“Well, he isn’t here. He went to a meeting.” I begin to close the door, but she sticks out her foot and stops it.

“You know he’ll never stay with you, right. I mean, Jake probably loves your ‘hard to get, damsel in distress’ bullshit, but he always gets sick of it. Once he ‘saves’ you, he’ll drop you and then come back to me.” She smiles at me.

“See, you might think your lies are going to get to me but I know the truth. He’s never touched you, and you’re bitter about it. You think putting me down will make you feel like a bigger person and like you’ve won. But this is the thing, I won. He’s with me.” I move to shut the door again when a punch blindsides me to the face.

Holy shit! This bitch just hit me! I have never been in a fight in my life, but I am ready to tear her apart. I swing back at her and soon we are both on the ground rolling around. After what feels like forever, she is pulled off of me. I look up to see a confused Jake and a laughing Brian.

“What the hell is going on?” He is looking at me for an answer while he loosens his hold on Jaimie.

“Why don’t you ask her? She’s the one that came over here and tried pretend like you guys hooked up. I told her to leave and went to shut the door when she punched me!” I am so mad that my hands are shaking.

Jake looks over at Jaimie. “Seriously?”

“No, she’s lying. Why would I do that?” She tries to give him her innocent face.

“She’s in love with you!” Silence falls, Jaimie gives me a death glare.

“Jake, I…”

“Wait a minute. This whole thing with Nina. This fight. Jaimie, I’m only going to ask you once. Have you been sending that crap to her?” His tone is harsh.

I never even thought about that. I mean the cops asked if I had any enemies, but I guess I never thought to include Jaimie. I just dismissed her as a jealous idiot.

“What? No! I would never!” She seems shocked and a little hurt by his accusation.

“I don’t know that I believe you, but what I do know is that this is done. You are fired effective immediately. If I find out you had anything to do with this bullshit, there will be hell to pay.” He turns his back to her and walks past me into the house. Brian joins him while Jaimie is still standing outside. I give her the finger before smiling and shutting the door. I know it’s immature, but it felt so damn good.

Jake and Brian are sitting in the kitchen and when I walk in Jake hands me an icepack. “Here, Rocky.”

“Shut up! I have never been in a damn fight in my life. Leave it to you to get me into one, Flash.” I smile at him.

“Flash?” Brian looks back and forth between the two of us. “What the hell is that about?”

I look over at Jake. “Well…”

“No, Nina. Don’t do it.” He arches an eyebrow at me.

“Don’t you listen to him, girl. I need to hear this.” Brian is goading me.

“Let’s just say it has to do with the first time we met.” Jake’s eyes narrow at me.

“That is awesome! I can’t wait to tell the guys that!” Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“You’ll pay for that later.” His gravely voice whispers in my ear. A sense of excitement runs through me. His threat sounds more like a dirty promise. Jesus, when the hell did I become this girl?

“You want to grab lunch? Brian has to leave.” Jake’s hands land on my hips.

Brian raises his hands in surrender. “I can take a hint. Bye, Nina, see you later, Flash!”

I start to laugh until I catch the look on Jake’s face. He starts toward me, and I run up the steps and into the spare bedroom locking the door. “I’m still up for lunch whenever you calm down!”

“Yeah, well just remember I might forgive, but I won’t forget, Sparky. Get dressed and meet me downstairs, I’m hungry!” I hear him walk away and can’t help but laugh. I love being here, and being with him.

We decide to go into town for lunch. There is a cafe that has the best paninis and chocolate cake. When the waitress comes over, I decide to order my cake first as an appetizer, then I give her my sandwich order. As Jake orders, he spends the entire time looking at me like I have two heads. Once she walks away, he shakes his head. “You have a crazy sweet tooth.”

“Nina?” I hear a voice call my name and my stomach drops.

I turn to see all the people I have been avoiding for years. My mom, stepdad, and Camden. Can I just pretend it’s not me? Maybe I have a doppelganger. Nope, totally wouldn’t work. “Hey.”

I have no idea what to say to them, even though my mom has tried to reach out I never really responded. All their memories held for me was pain. I know I shouldn’t have taken it out on them, but I just don’t feel at ease with them, and I’ve pushed them away because of it.

Everyone is just standing there frozen in awkwardness. “Hey, I’m Jake.” He offers his hand to my stepdad, then Camden, before greeting my mother as well. They introduce themselves as I am still in shock. “Would you guys like to join us?”

Say no!

“That sounds nice.” My stepdad replies in his no-nonsense tone.

Fuck my life.

Chapter Twenty One

Nina

Sitting here with my family and Jake is the most awkward thing, ever. Everyone is sitting in silence, and I am glaring at Jake, cursing his soul for initiating this.

“So, Jake, how do you know Nina?” My mother asks in her singsong voice.

“Um, we are dating.” He looks over at me and seems confused as to my irritation.

“That’s nice. How have you been, Nina? We miss you.” She looks at me, and I swear she has tears in her eyes. I know I hurt her when I left, but that house and everyone in it is just a bad memory. They all remind me of what I lost that night. My sister.

“I’ve been good.” What else do I say? I mean it’s not like I can sum up six years in a sentence. Even if I could, I’m not sure that I would.

“You know, you’re always welcome to visit.” My stepfather joins in. He and I have never really been close. In a way, I guess I always resented him for not being my dad. We never bonded and I know that is largely because of me. He and Camden moved into our house a year before Carly died.

“I know, thanks.” I nod, completely uncomfortable.

My phone rings and I thank God. “Hey, Sam!”

“Hey, did you want to hang out tonight? I haven’t seen you in forever. I could kick Hunter out, and we can have a girl’s night.”

“Oh my God! Are you serious? No, don’t worry about it. I’ll be right over.” I know it’s wrong, but I need a way out of this lunch.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Her voice raises in confusion.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon!” I hang up the phone. “Hey, sorry, but I have to run. A friend of mine is having an emergency.” I stand up, wave goodbye to everyone and run away from that nightmare. I don’t even care that I don’t have a car I will hail a damn cab.

I feel like a complete bitch. I wonder if any of them even bought my story. I know they are my family but being around them just seems wrong and I don’t understand why. My attitude is completely immature but I don’t know how to handle this any other way. Avoidance is the easiest method and the one that has been doing just fine for me.

“Nina!” I turn around to see Jake running up to me. “What was that all about?”

“You know you shouldn’t have done that.” I cross my arms still angry with him.

“Done what? Be polite and introduce myself to your family, or offer to let them eat with us? I don’t understand the issue here.” I know he was just trying to do the right thing. Besides the one time we talked about Carly, I haven’t told him much about my family.

“I know that you didn’t know, but I’m not close with my family. I was completely uncomfortable.” I look down embarrassed for being mad at him and for how poorly I handled the situation.

“Why? What happened that you are so closed off from them? I mean I know you lost Carly, but I would have figured you would lean on your family.” His words hurt, mainly because I know he is right.