4. The confrontation

XIMENA 

I woke up to a splitting headache. My head throbbed as if someone were using an ice pick on the back of my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut, groaning into the pillow when I noticed a radiating heat coming from it.

And then the pillow breathed. I felt a deep rise and fall beneath my cheek and for a second, my body went still.

Am I imagining things now? My heart slammed against my ribs the second a strong arm wrapped around me, pulling me closer against a strong chest.

My eyes flew open and a scream tore out my throat instinctively.

“Who the fuck are you?!” I screamed at the sight of the half naked man in front of me.

Actually, just his chest was bare because the duvet covered the rest of his body but how the hell did he get into my bed?

He pulled the pillow over his ear and continued to sleep as if he didn't just hear me scream like a scared cat. I looked down at myself as my heart hammered against my chest.

The pink dress I'd worn last night was gone and now I was in an oversized T-shirt that swallowed my petite frame. 

I looked around to see that this place didn't look anything like my shared apartment and my heart raced faster. 

I slapped the man's arm repeatedly until he finally was groaning into the pillow.

“What do you want from me, woman?!” He cursed under his breath.

“Did you kidnap me? What the hell am I doing here? Where is Mallory? We went to the club together…”

“Don't you think you're giving too much information to your supposed kidnapper?” His grumpy voice filled the room as he finally rose to his feet.

I shut my eyes in an instant, afraid to see him naked and that only earned me a scoff. I shot him a look only to see he had sweatpants on.

He walked across the room, showing off his toned chest as he pulled a shirt over his head before finally looking at me.

How can a man look so hot when he has only just woken up? His muscles flexed beneath his shirt as he walked back to the bed and my throat went dry.

“Who… are… you?” I stammered this time.

“You've forgotten about me already?” He placed a hand over his chest, feigning hurt. “For someone who couldn't keep her hands to herself all night, you sure forgot me quickly.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Where am I and why am I in a different clothes?”

My memories from yesterday were still in a haze but I knew well enough that I wouldn't follow a stranger home even if they had a gun to my head.

“Allow me to refresh your memory,” he said with an amusing grin. “I saved you from a creepy old man and you kept calling me something like… Jakey?” He snorted and my face flushed.

God, no. There was no way I'd mistake a random man for Jake. Just how much drink did I have?

“Out of my good will, I intended to stop a cab to take you home but you thought the best possible way to reward me was to throw up on me,” he finished with a frown.

“I threw up?” I mentally face palm myself from the shame and he nodded.

“I guess what you meant to say was thank you.”

“So, nothing happened?” I asked, looking down at the shirt I was still wearing.

“If what you're asking is if I touched you then the answer is no. I won't take advantage of a girl in that state and it's quite insulting to think you'll be sitting like that if anything happened.”

My cheeks flushed as I looked away.

“I had to change your clothes because you threw up on them when we got here too. I hope you didn't mind cause I didn't have a choice,” he uttered and I couldn't believe I made someone do that for me.

“I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that and thank you,” my voice came out barely as a whisper.

Memories of last night started kicking in and I remembered how Mallory and I drank together until I excused myself.

She must have been so worried.

He returned my dress which was now clean all thanks to him. I got dressed and apologized for the inconvenience before taking the walk of shame out of his apartment.

I dialed Mallory's number as I made my way back to my shared apartment, already preparing myself for her lectures but she didn't answer it.

I pushed the door to my room open and screamed before I saw who was waiting inside.

“Jake?” 

He hasn't spoken to me in seven fucking days. I didn't expect him to be in my room without any prior notice, especially not with a frown like that.

He rose to his feet with his eyes locked onto mine and I couldn't help but feel a bit anxious.

“Where are you coming from?” His eyes swept over my body before meeting with my eyes once again.

I didn't know how much I had missed him until now that he was standing in front of me. I wanted to forget all about our arguments and hug him like the old times because the past few days without him felt like hell but he still hasn't apologized.

I'd never let my pride get between us which was why I was always the first to apologize whenever we had an issue but I'm not doing that this time.

“Out,” I said coldly even though the one thing I wanted to do was jump on him and kiss the hell out of him.

“Out where?” He inched closer, searching my eyes and I couldn't help the guilt that tugged at my chest.

I spent the night at a man's house and even if it wasn't to spite him or anything, he wouldn't understand.

“I went out with Mallory,” I muttered and he scoffed at my words.

He reached for his phone in his pocket and tossed it to me. I caught it before it could drop and his expression hardened.

“Care to explain that?” He asked.

“Explain what?” 

I looked between him and his phone but he just stood there, taking in my reaction. I unlocked his phone because he never changed his password since we've been together for four years, but nothing prepared me for what I saw.

“This…” I gasped in disbelief.