The Perfect Game (The Perfect Game 1)

“I highly doubt that. ” Jack seethed, the veins in his neck throbbing.

Jared leaned in close to my face before walking away. “At least you’re pretty. Come find me after he tosses you into the garbage with all the others. I promise to sleep with you more than once. ”

My mouth opened to respond when Jared’s body was suddenly ripped out of view. Jack pummeled him against the floor with a loud thud. Jared tried to kick, but Jack was too quick, moving out of the way before he could make contact. Jared scrambled to get up, but Jack threw his fist into Jared’s jaw as the sound of bones crunching filled the air.

“I told you,” Jack said as he punched him again, “…not to talk to her. ” Another hit and I gasped when Jared’s bright red blood splattered across the clean, white-tiled floor.

I shook my head, struggling to make sense of this crazy, unexpected scene. “Jack! Jack, stop!” I scooted out of the booth and pulled at the shirt stretched across his back, begging for his assault to end. Jack delivered another blow to the ribs and I threw my body onto his back, leaning as close to his ear as I could get without getting hit. “Jack, stop. ”

His head snapped up. He glanced down at Jared, then lifted his head to look around at the gawking crowd and then back to me, his eyes sad. “I’m sorry, Kitten. ”

It was the first time that name didn’t piss me off. I helped him to his feet, my body shaking with shock.

Our waitress, Sarah, hurried over, shaking her head. “You have to go, Jack. Just get your stuff and go. ”

“Sarah, tell Carl I’m sorry about the mess. ” Jack wiped his face, still red from anger, and now probably embarrassment as well. He scooped the quarters into their paper bag and tossed two twenties on the table before grabbing my hand and pulling me out the door.

When we reached the car, he opened the passenger door, lifted me in, and then walked over to the driver’s side, his head shaking the entire time. I watched his chest slowly rise and fall with each breath he took. “I’m sorry, Cassie. I shouldn’t have let him get to me. ”

“What was that even about?” I asked, eyeing his bloody knuckles.

Jack settled into the driver’s seat and looked out his window, avoiding my gaze. “I slept with his girlfriend. ”

My heart throbbed as his admission caused an ache of disappointment to spread throughout my chest. “Right when I think you might be halfway decent, you say something that fucks it all up. ”

He gripped the steering wheel tightly and turned to me, his dark hair flopping forward. “I didn’t know. ”

“Don’t bullshit me, Jack. ”

“I’m not. I promise. She said she was single. ”

I sank into my seat as the breath I unwittingly held escaped from between my lips. “Well, she sucks. That girl. ”

He forced half a grin. “Yeah, she does. ”

He started the engine and I felt the rumble violently vibrating my seat. I quickly buckled myself in and said a silent prayer that we wouldn’t die on the drive home.

We spent the drive back to my apartment in silence, the radio providing background noise as we each buried ourselves in our own private thoughts. I watched as the lights of the town streamed past in a neon blur, my mind replaying the events of the evening. Jack pulled his deathmobile in one of the spots marked Visitor in front of my building, and turned the ignition off, but didn’t make any effort to move. I reached for my door handle. “You know,” he said, “my dad’s an ass too. ” His voice sliced through the warm evening air.

I allowed my hand to slide down the side of the door, releasing the grip I held. I turned my body to face him before I leaned back into the seat. “Tell me. ”

He avoided my eyes, reluctant to continue. I wondered if he regretted starting to open up to me, but I wasn’t about to let him off the hook.

“Please?”

“He took off when Dean was three. He just left one morning for work and never came back. My mom was frantic looking for him. Called every hospital, police station, hotel, but he was nowhere. I remember her tearing through the phone book with such fear and desperation in her eyes. She flipped the pages and tried to dial the numbers, but her fingers were shaking so badly I had to do it for her. ” He sighed sadly.

I wanted to reach out for him, but didn’t. Thinking that somehow my touch would stop his train of thought and I wouldn’t get to experience this side of him again, I kept my hands tucked between my legs and pressed my lips firmly together.

“I don’t really remember my dad. But when my mom left…”

I could no longer stay silent. “Your mom left you guys too?” My mouth fell open in shock as my heart literally ached for him.

“Yeah. I distinctly remember her saying that we were so bad, she couldn’t take it anymore. She said she couldn’t raise two bad boys on her own, so she had to go. ”

“Holy shit. She said that? How old were you?” Each breath I took felt like it was being ripped from my lungs.

“I was eight. Dean was five. ”