The Day He Kissed Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 3)

She hurried down the hallway and yanked the door open, motioning him inside. The rain was falling harder now, so hard that it bounced back up when it hit the stone pathway. “You alone?” she asked, peeking behind him.

“Yeah,” Jake answered as he slipped out of his work boots. “Damn, it’s nasty out there.” He shook some excess water off his head and flashed a grin, but it was a grin that didn’t exactly creep into his eyes. “I’m on my way to the site, but thought I’d stop in for coffee.”

Coffee. Right. Jake was a two-cups-in-the-morning kind of guy, and she knew damn well that he’d had his two cups with Raine. Her stomach roiled, and for a second, Lily felt bile rise in the back of her throat. This was so not about coffee.

She really needed to get it together.

Lily pointed to the kitchen, and Jake followed her down the hall, sliding his large frame onto one of the chairs at her counter while she poured him a cup.

“So,” she said as she pushed the mug to him, “what’s going on?”

Jake knew her well enough to know that she wasn’t into bullshit, and she appreciated when he cut to the chase.

“Mac’s at my place.”

“Huh,” she said, her mind wandering.

After the scene at his mother’s place, he’d dropped her back here and then left for the ball diamond. He hadn’t said much to her other than he wasn’t sure if he’d be back. She knew he was angry and confused and pissed off, but she had no idea how to deal with it and no idea how to comfort him.

She’d pressed a kiss to his cheek and told him to call her when he was ready.

But he never called.

“Sal got ahold of me at midnight, wanting me to scoop his drunk ass up from the Coach House.” Jake set his cup onto the counter. “He was in bad shape. I haven’t seen him that out of it since Jesse died.” He paused. “Did you guys get into it?”

Lily’s eyebrows shot up. “What? He told you that we got into a fight?”

“No. He didn’t say much of anything. He kept muttering something about Boston, and I just figured that you and him got into it.”

Lily pushed her cup away. Jesus, her stomach really wasn’t feeling good. “His dad is getting out of jail, and I think that his mother is letting him move back in with her. Mackenzie didn’t take it real well.”

“Shit,” Jake said. “That’s not good.”

“No,” Lily replied. “It isn’t.” She fingered her coffee cup. “What’s the story there anyway? Mackenzie’s never really talked about his father, though I get that they weren’t close.”

Jake leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

“His father…God, where would I even start?” Jake scrubbed at his chin and sighed heavily.

“If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, I understand.”

“No.” Jake shook his head. “It’s not that. I just…when I think of what Mac went through growing up, the shit that his father did to him and his family, it makes me sick. Christ, half the stuff none of us knew about, not until years later, and usually because Mac was piss-drunk and on a rant.”

Lily gripped her mug so tightly that her fingers cramped. “I overheard some things at his mom’s last night, and I know his father used to beat them.” She swallowed a lump in her throat. “All of them.”

Jake stared down into his cup and was silent for a few moments. “My first memory of Mac is from the fifth grade. He’d transferred in from another school, and his first day, every single kid in our class was in awe of this new guy. He was the prettiest boy we’d ever seen. Hell, even the teachers were all over him like bees on honey.”

Lily smiled at the thought, picturing a little version of Liam.

“It didn’t go down so well with us guys though. We were a tough nut to crack. Jesse, Cain, and I were already tight, and the other boys in our class weren’t real keen on making this new kid welcome, but the girls sure as hell were.”

Jake paused, and Lily’s heart turned over when she saw the sadness there.

“I had a crush on this particular girl. Her name was Terre Winters. We all did. She had long hair the color of dark tobacco and these big blue eyes. But more importantly, she was into sports and could kick any of our asses when it came to soccer. She took one look at Mac and stuck to him like glue, and Mackenzie, being the natural-born charmer that he was, worked it. Even at that age, he worked it like a pro, and at first recess, she wasn’t interested in playing soccer with us anymore. She wanted to hang out with him.”

A ghost of a smile turned up the corners of Jake’s mouth, but it quickly faded as he fingered the edge of his coffee cup.

“It didn’t take him long to win the guys over. Cain…Jesse…they didn’t understand why I was being such a little dick when it came to Mac. He came to school one day with a shiner that was the color of rotting grapes, and after that, he was pretty much in with the guys. Cain thought it was cool. But me? I still wasn’t convinced that the pretty boy belonged.