Brea starts crying watching them, so Faith goes over to her youngest daughter to comfort her. Once everyone has settled back down, our parents talk to us. Over the next two hours, we have a serious discussion about what our parents expect from us, including the always dreaded sex talk. They ask us questions about Fallon’s party, and talk to us about the dangers of underage drinking and drug use. Ann and Faith have a conversation with their daughters about date rape.
Needless to say, these were two of the most excruciating hours of my life, not because of what our parents said, but because, for the first time in my life, I broke my parents’ trust in me. I seem to be breaking people's trust a lot lately. Not only do I need to rebuild trust with my parents, I need to rebuild it with Liz. I’m still working on it with Ryder.
It took a few months for our parents to ease up on their worry whenever we left the house to go out. Once again, I was grounded, this time for an entire month. I didn’t mind. Liz and I took that time to focus on mending our relationship. The months following the party fiasco flew by and before we knew it, another school year had ended. Ryder was right. Fallon’s threats worked and no charges were brought up against us for the fight. No other videos were posted either, and the one that did pop up was taken down and disappeared within a day after it had been posted.
Our families did take the trip to Hawaii for summer vacation and it was fucking awesome, my favorite time being when Liz and I stayed out all night and I fucked her to a screaming orgasm on the black sand beach under a full moon. Best night ever. It was her fault for wearing that damn bikini again. Things between all of us were good, better than good actually. Our unit was tight, our friendships were solid. We went into our senior year looking ahead to the future, planning to spend it together. I would later regret those words.
Chapter 16
Senior year
Elizabeth
It’s our first day of our senior year and I’m sitting on Julien’s bed waiting for Jayson to get out of the shower. I still can’t believe that I let them convince me to wake up an hour earlier so we could grab breakfast before school. Julien is video chatting with Elijah, and I am propped back against his headboard reading on my tablet. I swear, Jayson’s worse than a girl when it comes to getting ready. He takes for-freaking-ever, whereas I am ready in about fifteen minutes. The irony is not lost on me. Julien taps my shoulder to get my attention.
“Yeah, we’re getting ready to leave in a few,” he tells Elijah and turns his phone toward me. “Say hi and bye to E, Liz.”
Elijah’s grinning face greets me on the screen. “Good morning, Liz! I still can’t believe they were able to get you up this early,” he chuckles.
I groan and put down my tablet so I can hold Julien’s phone. “Hey handsome. Yep, it’s a miracle upon miracles. They want to make this a regular thing for our senior year.” I roll my eyes. “Looks like my mornings will be hijacked the entire year now. But I can guarantee that I will make them pay up by buying me a coffee and a cinnamon scone. I can’t turn down free breakfast. Hey, are you coming with?”
“Nope. It would take too long to drive there and back. Would be easier if we all went to the same school.”
Julien and I hear the shower turn off in the adjacent bathroom and Julien plops down beside me so that both of us can be seen on the video screen. “Babe, I got to go,” he tells Elijah. “Love you.”
“Love you too, J. And you too, Liz,” he adds when I pout. Julien hits the button to shut his phone down.
“God, you two are so cute,” I tease.
He kisses me on the nose and pops up off the bed as Jayson enters, a towel around his waist and steam billowing up behind him from the bathroom. I take a moment to ogle the hell out of his gorgeous body while a flushed heat spreads up my limbs and I bite my lower lip.
“Keep looking at me like that princess and I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
Julien takes that as his cue to leave.
“Ok, I’ll meet you guys downstairs. Ryder said he was on his way so no hanky-panky kids as we’ve got to go. You have ten minutes,” he says and walks backward out of the room doing that finger to eye thing that says he’s keeping a close eye on us. Jayson laughs and flips him off before closing the door and locking it. He turns around and looks at me with a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. Oh boy, I’m in trouble.
“Jayson, what are you doing?” I think I already have a pretty good idea and my heartbeat picks up with excitement at his possessive smirk even though I’m scrambling off the bed to try and escape.
“He said ten minutes. I only need five.” He grabs me before I can dash to the door and hauls me against his still damp body. I should care that he’s getting my clothes wet, but I don’t. I’m too turned on to give a shit.
His towel falls away as he picks me up and carries me into the bathroom. I’m wearing an above the knee skirt that he hikes up easily as he sets me down on the bathroom vanity countertop. He slides a hand up my thigh to tease the edge of my underwear. He groans when his fingers slide across my wetness and then again at my husky moan when he inserts two fingers and curls them. It should embarrass me how easily he can make me wet for him, but then again, I also have the same effect on him as evidenced by his naked arousal which I eagerly take in my hand and start to pump up and down.
“We need to be quick,” he pants in my ear as he shoves my panties aside with his finger.
I grab his neck and jerk him forward for a blistering kiss as he plunges into me with one hard thrust. Our twin moans of pleasure are captured by our mouths. Jayson takes my ass in his large hands and pistons in and out as my hands brace and grip the edge of the bathroom vanity so I can push my hips forward to meet his. With one hand, he finds my clit and circles it with his thumb while his tongue kisses me in imitation of how he’s fucking me. The sex is quick and hard, but I love it all the same. I wrench my mouth away and throw my head back as my orgasm hits me hard. I feel him thicken and pulse inside of me as my walls flutter around him. He buries his face against my chest and grunts his release.
I sigh. “I wouldn’t mind waking up early every day for that.” Jayson kisses my clavicle and eases out of me gazing at the warm liquid trickling down my inner thigh. Last summer, we decided that I would go on the pill and he’s been taking me bare ever since. Jayson trails his finger through the sticky wetness between my legs and pushes his thumb gently inside of me.
“One day, I’m putting a baby in you,” his silver eyes flash to mine, “and my ring on your finger.” Jayson’s been saying things like that a lot to me lately. His words make me breathless and wanting every single time, while at the same time nervous and apprehensive. He steps away and bends down to pick up his discarded towel and returns to help clean me up. Figuring there is nothing I can do to fix the state of my underwear, I slip them off and ball them up.
“Fucking hell, princess. I’m going to have a hard on all day at school knowing you aren’t wearing anything.”
An evil grin crosses my face. “Serves you right.” At least my skirt is long enough that I should be fine as long as a strong wind doesn’t suddenly blow out of nowhere. Jayson tugs down his shirt and zips up his shorts while I smooth down my hair and adjust my clothes. I give myself a once over in the bathroom mirror and decide I look presentable enough. We make our way downstairs to where Julien is waiting for us.
He looks down at his wristwatch. “Nine minutes. I’m impressed.”
Jayson grabs his car keys off the hall table, smirks at his brother and links his hand with mine. “Let’s roll.”
Ryder passes me the yellow packets of sweetener and I rip two of them to pour into my coffee.
“Coach told me there would be a couple of scouts at the game next week.”
Julien is co-captain for his soccer team this year and we are all going to his first home game next week. He’ll play against Highland High, and the thought of seeing or being anywhere near Marshall again makes my teeth clench with anger and my sto
mach turn over with trepidation.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that you and Jay will get a full ride to college,” Ryder comments shoveling a ham biscuit in his mouth.
I nibble on my scone to allow time for my coffee to cool down enough so I won’t burn my mouth trying to drink it. Jayson has his arm resting along the back of our booth and he’s playing with the ends of my hair.
“You know,” he says, “we need to decide which college we all want to apply to, that is if we still want to stick together. Right?”
We all agree, even Ryder though we know he’s going to take over his dad’s garage and could care less about getting a college degree. I couldn’t imagine not having the three of them with me at college. No matter what, where they go, I will go. What choice do I have?
Julien throws a sugar packet at his brother. “There’s no rush to decide Jay. We have several more months before we need to start sending in applications.”
“You know we’ve always talked about Carolina University.”
I roll my eyes. Jayson and Julien have been obsessed with CU since I’ve known them. I should count myself lucky that Jayson let me have his favorite CU t-shirt, which I stole and refuse to give back to him. I like to sleep in it.
The waitress drops our check on the table and Jayson pulls out his wallet. “On me today. We need to head on out if we want to make it before the first bell.” Jayson slides out of the booth and reaches for me. “Jules, you with us or Ry?”
“I’ll ride with Ry.”
I hug Julien and Ryder, and Jayson opens the passenger side door of his truck for me to get in. It’s not like I won’t see them again today. Julien, Jayson, and Ryder are taking two AP courses with me, first period being one of them, and I’ll see them again for lunch as well. Since I work at the library after school today, Jayson’s going to drop me off and pick me back up once I’m done. I’m only working part time three days a week after school, and on those days, Jayson will drive me. I’ll drive to school the two days I don’t have work. Hailey is happy because that means she gets our car to herself most days.
You would think that sharing a car with Hailey would cause a lot of problems, especially with our different schedules, but she’s been pretty chill about it. I had to use the car a lot this summer since I was taking summer courses at the community college, but luckily she had Brea to drive her places. We’ll have to work out a new schedule once I start show choir. The choir director emailed us about before-school practice sessions beginning in a couple of months. Our choir group will compete in a big national competition in the spring. We’ll be up against about one hundred other show choirs from schools across the country. Mrs. Deagle, our choir director, has already contacted me about performing a solo piece of my own work.
Once we get to school, we park in the senior lot. Maria is already waiting next to the walkway that leads from the lot to the school building, and runs over to Ryder’s car when he pulls in. I watch as she jumps up into his arms as soon as he steps out, plastering a big kiss on his face. He squeezes her once and puts her down. I notice he doesn’t take her hand or put his arm around her. If I wasn’t watching so closely, I would have missed the scowl on her face. I jump out of Jayson’s truck before he has a chance to come around to open the door for me.
“Maria,” I call out. Her frown turns into a whoop and she jogs over to me.
“Hey chica! First big day. We are officially seniors!” she cups her hands around her mouth and bellows the last part out before doing a shimmy dance.
Jayson bends down to place a quick peck on my lips and walks over to meet the guys. I loop my arm with Maria’s and grab my bag. “Skip walk,” I tell her, and we begin to skip arm and arm down the paved sidewalk. Our silliness gets a lot of looks from other students but we don’t care, that is, until two of those looks come from Samantha and Jacinda who are standing in the quad with what I assume is the rest of the cheerleading squad since they're all holding blue and gold pom poms.
“Skanky bitch alert,” Maria says loudly.
“Who are you calling a bitch, whore trash?” Samantha sneers as we skip past them. Maria stops and pulls away from me.
“Whore trash, really? That’s the best you can come up with? At least I don’t have to drug guys to get them to have sex with me.”
Did Maria really go there? She knows how touchy I am with what happened at the party with Jayson.
“Maria, let’s go. She’s not worth it.” I try to pull Maria away, but she isn’t budging.
Jacinda joins Samantha. “At least she can have sex whenever she wants with whomever she wants. Unlike you, little girl, whose boyfriend won’t even touch her.” Jacinda continues taunting Maria, “Tell me Maria, has Ryder popped that cherry yet? Didn't think so. I, on the other hand, got to touch him all over.” She puts her finger in her mouth to imitate giving a blowjob. The other girls on the cheer squad make woo noises. Maria pales. “What, no snappy comeback to the truth? Didn't think so,” Jacinda tsks.
“What the hell!” I shout at her. “Do you always have to be such a vapid bitch? Back off!”
Samantha pops her hip and throws her long ponytail back over her shoulder. “Don’t even get me started on you.”
She steps toward me and then steps away. I am guessing by the direction of her gaze behind me, the cavalry has arrived in the form of three very large males.
Ryder is the first to speak. “I assume that you guys are not having a kumbaya moment. Do I need to tell Fallon that you’re breaking the deal you made?”
Huh? What deal? What is he talking about? At the mention of Fallon’s name, both Jacinda and Samantha back off and turn away to retreat back to their group. Ok, that’s weird.
“Come on, Maria. I’ll walk you to class.” Without saying bye to me, Maria follows Ryder into school. Jayson takes my hand and Julien takes my bag.
“Jayson, what about Fallon? What deal?”
“Nothing for you to worry about. Come on or we’re going to be late.”
“Julien?”
“Uh uh. Nope. We are not playing good parent, bad parent. I agree with Jay. This is one thing we’re not ever discussing with you.”
I snort. “Seriously?”
I’m met with silence.
Does this have something to do with how Marshall never pressed charges, or the video of the fight being taken down? I remember both Ryder and Jayson saying that Fallon was going to fix it. I wonder if I can withhold blowjobs in order to get Jayson to crack. Hmmm. I’ll keep that in mind for future use. I can fight dirty when I need to, but I’ll drop it for now. Perhaps I can ask Fallon himself at the next race in the Fields. See, I have options.
We get to my my locker and once I drop stuff off and lock it, Jayson walks me to my first class which Julien and Ryder are also in. We find four seats next to each other and sit down. Mr. Carmichael is our teacher this year. I had him last year for trig and am excited to have him again this year for AP Calc. He’s one of those teachers that makes boring stuff seem interesting.
“Good morning seniors,” Mr. Carmichael greets us. This is it. Our senior year has begun. I can’t freaking wait.
Chapter 17
Elizabeth
Ryder: Jamie’s car broke down and I have to go get her. I’ll try to meet up with you guys at the party. Tell Jules I’m sorry I missed the game.
Me: He’s doing great. Already scored 2 goals. Haven’t seen Marshall. Did he drop his team? Not that I’m complaining.
Ryder: Don’t know. Don’t care.
Me: BTW, where’s Maria?
Ryder: No clue. Sorry, Liz. Got 2 go. See u later.
“Ryder’s got to get Jamie and will probably miss the entire game,” I tell Hailey and Jayson who are sitting on either side of me on the bleachers. Not that Jayson is paying any attention to me. He's been closely watching the scouts who are sitting three rows down from us.
“They haven’t taken their eyes off Julien the entire game,” he says excitedly, most of that excitement comi
ng from the fact that he found out one of the scouts was from Carolina University.
Hailey leans back and pulls Jayson over toward her, “Want me to go sit behind them and cheer loudly for Julien and scream how awesome he is?”
“Don’t be silly,” I say as Jayson says, “Yes.”
“Absolutely not Jayson Jameson. Leave them alone. Julien would be mortified if you did that. And you, troublemaker of a sister,” I poke her in the side, “don’t-” I stop talking when Hailey flinches in pain and jerks away from me. “I’m so sorry, Hales. Did I hurt you?”
She drops her hand quickly from her side. “I’m fine. It’s nothing,” she replies, not looking at me. I try to lift the side of her shirt, but she forcefully swipes my hand away. “I said I’m fine Lizzie. Geesh, stop mothering me.”
Her face falls when she sees my hurt expression. I can’t believe she just slapped me.
“I’m sorry. I ran into the door this morning leaving for school so have a bruise. It’s a bit tender where you poked it. See? No biggie. Nothing to worry about. Um, I need to go to the restroom. Be right back.” Hailey hurriedly climbs down off the bleachers like her pants are on fire.
“What’s up with your sister?” Jayson asks and then jumps up to yell something when Julien is tripped by one of the opposing team members. “Shit,” Jayson mumbles as Julien gets up off the ground and brushes himself off.
After Marshall shredded Julien’s calf during a game with his cleats, we all worry about him getting injured again while playing. Julien worked hard to come back from his injury, and even went to a specialized sports therapist for physical therapy and strength training for months to get back in top shape. He still experiences phantom pains from the nerve damage, not to mention the skin at the injury site is bumpy and puckered. He had the option to do skin grafts to repair the damage but declined. Even though Jayson doesn’t know it, Elijah played a huge part in Julien's rapid recovery. They told me about it later, explaining that was when Elijah found out Julien had feelings for him and vice versa.
All Our Next Times: Fallen Brook Series: Book 1 Page 19