He raised an eyebrow but remained silent.
“I just bought some new lip gloss. It’s watermelon flavored,” she said playfully.
Jake’s eyes darkened, and for a second the world ceased to exist. He closed the distance between them until he stood so near that she could feel his breath on her face. A tightness gripped her belly. She raised a hand and touched his arm.
Laughter erupted across the lot, and Jake froze. He blinked as if just waking up. He took a step back. And then another.
Her hand fell to her side.
“Angel, this has to stop.”
“What?”
“Don’t play the innocent,” he said. “You can’t keep coming on to me.”
She ran a finger along his jaw. “Why? ’Fraid you’ll give in?”
His muscle twitched in his cheek. “You’re eighteen years old.”
“I’m mature for my age.”
“You’re still a student and I’m a teacher.”
“You get hung up on the strangest things,” she said with a laugh. “All right, have it your way. For now.”
She flashed him an impudent grin and headed back to the party, feeling his eyes follow her the entire way.
Amanda Delahay watched Jake from a distance. A breeze ruffled his hair, and he brushed it back without taking his eyes off a young man Amanda recognized as one of his baseball players.
Jake was so intense, so committed to his players. It was that intensity that had drawn her to him when she first met him. She’d transferred to Woodland Hills High a little over a year ago, and Jake, with his blond good looks and engaging personality, had caught her eye immediately.
They’d started dating soon after they met. And through him she’d met Jim. If Jake was handsome, his older brother Jim was gorgeous. If Jake was pleasant, Jim was dynamic. And if Jake had caught her eye, Jim had captured her heart.
Not that Jim had ever let her close, she thought morosely. She was Jake’s girl, Jim had told her when she’d dared to voice her feelings shortly before he’d been killed. Even if she weren’t, he’d gently told her, he could never enter into a relationship with someone who didn’t share his religious faith.
How such an educated man couldn’t see that religion was nothing more than organized superstition was beyond her.
Still, she liked Jake. She noticed him flashing a smile at that dark-haired minx. Her heart turned over. Before that girl showed up and ruined everything, Jake had looked at her that way.
And he would again.
Amanda straightened. She certainly wasn’t going to let a year-long relationship end without a fight and she wasn’t going to see him put his job on the line for some high school student.
She adjusted her skirt, fluffed her hair with her fingers and headed across the picnic area toward Jake.
“Hi, handsome.” Amanda sent him her most engaging smile, relieved at finding him alone. “Can I join you?”
A guarded look shuttered his gaze. “Amanda, I don’t think—”
“Thanks.” She sat on the bench across from him and didn’t give him a chance to protest. “How’ve you been?”
“Hey, Coach, I’m going to go pick up some more pizzas.” The boy that had been talking to Jake earlier interrupted.
“Drive carefully.”
Amanda waited until the boy was out of earshot before she spoke. “I’m not sure why you haven’t called but we still have to work together. Even if we don’t date, I still want to be your friend. Is that too much to ask?”
He hesitated, and she held her breath. When he smiled, she knew she’d cracked open the door.
“I never wanted us to not be friends,” he said.
“Well, friend.” She tilted her head and reached across the table for his plate. “How about sharing a slice of that pizza?”
“Coach must not like pizza,” Angel said to Emily and Mike in what she hoped was an offhand manner. For the past hour she’d watched Jake out of the corner of her eye. He’d talked to a lot of people, but had merely pushed his food around his plate.
“He used to like it.” The handsome jock cast a sideways glance at his coach. “But he’s different this year.”
“How’s that?” Angel pried a piece of pepperoni from the roof of her mouth with her tongue.
“Doesn’t like pizza.”
Angel hid her irritation and reminded herself he was just eighteen. “How else?”
Mike shrugged and thought for a moment. “Things get to him more. Yesterday a couple of guys were horsing around in the bullpen. Coach caught ’em, and they had to run laps. Last year he wouldn’t have cared. Still, he’s a good enough guy.” Mike dropped the rest of his slice to the paper plate in front of him and shoved the plate aside. “I’ve had enough.”
The look he shot Emily said that although he may have lost his appetite for food, he was still…hungry.
Mike pushed back his chair and stood, then reached down and pulled Emily up with one hand. “Em and I are going to take a walk.”
Angel shot the girl an assessing look, somewhat mollified when she smiled back.
“We won’t be gone long,” Emily said.
Angel waved them off and reached for her pizza. She’d only had a few bites and her stomach growled in anticipation. The spicy scent of sausage and pepperoni mingled with the aroma of cheese and tomatoes.
She bit into the thick crust and stopped, her gaze settling on a couple tables over.
Jake and Amanda Delahay sat across from each other.
Angel’s stomach churned.
The pretty blonde lifted her face and must have said something funny, because they both laughed.
Angel swallowed hard and dropped the pizza to the plate, not able to eat another bite.
As if they could feel her staring, they turned. Angel smiled and gave them a jaunty wave.
Jake waved back. Amanda turned away. Angel shifted her gaze.
This night was going downhill fast. For the most part Mike had ignored her, and she was no closer to Jake Weston than before. In fact, she worried that her boldness might have put him off completely.
She dreaded tonight’s conversation with Crow. He’d been counting on her to bring him the goods, and she didn’t have squat. But somehow, someway she’d come up with something.
She’d make the contacts she needed.
She’d get her hands on those drugs.
No matter what it took.
She had no other choice.
Chapter Five
“What kind of game are you playing, Jake?” Amanda’s gaze narrowed. “Last week you said we could be friends.”
“Mandy.” He covered her hand with his and wished for a better way to handle this difficult task. “I want to be your friend. But I can’t go to that party with you. We’re no longer a couple.”
“You acted glad to see me!” Her voice rang with accusation. “You put your arm around me.”
He’d been wrong to think they could be just friends. “I didn’t realize—”
She swiped her eyes with the back of her hand and glared. “It’s her, isn’t it?”
A sinking feeling gripped his stomach but he met her gaze head-on. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”