Fabricating Jada

by Marie, Vanessa

  My eyes darted to his. The hard look he usually wore was on his face. That look meant he was unreadable. I had no idea how much he'd heard, but by that point what did it matter?

  "I can't stay with you."

  He took five long strides until he was towering over me with one hand propped against the table. "You can and you will. This isn't up for negotiation."

  I narrowed my heated gaze at him. "I may not have much, but I still have some of my pride left. I'd rather not be locked in your tower like a damsel in distress. I'm not a damsel, Valentine."

  His face hovered right over mine. "Like it or not, Jane, you are. Admit for once in your life you need my help."

  Pushing out of my chair, I forced him upright. "Oh, you mean because you make asking you for help such a picnic?" I snapped as I poked him in the chest.

  The muscle beneath it flexed.

  Jesse's jaw clenched with displeasure. "I'm trying to help you here. Take the damn offer."

  "Was there an offer? All I heard was a demand."

  Debbie's laugh interrupted our back and forth. "This is even better in person. No wonder DeAnna is so amused watching you two banter."

  Jesse growled at his mother. "We're not bantering."

  She rolled her eyes at him. "You're delusional, my boy. Both of you need to sit down."

  We did. We sat quickly without argument. When she spoke, you listened. It was the authority in her voice that made my inner child respond.

  Pointing at me, her gaze narrowed. "No matter what you do, you're going to be followed and harassed for the foreseeable future. The safest place for you to be is here, even if my son is annoying."

  "I'm not annoying," Jesse snapped.

  She shot him a pointed look. "Don't bullshit a bullshitter. Remember who raised you."

  I chuckled at her witty retort. I liked his mom. Very much. If only this whole situation wasn't based on a big fat lie.

  Something on my face must have read I still wasn't completely onboard. I couldn't tell her I was afraid to live with him because of the sexual tension that seemed to appear once in a while. Whether or not she knew about the times we had kissed was irrelevant of what could happen if we lived in the same space. The other part of that was that maybe I was the only one worried about it, and my worry was completely unfounded.

  "What's wrong, Jada?" she asked.

  I could feel the heat of Jesse's stare burning into my cheek. Refusing to look at him, I kept my focus on Debbie. "I'm not a freeloader. I can't live with him for a lot of reasons, but that's the most important one."

  Mrs. Valentine reached out to touch my cheek. "You're a good girl. It's easy to see why everyone falls for you so easily."

  Falls for me? Not hardly.

  I cut my eyes sideways to Jesse. His frown was so intense I wanted to tell him if he didn't move soon his face was going to freeze like that. Then again, he probably wouldn't care since that seemed to be his favorite facial expression.

  "I'll tell you what. Pay one hundred dollars a month in rent and buy your own groceries unless you guys agree to go shopping together. That way you know you're contributing, and since that's your most important reason, it's settled."

  It made sense where his negotiation skills came from, too. There wasn't much left up for debate but the obvious. "But I don't have a job anymore. You know, since Jesse quit mine for me. Which is now plastered all over the place."

  Jesse grunted from beside me. "You really don't listen to a word I say do you? I told you I was hiring you. And with the salary you'll be making—you won't even notice paying a hundred bucks. Hell, if you decided to, you'd be able to send your mom money and still have plenty left over for yourself."

  My mouth parted in surprise. Knowing he was serious and still wanted to follow through on his offer of a job, caught me off guard.

  Scribbling something down on a piece of paper, he passed it over to me. The number he'd written down was high. Way high.

  "What's that for?" I asked, apprehensive,

  His eyebrows pulled together. "Your salary."

  I gasped, coughed, and choked all at once. It was like I'd forgotten whether I was sucking in air or expelling it in my shock. "That's sixty thousand dollars, Jesse. I'm not worth sixty thousand dollars."

  Jesse leaned forward, his breath hot on my ear. "You're worth a lot more than that."

  With that he stood up and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Let's go, so you can unpack your shit."

  "Jesse Dean Valentine! Don't be such a jerk," Mrs. V snapped.

  His grunt filled the air as he crossed to the door. "Are you coming?" he asked and gestured outside.

  I thanked his mom for her hospitality and rinsed my mug in the sink before meeting him at the door.

  "Do you not trust me alone with your mom?" I whispered as we walked out the door together.

  "Not even a little bit," he said with a twinkle in his eye.

  When we got back to the house, Jesse showed me to the room that would now be considered mine. It was the second door down the hall from his. One of the ones I'd sprinted past both times I'd fled to the master suite.

  "DeAnna's room is at the other end if you need her for anything. You obviously know where my room is." He pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  The ceilings were taller than what I expected them to be, wrapped in crown molding. As I took a tentative step inside, my duffle bag was lying on the queen-size white comforter. I glanced at him, wondering if he'd been the one to pick out the half dozen throw pillows of white and gray, or if the two women in his life had something to do with it.

  A large black chest of drawers covered one wall and nightstands of matching color flanked the sides of the bed.

  "Your bathroom is through here," he said, gesturing to the door in the corner.

  I peeked through the open door at what would become my space. I'd never had a bathroom to myself before, and the thought of it made me feel giddier than I should have. No more cleaning up someone else's toothpaste mess. Or them twisting the tube the wrong way. No more running out of shampoo and conditioner before I should have. No more going into a bathroom and finding pee everywhere except in the bowl where it belonged.

  Those days were gone!

  Goodbye nasty people, hello clean and meticulous freedom.

  I hadn't realized I was smiling until I caught my own reflection in the mirror. Jesse's gaze caught mine in the mirror as well. "Why are you smiling so big?" he asked with amusement.

  "Because I won't have to share with slobs anymore. You don't know how satisfying this is going to be."

  "Maybe not, but I can only imagine," he muttered but not low enough for me to not hear.

  I whipped around to face him. "What did you say?"

  His eyes were wide with surprise, not thinking I'd heard him. Quickly, he recovered with a guarded look. "Nothing."

  "You said something."

  He lowered his face to mine in that intimidating, yet sexy way he always did, causing me to suck in a deep breath. "If you need anything else, let me know and we'll get it. The bed should be comfortable. I picked it out myself. The linen closet in the hall across from Dee's room has extra towels and sheets."

  "Okay. Thanks."

  He turned away for the door. I hadn't admitted to him how much I appreciated all that he'd done despite everything that had happened.

  "Hey, Jess," I said, using that version of his name for the first time. It felt good rolling off my tongue. Like it was okay for me to use it.

  Jesse swiveled slowly in my direction. "Yeah?"

  Good. He didn't bite my head off for calling him that.

  "Thank you. For everything. Taking me to the hospital, the job, letting me stay here and most of all for standing up for me to my dad. It means a lot."

  Dipping his chin in a nod was the only response he gave me before he disappeared.

  I shouldn't have felt so hollow and alone. It wasn't like we were actually a couple. We barely got along ninety percent of the tim
e. But for some reason I couldn't seem to grasp how I missed his touch already.

  It was stupid. We were going to be roommates. Employer and employee. Everything was going to be complicated enough. Whatever I thought I was feeling was probably just from the stress of the day.

  Grabbing a pair of pajamas out of my duffel, I tossed it to the floor and changed for the night.

  It was late and I was exhausted. My mind and body had had all they could handle, and I needed time to decompress.

  As I climbed into bed for the night, I found solace in the quiet darkness that enveloped me. It was a stark contrast to the sounds that usually plagued my dreams.

  The next morning, I woke up to sunlight streaming in my window and jerked to attention in the unfamiliar space.

  My pulse echoed in my ears as I lay back against the plush pillows and tried to catch my breath.

  I was in my new bed. In my new bed in a new room. At Jesse Valentine's house.

  Every instinct in me screamed to take the dreaded selfie and send it to Carter, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't trust she wouldn't turn around and sell it to the highest bidder.

  I groaned and buried my face in the pillows at the reminder my life was crap, and everything was upside down and backwards.

  After lying still for few minutes, I shoved the covers away and crawled out of my blanket cocoon.

  I descended the stairs, my hair a wild mess—still in my sleep shorts and a T-shirt. The smell of fresh coffee wafted in the air.

  It was weird how at ease I felt walking into the kitchen. DeAnna sat at the table, drinking a cup of coffee as Jesse leaned against the counter near the sink drinking his own. "Good morning," DeAnna said with a hesitant smile.

  Jesse's eyes casually perused my body from my toes to my face. I knew what I looked like in the morning and wanted to smack the judgy smirk right off his perfect face.

  "Morning. Is there any coffee left?" I asked, hopeful.

  "There should be," DeAnna said and glanced in the direction of the pot. The pot that Jesse was blocking with his massive frame. If he thought standing in-between me and my morning fix was a deterrent, he was sorely mistaken. And he wasn't going to win.

  "Mugs are in the cupboard above the pot," DeAnna said and gestured once again in Jesse's direction.

  "Excuse me." I stood in front of him, waiting for him to move.

  His brows flickered in recognition. "Nice PJs," he said gruffly.

  What’s wrong with my PJs?

  Had he never seen a girl in a T-shirt and shorts before? Then again, knowing his reputation, he probably never let any of them stay long enough to see them the next morning to know what they slept in. If anything.

  The smirk I wore thinking about that dissipated as I glanced down, praying my nipples weren't on display through the fabric—then it hit me what he was smirking at with his smirky face and assuming eyes. In my tired haze I'd grabbed the first shirt I'd seen and slipped it on. Not paying attention to what it was. Or for that matter, whose it was.

  I was wearing his shirt. The freaking shirt from the night he'd loaned it to me. The same night he'd apparently seen me naked. The same one I'd never returned, because I wasn't quite sure how to do it discreetly, and giving it back to DeAnna seemed wrong and misplaced.

  When I'd packed it in my haste to leave my parents, I had every intention of giving it back to him at the house.

  I didn’t respond. Because anything I said would blow up in my face. I could feel it from the intense heat of his gaze. "Will you move so I can get some coffee, please?"

  He shifted to the right maybe an inch or two but not completely out of the way. Reaching up on my tippy toes, I was forced to lean against him, with my breasts pressed against his bicep to reach for the cups.

  I could feel him tense under me. The muscle in his arms hardened, making it difficult to focus on what I was doing. "You could make this easier, by just moving out of the way, you know," I whisper-hissed, trying not to draw DeAnna's attention.

  Jesse dropped his mouth to my ear. "And what would be the fun in that?"

  Such a freaking pig. If he wasn't going to move, I was going to try to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Two could play this game.

  The toaster was also behind him. I didn't really want toast, but whatever.

  Jesse was huge, in the broad sense. While he had a narrow waist, my short arms couldn't exactly reach all the way around him. Standing directly in front of him, I pressed myself against the hard surface that was the front of him and dragged my very small, barely an A-cup breasts across his torso, while grinding the front of my hips into his in a ridiculous attempt to reach around him. Unraveling the bread I slipped a piece into the toaster and depressed the lever.

  Every part of my body was on high alert. Jesse grunted, his body a statue as I basically rubbed myself all over him. If anything I was making myself hot and bothered while the sharp intake of air he took was the only indication I had that he was affected at all.

  That was until I dragged myself across him in the other direction to reach around the other side when my toast popped up a moment later.

  His other indicator was pressed into my belly. Quickly I dropped my gaze to see it straining against his gray sweat pants. My cheeks flushed with heat.

  Leaning down, he whispered in my ear, huskiness lacing his tone. "Don't play games unless you’re ready for the consequences."

  DeAnna's voice cut through the sexual tension. "Oh for the love of God, Jesse—move out of her way so she can make some damn toast and a cup of coffee. Do you always have to be such an ass?"

  He grunted and grabbed my hip, grinding himself against me before moving me aside.

  It was my turn to suck in a breath.

  His smirk as he finished his coffee and put his mug in the sink said it all.

  I was way out of my league, and my plan had failed.

  Jesse disappeared from the kitchen after our little stunt. The one that backfired in my face. I should have known it would. It's not like I was actually capable of pulling off sexy. DeAnna and I sat at the table in a strained silence.

  I could tell by the look on her face she wanted to say something but held back.

  It was time to clear the air. "I know what you did with the check and I wanted to say thank you."

  Her eyes darted to mine. "You're welcome. Jesse told me how upset you were when you found out." Stretching her arm across the table, she covered my hand. "I didn't do it to be deceitful, which I'm sure after yesterday you won't believe. I just remembered what you'd said the first day I met you and I wanted to help. I was afraid if I told you, you would have been upset because I didn't think your money was good enough—or whatever."

  I nodded at her statement. "I probably would have. We all know I have the tendency to get defensive."

  DeAnna snorted. "You're not the only one."

  Clasping her hand between mine, I sighed. "For whatever it's worth, I forgive you for yesterday. Deep down, I know you were just trying to help Jesse and you didn't try to make things go as sideways as they did."

  She grimaced. "They did go sideways pretty fast, didn't they?"

  "Yup." I sighed. "But there's no point in wallowing in it. It happened, and there isn't much we can do about it now, right?"

  Joy bubbled in her small laugh and shone through her eyes. "Do you really forgive me? I don't know if I could stand you hating me. I think we've formed a bond pretty fast and if I could take back my stupidity, I would."

  "Yes, I really forgive you. And I know you feel bad. Just please don't do anything like that to me again. I thought I was a lot stronger than I am, but that proved I'm not … it pretty much broke me."

  She nodded in understanding. "I know and I'm so sorry. Jesse told me that things went from bad to worse when you saw your folks. I feel awful knowing I caused that." Tears shimmered in her clear blue eyes.

  "That wasn't even close to being your fault. You weren't the cause."

  As if she could r
ead my thoughts, she blurted out, "And just so you know, he didn't tell me any specifics. He just said it didn't go well and it was hard on you. Jess likes to keep more to the vest than you think."

  My face scrunched together thinking of everything else they'd shared about me. "But I thought you guys told each other everything?"

  She shook her head dismissively. "No. I'm the one with the big mouth, obviously." Her cheeks flushed pink.

  "But what about that night at the party? You knew all the details of that night."

  She couldn't deny it. She'd told me that he'd filled her in on everything that happened.

  "That was different. After our stupid cousin barged in and then so did I … he didn't really have a choice but to come clean. He was really worried about how it looked for you and wanted to set the record straight. That's all."

  Part of that struck a nerve. He was protective by nature. He'd protected his mom from someone trying to hurt her, and now it seemed he was trying to protect me from everything he could.

  That made me relax a bit. Knowing he didn't give her all the details of the previous night. However, the more I thought about it, I'd been the one that had told everything else to Miguel and their mom. So could I really be mad at her for talking so much?

  "Hey, Jada?" she said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

  "Hmm?"

  Her gaze shifted to her empty mug. "I think if you're willing to forgive me, you should forgive Carter too. I pushed her into giving me the information and I'm the one who released it. She's really sorry for betraying you and has texted me all night checking on you."

  "I know. I plan on calling her later. She blew up my phone last night too, I finally had to turn it off."

  It felt good to put some of the things that had shattered back together. All it took was a little bit of sleep and to take a step back from everything to realize that in the grand scheme of things … what they'd done was forgivable. It wasn't like they'd added me to a hit list or something. Well, that I knew of anyway. Jesse seemed to have some crazy fans from what I'd seen over the years.

  "There's no way Jesse said anything, but did our mom tell you about the way we grew up?"