Kissing Jayden: a romantic teen thriller (8 page)

“The driver’s gonna follow us back to your house,” he said.

“My mom’s car is fixed?”

I was right on the edge between elated and skeptical, but when Jayden nodded, I lunged over the center console and wrapped my arms around him, thrilled out of my mind.

“Thank you so much,” I whispered against his neck, feeling overly emotional.

Then I kissed his cheek, remembering my pact from earlier. Avoid all guys after this — especially Jayden. I tried to pull away, but Jayden’s hands came up to the sides of my face and held me still. He stared into my eyes, and I just wanted to start crying, because I knew this was the last time I was going to be with him like this.

“Sweet little Molly,” he whispered.

Chapter 10: My Hero, Not My Boyfriend

Jayden was quiet on the drive back across the river, but so was I. I couldn’t believe how out of control things had gotten. I wanted my life back to normal and boring. No more stalkers. No more near misses. No more excitement. No more Jayden. I could live without excitement for the rest of high school, and it would be a relief.

But that was such a lie. A lie that I was going to have to tell myself over and over until it got through to my heart, which was aching at the thought of never having any more moments with Jayden. Period. He would go back to his popular world. I would go back to mine.

And that was exactly what happened.

Everything went back to normal. Sort of. I hung out on the quad with Stace, Kelly, Kyle — Stace’s former ex — and Brandon, Kelly’s newest boyfriend. I studied like crazy for my AP test. I also spent night after night staring at the picture of Jayden that Stace had taken.

Whatever had happened between Jayden and Mike just kind of went away. Eventually I noticed Mike hanging out with Vicki Westfield, who used to hook up with Jayden. Sometimes Mike would disappear at lunch with her, but if Jayden cared, he didn’t let on.

I was really careful when Stace and Kelly asked me to do stuff. If it sounded like I might run into Jayden or Mike, I avoided it. And since I had changed seats in Government, there wasn’t really any problem there, either. Then, after school one day, Jayden came up to me while I was walking toward the bus.

“Molly, stay away from Mike. If you see him, just run — and call me.”

His brow was furrowed, and he looked really edgy. He didn’t say anything else; he just walked away. My blood turned cold, and I felt my stomach clench. It was starting to stay lighter later during the day, and I
had
been planning to take a walk when I got home. Instead, as soon as the bus dropped me off, I practically ran home and locked the door behind me.

After that, at random times of day, I would get texts from Jayden asking if I was all right. Then, one night Mom called me over while she was watching the news. I stopped and stared at the screen.

“Isn’t that just a few streets over from us?” she asked.

I watched as the police led a man in handcuffs toward a police car. But that wasn’t what caught my attention. Parked in front of the house was a pickup. And under the glare of the news camera lights, I could easily see “
Monster Mike
” emblazoned on the side, which meant that the man on the news
had
to be Mike’s dad. A news camera panned to the front door where Mike was standing, glaring at the camera. I swallowed and looked down at the news caption.

Local developer Michael Jensen arrested on fraud charges

The camera zoomed in on Mike, and I heard frantic questions from the reporters before he slammed the door in their faces. The reporter said something about Mike’s dad being arraigned on charges for embezzlement, tax evasion, fraud, and bribing public officials. She also said that the case was brought to light when his business partner James
Stone
went to the authorities.

Jayden’s dad.

“Molly, hon? Are you all right?” Mom asked.

I nodded. My mind was completely blank. I ran upstairs, grabbed my phone, scrolled to Jayden’s number, and sent him a text:
Are you all right???

Right now I didn’t care that I was supposed to be avoiding him. I just needed to know that he was okay. Like right
now
. I stood there going out of my mind for about ninety seconds before my phone buzzed. I stared at the screen and smiled at the message:
better now that I’ve heard from my sweet molly.

My heart squeezed, but I tried not to get too excited. I told myself that I was just happy he was okay. But he had called me
my sweet molly
, and I couldn’t help doing a little happy dance.

At the beginning of Government the next day, I waited anxiously for Jayden to show up in class. When he walked in, I felt this wave of relief. Then he smiled at me, and I melted, despite my pact. I thought I was dreaming as I watched him walk right up to my desk. Biting my lip, I breathed in the smell of his aftershave.

“Can we talk after school?” he asked.

I nodded.

“I’ve got practice, but I’ll text you, ’kay?” he confirmed.

“Okay,” I nodded again.

At lunch, I saw Jayden across the quad, but I made sure not to stare. Stace and Kelly were talking about prom, and Stace gave me this apologetic look like, “Poor Molly’s never going to another dance after that stupid bet.” And she was right. I didn’t have any interest in going to another dance. I turned and started talking to Tyler. Since the whole classroom incident with Mike and Jayden, Tyler seemed to just kind of get that I wasn’t good girlfriend material. But we got along as friends, so it worked out. I told myself I didn’t need a boyfriend. Which was totally true — I didn’t.

Because I was like a bad luck charm.

What I needed — like air or water — was another kiss from Jayden. And
that
was the problem. If I had never kissed Jayden, I wouldn’t have known what I was missing. Now, though, knowing I wasn’t going to kiss him again was killing me. It was funny, because I was relieved at the thought of not kissing Tyler, but I was devastated by the thought of not kissing Jayden. And he had never been — and never would be — my boyfriend. I had no claim to him.

During last period, I got a text from Jayden telling me to meet him after school out behind the Annex Building way over at the edge of campus. I felt a little tingle up my spine. That’s where people went to make out or smoke. It was not a place where girls like me went — ever. Just like girls like me didn’t date guys like Jayden. Well, girls like
me
didn’t date anyone.

In my mind, going out with Tyler had been a total fluke, since he had only asked me out because of Jayden. And kissing Jayden had been a total accident — caused by Mike Jensen. When the bell rang, I kind of smirked at the thought of giving Mike Jensen some credit. After all, without him I never would have kissed Jayden.

I went to my locker and found no creepy notes of any kind. Then I hurried toward the back of school, feeling butterflies in the pit of my stomach for two reasons. The first was that I was going to see Jayden, alone. The second was that this was part of the reason we couldn’t go out. This wasn’t normal for me to sneak to the back of the school!

When I got to the Annex Building, there was nobody there. I frowned. It had taken me at least ten minutes to walk here, but I figured maybe Jayden hadn’t been able to get away from practice.

I sat down on some stairs a few feet away from the chain-link fence that separated campus from a never-used practice field. Then I took out my latest book and started reading. A few minutes later, I was so engrossed in the story that I didn’t even notice that someone approaching until a shadow loomed over me. I looked up, smiling at the thought of seeing Jayden. Instead I saw Mike Jensen standing over me.

“How’d I guess that this was what you’d be doing, bookworm?”

I didn’t say anything as he snatched the book out of my hands. I watched as he pulled out the picture of Jayden. I so should have put it back in my dresser! But it wasn’t like I had been showing it off to people. Who else would grab my book out of my hands — other than this enormous jerk?

I tried standing up, but with the help of the extra weight of my backpack, Mike easily pushed me back onto the stairs.

“Molly Adams, too good for everyone except the Golden Boy,” he sneered.

I wanted to scream at him and tell him what a psycho he was.
Too good for everyone
? They were the baseball gods, with girls worshipping at their feet. And he had been a jerk to me ever since middle school! Summoning all my rage, I jumped to my feet and ducked under him. I made it a few steps before he grabbed me by the backpack and threw me down like a rag doll. I hit the ground, cushioned only by my backpack. It was enough force to knock the air out of my lungs, and I gaped up at Mike as he towered over me.

In the distance, I heard someone yelling my name. It was Jayden’s voice! I screamed, but it wasn’t very loud, because I was still gasping for air. Mike hauled me up by my backpack and then tossed my bag aside before clamping his hand over my mouth and dragging me back against the side of the building. I struggled, but he had me pressed against him so close that I could barely move. I gasped; he was crushing my chest. Finally, I did the only thing I could. I lifted my leg and slammed my foot down on his as hard as I could.

It didn’t do as much as I had been hoping, but the hand on my mouth loosened enough for me to wrench free and scream as loud as I could. Ten seconds later, Jayden came racing around the corner. I pushed back with all my force against Mike.

“
Jayden
!” I shrieked.

I lunged away from Mike, and Jayden grabbed me around the waist, pulling me out of Mike’s reach. Then I was suddenly behind Jayden, who was holding a bat — like Mike had in Mr. Kaplan’s classroom.

“What are you gonna do with that, Golden Boy?” Mike scoffed.

“Absolutely nothing, man — unless you get anywhere near Molly again. If you do, I’ll take your head clean off.”

Holding my hand, Jayden walked me over to where my backpack was. I picked it up and put it on. Then we started walking away. Every few seconds, I turned back to look for Mike, who just stood there, smirking at us. When we got to Jayden’s car, I didn’t argue about him taking me home.

I looked over at him as he got behind the wheel, and just then I realized that he was wearing his clothes from practice. We sped out of the parking lot, and then he pulled over a couple of streets over.

“Molly, are you okay?”

I swallowed and nodded, trying not to cry again.

“How’d you find me?” I whispered.

Jayden cracked his knuckles.

“Mike went into my locker at the start of practice and used my phone to text you. When he didn’t show up, I got a bad feeling, so I went back to the locker room and found his text.”

I nodded again, feeling sick.

“Molly?”

I looked at him.

“From now on, when I text you, I’m always going to end it with five-pound-six.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t get it.”

“J-plus-M. Okay?”

“Okay,” I smiled shakily.

He started the car again, and when we pulled up in front of my house, Jayden asked if my mom was home. I shook my head.

“Can I come inside? Can we talk?”

I nodded. Really, though, I wanted him to come inside, and I wanted to kiss him until I forgot all about Mike and about the fact that I couldn’t be with Jayden. Then Jayden’s phone started buzzing like crazy. He looked down, and his face fell.

“Molly, I want you to go inside and lock the door until your mom gets home, okay?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll call you later.”

I grabbed my backpack, and Jayden watched as I walked to my front door. As soon as I was inside, I heard the engine of his car rev. Running up to my room, I called Mom and told her I was home. Then I called Stace. I was kind of undecided about whether to tell her about latest psycho spree involving Mike — or the fact that Jayden had saved me again.

When I started crying, she said she’d be over in five minutes. Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang. I looked out the window and checked twice to make sure it was Stace’s mom’s car before I unlocked the door. I swung open the door, and her eyes widened.

“Molly? Are you all right?”

I nodded and let her in before locking the door behind us. We went over and sat on the couch and I kind of unloaded — everything about Mike being completely out of his mind, the stuff I saw on the news about his dad, and Jayden finding me at the last second. By the time I was done, I was shaking.

“I always knew Mike Jensen was a jerk, but I didn’t realize he was totally unhinged!” Stace said, shaking her head. “What are you going to do?”

I blew out a breath.

“I don’t know.”

“But Jayden, like, saved you! How cool is that?”

I shrugged.

“It was really weird, Stace. Jayden kept saying stuff about how this is all his fault — and then I saw the thing on TV with Mike’s dad. I think Jayden thinks that Mike’s using me to get back at him for something.”

“Why would he use
you
?” Stace asked, confounded.

I shrugged guiltily. I totally didn’t blame her for sounding confused since I had kind of left out the part about my latest make-out session in Jayden’s car. By the time Mom got home, I was calmer, and Stace and I were making some homemade mac and cheese — plus more brownies, which were becoming a compulsion of mine. This time, I totally planned to bring them to school for Jayden, since he
had
saved me again. And I really didn’t care if anyone thought it was weird at this point.

Even if he wasn’t my boyfriend, he
was
my hero.