“You like very little,” I reminded him and ignored his oof.
“I likeyou,” he countered as I opened the door to the car and let the hot air balloon out. Coop snorted, but circled around to open the passenger door. I set the vase back on the roof before I shrugged out of my backpack.
Jake caught it before I could, then he bypassed me to set the backpack into the backseat. I bent in to slide the key into the ignition and get the car started so I could get the a/c on.
Straightening, I glanced at where Bubba stood as I put my sunglasses on. “I’m going to take Coop home, feed the cats and do some chores. Then I can come over if you want.” I’d thought about inviting him, but I had no idea what Mom’s schedule was. She said she had to go out of town. As sudden as the trip came up, they could also suddenly end. The last thing I wanted to deal with was her irritation if we were in her space and working on calculus.
“I’ll order pizza,” Bubba offered. “Want to grab your suit and bring it? We can take breaks in the pool. Probably keep me from wanting to drown myself over numbers.”
He made a face and I laughed. “I’ll think about it. But you don’t have to feed me.”
“Feeding me too,” Bubba said with a wink.
“Why don’t we all—” Jake began, but Bubba shifted his gaze to look past me. Whatever Jake had been about to add, he let go with a long sigh. “Never mind. I have to grab Blake and Becca for dance classes.”
Despite what the growl in his voice might suggest, the frustration wasn’t directed at his sisters. He just didn’t want to have to go. He raked a hand through his hair, then gave Coop a hard look followed by a second directed at Bubba.
“I’ll call you later,” Jake said with another half-growl turned sigh. He wrapped a hand around my biceps, tugging me around. “Frankie…I’m definitely callingyoulater. I want to be perfectly clear on that.”
While his grip was firm, it wasn’t painful nor did his fingers dig in. This close, I couldn’t miss a single bit of the way his pale blue eyes lasered onto me.
“I don’t like you dating, Frenchy.” Flat. Imperious.
“No shit,” I muttered, even as his nostrils flared. “You made that clear earlier.”
“No, earlier was me not likingFrenchy,” Jake countered. “This is metellingyou, I don’t like you dating Frenchy. I don’twantyou dating him. And we’re not done with this conversation.”
“Jake…” Bubba said, locking a hand over Jake’s wrist even as Coop came around the other side.
“Let her go, Jake.” Coop’s expression was a lot easier than Jake’s or Bubba’s, but his mouth firmed into a line. “We’re not doing this here.”
“Correction,” I said, yanking my arm free. “We’re not doing this at all. You’re not the boss of me, Jake.Noneof you are. You’re my friends, not my keepers. I don’t tell you who to date and you don’t get to say the same to me.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw as we glared at each other. It was seriously the angriest I’d ever seen him and all of it directed right at me. Pissed or not, Jake didn’t scare me. He might be a dick to the people around us, but he wouldneverhurt me.
Bubba shoved between us and pushed Jake backwards. Head snapping up, Jake transferred that fury to Bubba and I caught the curl of his fist.
“Don’t,” I said, wading between them once more and wrapping my hand over Jake’s fist.
We weren’t alone out here and there were kids still streaming out to their cars. More than one seemed to be lingering and watching us.
“Don’t,” I repeated in a lower voice. “You two start fighting out here and you’re going to get suspended from the team.” It was the first thing that came to mind.
The hostility upped the temperature of the muggy air to boiling.
“C’mon,” Coop said, his voice dipping as mine had. “Ease back, Jake. We’re all hot and a little bitchy at the moment.”
“I am not bitchy,” I said with an exaggerated sniff, even as I kept one hand over Jake’s fist and the other one his chest. Bubba was right against my back. There was no way I could keep them apart if they really decided to rip into each other. “I’mfussy, remember?”
I made a face at Coop, then stuck my tongue at him as he rolled his eyes. “Fussy. Right. I forgot.”
Whether it was my tongue sticking out or Coop’s deadpan response, Jake let out a snort of laughter. His hot glare eased and he dropped his gaze down to me. The fist under my palm relaxed and he blew out a breath.
“You’re not fussy,” Jake argued. “Coop’s just a lazy ass.”
“Hey,” Coop complained. “When did this become ‘pick on Coop’ day?”
“It’s pick on Coop Day, every day,” I said in damn near the same breath as Jake.
