him?
Him
?” James threw his arm out towards the door, his brows lowered and his expression filled with both confusion and contempt.

“Yeah, that’s kinda the way relationships progress.”

“Don’t be stupid. You see the way he’s flirting with all those women out there. You want that life? A man like that who’s going to fuck around on you and use you for your money?”

“First of all, Jake hasn’t done anything wrong. If I were you, I’d be looking at Dana’s behavior because he isn’t encouraging shit. The fact she didn’t sit her naked ass on his dinner plate is surprising. It certainly would’ve been subtler.”

“Don’t be vulgar.”

“If you think that’s vulgar, it’s a good thing we never got together. I’d like to get back to my fiancé. I’d suggest you get Dana and leave, or I might have to talk to Thomas about what just happened. Which means in addition to finding a new woman, you’ll be finding a new job. Don’t pull that shit again, James.”

Disgusted, I stormed out, leaving James in the bathroom as I went to find my man.

*******

“Babe, it ain’t gonna happen, so get it outta your head now.”

“What the hell, Jake? You’re being ridiculous!”

“Think what you want, but you aren’t doin’ it.”

“Yeah, I am.”

“There’s no way I’m lettin’ you spend time with Blake fuckin’ Green,” Jake spat out, crossing his arms over his chest.

I matched the gesture by putting my hands on my hips and mustering up all the attitude I could. “First of all, you don’t
let
me do anything.”

Okay, that isn’t technically 100% true, but that’s beside the point.

“Second, it’s not a social visit. I’m doing the cakes for his album drop party. I kinda have to know what they want.”

“Work through Rhys then. He might want in your pants, but at least I can trust him not to make a move.”

“Normally, I totally dig your whole big, badass, possessive thing. I really do. But not now. This is my business and I can’t let this kind of opportunity pass by just because you don’t like the client.”

“He’s not a
client,
” he said with a sneer, “because it’s not fuckin’ happenin’.”

“You know what? I’ve gotta get to class.” Grabbing my bag, I left the condo, slamming the door behind me.

It wasn’t the most mature thing to do, but it was a small release.

I got in my car and took off without a backwards glance.

It’d been two and a half weeks since my birthday weekend and a few days since the interesting dinner party at my mother’s. Much like our transition into coupledom, we’d settled easily into our engagement.

The Monday after my birthday, I’d gone to see Ray. With zero hesitation or doubt, I got a cupcake tattoo on the inside of my wrist. There was a red cherry on the top with ‘Jacoby’ spelled out vertically to make the stem. Like his ink, the name placement was subtle but fitting.

That night he’d very thoroughly showed me how much he liked it. Since then I’d catch him staring at it, tracing it with his fingers, or pressing gentle kisses to it.

I knew how much it meant to him because seeing my name on his chest still made my breath catch.

I worked in the kitchen at the shop, which came in handy since business was insane. After work, we went back to one of our places, had dinner, and did typical couple things.

It was nice.

It was normal.

And, surprisingly enough, it wasn’t boring.

The only dark cloud in all the brightness had been the emails.

In addition to receiving them more often, they were also getting increasingly graphic. Gregory was working with the police to see if it was a legitimate threat that went beyond someone seeking attention.

I tried not to think about them, but sometimes they’d pop into my head and I’d get freaked. The hairs on the back of my neck would stand up and I’d get the overwhelming urge to run.

I’d also had three more anonymous flower deliveries. They only came when I wasn’t home, which was most of the time.

After the second delivery, though, Jake called his dad again. Gregory came over with some forensic people who took the flowers and put a logger on my computer.

During the last trip out, Gregory invited us to dinner. And by invited, I mean he laid a guilt trip on Jake so thick it put my mom’s to shame.

Jake’s mom, Sarah, was a lot like her husband. She was obviously a good lawyer since our conversation started out as more of an interrogation. Eventually, the tension eased and the atmosphere grew more comfortable. Even the vibe between Jake and his dad didn’t seem as tense.

The night ended with tentative plans for all of us to get together with my mother and Thomas next time.

On the bizarre side of things, Jake and I had become tabloid fodder. It was weird seeing news of our engagement in local newspapers. While I felt like it was a huge deal, I didn’t think anyone outside of our circle would.

I was wrong.

Jake was worried about the increased exposure, but I hoped it would fizzle out and we’d become old news.

Rhys had texted that morning to ask if I’d be interested in doing cakes for a launch party going on at Rye. The event was celebrating Static in the Sun’s album release. It would be the biggest order I’d ever done, both in volume and exposure. I wasn’t thrilled when he told me Green had some specific requests, but I didn’t want to give up my chance to provide cakes for such a high-profile event.

I knew Jake had a point; Blake Green was an egotistical ass and working with him was going to be a headache.

Still, I was confident I could tune him out and make it through one evening. I wasn’t going to bail just because Jake told me to.

Huh. Wonder where he got the idea he could do that?

Shut up.

Normally, I gave in to him because I didn’t care what he was being bossy about. When I did, we always compromised. We both seemed to know what was worth the fight and what wasn’t.

Sighing, I pulled into a spot at school and forced myself to go to class.

*******

“Girl, I don’t know what the deal is, but your man is putting out a serious pissed off vibe,” Harlow said, looking past me at the table in the cafeteria.

I whipped my head around and saw Jake stalking towards me. I vaguely heard Melanie ask what was going on, but I was already up and heading his way.

As soon as I got within arm’s reach, he pulled me to him. Grabbing my ass, he lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him. One of his hands weaved into my hair as his mouth crashed down on mine.

It wasn’t until Jake pulled up and gently lowered me to my feet that I registered the comments, catcalls, and whistles. His hand curved around my neck and his thumb pressed my chin up.

“It wasn’t my place to tell you how to handle your business.”

“Thank you for that. I’ll talk to Rhys about working through him. Next time, though, please ask me, don’t tell me. Deal, Mr. Bossy Pants?”