Red Flags (17 page)

“Cara, go ahead and get your friend out of
here. We have shit to discuss.”

“Cara, forget this guy…” Chase’s face was
tight and flaming red, “you don’t need to go back to this.” His
hands were down at his sides, but they were clinched into tight
fists, and I wasn’t sure if Chase had it in him to punch Jason, but
I also didn’t want to find out. If it came down to a fight between
Chase and Jason, Jason would win. While I was sure Chase would put
up a good fight, I wasn’t prepared to see him take what I was
certain would be a serious ass kicking from Jason.

“Chase, it’s okay. I can handle it from
here.”

Chase’s eyes bulged and his mouth drops
opened. “Cara. After everything this week?”

“Chase, I’ll call you.”

“Don’t fuckin count on it,” Jason laughed,
trying to taunt Chase.

Chase shook his head and walked out of the
room. An overwhelming sense of guilt washed over me, but I had to
deal with Jason, and I couldn’t do it with Chase in the way.

“Cara, I can’t fucking believe this.
Why?”

“I need to speak to him, at least find out
what’s been going on.”

He sighed heavily and ran his hands over his
face, “I don’t get it… I’ll never get it.”

“Chase, I promise, I’ll fill you in, but can
you just go? I need to deal with this.”

He pursed his lips, and walked out the door.
I leaned my back up against the door as he closed it. I had to
mentally prepare myself to face Jason, which was completely
ridiculous, given that in this situation, it should have been the
other way around. I had a million thoughts running through my head,
but I hadn’t decided on a course of action to take. Should I
question him on his whereabouts? Should I try the concerned route,
or should I go with my gut instinct that was screaming to let the
fury from the past week unfurl in the most unladylike manner. I
didn’t have long to think about it because Jason walked into the
foyer with a sexy grin on his face. He took my hand, and all of the
furious thoughts that were bouncing around in my head evaporated
into tiny particles.

“Come back into room Cara, so we can
talk.”

I regained my focus and jerked my hand out of
his grasp. “Jason, do you think I want to talk to you right
now?”

"Actually, yes,” his arrogance had no
limits.

Unfortunately, he was right; I did want to
talk to him. I needed to get some things off my chest. We walked
back into my room; Jason sat down in my desk chair, while I took a
seat on the bed.

“I know you have a lot of questions, and…” I
closed my eyes and held my hand up, motioning for him to stop
talking.

“How did you get in here?”

“Mila.”

“Where is she? Her car is parked in her
parking spot, and my brother was working late tonight.”

“I know. I texted her and asked her to please
not say anything. I let her take my truck, so it didn’t throw
anything off. I wanted to surprise you, and then I find you running
around with that fucktard.”

I wholeheartedly despised what I had just
heard. Mila had conspired with Jason. Our earlier conversation
crept back into my head. If she didn’t like me interfering, why
would she turn around and do the same thing – no, worse than the
same thing?

“Don’t try to change this around on me Jason.
You left -- and damn Mila for this.”

“Damn Mila? She was only helping me surprise
you?”

“Surprise me,” I shouted, allowing the
emotion in me to shine through, “I thought you had your way with me
and moved along.”

Jason was taken aback by my statement, “why
would you say that?”

“Um, I don’t know… maybe the fact that you
were completely weird on Sunday. You dropped me off here, and acted
like I was a little sister you were aching to get away from. I
tried to reach you, hoping you would at least extend me the
courtesy of replying, if for no other reason than to let me know
that you were okay. I didn’t even get that.” My adrenaline was
pumping and I elevated my voice to show the extent of my hurt. “I
went from being hurt, to being scared, to being angry. You didn’t
give a shit Jason, and now, you just show up here like nothing ever
happened.” He had that same smirk on his face that either made me
drop my pants, or in this case, frustrate the hell out of me.

“Well Cara, first of all, watch your mouth.
Secondly, don’t be mad at Mila, she did give me the third degree
before agreeing, and third, I had to go back home to take care of
some bullshit. I know I should have called, but I was –
occupied.”

“Fill me in. What had you so occupied that
you couldn’t contact me?”

“Cara, I’m really not going to get into that
now, I’m sorry.” He stood up and moved over next to me on the
bed.

“See Jason, I don’t get it. You call me your
girlfriend, but then you just escape from us whenever it’s
convenient for you. You don’t call, text, or message, and then
return as if I am supposed to be okay with it.”

“And I am supposed to be okay with you
running around with that shit stain?”

“Don’t talk about Chase like that, and don’t
try to change the subject.”

‘Well, that was a horrible fuckin’ way to see
you after a week, walking into your empty apartment, with the guy
who wants so badly to be in your panties. I should have clocked
him.”

I was pissed. How dare he try to make Chase
out to be the villain in this situation, “You should just be happy
that he cared?”

"Why the fuck would I care that he cared to
the point that he is alone with you in an empty apartment? And, I
smell beer on your breath, was that the plan, get drunk and come
back here to fuck?”

“NO Jason,” my voice was a high pitched
shriek by this point, “we went out to dinner, and I had a few
beers, that’s it.”

“I’m sure he was eager to let you drink,
makes it easy for him to get into you. I told you, I know he wants
you, and you know it too.”

I closed my eyes and my sudden blush
confirmed what Jason was saying.

“I fuckin’ knew it. Did you fuck him? Was the
grief so much that you jumped in bed with him to help ease the
pain?”

“No.”

“I can’t believe you turned to him. Why?”

“I didn’t think you and I had anything. The
way you left, and subsequently disregarded me, I thought we were
done – like I was your weekend romp, and you had moved on.”

“Are you serious?”

“What else was I supposed to think?” I could
taste the bitterness of my words on my tongue.

“It’s complicated, and I know I was wrong,
but trust me, you were on my mind.”

“Well, it didn’t seem like it. Are you going
to tell me what happened?”

“No.”

“Jason! How do you think this gets better if
you don’t talk to me?”

“I am talking to you. I will tell you what
happened when the time is right, just not now. And do me a favor;
don’t talk to my fuckin’ brother.”

Shit, he knew.

“He wrote me,” and I was silenced by his
sudden glance.

“Just don’t. He’s such a fuckin’ idiot. If he
knows it will piss me off, he’ll do it. Ignore him.”

I was a bit puzzled by his reaction, but
decided after the exhausting go around that we had, I should let it
go. I had class in the morning, I was mildly intoxicated, and I
just wanted to lie down in my bed.

“You should probably get going, I’ve had a
long day and I have an early wake up call.”

“You’re kicking me out?” He looked
disingenuously hurt. “You’re tired, you’re mad, and I am the cause.
I think I should stay and make it right.”

“Jason, I am in no mood to have sex with you
tonight,” I shouted out before I even had time to process my
thought.

“Who said anything about sex? I just want to
lay with you, and soothe you to sleep.”

I knew he deliberately used the word soothe
to mock Chase. I didn’t protest because that would turn into
another argument, so I undressed, next to an equally half naked
Jason, laid down in the bed, and quickly fell asleep.

<>

Morning came and I felt completely refreshed.
Was it because Jason was in my bed with me last night? I thought
back to the night before, my joyous dinner date with Chase that
turned into a stalemate and my very vague argument with Jason. I
was still undecided as to how I felt about Mila and her inability
to communicate with me. She took Jason’s side in all of this, and
left me blindsided. The guys were on the brink of a full scale
brawl had either of them said the wrong thing, and Mila was partly
to blame. I knew she had her reservations about Chase, but letting
Jason in, without my prior knowledge or approval, was crossing the
line. I decided to text her and let her know how unappreciated it
was.

to Mila

*Thanks for heads up last night… always enjoy a Wild
West showdown.*

Jason woke up with a half grin on his face.
Maybe he was still trying to gauge how furious I was with him. I
glanced down at my phone, anticipating a response from Mila, yet
nothing had come through. Jason noticed my focus and sat up in the
bed. “Why are you up so early? And who are you texting?”

I looked at him completely annoyed. “I’m up
for workouts, and I was texting Mila, is that okay?” The anger from
the night before had come flooding back. I still couldn’t believe
the sequence of events and what they led up to, and I was still
feeling betrayed by Mila.

“You don’t have workouts because we’re on the
start of Spring break. Mila won’t text you because she is doing
what normal people do at five forty in the morning – sleeping.” He
said with a very condescending grin. How did I forget that Spring
break started this week? Was I so flustered and distracted these
days that I could no longer remember important things in life? Was
the alcohol still taking hold of me? “Why are you so mad at Mila
anyway?”

“You can’t be serious?”

“Because she let me in? I thought you’d be
happy to see me.”

I looked at him amazed and flabbergasted.
“Jason! I haven’t seen or heard from you in a week. We hadn’t been
seeing each other long enough for me to think that was normal. I
thought you had written me off.”

He yawned and wiped his eyes, failing to
convince me that he was still too tired for all of this.

“Why couldn’t you just send a text just to
say hi, or that you were okay? Courtesy Jason that could have been
given.”

“I know I should have. Things were fuckin’
crazy at home, it really escaped me. I can’t apologize enough, and
I have a feeling I’m gonna be raked over the coals for a while for
it.”

“Well, I just don’t know what to think about
that. Things were so crazy for you that you completely forgot about
me. What does that say to me Jason?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t know how to make
you understand either.”

“How about filling me in on what went on
while you were home? When did you leave?”

“I can’t really get into that right now, and
I left Sunday, shortly after my workout.”

“So it was an emergency that made you run out
of here? Family member? Sickness?”

He came over to me and ran his hands through
my hair. “Cara, I promise you will know as I know more. I came here
last night, and was sitting here for a while waiting for you --
eager to see you, only to see you walk in with that asshole. Mila
is not in the wrong, so don’t be mad at her.”

“She is in the wrong, and I don’t want to go
into that with you. I have to deal with her. And you went to her
because you knew she would be an easy target. Why didn’t you
contact Chelsea?”

“Are you fuckin’ crazy?” he laughed, “that
chick is like a fuckin’ bull; one minute she’s nice and calm and
the other she’s seeing red and out of control.”

I shook my head at him, not sure what to say
because he was right. There was a reason that Chelsea was my best
friend; she was always loyal, and willing to speak up for me when I
couldn’t do it for myself. Mila had never been a huge fan of Chase,
but I never thought she would do this. It wasn’t the end of the
world, but she knew that I had been hanging out with Chase, even if
it was on a platonic level, and yet, as much as she knew Jason
didn’t like him, she put Jason in our path, without giving me a
heads up.

“Did Mila tell you that I was with
Chase?”

“No, but she did say that you had been
hanging out with him.”

“So you figured you’d come and interject
yourself back in to put a wedge between us?”

“No…”

“You wanted to figure out how much you wanted
out of me, and when Chase was back on your radar, your jealousy
kicked in?”

“No Cara. That wasn’t it.” His voice was
strained, and I could tell he was trying to contain his anger. At
this point I just couldn’t care. I couldn’t get him to tell me what
happened, and why he'd left, why I wasn’t even an after-thought,
and now; I was supposed to just accept and believe that his and
Mila’s conspiring was romantic, and just move on. I couldn’t. I
wouldn’t.

“Jason, I just want to be alone right now.”
He glared quizzically at me, unable to wrap his mind around the
words I had just spoken, “I just need to think about all of
this.”

“Cara, I think you’re over analyzing all of
this, but I’ll give you your space.” He stood up and dressed
himself. Looking at his body was definitely a weakness for me, but
I just kept telling myself that his body and his emotions were on
two opposite ends of the spectrum. His body craved me, his emotions
discarded me. I had learned to value myself in the last few years,
and I wasn’t going to allow him to just sweep in and make
everything that has, or hasn’t happened over the past week just go
away.

“I need it.”

He stood, walked over and placed his hand
under my chin, forcing eye to eye contact. He tried to kiss me, but
I moved my head, and he settled for a kiss on my forehead instead.
I didn’t say a word, and he walked out of the apartment. I ran to
look out the window, and watched him get into Mila’s car and drive
off.