When We Fall (Take the Fall, #2)(10)

“Bye, ladies,” I say, then saunter off to class without looking back. But I want to look back. I want to go back to Piper and talk to her some more, but deep down, I know the truth.

Girls like Piper are too good for a guy like me.

I stand up, pocketing my phone as I do. Piper’s gaze crashes into mine before she turns away and begins to intently study the wall to her right.

She’s not being shy or coy, and for damn sure, she’s not attempting to manipulate me. Yeah, I’ve been in prison for the past seven years, but I know people.

I know Piper and she’s upset.

My protective instincts roar to life, wanting to bash in the head of the person who’s hurt her. Doesn’t matter that I would go back to jail—some people are worth getting locked up for.

“Uh, Jase. I asked if you were busy,” Lola reminds me.

“Yeah, I’m busy.”





Chapter 4





Piper


So much for being Jase’s fantasy.

I stare at the woman standing before Jase far longer than is proper. In fact, my mother would say I am being rude, but I can’t look away.

Her legs are insanely long and lean, her arms just as toned as a model’s in a Victoria’s Secret catalog. The sheer black top she wears reveals more than it conceals, and I’m struck with envy and jealousy so hard that green stars spark in my eyes.

There is no way I’m his fantasy. Everything about me is plump and pleasantly pleasing. Well, pleasing to everyone but my mother. While I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll never be slim or have a figure that can wear clothing straight off the rack and look good, Mother constantly signs me up for exercise classes and had our family doctor prescribe weight loss pills for me—whatever the latest fad was at the time.

Since I moved out, the emails from all those classes and pharmacies have stopped.

Jase’s dark blue eyes settle on me, questioning my sudden appearance in his shop, it seems. Which seems strange, since Emmett is more than welcoming.

I turn away, focusing on the wall, on picture after picture of tattoos that had been framed. Some are cleverly designed, with an image within an image, while others jump out at me, capturing my attention in an instant. Each one has a story—this much I know.

“Anyway, if you need some help figuring our program,” Emmett continues on, though I have no idea what he’s saying, “I’m your guy.”

“Thank you,” I murmur, trying in vain to eavesdrop on Jase’s conversation with the Victoria’s Secret model.

“Next time, then,” I hear the woman say, her voice all throaty as it carries across the room.

Had she asked him out and he turned her down? Why? Does he already have plans for this evening? Duh, Piper. Of course he has plans.

Jase isn’t exactly known for being a solitary type since he’s gotten out of jail—not that I can blame him. If I’d spent seven years locked away, I’d probably go nuts once I’d got out, too.

Like you did once you moved out of your parents’ house?

Although that sounds terribly like a first-world type of problem, for the past twenty-four years my life has been spent inside a gilded cage. Pretty, safe, and comfortable, but a cage just the same.

It wasn’t until I worked up the courage to move out seven months ago that I finally broke free, but free isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I had no idea how much responsibility for my own life would be dumped into my lap. Before now, I never worried about how much something cost or my half of the electric bill. Or that food was so freaking expensive.

I sigh thickly.

It’s none of my business if he already has plans. We’re not a couple. I haven’t expressed my interest in dating to him…and omigosh, I sound like my mother. Not even my thoughts can escape her influence.

“Everything okay?” Jase asks, jolting me from my thoughts.

I turn to face him, the fierceness in his eyes rendering me speechless. He’s still mad at me for going into that stupid passageway at his house.

“I…that is,” I begin.

He takes a step closer, and I take an involuntary step back, then another. I need distance between us. I need to— “Stop moving,” he orders with a scowl on his face.

I freeze.

His blue eyes darken. “Damn it, Piper, you don’t have to do everything I say.”

“Sorry. I’m used to following orders when they’re given.” It’s the truth. Embarrassingly so. I’ve been trained like a good girl to always obey the first time.

His mouth quirks at the corner. “That some kind of daughter-of-a-cop thing?”

I nod. “My mother’s more verbal about it, though.”

“Your mother’s a piece of work, if you don’t mind my saying.”

I arch a brow at him. “If you really thought I’d mind, you would have asked me if it was okay to insult my mother before you said something.”

“There’s those claws, kitten,” he murmurs.

I blush fiercely at the nickname. “I told you not to call me that anymore.”

He reaches out to touch my face, running his knuckles over my cheek. I want to lean into his touch, rub my face against him and purr contentedly like the feline he insists on calling me. I can’t remember the last time anyone touched me like this, beyond the affectionate hugs from Rowan.