Chapter 16
When I finished, she said, "Those cock-suckers!"
Startled, I drew back. Obviously, she was referring to Derek and his dad. "Uh yeah," I said. "Totally."
She gave an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry. I've had house-guests for like two whole weeks, and now I’m talking like them." She rolled her eyes. "Before you know it, I'll be watching Kung fu and tossing water balloons off the balcony."
My gaze shifted to the balcony. We were like twenty floors up. Wasn't that dangerous?
Across from me, Luna sighed. "Don't ask." She took a quick look around. "Do you know, the cleaning service just left?"
I looked around. The place was absolutely gleaming. I said, "Well, it looks really nice."
"Oh sure, but it didn't this morning. My guests? Total slobs, by the way." She bit her lip. "I think Jake's ready to toss them out."
"Why? Because he's a neat-freak or something?"
"No. Because they keep wearing his clothes and drinking his beer." She glanced toward the open kitchen. "Don't get me wrong. He's a great sport, but with the beer, it's like, no matter how much we buy, when Jake goes to grab one, it's all gone." Under her breath, she added, "And I just pray they're not wearing his underwear."
I froze. "Why would they?"
"I dunno. Because they hate doing laundry?"
I hated doing laundry, too, but that didn't mean I'd jump into another girl's panties. "Uh, yeah," I stammered. "I guess that makes sense."
Sounding more distracted than ever, Luna said, "But they wouldn'treallydo that. I mean, sure, they might have boundary issues, but they wouldn’t gothatfar." She gave me a hopeful look. "Would they?"
I had no idea. I didn't even know who she was talking about. The two guys from the lobby? That would've been my guess, but I didn't have the chance to confirm it, because just then, I caught movement from the corner of my eye. I turned to see the penthouse doors swing open, followed by the sight of Joel's brother, Jake, striding in through the now-open doorway.
Until now, I'd seen him only on my computer screen, thanks to his insanely popular video channel. From what I'd learned, the channel had millions of rabid subscribers ranging from frat boys to slobbering groupies who loved to watch him brawl with celebrities, particularly high-dollar sports stars.
Like Joel, Jake had dark hair, dark eyes, and a lean, muscular build that made it easy to see why all those groupies went so wild over him. But unlike Joel, Jake had cryptic tattoos, snaking up and down his well-defined forearms.
At the sight of me sitting across from Luna, he stopped and gave her a questioning look.
She said, "You remember Melody, right? You know? Joel's girlfriend?"
Hearing this, the sick feeling grew in my stomach. I wasn't his girlfriend. I wasn't anything except worried.
Jake gave me a quick glance. Sounding less than enthused, he said, "I remember."
Luna frowned. "What's wrong?"
I answered for both of us. "We talked a few weeks ago. It didn't go so great."
Turning to Jake, Luna said, "You weren't mean to her, were you?"
"Hell no." He flashed her a grin. "If anything, she was mean tome."
Luna eyed him with obvious suspicion. "You're joking, right?"
I spoke up. "Actually, he's not." I winced. "Iwaskind of mean." I turned to Jake. "Sorry." Looking back to Luna, I explained, "I was searching for Joel, and I guess I went a little crazy."
Under his breath, Jake muttered, "Got that right."
I cleared my throat. "But in my defense, I thought I heard Joel in the background."
Jake looked to Luna. "But what shereallyheard was Steve and Anthony fighting over the last donut."
