“Jake.” Then she cried out and pressed her mouth to my neck as her body trembled. As the tremors overtook her, I let go of my control, and damn it if I didn’t call out her name.
***
Rachel
I EMERGED FROM the bathroom, wearing the pink negligee just as Jake was positioning the room service cart next to the bed. When he saw me, his eyes darkened, and the bulge in his shorts grew. Guess redheads can pull off pink after all.
He eyed the tray with covered dishes. “You know, this will probably stay warm if—”
I laughed. “I’d take you up on it, but I’m starving.” I kissed him before climbing onto the bed. “Don’t worry. We’ve got all night.”
Jake grinned and lifted the cover off a plate. “Dinner is served.” Instead of ordering full meals, we’d ordered several appetizers that we could eat with our fingers so that it would be easier to eat in bed.
I inhaled a chicken tender and licked the crumbs from my fingers. “I feel like we should be having breakfast in bed, not dinner.”
Jake stretched out beside me. “Oh, we can do that too. I wouldn’t want you getting hangry.”
“No one wants that.”
“I can’t picture you getting pissed.”
I frowned. “Really? Why not?”
“You’re generally positive. You don’t let things get you down.”
I opened my mouth to protest but then stopped to reflect on what he’d said. “I do, but I keep it to myself. No one wants to be around someone who’s always bitching about something.” What I didn’t say was that my upbringing had taught me that females should be agreeable. I found it ironic that Jake had basically affirmed the lesson had taken root when my family would unequivocally state the opposite. I preferred to think of it as choosing my battles. There was no sense getting my panties in a twist over every little thing.
It was much more fun to do other things with my panties, like let Jake take them off me.
***
Jake
THAT MONDAY, I rushed through my training so I could make it home in time to have dinner with everyone. Rachel and Emily were happy to see me, and Ben didn’t give a fuck since he was engrossed in his computer, but Ashley seemed downright pissed that I was home early.
I quickly showered and came into the kitchen, where Rachel was pulling chicken breasts out of the oven. Not wanting her to accidentally burn herself, I waited until she’d placed the tray on the stove before spinning her around and nuzzling her neck. “I missed you,” I said. I was such a fucking sap, but it was true. I’d been so rushed that morning that I’d barely had time to say a word to her, but she was all I’d thought about all day… and the day before. The girl was under my skin, and our night away together had only solidified that.
“Aww, I missed you too,” she said.
I had just brought my lips to hers when I heard Ashley huffing behind me. I turned and saw that she stood with her arms crossed and one hip popped out. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.
Rachel shot her the behave look I’d seen her give the kids. I’d yet to master that. It usually worked, but this time Ashley blatantly ignored her.
“I live here,” I informed Ashley. “Is there a problem?”
“No.” But her pouting lower lip said otherwise.
“What the hell, Ashley?”
She gave me one last stink eye before spinning on her heel and stalking out of the room.
I turned to Rachel, but she put her hands up and shook her head. “Don’t ask me. She’s been fine all day.”
“Well, what the fuck?”
“Let it go for now. She’s twelve. Being moody is part of the process.”
I decided to take her advice, especially because I didn’t want to let my sister ruin my good mood.
At dinner, I asked Ben what he wanted for his birthday, which was the next week.
“Alienware laptop,” he said immediately.
“What’s that?” I asked.
He rolled his eyes like I was some old geezer who didn’t understand modern technology. When it came to nerdy gaming equipment, I guessed I was. I exhaled, trying not to get irritated. Perhaps I should take more interest in his computer stuff so we would have something in common. He sure as hell wasn’t going to take an interest in football anytime soon.
“It’s a gaming laptop,” Ben said.
“Can you send me a link?”
“Okay.”
“What else do you want to do for your birthday? Do you want to go out for dinner or something?”
He shrugged. “I don’t care.”
I blew out a breath. What had gotten into my two siblings? They were both acting like little shits. If there was a discernible reason, I could excuse it, but I could see none. Hormones. I didn’t remember being as surly as Ashley and Ben, though. Or maybe I’d just blocked that out.
As I was helping Rachel with the dishes, the doorbell rang.
“I got it!” Ashley bellowed, followed by the sound of her footsteps rushing toward the front door.
I looked at Rachel and raised my eyebrows. Again, she shook her head. “Don’t look at me. I have no clue.”
I dried my hands and walked to the front door. When Ashley saw me, she stepped out on the porch and shut the door behind her. What the actual fuck? What the hell was the point of that? I simply opened the front door and stepped out behind her.
She stood on the porch next to a boy with long hair pulled back into a man bun… or I should say a “boy” bun. Christ. But at least he looked to be about her age. I supposed that was an improvement over the boys she had been hanging out with in Richmond.
“Hello, sir.” The poor kid’s voice broke when he spoke. My irritation faded a bit. This boy was most likely harmless, which was the perfect kind of boyfriend for Ashley. She could scrounge up enough trouble on her own.
“What’s up? I’m Jake, Ashley’s brother.”
“Yes, I know, sir.” The kid had manners at least. But damn, it grated to be called sir like that. It made me feel old. I should be the one calling people “sir.”
I crossed my arms and leaned against the exterior of the house. “Ashley, are you going to introduce your friend?”
“This is Jayden. Let me grab my phone, and we can go.” She went inside without another word.
I smiled tightly at Jayden, who swallowed. “Nice to meet you.” I headed inside and waited for Ashley by the front door. When she came back, she avoided my gaze and went straight to the door, but I blocked her exit. “What are you doing?”
“We’re going walking.”
“What?”
She crossed her arms and popped her hip out. “Walking.”
I was getting sick and tired of that stance. “Walking where?”
She huffed. “I don’t know. Around the neighborhood.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. You’re not aimlessly walking around with a boy I just met five seconds ago.” No matter how harmless he seems.
“That’s not fair!”
“You can invite him inside to hang out in the living room.” Look at me being all reasonable.
“Ew! No! Everyone will be there.”
“Then hang out in the backyard.”
“No! It’s too hot for that.”
My sister was quickly giving me a headache. “But it’s not too hot to walk?”
Even in the middle of her current tantrum, my sister was smart enough to realize the contradiction she had made. “You’re treating me like a baby.”
“Well, that’s fitting, because right now you’re acting like one.”
Ashley’s gaze shifted to a spot behind me. “Rachel would let me go.”
“Rachel isn’t your guardian.” The words were out of my mouth before I thought them through. Though they were true, I shouldn’t have spoken them in anger, especially with Rachel in the room. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see her slipping back into the kitchen. Damn it.
“She might as well be,” A
shley snapped. “You’re never here.”
That one hurt, but I managed not to flinch. “Don’t change the subject. The bottom line is you were about to walk out of this house without even asking permission to go.”
“Because I wasn’t going anywhere!”
Holy fucking shit. I had admirably kept my cool through this exchange, but I was done. “That’s it,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’m done arguing with you. Either invite your friend in or stay here alone. Those are your choices.”
“You’re so mean!”
I glared at her, refusing to further engage in the conversation. Part of me wondered if I was being unreasonable. But at that point, I had already drawn my line in the sand, and I wasn’t backing down, out of principle alone.
She met my glare for a full thirty seconds, which was a lot longer than it sounded. But she had another think coming if she thought she had any chance of winning the battle, or the entire war.
“You’ll be lucky if your friend hasn’t left by now,” I told her. “He probably thinks you abandoned him.” And shit, he’d probably heard every word of our exchange. Oh well. “Invite him in.”
I stepped aside so Ashley could open the front door. She grabbed the poor kid’s arm and dragged him into the house. He had that deer-in-the-headlights look. Damn. I hadn’t meant to traumatize him when all he’d wanted to do was hang out with my sister. Based on how she was acting, though, I had to question the kid’s judgment.
Rachel appeared and walked over to him, holding out her hand. “I’m Rachel. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Um, no, ma’am.” He swallowed, his eyes darting to me and making me feel like the biggest asshole. Once upon a time, I had been that kid. Damn it.
“We’ll leave you two alone,” I said. Rachel followed my lead, and we went into the kitchen. She gave me a sympathetic look. I sighed and gathered her in my arms. “Did I fuck that up?”
“Well…”
Ashley had known I wouldn’t approve, which was why she’d been pissed that I was home early. She’d known I was going to overreact. Though I still wasn’t convinced it was an overreaction. She was twelve. I didn’t like the idea of her wandering around with strange boys, even if they did seem harmless. The phone call I’d gotten from Ben when she’d come home drunk was too fresh in my mind.
But she’d snuck out then. This time, the boy had come to the front door for her, and he was the appropriate age. It was a much better scenario than what had gone down in Richmond. It was a step in the right direction, and I’d practically punished her for it.
“Shit. I totally fucked up, didn’t I?”
“I mean, she needs to tell you where she’s going, but I don’t think it would be horrible if she took a walk around the block in broad daylight. When I was her age, I was already babysitting.”
I snorted. “She’s not responsible enough for that.” My sister was smart when she wanted to be and totally boy crazy, but I wouldn’t leave her in charge of Emily for more than thirty minutes at the most.
Rachel shrugged. “I agree. And it’s not a bad thing that you want to know who she’s hanging out with.”
There was a silent but at the end of Rachel’s statement—but you overreacted. Looking after kids came so easily to her, but I was still trying to figure that shit out, especially where the girls were concerned. I didn’t know what the fuck I was going to do when Ashley started going on real dates.
“Fuck. She’s twelve. I’m not ready for this.” I tried to think back on what I’d been doing when I was in sixth grade. My middle school memories blurred together, but I had definitely been running around the neighborhood in a pack of kids. I also remembered the first time I had to introduce myself to a girl’s father. I might have been thirteen at the time, and though I’d thought I was a badass who knew everything, I’d been a sweaty mess. “That poor boy. What’s his name again?”
“Jayden.”
“She’s going to chew him up and spit him out.”
“Yup.”
CHAPTER 20
Rachel
AFTER JAKE CALMED down, he went back on his word and didn’t leave Ashley and Jayden alone in the living room, but for good reason. After we chatted with the boy for fifteen minutes, he finally felt comfortable enough to drop the sir-and-ma’am-routine at our request. Jake gave Ashley permission to walk to the Baskin-Robbins in the shopping center at the edge of the neighborhood as long as she was home before dark. He even gave them money to buy ice cream.
Of course that meant Emily wanted ice cream too. We drew the line at taking her to Baskin-Robbins because that would be a cruel joke on Ashley if we showed up there. So we settled for the plain vanilla that was already in the freezer and doused it in chocolate syrup.
I was just getting ready to head out when Ashley came home.
“How did it go?” I asked her.
She shrugged. “He’s nice.”
I stared at her, trying to figure out if that was a positive or a negative in her eyes. Sometimes I felt like I understood her even less than Jake did.
It was on the tip of my tongue to remind her not to try to circumvent Jake’s authority. I didn’t think he even realized that was what had pissed him off so badly. If she’d asked Jake to go out instead of trying to slip out, he probably would have acted more rationally. But Jake had already handled the situation, so I didn’t want to overstep.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Engrossed in her phone, she said “uh-huh” and walked away. Her moods were enough to give a person whiplash.
Emily skidded into the room on her socks, sliding several feet and crashing into the wall. “Wait! Aren’t you sleeping over?”
I inhaled sharply. “Um, no.”
“But you and Jake are doing sleepovers now. It’s almost bedtime, and you’re still here, so you should sleep over.”
“I, uh, don’t have my toothbrush,” I said lamely.
“We have extras.” She twisted her neck. “Jake! Do we have extra toothbrushes?”
Ironically, I was the one who would know that because I was the one who’d been doing the shopping. There were in fact a few extra toothbrushes under the sink in the girls’ bathroom.
Jake came into the room. “What?”
“Rachel doesn’t have her toothbrush, but if we give her one, she can sleep over.”
“Oh, really?” Jake’s gaze shifted to me, and the tightness of his cheeks told me he was struggling not to laugh. “If that’s all it will take, hang on. I’ll go out and buy a dozen.”
Looking thrilled, Emily grinned at me. I almost didn’t have the heart to let her down. “Maybe another night, Em. I need to take care of Princess Buttercup.” I eyed Jake. “Walk me out?” As soon as we were on the porch, I poked him in the gut. It was like poking a brick wall, but he got my point. “What the hell was that?” I hissed. “You should have warned me you told Emily we were doing sleepovers.”
He laughed. “I didn’t. But she’s a smart kid. She knew I took you to Roanoke, and we obviously stayed overnight.” His arm looped around my waist, and he drew me closer. “Do you want to start having sleepovers?”
“Maybe, but only if you promise to make it up to me for putting me on the spot like that.”
With a wicked look in his eyes, he grinned. “I’ll make it up to you all night long.”
***
Rachel
ONE SATURDAY IN July, Freddie was in town, so Katie arranged a trip to the New River for tubing for everyone, including the kids. Ashley was beyond thrilled to be included. I’d discovered that while she liked me, she practically idolized Katie because of her former-child-star status. At first, I worried that would bother Katie since she’d only recently come to terms with her past, but she laughed it off, telling me that if Jake wanted her to steer Ashley away from acting, she would happily let the girl in on the fact that it wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed.
When we got to the New River, Carson was the only one waitin
g. He had a girl with him. We parked next to him, and as I pulled down the rearview mirror to apply a third coat of sunscreen—fair skin was a bitch in the summer—I noticed Ashley fussing with her hair and glancing out the window. I followed her gaze. Carson. Shit. I wondered if Jake had any clue that Ashley had a crush on his friend. Hell, I wondered if Carson realized it. It was obvious to me after only a second, but guys could be clueless about things like that.
I hadn’t realized Carson was dating someone, but when he saw us, he grinned and used the girl’s head as an armrest. Without missing a beat, she elbowed him in the gut and pushed him aside. Okay, so maybe they aren’t dating.
“You remember Zizzo, right?” Carson said.
The girl rolled her eyes at him. “It’s Becca, actually.” Then she muttered something that sounded like “dipshit” under her breath.
“Yeah. Hey, Becca, what’s up?” Jake replied. “Is no one else here? I thought we were late.”
Carson pulled out his phone and held up a finger. “And… now they’re late.”
“Well, at least it’s not me for a change,” Jake said good-naturedly.
“I’m gonna spring for a tube for the cooler,” Carson said. “Do you have stuff you want to put in it?”
The kids had gotten out of the truck by now, so while the Carson and Jake dealt with the cooler situation, I made the introductions between them and Carson’s friend.
Katie pulled up in her SUV with Wyatt, Freddie, and Angie in tow.
“Sorry we’re late,” Angie said as she hopped out. “We had to stop at the store for some arm floaties for Freddie.”
“Woman!” Freddie huffed. “I already told you I can’t be your sugar daddy if I drown.”
“First of all, I don’t need a sugar daddy. I’m going to make my own money. And second of all, it’s like four feet of water.”
“It only takes an inch of water to drown.”
Angie threw her hands up and looked at Katie for support. Katie grimaced. “Sorry, Angie. He’s actually right in this case.”
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