His dark eyes washed over me, warming as they did, and he noted softly, “No problem. Let’s get up there. Your balcony overlooks the street. If they’re still on the street, we can throw water balloons at them.”

I laughed, my chest feeling a little lighter. “Or rotten fruit. I’m sure Erica’s got something rotting that she hasn’t thrown out yet.”

“Or that, too.” Jake laughed from behind me.

We trekked all the way to my floor. Once we got there, neither of us was out of breath. We were silent as I unlocked my door, and we went inside. I reached for the light, but Jake held my hand.

“Let’s see if they’re down there first,” he said.

I nodded. “Good idea.”

When we got out on my balcony, we didn’t see them. Instead, it was the two of us, in the dark, alone, and the rush of our near escape had us both short of breath. Well, maybe that was just me. It probably was just me.

I should leave. I should turn on a light, not remain in the dark with Jake, who had saved me from a group of middle-class thirty-year-old gangster wannabes.

He asked so quietly, “Are you okay?”

My heart plunged at that one. He sounded concerned, and I hadn’t had someone feel like that about me in a long time.

Feeling my throat swell up again, I nodded. “Yeah.”

He raked a hand through his hair, grinning at me, as his eyes turned sad. He leaned against the side of the balcony and slid one hand into his pocket. He looked casual, cool, and slightly worried. “I don’t know what that was, but you might want to call your boss. Get ahead of the freight train, ya know?”

I cleared my throat and rasped out, waving off the concern, “Paul hates that couple. They always cause problems, and I was off the property. They have nothing against me. He won’t fire me.”

“You sure?”

“I am.”

“So…” Jake started as I began saying, “So…”

We stopped and laughed. It was weird. Whether he knew it or not, he’d just caught a glimpse of the real side of me. That man and woman hadn’t registered with me. The only thing I had known was the hurt and the humiliation. Edmund had terrorized me, but he’d laughed at me, just like how they had. I hadn’t endured being the butt of a joke in a long time, so I had lashed out. If Kian had been there, he would have understood.

Well…

I laughed to myself, looking back to the ground.

Maybe Kian wouldn’t have. He understood the humiliation from Edmund. He saw the torture my foster father put me through. Maybe I was romanticizing it, what Snark had warned me against doing. I didn’t know.

What was I doing?

Jake saved me from them, and I was thinking about Kian.

Then he started toward me. He was going to kiss me. I saw the intent in his eyes. I saw how he was looking at my lips.

I was torn. To stay or to hide, to be kissed or not to be kissed. Those were my choices.

This was Jake.

He was here. He helped me run from a pack of washed-up rich pretenders.

He was so close now.

I closed my eyes. It was now or never. I should leave or let it happen. I knew Jake. He was familiar. He wasn’t who my stomach was in knots over the entire night, who I shouldn’t even be seeing that night.

His hand caught mine, and I looked up as he said, “Jo.”

I bit down on my lip. If Erica were here, she would’ve been raging at me, but he was the better choice.

She didn’t know that yet.

His voice was hoarse as he tried to remain in control. “I really want to…” His hand lifted and cupped the back of my head. He tilted my face up, my lips waiting for his. He continued, “I really, really want to kiss you right now.”

He was standing over me, his dark eyes black as they looked down at me. I saw the lust there. I closed my eyes. I was waiting. The decision was made.

Jake was good. Jake was sane. Jake was—

My phone buzzed in my pocket.

And the decision was made. A wall slammed down inside me. I knew who had just texted me.

Erica was at the newspaper. She wouldn’t have texted. If she wanted something, she would’ve called. There was only one person who would’ve texted me, someone whom I’d known was going to text, and I had been waiting for it all day.

I stepped back from Jake’s hold.

The moment was gone. I couldn’t kiss him, not knowing what I would be pulling him into. I pulled my phone out then and read the one-worded message.

Roof.

“What is it?”

“Huh?” I was still looking at my phone.

He was here. He was waiting for me.

Jake gently nudged my hip with his hand. “Jo? You okay?”

Looking at him took work. My neck felt like it was pulling my head through waist-deep wet cement. When I could finally focus on him, his gaze went back to my phone.

“Is something wrong?”

Yes, very wrong.

I tucked the phone against the palm of my hand, so he couldn’t read the screen, and I slid it into my pocket.

“Uh, yeah—no, I mean, no. Nothing’s wrong.”

“You sure?”

“Very.”

The lies were spilling from my lips, but I needed to get Jake out of here. Even knowing he was so close to Kian sent a cold blast through my body.

“Um, I—thank you for walking me back to my place.”

“Walking?” Jake grinned, following me back inside from the balcony.

There was something off about his response to my comment. A buzzing sound was filling my head, so I couldn’t stop and pay attention, but I registered that. I shook my head. I couldn’t concentrate on what happened between us. My blood was coursing through me, picking up speed, as I made my way to the door.

The lights were still off, and there was a different feel to my own apartment. It felt alien, surreal. I knew it was because Kian was above. Fear was mixing with a sense of urgency, and I just wanted Jake gone. That was all I wanted at that very instant.

“Yeah.”

Pulling open the door, I fixed a fake smile on my face. “I, uh…we should do this again someday.”

Jake’s head reared back as he stared down at me, pausing in front of me by the open door. “Do this again? Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” More lies. “Completely.”

“Okay…” He stepped into the hallway, still watching me. “You’re sure, sure?”