Chapter 32
Across from me, Jake's face lost any trace of emotion. The words lingered in the quiet room. Did I regret saying them? I still wasn't sure.
When he spoke, his voice was cold and flat. "Yeah, I fucked her. What of it?"
"Sorry, it's just that, you know, I heard you two last night, and it seemed like you were getting along pretty well."
"You didn't hearme," he said.
Now that I thought about it, it was true. Ihadn'theard him. Okay, so maybe I'd heard the muffled sounds of a male voice, but as far as sounds of passion, they were all female.
"Fine," I said. "So I heard Maddie."
"And?"
"And now you're calling her a low-life. So excuse me for being confused."
"If you've got a question," he said, "come out and ask it."
"Okay." I tried to choose my words carefully. "Well, what exactly was she to you?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing at all?" I said.
"Nothing but your roommate."
"So you used her?"
"Did itsoundlike she was complaining?"
Actually, it sounded like she was screwing a hockey team, and loving every minute of it.
He leaned back, and his voice became harder, colder, the voice of a stranger. "Yeah. I fucked her. And I'd do it again. Come to think of it, Ididdo it again. And a couple more times after that. And you wanna know why?"
Images of Jake and Maddie skittered across my brain. I tried to shut them out, but they kept on coming. I mumbled, "Not really."
"Too bad," he said. "Because here's the truth. I wanted her good and tired." He gave me a smile that looked devoid of any real happiness. "And if she couldn’t walk, even better."
"You know what?" I said. "That's disgusting."
"You think?" His voice grew sarcastic. "But hey, anything for a friend."
"Oh, please," I said. "You're saying you did it for me? How noble of you."
"I'm a lot of things, Luna," he said, "but not noble."
"Yeah. And you're not my friend either. Are you?"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning," I said, "back in Riverside, I thought we were friends, and then—" I looked away. "—one little thing happened, and you totally ditched me."
"Yeah. I did," he said.
Okay, maybe to call us friends was a bit of an exaggeration. But I worshipped him. And for whatever reason, he'd let me hang out with him and his friends. Maybe I'd been like a puppy to him. And once I grew up, and tried to be something more, he took me back to the pound.
Jake laughed without humor. "So you wanna know why I stopped letting you hang around?"