Chapter Seventy

"The lady asked ye to leave 'n ye always taught me to listen to a lady," his cousin stepped up beside them. 

If Blake looked surprised to see him, especially standing up to him, he didn't show it. "Jake! Good to see ye," he said as he gave him a hug. "I'm glad yer here. I've been wantin' to go out on the pull with ye once ye were old enough 'n there's two very fine hunnies here tonight," he continued, giving him a clap on the back as he turned his gaze back on the girls, looking a little predatory as his eyes drank in their figures. The oldest tried not to blush as she averted her look, as the youngest tried not to show how the disgust rolled down her back. 

"Well, fortunately no pullin' needed here," Jake said as he stepped away from him and put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulder. "Blake, this is my girlfriend Molly," he added now, fighting back a smile. 

"Yeah... we met," Blake said, now definitely sounding grumpy. He couldn't believe he was being waylaid by his own cousin and his new girlfriend. "I think I'm gonna get a drink," he added now, moving away from them without checking if anyone else wanted anything. He'd have to think of another approach, which he was positive he would. 

"Good timing, honey," Molly turned to her boyfriend to give him a quick kiss. 

"Any time," he assured her with a small smile. 

"Jen, ye okay?" she now turned to her sister. 

"Eh... I... I don't know," Jennifer said slowly. "I never thought I'd ever see him again. I guess he caught me off guard," she added, seeing both their faces take on a sympathetic look. And that bugged her a little. She didn't want sympathy. She wanted to get over him, once and for all. But it was clear that process would not be starting tonight, as she had to fight to stop herself from looking over at him. "Maybe I should just go home," she said slowly. 

"Oh no, Jen, don't let him ruin our night," her sister said, trying not to sound too disappointed or judgmental. 

"If ye don't mind me stayin', I can try to keep him busy so ye can still dance 'n have fun," Jake offered. As much as just now he had to stand up to his cousin and as much as he didn't like some of the things he'd heard about what he'd done to Jennifer, he still missed him over the years and would like to catch up. This way he'd also be able to give the girls a ride home at the end of the night. 

"Oh that would be great," Molly jumped on his offer gratefully, it would make her feel a lot better about tonight. "Please Jen?" she tried not to beg. She could see her sister hesitate as she considered it. 

"Yeah, okay I guess," Jennifer nodded eventually. 

"Mind if I join ye?" Jake approached his cousin. 

"Why? Gonna try 'n cock block me again?" he sounded way too annoyed and his comment made the younger of the two frown. 

"Yer talkin' 'bout my girlfriend's sister man," he objected to the wording. "And besides, haven't ye done enough damage?" he asked, making the visitor realize that he'd heard some of what had happened. 

"Clearly she's been fillin' yer head with garbage," Blake said now, trying to maintain the image he'd worked hard to get his cousin to believe in when he'd been growing up. 

"Look... I don't wanna take sides or fight tonight. Just... let me buy ye a beer 'n we can catch up away from the girls," Jake tried to bring the situation back down to a neutral level as he gave him a clap on the shoulder. 

His cousin gave him a thoughtful look before he nodded. "That sounds good to me," the older man said, looking forward to more than one beer on his relative's tab. 

"Good," Jake nodded and tried to get the bartender's attention. "How long ye stayin' for?" he asked as they waited.

"Not sure yet," Blake said with a shrug. It would depend on a lot of things, not least of all whether he could get Jennifer back on board, and get Molly to back off.

Jake just had the one beer as he still had drive the girls home, while his cousin had a fair few more. Molly tried to get Jennifer to enjoy the night like she'd done before, but it was obvious her sister was too distracted now.

They only ended up staying for a little bit longer, when the oldest Matthews asked to go home. On the way back, Blake actually offered to sit in the back of the truck so that Molly and Jennifer could share the passenger seat in the cabin with Jake.

"Ye okay?" Molly asked softly, trying to forget that the reason for her not being okay was sat behind them, even if he was sat outside. Her left hand reached out for her boyfriend's hand as her right reached out to comfort her sister.

"Uh huh," Jennifer made simply with a nod. She didn't want to go into things now, not when she could almost feel his presence through the glass. She just wanted to get home, lock herself in her room and cry herself to sleep.

Her sister exchanged a look with Jake, not sure what else to say right now. He shrugged as he gave her hand a comforting squeeze, focusing his attention back on the road.

Jennifer jumped out of the truck as soon as Jake pulled up outside of their house. She just wanted to get away from all of them now.

"Night Jenny," Blake called out as he started getting up out of the bed of the truck. She glanced back involuntarily and hated the sexy smile he gave her. She didn't want to get drawn back in.

"I'd better go in after her. Thanks for bein' there tonight," Molly turned to Jake.

"Yeah, no problem. Night baby," he answered and gave her a kiss, wishing he could come in with her. But something told him he should stay at home, where he could keep an eye on his cousin.

"Night," she whispered and got out of the truck.

"Night Molly," Blake called out teasingly, chuckling to himself when she threw him a dirty glare. "She's feisty, I like it," he said to his cousin, leaning over towards the driver's side window.

"Don't even man," Jake said with a shake of the head as he drove the last bit onto his drive. He really hoped that his cousin wouldn't try to mess with Jennifer, or indeed his girlfriend.