36
JAKOB
“Keep up, would you?” Zane said as we jogged through Delaware Park. “You’re falling behind again.”
“I am not. And I wasn’t falling behind the first time either. Get your facts straight.”
Zane was full of shit. You know how I knew? Aside from his lips moving, I mean. His breathing labored a lot more than mine did. Yeah, we were both athletes and could handle a lot, but I knew I’d pushed my boyfriend pretty hard.
I sprinted ahead of him just to underscore the point. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw that I’d advanced a little too far ahead of him. He did a doubletake and charged forward. As a frequent jogger, I’d learned to pace myself, which meant I should have had no trouble outlasting Mr. Zane Hirst.
In more ways than one, if you know what I mean.
Zane nearly caught me, though. For a split second, he caught up with me completely before falling behind again. I glanced over my shoulder once more and couldn’t hide the smile that appeared on my face.
Come on, people, I’m human.
Finally, he slowed down, which meant I could soar past him if I really wanted to. Instead, I slowed down, allowing him to catch up. Why not? Big, bad Zane Hirst needed to catch his breath.
“Go ahead and take a break,” I said. “You need it.”
“Fuck you.”
I clicked my tongue against the back of my teeth a couple of times but stopped myself short of wagging my finger at him. Sure, patronizing him would be fun, but I preferred to humiliate him through my superior athletic prowess.
“Didn’t your mother tell you that if you don’t have something nice to say then you shouldn’t say anything?”
“Cram it up your ass.”
I almost had to cover my mouth to dam the laughter.
“I’ve already crammed plenty up my ass for you and I’m still walking, and pretty normally, I might add.”
I saw fire ignite in Zane’s eyes for the first time in a while, probably since I left him hanging at Parkside Candy. I knew he could be a belligerent asshole at times, but I guess I didn’t know when that side of him might resurface.
“That’s cheating, you know.” He put a hand to his chest, and I remained mostly unaffected by our run. Bet you any money that drove him crazy.
“What are you talking about?”
“What you did just now. It was total bullshit.”
“You mean me beating you in this little race just now? I didn’t realize I had little jets on installed on the sides of my shoes. It would be a neat trick, though.”
“Not that, Jakob. Quit being a wiseass.”
“Why? It’s what I’m good at.”
“You made this a race and didn’t tell me and then tried to declare yourself the winner. That’s bullshit in my book.”
“Yeah, well your book is pretty thin. Not very many pages. Besides, I wasn’t trying to make it a real race. You told me to keep up. Not only did I do what you asked but I beat your ass. Now how ‘bout that?”
The fire in his eyes intensified and I tried not to laugh. Come on, it’s seriously hard not to mess with my boyfriend’s mind when he gets like that.
“You didn’t beat my ass and you know it,” he said.
“Yes, I did. I advanced on you right away. When you ran out of steam, I left you in the dust.”
I peered down and saw him squeeze his fists like he’d done in my living room the night he returned home from Boston. That only underscored the fact that I was one hundred percent right, and my boyfriend couldn’t handle it. In any case, I felt happy to dick with his mind as much as I liked to dick with his… well, dick.
