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  “Why are you so mad? He said in a very condescending tone. “There are no secrets between us Cara. I just wanted to make sure that your roommates knew you were okay.”

  I was seething. He could have very easily left my phone alone last night and I could have done it myself, and saved them the panic I’m sure they felt when they got no responses from me.

  “Jason, my phone is off limits. I need this to make sure I can communicate, and I can’t have you dictating when and how I use it.” I was actually impressed with myself for conveying what I was thinking into words.

  He had an impassive stare, and swiftly moved over to where I was standing. I wasn’t sure what to make of his actions, after yelling at him the way that I did.

  He kissed me on the lips, and then stepped back to look at me, his eyes searching mine.

  “Cara, I will try to accommodate your wishes, but it’s kind of hard for me. And, watch your mouth, it’s very unladylike.”

  How the hell did things get turned around?

  Jason took his phone out of his pocket and told me that he was going to call his dad. I told him that I was going to call mine so he stepped out of the room to give me some privacy – how that word became so taboo, I had no clue.

  <>

  Speaking to my dad was pleasure and pain mixed into one. He was so comforting at one moment, and the ever present disciplinarian during the next. He expressed his extreme displeasure at not being able to get in contact with me -- thankful that Mila let them know that I was out and that I was okay -- so I tried my best to appease him. I detailed for him the night I had on Jason’s motorcycle, and the deafening silence prompted me to move on to a much more pleasant topic. The details on the Shelby caught his attention, and incited him to ask a ton of specification questions that I could not answer. The talk of me learning to drive the Shelby had my dad’s excitement level through the roof, and he proceeded to tell me about his first time driving a Mustang back when he was a teenager. I knew this would happen, so I just allowed him to ramble. After being MIA all night, I felt obligated. I had nearly given him a heart attack. Just as my dad started asking questions about how Jason afforded all of his goods, Jason walked back into the room; thank goodness, because I knew he didn’t want to tell my parents just yet, and I didn’t want to be the one to tell them. I hung up with my dad, feeling relieved that he wasn’t completely furious with me; the last thing I ever wanted to do was disappoint him.

  “How was your conversation with your dad?” Jason asked hesitantly. I assumed he sensed my dad’s frustrations due to my earlier outburst.

  “It was good. I told him about the motorcycle, the Shelby, me driving it…”

  His mouth gaped open, almost appalled that I had spoken about those things.

  “What did he say about the death machine?” His voice was full of sarcasm.

  I laughed, “He didn’t say anything, so I wisely moved on the Shelby and my learning experience. He started reminiscing about his old days when he drove his first Mustang, blah blah blah.”

  Jason laughed -- his carefree laugh.

  “I’ll have to let your dad drive this one – I bet he would fall in love with it.”

  ‘I’m sure he would. How was your conversation with your dad?” I asked, hoping he would open up about his family a little more.

  “It was good. My dad’s a nosy son of a bitch, so I filled him in on this girl I met, he approved.” He started laughing again.

  “Why are you laughing? Did you really tell him?”

  “Of course I did. He gave me his same line; If I’m happy, he’s happy for me. I haven’t had a girl make me happy in a while, so he figures you must a good one.”

  I suddenly felt victorious, and I hadn’t even met his dad. But just then, it crossed my mind that he spoke to his mom earlier in the morning, and he hadn’t said anything about her. Any girl knows that dads are okay with their son’s mates – moms are who you have to go through.

  “What about your mom?”

  He looked up, almost startled. “My mom is happy. She said she can’t wait to meet you.”

  He gave me a reassuring smile, and then told me that he was going for a swim, and that I was free to join him.

  I didn’t really feel like swimming so I put my swim suit on, but decided to layout while he swam.

  Jason insisted that he rub sunblock all over me, and I insisted on doing the same for him. He looked amazing in his trunks, and had excellent dive form as he dove into the pool. I smiled, put my sunglasses on, lay back, and just enjoyed the sweet San Diego sun.

  I must have fallen asleep, because when I woke up, Jason was lying next to me, soaking in the rays. I batted my eyes, trying to adjust to the sunlight, and smiled innocently at him.

  “I could have drowned and you would not have known,” he said, smirking at me.

  “Well, then you shouldn’t swim alone.”

  “I tried to get you to swim with me, but you would rather fall asleep on the lounge chair instead.” He was pretty playful, and I wondered where it was coming from.

  “What’s up with you? You’re in an exceptionally good mood – this didn’t come from your swim,”

  “Well, if you must know. I’m excited because I get to take you shopping.”

  I looked at him utterly confused. “Why are you taking me shopping?

  “Because, we’re going out tonight, and you don’t have clothes here.”

  “Well, we are only 20 minutes from my apartment, let’s just drive there, and I can get dressed.”

  “No. This is a special occasion for me, and I want to take you shopping – end of discussion.”

  The tone in his voice signaled an endgame on the conversation. He was set on taking me shopping and arguing my point would be an utter waste of time. I went along with whatever he had planned.

  “What are these plans? Where are we going?”

  He smiled while standing up to stretch. “We are going out with your friends tonight to Wranglers.”

  A smile spread across my face. Wranglers was a cool, little trendy country nightclub in San Diego. For some reason, I had only been a few times, but I really enjoyed myself each time.

  “When did you plan this?”

  “Well, while you snoring on my lounger…” I sneered at him, “Mila texted me and asked if we wanted to go out tonight, so we thought of this. I love Wranglers, so off we go." And with that, he swooped me off of the lounger, and briskly walked me into the bedroom to put some clothes on.

  <>

  The Shelby felt very different from the passenger seat. Jason was an expert in that car, and he was very much in his element shifting the gears ever so fluidly. The top was down, and the wind was blowing through my messy hair. I felt so carefree, but still had no idea where we were going for clothes.

  Our first stop was to a small little boot shop. Jason peered over to me as we pulled in, and smiled his ever so beautiful All –American boy smile. Leave it to the Texas boy to know exactly where this place was. He unfastened my seatbelt, and then, without even opening his door, hopped out of the car and came around to my side to open my door. He was overly excited, and I couldn’t help but match his enthusiasm.

  When we entered the store, we were greeted by an overzealous young male salesman. He was about Jason’s height, blond hair, green eyes, had a killer smile, and looked to be right around Jason’s age. He beamed his smile in my direction and I saw Jason’s face immediately go cold.

  “Hi, welcome to Boot Farm, anything I can help you find?”

  Jason glowered at him and coldly answered, “No.”

  The temperature in the building dropped to artic levels, and to cut the tension in the air, I tried to reciprocate the warm greeting from the salesman.

  “Um… we’re just browsing, but I’ll let you know if I need help with anything.”

  “No problem. My name is Dave if you need anything.”

  “Thank you Dave.”

  I turned to Jason, who was squeezing my hand and
pulled him in the direction of the women’s boots. His sudden and erratic reaction to other guys being around me was starting to make my head spin.

  “Jason, I have boots at home.”

  Still in his sulky mood, he huskily answered, “Ok, but we aren’t going down that way right now, so just pick out some since we’re already here.”

  I turned to look for something that caught my eye, but there were so many, I didn’t even know where to start.

  “Do you want black or brown?” He asked, aware that we would be in the store forever if it were left up to me.

  “Definitely brown,” I answered enthusiastically.

  He pointed at some, but none of them caught my eye – until he picked up a pair with a leaf pattern stitched into the front. My eyes lit up when he pointed to them.

  Before I could say anything, Jason walked over to get Dave. His icy gaze was back, and the two of them were walking back together, in a very awkward silence.

  I handed Dave the boot I was looking for and informed him that I needed a size seven. He nodded, and quickly scampered off to the stock room to get my boots.

  “Hey, why are you being so rude to Dave?”

  He looked at me with a look of surprise. “Dave? First name basis now?”

  “That’s his name, what do you want me to call him?”

  “I don’t know – the salesman.”

  “Jason, that’s ridiculous. He already told us his name, so I’m using it.”

  He ran his hand over his face then looked at me.

  “Fuck that guy. He was eyeing you from the second we walked in here, acting like I wasn’t even with you. I wanted to punch him.”

  I was shocked and a little appalled at how angry he was at the salesman for doing his job. Not once did I feel like he was inappropriate, but Jason was in a mood, so I didn’t even go any further with the conversation.

  Dave returned a few minutes later with my boots. I tried them on, and after staring at my booted foot in the mirror at every possible angle, I decided they were the ones.

  “Will these be all?”

  I nodded and smiled. For some reason, being friendly was irking Jason’s nerves, but I didn’t care, I was not going to be rude on the premise that this guy wanted me.

  “Ok, your total is $161.29.”

  My mouth dropped to the floor. Who in the hell pays this for a pair of boots? Without hesitation, Jason pulled out his credit card and driver’s license and handed them to Dave. He bagged up my overpriced boots, handed them to me with a smile, and I returned the act. Jason rolled his eyes, and led me out of the store.

  I was beyond annoyed by his behavior in Boot Farm, and I contemplated making his mood worse by expressing my feelings. After a few silent minutes, I decided it was best to say what was on my mind. “Jason,” I had to yell over the roar of the wind being blown as we drove down the highway. “You were ridiculous in there.”

  He looked at me through the top of his sunglasses, and then turned back to the focus on the road.

  “Jason, that was so rude of you, what happened to your Southern manners?” I knew that would get his attention.

  “I kept my manners, I didn’t punch that fuckin’ guy did I?”

  “Jason, that’s not keeping your manners, that’s…” and then words failed me.

  “He might as well have asked you for your phone number, and shit, you probably would have given it to him.”

  I gaped at him, shocked by the absurdity of what he'd just said.

  “Cara, its one thing if these fuckin’ guys flirt with you, but don’t flirt back.”

  "I did not flirt with him; I was being courteous, since you were making the entire situation completely awkward.”

  “Good, he should have taken the hint.”

  He just didn’t get it, and I wasn’t going to yell my case to try and make him figure it out. We continued the drive and stopped at a cute little boutique. I didn’t wait for him to come around to open my door, which bothered him, but he took my hand – gently, anyway.

  “How do you know about this place?” I asked curiously.

  “I get my hair cut a few doors down, and I always see it, figured you’d like this stuff.”

  His obvious lack of knowledge on women’s clothing made me smile – this stuff.

  The store, Fiona’s, was very welcoming. The walls were a light shade of pink, with dark brown stenciling of the boutique’s name. A young blond girl greeted us as we walked in and after telling her what I was looking for; she led us in the right direction. Jason was noticeably happier in this store.

  I picked out a pair of frayed denim shorts, a sheer lavender top, a brown leather belt, and a white tank top. I wanted to vomit when the blond girl told us that the grand total was $221.16. I would never purchase four things for that price, and was a bit uncomfortable with Jason doing it. He didn’t think twice about it.

  Once we were in the car, my phone beeped with a text message from Chelsea.

  from Chels

  *Hey, we will be at Jason’s around 6… again, I’m sorry about last night.*

  They would be at Jason’s? I immediately texted her back.

  to Chels

  *Do you guys know how to get to his place? Who’s all coming?*

  from Chels

  *All of us. Me, Hunter, Mila, and Ryan.*

  Ryan? Were he and Mila finally starting to make some headway? In all honesty, I didn’t know how I felt about him dating Mila. She was a good friend of mine, but she was so erratic when it came to guys, that I just didn’t want my brother getting mixed into all of that. I started asking Jason about the plans that he and Mila had set up, hoping he would fill me in on what everyone but me seemed to know.

  “Hey, did you know Mila’s bringing my brother?”

  “Yeah!”

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “Well, I would have liked to know. Mila and my brother have been flirting for years, and I thought she was happy with Grant…”

  “Well, she said she was bringing Ryan, since he called her and asked her if she wanted to hang out. They’re grown Cara.”

  He was right. They were grown, but where my brother was concerned, I liked to take an interest. Ryan loved hard, and had been pining for Mila since he met her. She was a big flirt, and bored easily, so the situation had me a bit concerned.

  As we pulled into the garage, I tried to stop thinking about my brother and Mila. Jason was right; they were adults and could fend for themselves.

  Jason grabbed the bags of hideously expensive clothing, and walked around to open my door. I got out and followed him into the bedroom where he dropped the bags on the floor. We strolled into the kitchen, and made sandwiches – given that it was almost four o’clock in the afternoon, and the last time we had eaten was that morning. Jason took out his phone and started playing on it. The buzz from my phone prompted him to look away from his own, in an officious way.

  “I have a friend request,” I coolly told him. Scrolling through the notification window on my Facebook app.

  “Oh really? From?”

  “Some really hot guy, Jason Bradley.”

  He grinned mischievously, “oh, well you should definitely friend him.”

  I laughed and shook my head, friending him on my Facebook.

  I got another notification, this one asking me to confirm my relationship status with Jason Bradley. I smiled across the island at him, and hit confirm on my phone. He got up to go to the restroom and it gave me time to get lost in my thoughts.

  Before I know it, Jason was back and standing in front of me.

  “Come and try on these clothes, I wanna see what you look like in em’.”

  I smiled, and followed him into the bedroom. I took the outrageously expensive clothes out of the bag and walked into the bathroom to change. When I came out, Jason was sitting on the bed waiting for me. Everything fit; the shorts might have fit a little too nicely. He was smiling and motioned for me to
turn around, and as I did, he stopped me.

  “What size shorts did you get?”

  “A four. Why?”

  “Maybe you should have gotten a six, those are awfully snug.” He didn’t take his eyes off the shorts.

  “Well, you’ll be there with me tonight, so no need to worry about my shorts,” I said to try and calm is over reactive fears.

  I went and sat on his lap, and he started running his fingers through my hair. I figured now was as good a time as any to try and figure out why he had such a jealous streak.

  I looked at him, then right as I was about to speak, I looked towards the floor. He knew something was up, and sat up to position me better on his lap.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  I was losing my poise, and contemplated not saying anything at all, not knowing what sort of reaction my question might evoke, but I went ahead with it anyway.

  “I’m just wondering why you get jealous so easily.”

  “I’ve been through some shit Cara, and it’s not easy to trust people. For some reason, I completely trust you, just not those around you.”

  His revelation piqued my curiosity, but of course, he was like a closed book, and didn’t offer up any more information.

  “What happened?”

  His mood visibly shifted to complete and utter annoyance, “nothing worth mentioning. Sometimes you have to have shit happen in order to learn lessons in life, and let’s just say, I’ve learned quite a bit.”

  He seemed done with the line of questioning, and moved me off of his lap. He slapped my butt and stalked into the bathroom, starting the shower and began to undress. Jason in the nude was a sight I could stare at forever.

  Chapter 5

  Jason insisted that I get some of my homework done, so while he worked on some business for his dad, I logged into the Blackboard program, and finished a few assignments posted by my professors. Once I finished, I hopped into the shower, and the soothing droplets of the overhead showerhead gave me an idea.