Double Dare // Sky Flaherty

Chapter Ten

Six Months Later
Jack's POV
"Can I ask you something? It's been bothering me for a little bit." River, my boyfriend, asks as we're watching a movie in my apartment.

I shrug. "Go for it."

"Who's Sky Flaherty?" His question catches me off guard. It's been months since I first met Sky. Why is he just now asking this?

I sit up straighter. "What?" I ask, confused. "He's one of the friends I made in California. Why do you ask?"

"I saw you had a text from him the other day, and I was just curious," he says cooly.

"You looked at my texts?"

River shakes his head. "It was a notification, and I just happened to be sitting next to your phone. Is that who you're always texting?"

"And if he is? Is there a problem that I'm texting a friend?" I question, raising my eyebrows.

"I don't know, I just find it weird that you're texting this guy you knew for less than a month so much. Especially when you're in a relationship," River adds, crossing his arms.

"I'm not cheating on you or anything. He lives in New York City, for crying out loud. And Sky is just a friend, trust me. Nothing more," I say. I still can't believe he looked at my texts.

"I trust you, Jacqueline. But I just want to make sure something doesn't happen like it did last August."

I huff. "How many times do I have to tell you that we weren't together when that happened?"

He shrugs. "I had reason to be jealous. We had gone on a few dates."

"Maybe, but we weren't in a relationship. There's no reason for you to keep bringing it up, River."

He holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "No reason to get angry, babe. Let's just watch the movie, okay?"

I take a deep breath. "Fine," I say quietly, settling back in to finish our movie, still a little bit upset.

Towards the end of the movie, my phone rings. Sky's name flashes over the screen. I glance at River, curious if he saw the caller ID.

"Are you sure he's just a friend?" He mumbles softly. "He certainly seems to call you a lot."

I roll my eyes. "Yes, River. I'm sure." Shaking my head, I pick up the phone and get up to answer the call somewhere else. "Hello?" I say into the phone.

"Is everything okay, Jack Kelly?" Sky questions. "You sound upset."

"Can I go on a small rant for a second? I need to vent," I huff, stepping outside so River won't overhear.

"Uh, sure." Sky sounds a bit taken aback. "Go ahead."

"I was just talking to River. Well, we were watching a movie and he suddenly decides this would be the time to have a serious conversation," I start. "Anyway, he turns to me and out of nowhere, starts asking me about you. He looked at my phone, Sky. He read my text messages. And he's convinced that there's something between us." I laugh sharply. "Can you believe he thought that?"

Sky doesn't say anything for a short moment. "He went through your phone?" He asks finally.

"Yeah." I shrug. "Anyway, he told me he trusted me, but then he got all weird when you called. He was like 'Are you sure you're just friends?'" I lower my voice when I imitate River's voice.

"Yeah, that's crazy," Sky responds. "Look, Jack, aren't you worried that he went through your phone? It sounds like he doesn't trust you."

"Oh, no, it was just a one-time thing. I'm going to talk to him about it later and we'll work it out. Thanks for letting me rant, I really needed to get that out." I sigh. "Anyway, I should go back inside. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Okay. Talk to you later," Sky says, hanging up. I step back inside, intending to have a long talk about trust with River.