Hooked (A New Adult Romance) (6 page)

Ruby

Learning that Jake was in the
process of applying for residency was almost as staggering as finding out Dan
was sleeping with another woman.

Actually, check that: it
was
more staggering.

To think that Jake Bishop, King
of the Trailer Trash Kids, not so many years ago, could make it through med
school was nothing short of astounding, practically miraculous.

I guess people can change.
 

I left Dan and Jake standing
there bewildered because I began to feel the hot sting of tears
burn
my eyelids.

I literally ran out of the
building and across the parking lot. But as I was about to get into my car, I
heard Jake’s deep, smooth voice shouting after me.

I turned around. He slowed to a
jog, and when he finally approached my car asked if I was o.k.

At the time I was too caught up
in the throes of my own wretchedness to even care he was there. But after he sensitively
laid a large, muscled arm around me, I began to calm down and compose myself.

After I stopped crying he asked
if there was anything he could do for me.

At first, I shook my head.

But after wiping the tears from
my cheeks, and looking up into his concerned, grey-blue eyes, I began to
reconsider.

God he was hot: his chiseled
face, incredible body, careless hair—at that moment, I needed him more
than any person I ever needed before.

“Get in my car,” I demanded
spontaneously, opening my door and getting in.

He paused for a moment. “Where
are we going?”

“You’ll find out.”

He got in.

I put the car in gear and drove
three blocks to a liquor store. Then I headed to the most upscale hotel I could
think of.

During our drive, I did the
talking and Jake did the listening.

And he was a good listener, that
boy; didn’t say a peep. Or maybe I’m just a spectacular storyteller.

In any event, by the time we had
arrived at the hotel I had unloaded the last eight years of my life onto Jake.

“Room for two, please,” I said to
the hotel clerk as we approached the front desk.

Jake gawked at me as if I was
mad—at that moment it finally dawned on him what I had in mind.

We were rebound fucking.

Actually, I was the one rebound
fucking.

He was just along for the ride.

But whatever.
I had him where I wanted him.
And his big dick was going to split me in half. I laughed silently as I imagined
what was going through his mind.

I cracked open two bottles of
tequila as soon as we entered the hotel room.

“
Here.
Drink,” I ordered, handing him a bottle.

“I don’t want to,” he frowned, not
taking it.

“I don’t care. Take it,” I
insisted.
 
He reluctantly took a sip
from the bottle.

I chugged mine. Then I removed my
shirt.

“Ruby, no,” he shook his head. “I’m
not going to do this.”

“Oh yes you are. What? Don’t you
find me attractive?”

“Of course I do. I…I just
think—“

I took off my bra, chugged some
more alcohol,
then
walked up to him making full
contact with my bare breasts on his chest. “Stop thinking. Just fuck me.”

Jake Bishop was going to do to me
what no man had ever done before.

Julie was right. I needed a good
fucking.

And Jake was just the stallion to
do it.

Chapter 11

Jake

Out of control.

That was the only way to describe
her.

It’s 11:30pm. I kick a rock and
watch it bounce off the sidewalk and onto the deserted street.

“Hey, spare a dime?” a gravelly
voice calls out from the dark.

I jump. A fucking bum startles
me. I’m so lost in thought I didn’t even see him sitting there on the curb; in
the dark his hunched body looks like a bag of garbage.

I ignore him and continue walking.

Ruby’s a wreck, poor girl.

I couldn’t possibly bring myself
to bang her, but by God that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to. Her fucking nipples
were so erect, my dick was so hard, she had me going damn near out of my mind.
I never imagined in a million years that dry humping and breast fondling could
be so arousing! I thought for sure my penis would rupture, that’s how turned on
I was.

Fuck. I was out of control, too.
At least I caught myself before we both plunged over the precipice.

I sighed and ran a hand through
my hair.

Damn that was close! I’m all
about taking quality pussy when I can get it, but not when a girl is hurting
like she is. How heartbreaking would that be to catch your significant other
cheating on you days before your wedding?

I did my best to console her, I
tried my damnedest to encourage her and make her feel attractive, beautiful and
desired, but I nevertheless had to leave her distraught and crying back at the
hotel.

Only a total douchebag would take
a girl in that kind of pathetic state.

As for myself, I’m all but
fucked. I’ve missed nearly a day of class now, without so much as a call-in or
email. I don’t know what’s happening to me. In some ways, I’m about as fucked
up as Ruby.

Something has got to give.
Somehow I’ve got to get my life back on track. I can’t let her do this to me.
I’ve worked too hard.

But at the same time…her eyes.
Her face. Her body. God damn, her ass and legs and tits! She’s been blessed with
the most perfect package I’ve ever seen—and I’ve seen a lot of packages.
There’s not a model or movie star in the entire world
who
can hold a candle to her.

I can’t believe I’m saying all
this.

I can’t believe this is what Jake
‘The Surgeon’ Bishop is coming to.

But deep down, I know why I’m
acting like this; it’s just hard to admit. For the first time in my life, I
care about a girl.

For some inexplicable reason,
this brown-haired, hazel-eyed beauty with the most sensual rose petal lips on
the planet has me trapped and twisted like a fly in a web.

That is slightly depressing to
think about.

And there is something else, something
even worse: I’m afraid.

I’m afraid that if I don’t act
fast I will lose her; and I’m afraid by the fact that I am afraid.

Which leads to an even bigger
problem: I don’t have a plan to win her. I don’t so much as know where she
works or lives. We just seem to bump into each other randomly.

And on top of it all I have
school to consider…

Is fate trying to tell me
something?

Ruby

A whirlwind of inexplicable
events and feelings has overwhelmed me. I don’t know what to make of my life
anymore. Everything I thought was true, isn’t, especially my assumptions about
men. Well, not all
men,
mind you.

Not Jake.

I’ve been able to place Dan into
a nice little box of stereotypes—early-40’s, good-looking doctor-teacher,
handsome, with cute young things fawning over him all day—okay, I guess I
can see a guy like him cheating. And in hindsight, I should’ve seen it coming.

But Jake?
A mid-20’s hunk-of-a-man, ripped
to the gills, wealthy pro athlete—
why isn’t a horny,
testosterone-fueled guy like him not fucking everything with a vagina
?
How in the fuck is he in med school
?!
Most guys in his
position would be more than happy fighting and collecting his earnings and then
whooping it up between bouts, not giving
tomorrow another
thought. I can’t believe he didn’t take me when he had the chance; I can’t
believe how tenderly he kissed the tears off my cheeks before leaving me half-naked
and sobbing on the bed.
 

Even if he wanted to exercise
discretion, this hotel would have provided all the secrecy he would need.

Not that he’d need it.

Would he?

Clearly, there’s much more to him
than meets the eye.

I sighed and looked up at the
rotating ceiling fan above the bed. I can still smell his scent on my body,
even though we only made out.

It’s 5:30am. I know I should
probably check out, go home, and get ready for work.

But I don’t want to. I just want
to lay here and think about Jake. I can’t believe how shamelessly I threw
myself at him; I can’t believe he was able to resist me. What a gentleman for
not going through with it—most guys in his position wouldn’t have thought
twice about fucking a fragile, hurting woman.

The enigmatic Jake Bishop…

There’s an upside to all of this.

Two days ago I felt my life was
over.

But I don’t feel that way
anymore. Even though I know men are shit, I simply can’t force myself to
believe that
all
men are shit.

At least not after observing how
kindly he treated me last night.
And the night before last at
the bar.
He had the strength to pull away when I didn’t. And I could
tell it took Herculean strength on his part to deny my advances—call it a
woman’s intuition.

I could tell by his eyes that he
wanted me.

I truly want to believe that
there are good men out there, I really
really
do.

And I want to believe that Jake
is one of them.

There. I said it. Happy?

Time to pull my sorry ass out of
bed. If I hurry, I can give my mother a call before clocking in. I need to
schedule a visit. I could go for some of her cream of potato soup and a long
chat. There’s no one on this planet I’d rather get advice from than my mom.

Chapter 12

Jake

It has been a week since I left
Ruby crying on the hotel bed. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.
But it needed to be done.
For her and for me.

She’s in no state to start a
relationship, and neither am I. I have to get my head back into the ring and
the classroom; I have to get a handle on life. I have to make up for lost time.

If I fail, I have no one but
myself to blame; and failure is not an option.
 
 

So I did what I knew I had to do:
I finally spilled my guts to Ricky. I told him everything. I told him about
Ruby, school, and fighting.

Without judgment or hesitation, he
set me up with a sports psychologist. Yeah, it’s wimpy, I know, but this Friday
night, $50,000 is on the line. The fight is too big, too important to let my
stupid pride get in the way. We both concluded I need professional help.

Funny thing is, I actually picked
up a worthwhile nugget of wisdom from my counseling sessions: that medical
school is the fight of my life. Literally. Like the psychologist stressed, “The
ring is temporary; medical school is forever.”

I never really thought about it
like that. For me, being a doctor was more of an ego thing, something I could
say, ‘See, World? I
made
something of
myself, I
ain’t
trailer trash,’ rather than looking at
it like a life-long profession where I could help others until the day I die.

Now, after only three trips to
the psychologist and and countless hours working out in the gym with Ricky, I
feel as if my head is properly screwed back on.

I haven’t forgotten about Ruby.
Far from it.
I’ve just learned to deal with her in due time.

But that time is not now.

Ruby

“Hey, sweetie! So good to see
you,” my mom said as she leaned over the threshold to hug me. “I’m so sorry,
baby.”

“Thanks mom,” I smiled crookedly,
returning her bear hug. We walked inside her mobile home and sat down. It had
been a while since I last visited her, and as I looked about the ramshackle
trailer I marveled at how clean and organized it was, despite its evident lack
of affluence. My mother might not be rich, but she takes pride in what little
she has.

“I take it the traffic wasn’t too
bad?”

“No, it was fine. Nothing I
couldn’t handle,” I answered softly. I didn’t feel like making small talk. I
had something specific on my mind.

“So, have you talked to Dan
recently?”

“No. Not since I told him it was
off. I think he got the message loud and clear.” I paused for a few seconds
before asking, “Have you talked to or seen dad?”

“No, no. That ship sailed long
ago. Last I heard he was gallivanting around the Bahamas with a pretty young
thing, probably younger than you,” she sighed, her eyes drifting down and to
the side, as if she was thinking of something sad.

We both sat there for several
seconds with eyes cast down, lost in our own thoughts.

“So what’s on your mind?” she
finally broke the silence, cocking her head down so she could peer up into my
eyes. “You usually have enough to say for a room full of people.”

It’s true. I can talk a lot. I’m
usually the center of the party.

“Mom, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Ruby. You know that.”

“And you won’t think I’m off my
rocker?”

“Baby, I’ve done and said things
that would probably get me sent to an institution. I’ve got secrets that I’ll
take to the grave with me. There’s nothing you can say that will shock me?”

“I think I’ve found someone new.”

“Oh,” she said bluntly, sitting
up and arching an eyebrow. “That’s…fast.”

“Well, not really. But. I’m
confused.”

“I’m listening.”

“Does ‘Jake Bishop’ ring a bell?”

She screwed up her face and
thought for a second, “Mm…I don’t think so.”

I proceeded to tell her all that
had occurred up to this point. When I finished she leaned back and ruminated on
everything I had divulged.

“So, you like this boy?”

“I, I don’t know. I mean, sort
of, I guess. At least I like the possibility of what he could be. People
change.” Of course, I failed to mention how my body came alive whenever I
thought about his amazing body.

“They certainly can. And medical
school is no small matter. They don’t just let anyone in. And if he’s in his
final year, well, he must be doing something right. He can’t be getting into
fights and mouthing off to the teachers, that’s for sure.”

I shrugged and shook my head. “I
don’t know why I’m even telling you all this, mom. I’m being silly. Nothing is
going to happen between
me and Jake
. Who am I kidding?
I don’t even know where he lives. I’m merely fantasizing like an irrational
schoolgirl. And you know, even if my wildest fantasies of him came true, he’d
probably just sleep around on me like every other guy. You know what they say:
you can take a kid out of the trailer park, but you can’t take the trailer park
out of the kid.”

“Oh baby, hush! Don’t say that!”
she scolded. “Is that how you think of yourself? Don’t forget, you came from a
trailer park, too.”

I furrowed my brow and looked
down at my hands. I had overlooked that point; I also grew up in a trailer
park.

She continued. “Just because you
made something of yourself doesn’t mean you automatically have a license to
judge others. It’s often the people at the very bottom
who
end up being our best doctors, politicians, business leaders, and so on. And on
the flip side of that coin, it’s often the super rich, entitled, old money
assholes who come of age with a silver spoon up their ass and the best
education money can buy, that turn out to be the most villainous and corrupt of
society. Whatever does or doesn’t happen between you and Jake is your business;
just don’t pre-judge people on your journey through life. You’ll learn to
regret it when you’re older, believe you me.”

Ouch.
Twenty-six
and still getting lashed by my mother.

But she was spot on: I had no
right to judge Jake. My opinions of him should be based on hard experience
rather than assumptions, regardless of how painful those experiences turn out
to be.

Then she sat down beside me and
put her arm around my shoulder. “Baby, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.
I’m not here to steer you towards or away from anyone. Jake could be the devil,
or a saint. But whatever he is, guard your heart until you learn exactly what’s
inside of his.”