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Chapter 21

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I've been trapped under a bus.

My ribcage is a hair away from cracking.

I'm screaming for help, but no one is around.

And then when I finally open my eyes, I see the cause.

It's Jake's brawny arm spooning me to his chest.

With a stifled whimper, I roll away and softly land on the floor, then peak over the mattress. He's sound asleep, face pressed into a blue pillow, dark eyebrows and black hair striking with contrast against his angelic face.

Angelic my ass.

Nothing was angelic about last night.

I've been sabotaged. Frauded. Deceived.

That sweet boy facade was a lie. Lie I tell you.

I crawl on the wooden floor to fetch new undies from my bag and put on black yoga pants with a matching hoodie. I look around for the red bra and spot it by the balcony window. I grimace at the hand and ass marks on the glass, not to mention my ripped panties on the floor. RIP.

The house is silent, everyone must still be asleep, recovering from last night. Of course, I'd be the first one awake - the olympic champion of type A personality. I'll clean a little then make breakfast. Yes, a great distraction from reliving last night's events.

Yes, sir.

Who says that? Sir? SIR?! I have a fucking PhD. I command a room of two hundred people. I hate men. I don't obey. This must be the result of sex deprivation. I should look into some research.

I limp to the kitchen and nearly cry at the bomb explosion before me. Armenians don't understand the concept of moderation, especially when it comes to hosting. Every inch of counter space is cluttered with bottles and cups, so is the floor and the sink. Leftovers of tacos, kebabs, potatoes, cheeses, hot wings, and pizza are crumbled in every direction.

Ignoring the stress and anxiety creeping up my spine, I open the fridge to fetch for the coldest bottle and put it between my legs, instantly feeling more relief. Then I approach the countertops with a giant trash bag and get to work.

Thirty minutes later when the space is mostly decluttered and workable, I set the bottle down and turn the coffee machine on. I crack some eggs on a buttered pan and cook them sunny side up, slice avocados and mash them in their shell before spreading them on toasted bread, sprinkle with paprika and lemon salt, then place the cooked egg on top with freshly ground black pepper. I set the little table with cups of orange juices and coffee, berries and sliced kiwi, then smile at my work. Breakfast's the easiest, it's the lunch and dinner I struggle with.

"Mmmmm it smells soooo goooood." I hear Anna's moan from the hallway before she steps into the kitchen. Her adorable face is smeared with mascara, eyes hooded, slim body in a giant white sweatshirt - probably Ramon's. She gasps dramatically when she looks at the table.

"Damn, this looks good." Ramon's sleepy voice follows after her. He rubs his puffy eyes as he approaches the table, nods, then turns to Anna. "Would it kill you to cook like this?"

Anna smacks him across the head. "Excuse me? What about you? Why do I have to do it?"

Ramon grumbles under his breath and takes a seat. "I'm just saying, it wouldn't hurt to learn some polite and humble manners like your friend, Mia here. Look at her, so caring and nice."

"Morning." Jake's raspy voice hurts my chest and I look at him and choke at the purple bite marks all over his neck.

"Mia, are you an animal?" Anna's eyes turn wide to me.

"You poor guy." Zhoe laughs as she walks in with her boo, Arthur, their gazes on Jake's neck.

I am way to mortified to do anything except watch my self dignity burn to ashes, that is until Jake's smile widens into a crooked grin and I wave the spatula at him.

"You," I smack the greasy utensil on his chest, splattering grease and egg yolk on the black shirt, "wipe that smug grin off your face or you get no breakfast."

He frowns down at his shirt. "Thanks..."

"Ugh, give it. I'll scrub it under dish soap before it's permanently ruined." I grumble. He makes a tsk sound and moves to the sink as I follow. Four pairs of eyes follow us like we're a sitcom show.

"Aw, you guys are like a married couple." Ramon cooes from the back.

"Ya'll are so cute, I should take a picture." Anna leans on her hands, wearing the biggest smile.

My heartbeat plummets and heat floods through me, suddenly there's not enough air. I wave my hand aggressively at Jake for him to take the shirt off so I can scrub the goddamn thing. When he yanks it off and hands it to me, everyone behind us gasps. What now.

I follow their eyes on Jake's back and gasp even louder.

His entire back is covered in thin red scratches. My scratches. I fold in mortification and envision Cersei walking down naked with a ring bell of shame behind her in Game of Thrones. This is how she must've felt.

Jake, realizing what's going on, quickly turns his back to the wall and flushes a little. At the same time, he wraps his hand around my waist and brings me closer until my body presses to his side, I'm guessing to comfort me. Except it does the opposite and I retract like an allergic reaction.

"I got to go to the store." I blurt and go under the table to yank Anna's slippers off because there's no time to go up to the room, and grab my purse to storm out of the kitchen while they shout for me to come back.

I'm about to open the door when Jake's palm presses on the wood right above my shoulder, so close his body heat seeps into mine and I tense. "Baby, they're just messing. Calm down."

"I'm fine, I'm going to the store." I start jerking the door like the house is on fire which catches him so off guard that he falls back a little and I dash out the door to the garage.

I'm about to open the car door to Anna's car - knowing she left her keys inside - but Jake grabs me by the waist and turns me to his bare chest. "What do you need from a store? I'll go get it, you just cleaned up and made breakfast for everyone. Go inside and enjoy it."

I put my hands on his chest and push him away, only looking at his face for a brief moment to scowl. "Jake, I don't need a babysitter. I need space." Then I'm in the car and out of the gate.

~

Inside the supermarket, I grab a cart and don't even realize until I'm deep in the aisles that one of the wheels is broken and the cart is making the loudest screeching sound with every step that I drag it. Families, moms, kids, and elders turn their heads towards me, but I don't even care.

Who do they think they are? Making assumptions about my relationship status based off of some hickies?

"They're so wrong." I glare, burning holes into the stack of tomatoes before me.

The store employee who was arranging them stops and turns to me. "I'm so sorry, it's my first day today."

I grimace my apology to him and run away to hide in the condiment section. What is wrong with me? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with me? I shake my head and start thinking of a plan.

"I'll get out of here. I'll figure out a way to get out and get my shit together."

"It's actually not that complicated, you go straight then turn left and you'll see the giant exit sign." A young man looks at me warily but continues to walk away, probably for his own good.

I roll my eyes and almost reach for a bottle of ketchup, visualizing Jake needing to drown his avocado toast in it, but then my mouth gapes at my odd desire to buy him fucking ketchup and I yank my hand back like I was about to touch a hot stove.

With a groan, I head to the fresh juice section, because it's the closest thing to detox that I can think of, and I'd like nothing more than to rid my insides of any toxin and debilitating memory.

Good girl.

"I am such a whore!" I shout at the juices, ready to punch everything.

"Don't worry, honey, we all are." An old grandma says cooly next to me, "just takes the right man to bring it out of us."

"Oh my God," I mumble and cover my face, "I'm so so so sorry. I'm losing it this morning."

She waves me off. "I talk to myself all the time. Who else am I going to ask for advice for?"

I move out of her way as she grabs a pomegranate juice and walks to the right where the sliced vegetables are. She continues with a small smile. "My husband used to love my monologues though, he'd stare at me with a grin and I'd think he's just zoning out. But then he'd reply with something perfect, and I'd realize he was listening to every word."

"That's sweet..." My heart swells at the yearning and tenderness in her voice.

She nods, "forty years with that goof. Terrifying at first, to let someone in my head like that." She points at her temple, face serious. "But he became a favorite intruder."

I shake my head, "I do everything to get out of my head, I can't subject anyone to it."

She tosses half a dozen packages in her basket and I reach out my hand. "Here, let me hold that." She hesitates for a second but I beckon and she allows me to take it.

"Honey, that's the problem." She finally says, looking at some mushrooms. "You're not rejecting him, you're rejecting yourself. I guess you grew up thinking you need to work for love."

I bite my lower lip and look down, but she continues. "And I bet you know that. That's the funny thing about intellect, no matter how much we hone it, it can't get rid of feelings."

I sniffle and scrunch my face, but a few tears still fall on the tile.

"Oh, honey. Come here." She opens her arms and hugs me, her grip around me firmer than I expected. She grumbles at the people around us. "Move along, assholes. We love our vegetables."

~

"There you are." Jake greets when I get back. He was standing on the steps of the garage when I parked, now he's opening the car door and grabbing the shopping bags for me. "You weren't answering any of our calls, we were starting to get worried."

"Sorry." I mumble, "And sorry about my attitude earlier...I freaked out."

He steps in front of me as I try to go inside the house, eyes searching my face. "Do you regret last night?"

My eyes widen and I blush. "No." I say quickly then look down. "No...I-I regret making it obvious to the whole world that last night happened at all...but I don't regret it." I say the last part quietly.

He sighs with relief and cups my cheek, lifting my gaze up to his. "You scared me for a second."

Fear prickles my skin from the way he's holding me, like I'm something he's scared of losing, and I want to scream, I want to run, I want to hide, I want to curl into a ball and cry.

"I have to go back to town." I pull away and go back inside, but I hold the door for him to follow me in. "I need to finish up work before tomorrow's class."

"That's fine, I got to head home early so I'll give you a ride. Anna and others wanted to explore here a little bit."

"You don't have to." I walk up the stairs as he follows behind me, I squirm awkwardly to the side of the stairs so my ass isn't directly behind his face and hope he's not staring right at it. "I can Uber."

Something taps my butt and I yelp, then turn around to his mischievous crooked smirk. "Say you'll Uber one more time."

I shield my butt with my hands and hurry up the steps then storm into the room, determined to pack under two minutes. "I don't know what games you were playing," I hide my crimson complexion behind my locks as I stuff my traveling bag with little things, "but that's not going to work anymore. You just took me by surprise last night."

"If I remember correctly, I took you by surprise 6 times." I hear the smile in his voice before his hands wrap around my waist from the back and he moves my hair over to one side. "And I can surprise you a couple of more times right now." His hand slowly moves up to massage my breast while his mouth does illegal things to my neck.

My knees buckle and a different kind of heat surges through my body but I peel away and move on the other side of the bed, getting faster with packing everything.

Jake chuckles. "Why are you running?"

"If you're dropping me off then you should start packing too."

He raises his palms with feigned fearfulness and smirks when I glare at him under my lashes.

~~ A/N ~~

Oops, looks like Mia took one step forward and two steps back. What do you guys think?

This chapter is dedicated to LivingRed thank you endlesslyyyyyy for your support. You are an inspiration and one of my favorite authors to engage with on WP!!! 🥰❤️🥰❤️🥰

Don't forget to vote <3