Free Kiss Me by C. C. Wood Page A

Jake’s dark eyes glittered in the dim light filtering out from the party inside.
    “Why do you do this when you see me, Kaylie?” he asked.
    “Do what?”  Her voice was sharp.
    “You toss out attitude, scurry away, and spend the rest of the time I’m around finding ways to avoid me.”
    “I do not…” Kaylie trailed off when she saw the expression on Jake’s face.  It was the same one he wore when they used to argue and he knew she was just continuing the disagreement out of sheer pig-headedness.  “Okay, so I don’t want to spend time with you.  A lot of women feel that way about their exes, Jake.  I’ll be civil but I don’t want to be your buddy.”
    She saw the muscles in his jaw tighten and start twitching at her words.  Well, tough shit if she struck a nerve.   What right did he have to drag her out of her brother and her best friend’s engagement party for a conversation that was six years too late? 
    “Can’t we just talk, Kaylie?  As I remember, we used to talk for hours.  It’s been six years, surely you aren’t still upset because we broke up?”
    Kaylie felt as though her scalp was rippling with the heat of her anger.  She had a formidable temper and she was a scant inch from losing it.  Kaylie realized that she had just growled at Jake in the back of her throat.  Fuck almost, her control over her temper was gone.  She couldn’t believe he had the balls to throw their break up in her face.
    “ We didn’t break up, Jake.  You dumped me.”  It made her chest hurt to say it, but it was the truth and she would be damned if he was going to make it sound like the devastated mess he’d left her in was due to an amicable decision.  “I fucking loved you and you threw me away, so, yeah, you could still say I’m upset.  Wait,” she slashed a hand through the air when he opened his mouth to interrupt, “now I’m fucking pissed because you make it sound like six years should be plenty of time to forget that I was so unimportant to you that you could ditch me and walk away without a second thought.  I gave you everything I had to give.  I honestly thought we would spend the rest of our lives together.  I held nothing back and you literally threw it in my face, Jake.  So, again, I am still upset as you so simply put it.”
    With that, Kaylie tore open the door and stumbled through.  She heard Jake say something behind her, but she didn’t give a damn.  She couldn’t believe that she had spilled her guts like that, to Jake of all people.  Blair, definitely, she felt she could tell her anything.  Hell, even her brother, Kevin, but Jake, the enemy, hell no.  He had no right to know those things about her.  He’d thrown away that right six years ago when he dumped her.
    Kaylie saw Kevin and Blair watching her from across the room.  Carefully, she schooled her face into a small smile and waved cheekily.  They both frowned at her and she knew she wasn’t fooling anybody.  As quickly as possible, Kaylie moved through the crowded room to the stair case in the foyer.  She bounded up the steps.  The upper floor was deserted, but she could still hear the laughter from the party down below.  Kaylie went down the hall to her old room and darted inside. 
    She turned on the lamp by her bed and looked around at the room she grew up in.  All her trophies, ribbons, and posters had been taken down years ago when she had permanently moved into her own little house, but the furniture and the bedding were the same.  The walls had been repainted a soft pale green, but it was still the same room.  It had been her sanctuary during her teens.  Even after years out of the house, it still made her feel safe when she entered her room. 
    Kaylie realized she was still carrying her wine glass.  She placed it on the nightstand by the bed and sat down on the mattress.  A dull throb echoed behind her eyes.  God, her tantrum had given her a nasty little headache. 
    Her head snapped up