CHAPTER 4
MONDAY, WEEK 1
JAKE
On his third cup of coffee, Jake laid his head back against the headboard. It was 10 a.m. He knew Kristen needed to call her office, but looking at her peaceful face as she slept, he couldn't bring himself to wake her. She had been out cold most of the morning, with the exception of some turbulent dreams that had her thrashing about wildly. Thinking back, it must have been well after 5:00 a.m. before he had finally dozed off himself. The last thing he remembered was picking her up from the bathroom floor and carrying her to bed.
It had been a good five minutes since her cell phone had started ringing, faded to silent, then started up again. With a quick glance to confirm she was still fast asleep, he followed the sound to her bag, which he found buried under a blanket on the couch. Seven missed calls, most of them from someone named Marty and a couple of texts from Logan flashed on her iPhone screen. Frowning with speculation, he tried to enter her phone to read them, but found it locked.
Kristen opened her blurry eyes with reluctance. As her vision began to clear, she focused on Jake straddling her on the bed. Long strands of his hair fell upon her cheeks.
"Hey, sleeping beauty. How are you feeling?" He looked down with a warm, sweet smile. The usual twinkle was back in his eyes.
"I'm with you—I feel great," she said in a hushed tone. Encircling her arms around his neck, she reached up to kiss him. "Sorry about last night.”
"I'm sorry you got so fucked up. I would've let you sleep longer, but you said you have to call in to work, right?" He pinched her tight stomach.
"Oh shit!" She popped upright. "What time is it?”
"10:30..." His voice trailed off with a shrug. He watched with mild amusement as she stumbled out of the bed.
"Where the hell did I leave my phone?" She ran around in frantic desperation.
"I'm not sure. Check your bag?" He stifled a laugh as he looked away.
Her nervous pacing increased as she listened to her voicemail. Jake poured her a second cup of coffee and refilled his own. Assuming Logan was her husband, he wondered who she would talk to first.
It didn’t take long. Just as she settled onto his lap at the kitchen table her cell rang again.
"Kristen where the hell are you? Why didn't you call in if you were taking off? I was freaking out here!" Jake could hear Marty’s voice screeching through the phone. He laughed to himself, satisfied that Marty was actually a woman.
"I met this guy and things got kinda out of control. I'm at his place.”
Squinting down at her, he gave her a curious look. Sensing the conversation might get personal, she rose and walked away.
"What? When did you meet him? Wait, Kristen, Logan called—twice, I almost forgot!"
"What did you tell him?
"What the fuck, Kristen! I told him you weren't in yet. What was I supposed to tell him? You never called me! He was acting really, really weird too.”
"Well that's a shock!" Kristen answered with blatant sarcasm. After a brief pause, her tone changed. "Don't worry. I'll think of something, okay? I'm glad you told me!"
"Is he hot, Kris? Wait—weren't you trying to work it out with Logan, or something? What happened?"
"We met Friday after I left work.” She could hear Marty gasp. "But he is hot as hell, Marty! And so unbelievably sweet... and I really like him! Logan fucked up again, big time!” She started to flare up, her breaths growing ragged.
"He sounds great.” Marty paused. "What did he do…Logan, I mean... did he get all freaky on you again?" There was a brief silence. "Kris, are you okay?"
After glancing at Jake, who appeared to be disregarding her conversation, Kristen continued. "Yeah…no… I'm thinking of leaving him for good this time. Seriously. I can't talk about it now, though."
"Really? Oh my God, Kris. I'll cover for you here, don't worry. I'll tell Carl you're sick. Okay? He's usually cool. Shit! I gotta go. Steven just got here. I've got tons of crap to do! Love ya. Call me later, okay?"
When the call ended, Kristen couldn’t shake the feeling of disillusionment. She wondered if she should talk to Steven Joseph, the family law partner in the office. It was a rash decision, but she knew she had to take action before she lost her nerve. Logan was out of control again, and she feared things were about to take a rapid spiral downward, like it had in the past—this time it could even be worse. Now that I have Jake, he will give me the support and courage I need to make the break from Logan permanently.
Jake heard most of what she said. Once she snuck out of the room his interest had really peaked and he strained his ears to pick up what he could. He continued browsing on his iPhone when she returned.
"So is everything good at work?" He didn’t bother to look up.
"Yes, Marty's gonna tell my boss I'm sick.” She stroked the back of his head for a second, then sat down at the table. Grabbing her mug, her eyes became dull as she looked off into space. The conversation with Marty had left her very unsettled.
Jake noticed the slight trembling of her hand and covered it with his. "Wanna grab some breakfast, maybe walk in the park after?" He looked into her eyes, hoping to find all of the answers, but almost certain it was futile.
Maybe throwing her down on the bed and making passionate love to her for hours would be a more pleasurable solution. Then when she is weak with satisfaction and vulnerable maybe I can get inside her head.
He had an inconsolable longing to know everything that was going on with her life—most of all, where he fit in it. A smile flickered across his face at the image. Before he got a chance to act on his fantasy, she leaped up and moved away.
"Sure, I'll get ready.” She disappeared into the bedroom, making sure she took her phone with her.
The cool autumn breeze sent a blast of fresh air into the apartment. Jake groaned, bringing his fist down on the table. Without stopping to clean up the coffee that spilled out of the mug onto the table, he rose. Kicking the chair out of his way, he shook his head with frustration and sauntered out of the room.
* * *
"We need to talk, Kris.” Jake couldn’t mask the severe expression on his face as they were about to leave the apartment an hour later. He held her arm, preventing her from opening the front door.
There was a tortured look in her eyes when they locked on his hand. In an instant Jake noticed her defense mechanism geared up and released her.
"About what?" Waiting for his answer, her mind began racing with alarm.
He chuckled. "Come on Kristen! As if you don't know!" She kept up the doe-eyed innocent act, shrugging.
"Us, you... Logan! That's your husband, isn't it?" Unintentionally, the volume of his voice was rising.
It startled her to hear him say his name. How did he know? She wondered, but didn’t really care. With disenchantment, she sighed. "Okay. Right now?"