Playing for Keeps (Neighbor from Hell #1)(53)



During the next week when she wasn't crying, or getting drunk into oblivion, she'd figure out what to do about work and her house. If worse came to worse she could rent out her house and find an apartment even if only temporary. Work would be another issue. Right now she worked at one of the most prestigious private schools in the country, but she knew if she left she'd most likely end up working at a public school for a lot less money.

Her stomach's rumbling thankfully broke her out of her rather depressing thoughts. She took the next exit off the highway. Ten minutes later she was back on the highway and frowning down at her purchase, an extra large orange juice, three coffee rolls, two muffins and three apple pastries.

"Great, he's got me trained," she muttered with an eye roll. Either she'd have to break herself out of the habit of ordering for a small army or she'd become fat, she thought with a sigh. She picked up one of the coffee rolls and took a small bite before putting it down and taking a sip of juice. When a particularly annoying song came on the radio she spent a minute looking for a decent song. When she finally found one, she picked up her coffee roll and frowned at the half eaten baked item.

Apparently she'd eaten more than she thought. Great, she was eating out of depression and would no doubt be as big as a house by the time school started in a few weeks. She took a bite out of her coffee roll and placed it back on the passenger seat and picked up her now half empty juice.

"What the hell?" she murmured, taking her eyes off the road to look down at the insane amount of food she'd bought. Hadn't she bought two muffins and three apple pastries? There was only one of each now. She was starting to wonder if she was going crazy when a large tan hand suddenly appeared, scaring the holy hell out of her.

She let out a surprised yelp, jerking the wheel to the right and almost crashing into a tow truck. It took her a few seconds before her brain started to function again and when it did she narrowed her eyes on the hand that was blindly searching for the orange juice.

Glaring, she reached down and pinched the back of the hand. Hard.

"Ow!"

Haley stole a quick glance back at the backseat and cursed. Somehow Jason had managed to fold his large frame onto the floor of her midsize car and cover himself with the large towel she kept back there.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Jason sighed heavily as he tossed the towel away and struggled to climb off the floor. Once he was comfortably seated in the back seat he reached forward and snagged her orange juice. "Having breakfast." He took a sip. "What does it look like?"

"Why are you in my car?" she demanded as she did her best to glare at him and keep the car driving in a straight line.

"How else do you expect us to finish our fight?" he asked, leaning forward to snag the last apple pastry. He took a big bite before holding it to her lips for her to do the same.

She shoved his hand away. "What the hell do you mean to finish our fight? We were done, Jason. I'm sorry, but it's over," she said, trying to remain calm.

"No, we didn't."

"Yes, we did."

"I don't think so," he said calmly, finishing off the rest of the pastry as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"For god sake, Jason, I dumped you!" she snapped, feeling the last thread of patience snap.

She looked up in the rearview mirror when he didn't say anything for a minute only to find him frowning. Finally he shook his head. "No, I think I would have remembered that."

Her mouth dropped open.

"Anyway," Jason continued as if he hadn't just left her speechless with that little announcement, "after our talk I realized that you planned a week away for us and I really couldn't agree more. A week away is exactly what we need to work through our problems."

"Oh my god," she mumbled, "you're insane."

Another careless shrug.

"So, where are we going anyway?" Jason asked, getting comfortable.

"We aren't going anywhere. I'm leaving you at the next rest stop. You can hitchhike your way back home."

"That's really not going to work for me," Jason said, giving her a sexy smile when she glared at him through the mirror.

Her grip tightened on the steering wheel as she prayed for patience. "Jason, it's over. I'm sorry, but you have to accept it."

"No, I don't," he said calmly, irritating her even more.

"Jason," she said tightly.

"Haley," he mocked in the same tone, making her lips twitch damn him!

She sighed heavily. "Jason, you really hurt me last night. I don't think you-"

"I know I really f**ked up, Haley, but if you remember I did tell you when we started that I was most likely going to mess this up," he said, cutting her off.

"Yeah, you did, Jason, and last night you proved beyond a doubt that you aren't capable of being in a relationship."

"No, last night I proved that I'm a f**king idiot," Jason said matter-of-factly.

She wasn't going to argue with that since she'd come to the same conclusion after hearing what happened, but that didn't mean she'd changed her mind.

"Jason, we're over," she said more softly.

He snorted. "No, we're not."

"Yes, we are! Stop saying that!"

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