A War of Guns and Roses

Chapter 4

"Did you meet anyone you liked?" I wiggled my eyebrows. A pale flush started spreading from his neck as he looked away. "Oh my god! You so did. Spill."

He shrugged, his ears red. "He—uh, I met him in the club I mentioned. We spoke and uh..."

"You dirty hunk!" I exclaimed and he grumbled under his breath.

"Shut up."

I laughed, still teasing him as we drove off, heading back home. Country music played in the background and I wrinkled my nose, immediately raising my hand to change it.

Jake's hand slapped mine away as he nodded along to the beat. I swear this guy literally liked all kinds of music. I looked out of the window at the busy streets around me.

"Stop!" I suddenly exclaimed and was thrown forward when Jake abruptly halted the car in the middle of the road.

"What? What's wrong?" Jake immediately asked, his eyes glancing around frantically.

I smiled sheepishly and pointed behind him as he turned to face me. He swirled his head around and cursed.

"What the hell, woman? If you wanted ice cream, you could have just said so. Why do you want to give me a heart attack and kill us both off in an accident?" he growled, parking the car to the side as honks began blaring behind us.

The man in the car who drove past flashed us the middle finger.

"Um, sorry," I said, wringing my hands together. "I wasn't thinking."

"Clearly," he muttered, shaking his head. We stepped out of the car and I hurried to the door, the bell above tinkling as I pushed it open.

"Um, a Cookie and Cream and a Chunky Monkey please," I said, flashing the man at the counter a smile. He nodded and handed me the bill.

"Coming right up."

I slid into the seat across from Jake and drummed my fingers along the length of the table as I waited. Soon, we were handed the heaven-sent icy sugariness and immediately dug into it.

"Slow down, tiger," Jake chuckled, watching me. "The ice cream isn't going to run away."

I shrugged and continued eating. As I licked the spoon clean after having my last bite, my eyes flitted around, trying to find something interesting to focus on.

My gaze ended up on the guy in front of me. Jake wasn't, by any means, ugly. He was actually pretty handsome with a well-built frame and long blond locks that curled around his ear and rested on his shoulders. He had that boyish look about him with his lopsided glasses on his face that he only used for reading. But something that I hadn't noticed earlier caught my attention.

Along the length of his eye, hidden partly by the glasses and what suspiciously looked like concealer, was a pale purple bruise. As I looked closer, I noticed other faded bruises literally the skin of his cheekbones.

The clearing of his throat snapped me from my reverie and I realized I was staring.

"I know I'm hot but you don't have to ogle like a goldfish," he joked.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"Hm?"

"You have a black eye, Jake. What happened?"

"What? Oh, you mean this," he waved his hand in front of his face. "It's nothing. I was just wrestling with one the boys and received it."

I narrowed my eyes.

Why did I feel like he wasn't telling me the entire truth?

I refrained from prying and his surprised eyes met mine.