Hooked (A New Adult Romance) (7 page)

Chapter 13

Jake

 
Not many people win a $50,000
championship fight and then go home to brood by themselves. But that’s exactly
what I’m doing.

 
The fight was nearly effortless. Knocked
my opponent out cold early in the second round. I would’ve finished him off in
the first if the bell hadn’t saved him at the last second. I feel bad for the
spectators; they didn’t get much of a fight.

Yeah, I was motivated and ready
this evening. In fact, I feel more focused and determined than I ever have.

But I’ve realized one thing: I
need Ruby.

My mind keeps repeating what the
psychologist said about fighting being temporary. The thing is, it goes even deeper
than that. I can’t keep fighting forever. At some point I need to quit—and
then what happens after I leave the cage for the last time? I’ve never thought
about that.

In some ways I envy Zach. He’s
got it good: a wife that loves him, a son that adores him, a stable business.
In other words, a safe, comfortable life.

Where am I going?

Sure, I’ll be a full-on doctor in
four to five years.
But what then?
Am I going to have
a wife? Kids? Before, life was just about fighting and surviving. Not
flourishing. Not happiness. I never imagined I would have as much money and
nearly limitless opportunity as I do now. The future was the last thing on my
mind.

I crack open another beer and rub
my forearm; it’s sore from a blocked punch. I look over at the coffee table
where a pile of books lay. I should get studying.

I sigh and pick up a clinical
microbiology textbook. I flip through the pages and glance at the graphic
pictures of fungating wounds, diabetic foot ulcers, and a slew of other
terrifying infectious conditions. I pause to consider how lucky I am that I’m
not the individual in the picture.

“All right, bitch,” I say out
loud to myself, “Time to get studying you fucking little whiner.”

Ruby

Four ‘o’ clock; only about an
hour more until quitting time.

God has it dragged by.

This has been a wretched humdrum
of a work shift. It’s been slightly over a week now since I told Dan off. The
outpouring of support I’ve gotten from friends and family has been uplifting,
but at the end of the day I’ve still got to go home to an empty house and an
even more empty life. It sucks to shut the light off at night and stare up at
the dark ceiling above me, wondering what’s next, where am I going, who is
going to love me.

 
It’s crazy, but only two weeks ago my
life was in overdrive. Planning, meetings, work, everything that goes into a
wedding, kept me ultra focused and busy.

Now there’s nothing. The energy
and anticipation of the wedding is gone. As are all the phone calls, wedding
invitations, flowers, etc.

My life feels like it’s
over—like there’s nothing left.
 

I walk up to the front desk, secretly
hoping I can clock out early.

“Hey Sharon, do I have any more
patients today?”

“Well, let’s take a look,” the
charge nurse said, craning her neck towards the computer screen while tilting
her head up to peer through her bifocals. “Looks like Ms. Murphy should be here
any minute. After that, nothing.”

Drat. Not going home yet.

At least it’s Ms. Murphy, a
spunky octogenarian who is a pleasure to work with. She’s on dialysis and comes
in every four weeks or so to get her labs drawn.
 

“Well speak of the Devil: here
she is right now,” Sharon smiled.
 
“Good
afternoon, Ms. Murphy. How are you?”

I hurried towards the door and
held it open so she could maneuver her walker inside.

“Haven’t kicked the bucket yet,
ha!” she cackled. “Sorry to disappoint y’all.”

“Oh stop, Ms. Murphy,” Sharon
clucked, “You know we’re always glad to see you.”

“Oh, Ruby dear,” she beamed and placed
a withered old hand on my arm. “Congratulations to you and Dan! You must be married
now.”

Sharon’s happy face lost its
enthusiasm.

I paused uncomfortably for a
minute. “Uh, no, Ms. Murphy. I…we called it off.”

Her face darkened. “Oh,” she
frowned, her voice deflating, “I’m so sorry to hear that.”
 

“Yeah,” I smiled unconvincingly. “Just
some last minute problems, I guess. You ready to come back?”

She nodded silently with downcast
eyes and slowly followed me to an exam room.

During our visit she was
uncharacteristically quiet. Ms. Murphy is always a boisterous old chatterbox,
full of piss and vinegar; clearly the sweet old woman was saddened by my news.

After her final blood draw, just
as we were wrapping up the appointment, she said, “Ruby, dear, I can’t tell you
how terribly upset I am. I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, how very kind of you, Ms.
Murphy. Thank you.”

“I know it’s none of my business,
but I’m an old woman and don’t have much time left, so I’m going to speak
frankly,” she began in her characteristically creaky voice. “You might not think
so now, but you’ve got your whole life ahead of you. When you’re my age and
it’s too late, you’ll come to realize that. Just remember that life is one big
nonsensical adventure, some of it good, some of it not so good. You are a beautiful
young woman with lots to offer, so keep your head up. You’ll find your Prince
Charming. I promise.”

“Oh, Ms. Murphy, thank you so
much,” I said, bending over and hugging her tightly. Tears that were held back
all day started to roll down my cheeks.

“And quit yer cryin’. Another
thing you’ll learn when you’re my age is that cryin’ never solves anything. As
the old saying goes, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!’”

I wiped away my tears and smiled
at her.

What a dear old woman! With a few
simple words she put the faith in humankind back into me.

Chapter 14

Jake

“Jake! Where you been, man? I was
beginning to think you were dead! Or worse yet, married.”

“Shit, Vinny, I just been busy,
that’s all,” I grinned, giving my cousin a hug. I aced a couple of exams today,
so I decided to grab a drink at Vinny’s club and hang out for a bit without my
books or notes. “What’s new?” We settled into a booth together.

“Ah, not much, same ol’, same
ol’, you know how it is. Have you heard from Chance lately?”

“Nah. I should email him, though.
School and fighting has been kicking my ass.”

“Rumor has it you got girl
problems. Is that true?”

“Who told you that
?!
” I asked, alarmed. The only people who know about Ruby are
Zach, Ricky, and the psychologist; I know Zach and Ricky wouldn’t tell a soul,
and I never identified Ruby by name at the psychology sessions.

“A little birdie told me,” he
replied smugly, cocking his head and looking up.

“C’mon, tell me—who’s the
snitch?”

“You’re deflecting the
question—you got girl problems or not?”

I sighed and shook my head. “You
seem to know already. You tell me.”

Vinny leaned back and looked me
squarely in the eye. “Yeah, I know. Tell me about her. From your perspective,
starting back in high school.”
  

“I don’t know. There’s not much
to say. I liked a girl, she didn’t care for me, end of story.”

“Did that bother you?”

“Maybe a little. What are you
getting at anyway, Vinny? Where is this going?” I was getting annoyed. It was
bad enough that I wanted her and couldn’t find her, and now on top of it all he
was harassing me about the unhappy situation.

“Hey Jake, relax,” he smirked. “I
know what it’s like to be rejected. We’ve all been there. Hey Julie,” he barked
towards the bar, “Bring us a couple beers.”

“Coming up, Vinny,” a young
woman’s voice called back.

I carelessly glanced towards the
bar. I did a double take when I noticed that the bartender was none other than
Ruby’s attractive friend from the other night.

“It’s you,” I blurted out,
starting to my feet. “I knew I had seen you before!”

The black-haired beauty remained
where she stood at the beer taps and flashed me a smile.

“Julie is the ‘little birdie’ who
told me about your woman problems,” Vinny grinned.

It all made sense now. I hurried
up to the bar.

“I need to talk to you, Julie.
Now.”

Ruby

“Life is an adventure.”

It’s funny, but those four little
words stuck with me. It’s not that they are all that earth-shattering, it’s
just that, at least for me, they put into perspective the essence of life
itself: not good, not bad, not anything more than a random set of events, like
a stick flowing down the River of Time; fast and straight at one moment,
smashed against rocks the next, and yet at other times rendered stationary in
an eddy by the shore.

My mom was right, too: you should
never judge a book by its cover.
 
I
should withhold my unfounded assumptions about Jake until I’ve given him a
chance.

Not that I have a chance with
him.

But if I did…I could.

Damn how I want
an ‘adventure’
with Jake!

Now I just have to find him.

I guess I could go down to
The
69er and wait around until he shows up. The only problem
is, I don’t have time for that. I have no idea how to get a hold of him. I sure
as hell am not going to call Dan and ask him to look up Jake’s personal
information; he can’t do that legally anyway.

What to do?

I could call Julie and have her
shoot me a text next time he comes into
The
69er.

Yeah, that’s probably my best
bet…but how pathetic. It would be like I’m stalking him.
 

God, Ruby, you are a hopeless mess!

And you’re too old for this
nonsense! Grow up! You’re not in high school anymore.

Just then my phone rings. OMG
it’s
Julie! My heart starts to beat hard. Maybe she’s
calling about Jake…

“Hey Julie. What’s up?”

But I can barely hear
her—all I can tell is that she’s talking excitedly.

“What’s that, Julie? Can you
speak up? Are you there?”

“Geez! Are you deaf
?!
” she seethes. From the sounds of it she’s doing her best
to scream in a hushed, whispered voice, probably holding her hand over the
phone so that no one can hear her. “Get down to
The
69er! Jake’s here! Maybe you can talk to him.”

“Uh, Julie…” I totally froze with
nerves. A second ago I couldn’t live without him. Now I was terrified of
meeting him face-to-face again. “You know, it’s 9:30 at night. I’m tired and
don’t want to go down there,” I lied.

“Ruby! Get your ass down here right
now! You know you like him! You know he likes you! I know this is all so sudden,
but get over your woe-is-me attitude! This guy is ten-times hotter than Dan and
just as rich. He just showed up, recognized me from the other night, and now
wants to talk. To me! In private! And I’m on the clock! Vinny excused me and
told me to use his office to talk to him. I told him I had to go to the
bathroom first, but that was just an excuse to call you. Get down here now!”

I scrambled to find some shorts
and a t-shirt to put on. “Shit, it’s going to take me, like, at least fifteen
minutes. Do you think you can hold him there that long?”

“I don’t know. I’ll do my best.
Hurry!”

“K bye! Oh
oh
oh
oh
wait! Julie? Julie? Are
you still there?

”Yeah. What?”

“Don’t tell him I’m coming. I’ve already
fucked up once with him; I don’t want him to bolt, just in case he’s already
concluded I belong in a loony bin and wants nothing to do with me.”

“K bye.”

Chapter 15

Jake

Julie walked into Vinny’s office
attempting to appear cool as a cucumber—but she was anything but. I could
tell it was just an act. I knew she was nervous or that something was up, the
way her eyes anxiously shifted around the room. It was as obvious as a punch in
the face.

“Okay, I’ll make this quick,
Julie, I know you’ve got to get back t--.”

“Oh, it’s no problem, take your
time. Please, sit down, make yourself comfortable,” she offered awkwardly,
smoothing the sides of her long hair.

“Uh, no thanks. I’ll stand. All I
need is to talk to Ruby. Can I get her number from you? Or an address?”

“Mm, maybe,” she replied in a
guarded manner. “What do you want it for?”

I gawked at her.
Was she fucking kidding me? What does she
think I want it for?
To write it on a bathroom stall?

“Uh, I need to talk to her,” I
said, trying to keep my cool.

“What about?”

“It’s personal?”

“You know, Jake. She doesn’t
trust you. She thinks you’re a player.”

I was really starting to lose my
patience. I clenched my teeth and did my best to remain calm. I know sometimes
you can get to a girl through her friends, but I wasn’t in the mood to be
charming and talkative.

“I know. I can’t imagine she’d
trust any guy at the moment,” I said as diplomatically as I could, hoping to
win brownie points. “Especially me. But…I’m different now. I’m not the man she
knew in high school.”

She softened a little. “She needs
time, Jake. To heal.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she does. Look,
all I need to do is talk to her. Nothing more. All I want is her number? I
promise. All I want is to call her.”

“Oh…I don’t know.”

I went from clenching to grinding
my teeth.

“Okay, that’s fine. Never mind.” I
said curtly and headed towards the door.

As soon as my hand found the
doorknob she cried, “Wait. Stop.”

I turned to face her.

She took several paces towards
me. “She’s my best friend, Jake. And I don’t want her to get hurt anymore than
she already is. She’s been through a lot and doesn’t need any further
heartbreak. Nevertheless, I’ve been thinking about how to get her ‘back in the
ring,’ so to speak, and I’ve hatched a plan. Are you willing to listen to it?
It’ll just take a minute.”

“Fine. Go for it. I’m listening.”