Page 87 of Bad for You

I jerked to a stop.

It was him.

Oh God. It was Jesse.

He had his head down, but I’d know him anywhere.

Jesse was jogging toward me in sweatpants and a long-sleeved Henley that hugged every muscled inch of his long, lean body. His dark blond hair was covered by a beanie, and he had earbuds in, gaze fixed on the road in front of him.

I couldn’t look away. God, my knees actually went weak.

His gaze snapped up, locking on me like he’d sensed me standing there. I wasn’t sure how I stayed standing. His green eyes were bright, intense, and they didn’t waver.

I sucked in a desperate breath, like the wind had just been knocked from me.

Move. Walk away. Get the hell out of here.

I didn’t. Couldn’t.

Madison tugged on my hand.

Jesse slowed, stopping in front of me. He removed his earbuds, and took me in, and it was like he’d run his hands over me. I wanted to cry. I was going to cry. I swallowed it down.

“Hey,” he said, his voice impossibly deep and rough.

“Hey.”

He stared into my eyes, hard, like he was trying to see inside me. I looked away, because if he saw what was inside me, if he saw the truth, he’d drag me across the street to his apartment and not let me leave until I told him everything.

“I, uh…was just taking Madison to Addie’s to get cake.” I glanced around us, terror suddenly pushing forward that someone might see us together and it would get back to Jesse’s dad, that he’d find out and hurt him anyway.

“I’m Madison,” my niece said all wide-eyed and breathless.

Jesse smiled down at her, then his gaze came back at me, the warmth vanishing. His gaze turned cold, hollow, like he was looking through me. Like I was nothing and never had been. It hurt so much I wasn’t sure how I held in my gasp of pain.

“Guess you’ve got big plans this weekend, huh, Bambi?”

I swallowed, hard. “Um yeah.” Liar. My only plans were to eat a million cookies, then cry myself to sleep. God, the urge to shuffle closer, to press my body against his was almost impossible to ignore.

My niece shook her head. “No you haven’t.” She looked at me like I was an idiot. “You told Mom you never wanted to go out ever again.”

“No I didn’t, Maddie. We were talking about someone else.”

She shook her head, getting a stubborn look on her face. “Yes, you did. You were crying, and you said…”

“Okay, time to get cake.”

My niece had just thrown me under the bus. Jesse’s gaze was locked on me, no longer cold but hot and hard. I could feel it. I couldn’t look at him.

I glanced around us again, my fear shooting higher. The longer I stood here with him, the bigger the risk someone would see us together. “Anyway, we better…”

“You’ve been crying?” he asked, voice hard, impossibly deep. He took a step closer.

“No, why would I? We have to go.” I gripped Madison’s hand and gave her a hard look when she opened her mouth to start blabbing again. I towed her across the street, heading toward the Lake’s End Café and cake.

I tried so hard, but I couldn’t stop myself from turning back.

Jesse was still in the spot we’d left him. And he was watching me.