Sweet Talk Ch. 04

Jason was still swinging at Andreas' bloody face when Sam and two instructors dragged him off. The cops showed up. And so did Dean Giordano, Andreas' uncle. He took one look at his nephew's bloody, battered face and the pretty minimal damage to Jason and demanded that the police arrest him.

Sam had argued. "He raped his goddamn girlfriend!" he shouted and Jason didn't even care about the resulting whispers that buzzed through the even bigger crowd of students and staff.

All he wanted to do was talk to Rachel. The way she'd been apologizing for what Andreas did to her...it made him want to kick the shit out that bastard all over again.

"Well, the girl's not talking," one of the cops said. "Probably in shock. Until we get this all sorted out, we're going to have to take them both downtown."

Jason sat in the jail cell for six hours, worrying about Rachel and thinking about what he'd do to Andreas the next time he saw him. Then, Sam bailed him out. As they were walking out, they saw Dean Giordano signing Andreas out, too.

"What the fuck?" Jason hissed, taking a step toward him. Why the hell were they letting him go?

"Dammit, Jay,stop," Sam said, grabbing his arm. "Are you crazy? They'll throw you right back in jail if you start anything."

"Get the fuck off me," he growled, half-shoving Sam away. He stalked toward Andreas and Dean Giordano, whose backs were to him, but one of the arresting officers stepped in front of him.

"Hold it, kid. Don't make this worse than it already is."

Clenching and unclenching his fists, Jason stared the cop down. "Why the hell are you guys letting him go?"

The cop looked uncomfortable. "You...uh, might want to discuss that with your girlfriend."

"Excuse me?"

"Look, kid," the cop said. "Turns out, your girl and Mr. Giordano...this wasn't exactly the first time..."

"What...are you talking about?" Jay asked, his voice sounding far away.

"He has some...uh, pictures on his cell phone," the cop said. "And several text messages—very explicit text messages—between himself and Miss Van Hausen. Going back a few weeks. At least. She, uh, dropped all charges once we showed them to her."

Jason couldn't fucking move. He just stood there, staring at the cop until he walked away, shaking his head. Then, Sam was there, at his elbow, trying to get him outside so they could go.

Andreas and the dean turned around; walked right past them. They were almost out the door before Andreas turned back, digging a hand into the back pocket of his chef's pants.

Walking over to Jason, he ignored the scowl on Sam's face and leaned in.

"I showed the cops all of those pictures Rachel sent me and it was enough to get me out. But these," he held out his hand and Jason, operating on a level of self-control he didn't know he had, reached out and took whatever it was. "I saved these just for you," Andreas said, backing away. "I was supposed to give them back to Rachel today, but I guess I'll leave you to do the honors."

Jason looked down at the small bit of red, lacy fabric in his hand.

Rachel's panties.

Ones that he'd bought for her a few weeks before. And, he knew, not the ones she'd been wearing today—he remembered the off-set line of her black thong as Andreas bent her over the counter.

Andreas clearly saw the rage boiling inside him and, despite the swollen, black eye, badly bruised cheekbone and split lip Jay had given him, he managed a small, mocking smile.

"Tell Rachel it's been fun." Then he turned around and walked away.

And Jay just watched him go.

He'd been so close to giving himself up to Rachel...and she'd cheated on him with that piece of shit. Joined the list of people in his life who'd fucked him over in one way or another.

Now, standing outside on the balcony, just thinking about that day, four years before, had Jason full of the same anger. Only this...this was different. This was worse. Even this far away, the sexual appraisal in Andreas' gaze as he spoke to Anna was clear to Jay. He'd seen the way that bastard was looking at her the other night, too.

And after what Andreas said about Anna earlier today, the thought of him anywhere near her made Jay feel half-crazy with rage.

His breathing turned harsh in his own ears. He could hear Sam talking to him, but he didn't even try to pay attention. He was too busy staring through the plate-glass window at Anna and Andreas—and his entire fucking body tensed up when Andreas reached out and lightly stroked a finger down Anna's bare upper arm.

Then, even as he was watching, Andreas glanced over Anna's shoulder, through the plate-glass window—right at Jason.

And the fucker smiled.

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An odd little cliffhanger, I know. The next "chapter" will be shorter (probably much shorter) because it's just going to be the remainder of this portion—which I'm still working on. Sorry! Should be up in about a week, though.