“Uh…” I go to announce my refusal to stay here when there’s movement behind me.
“I’m sorry it’s not much. Here’s some clean bedding though, and a new duvet and pillows,” Hillbilly says, handing everything over along with a couple of soggy looking sandwiches.
“It’s fine. We just need a bed.”
“Well, the bathroom is down the hall. You’re my only guests and Mother and I use the one upstairs, so it’s all yours.”
Jay thanks him again, because words elude me.
“This is very domesticated,” Jay comments when we’re halfway through making the bed together.
“None of this is what I was expecting to be doing this week.”
“Me neither,” he says sadly.
“What were you planning on doing before we ran off together?”
“No idea. Probably would have spent it either in bed or at the pub with Dean. I know you saw my mum the day we left, so you understand why I wasn’t happy about being there.”
“Why come back? Why not book a holiday or something?”
“Same reason you didn’t go off to uni like you wanted, I guess. Some kind of fucked up loyalty to my mother. She was an incredible mum. When I think back to my childhood, there isn’t anything I would change. I had what I thought was the perfect family. My parents were still together, and as far as I knew, they were happy.”
“What happened?”
“Dad suddenly announced he’d met someone else. He packed his bags that same day and we haven’t seen or heard from him since. Mum fell apart. She started with alcohol, then came the drugs, and now…well, you saw the state of her. Every time I come back I expect to find her dead.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Jay shrugs it off and continues making the bed, clearly putting his memories behind him again.
“What’s wrong? You look like you want to say something.”
“It’s not that, it’s just…I really want a shower.”
“Sooo…go have one.”
“That guy really freaks me out.”
“Well, don’t invite him to join you then,” he says with a laugh, clearly not understanding my issue.
“That wasn’t what I meant, you idiot. I just don’t want to go alone,” I admit.
“You want me to shower with you?” I see a smile twitch at his lips and his eyes darken a few shades.
“Not with me, just be in the room.”
“You want me to sit in the room whilst you’re naked in the shower?”
“Yeah.” Hearing him say it aloud makes me realise how pathetic I’m being about this, but I don’t care.
“What if it’s got a glass door?”
“You’ll have to keep your eyes shut.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“If I wanted you to see me naked, I’d have invited you to join me in the first place.”
“What if I want to see you naked?”
“Jay,” I huff. “Will you please just come with me?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you.”
I gather my stuff and we go to check out the bathroom. Much to Jay’s disappointment, there isn’t a glass shower door, just a mostly mouldy orange curtain which really sets off the blue bathroom suite.
I have to give him credit because he turns around when I ask him to, and I’m pretty confident he doesn’t peek, either.
He spends the whole time I’m showering complaining about how torturous the whole experience is for him. It amuses me greatly.
When we’re walking back towards our bedroom, I’m reminded of why I wanted Jay with me, because loitering outside our room is the hillbilly.
“Is everything okay?” Jay asks when we get closer.
“Oh…uh…yeah. I was just checking on you guys.” The way he says it and the look in his eyes creep me out. He then notices me stood behind Jay, and his eyes drop to my bare legs. I made Jay give me his hoodie so I didn’t have to walk out in just my cami and shorts in case this exact thing happened. I hear a weird growl-like noise come from the back of Jay’s throat before the guy backs off down the hallway.
“You locked the door, right?”
“Yeah, but he owns the place, so I’m sure he could get in if he wanted to.” Jay’s answer doesn’t put my overactive imagination to rest at all. “You’re right, he’s creepy,” he admits for the first time.
Jay lets us into our room and hands me the key so I can lock it myself. I think he’s beginning to understand how uncomfortable I am.
I turn back around after pulling the key out to find Jay stood right in front of me. He’s looking at me with hunger in his eyes and a small smirk playing on his lips.
“What?”
“You’ve no idea, do you?”
“Uh…”
Instead of explaining, he reaches back and pulls his t-shirt over his head, throwing it onto the bed behind him.
“What are you doing?”
“Distracting you.”
My mouth opens in shock.
“You tell me when to stop, and I will.”
I nod at him to show I understand, but I can’t form words because my heart’s hammering so damn hard my brain’s gone fuzzy, and I have a whooshing sound in my ears.
It’s like time stands still as I wait for him to do something, but the second he touches me, someone presses fast forward.
He steps towards me and his lips go to my neck. They dance over my skin as he peppers kisses from my ear to my collarbone. I lean my head to the side to give him the access he needs.
My heart continues to hammer, and tingles fire around my body, but they all meet between my legs. I’ve never felt anything like it but I already know I don’t want it to stop.
Jay moves his head back at the same time I feel him start to lower the zip on his hoodie. He stares into my eyes for a few seconds before he drops it and stares at my chest like it’s not still covered by my cami.
“You’ve no idea how hot you are, do you?” I bite down on my bottom lip. I have no idea how to respond to a question like that. “Fuck.” He lifts his thumb to my mouth and pulls my lip from my teeth. “Mine,” he mutters before he crashes our lips together.
He kisses me with an intensity I’ve never experienced before. His tongue licks and caresses while his teeth nip and tease. His hands slip inside his hoodie and rest against my waist. I can feel his fingers twitching to move and explore, and in a moment of madness, I grab his wrists and encourage them to do just that.
Slowly, he slides his hands up my ribs before he grabs on to my breasts. A moan I wasn’t expecting falls from my mouth as he squeezes. “Oh my god,” I breathe against his lips. I feel him smile, obviously pleased by my response.
He kneads my breasts for a few more seconds whilst he continues to kiss me. Then, his hands lift off before I feel him pinch my nipples. I suck in a sharp breath as what I can only describe as a bolt of lightning strikes between my legs.
“You look so hot, coming apart. If my hands make you like this, I can only imagine what else I could achieve,” he mumbles into my neck.
“Please,” falls from my mouth. I think it shocks him as well because he suddenly pulls back from me a looks into my eyes.
I stare back at him, silently pleading for more.
“You sure?”
I can only nod my reply. What he’s done to my body has turned my brain to mush.
“Okay then,” Jay says before lifting me so I’m pinned against the door by his hips. He grabs my thighs and wraps them around his waist, making his hardness press into the exact spot that’s pulsing with need. The pressure against my sensitive flesh makes my head fall back. “Has anyone ever made you come before?”
I keep my eyes shut and shake my head.
“Good. I’d want to kill any fucker who’d already had the chance to touch you. You’re mine, and I’m going to make sure you know it. You’ll be feeling the after effects for days,” he promises.
His continued hip movement ensures
I’m unable to respond with more than a moan.
His lips continue exploring the skin of my neck before he ventures down over my collarbone and alone the edge of my cami.
“Are you particularly attached to this?” he asks as he tugs at the strap.
At this exact moment, I’d tell him I’m not attached to my legs if it meant he’d continue what he’s doing.
“I’ll take that as a no,” he says when I don’t respond.
Seconds later, I hear a rip before cold air surrounds my boobs. My head lifts from the door and my eyes spring open. When he comes into focus, he’s staring right at my bare chest. After a couple of seconds, his eyes lift to mine. They’re dark and hungry, and I’m sure there’s a warning in them. My mouth waters for him as I take in his pained face.
“You’re so fucking beautiful and your tits are fucking perfect.”
He leans forward and I feel the incredible heat of his mouth as he sucks on one of my nipples. The feeling of his tongue running slowly around my sensitive peak has me trying to close my legs, but the only thing I achieve is to press him harder into me.
“You taste like heaven,” he says, licking across my skin to my other nipple.
I’m panting and moaning as he continues to torture me. My whole body’s tingling and the tension inside me is beginning to get unbearable. I have no idea what it is I need him to do, but it doesn’t stop me begging for it.
“You want more?” he grates out, his voice deep and gravelly.
“Yes, yes,” I repeat.
All of a sudden, I’m moving. I’m pulled away from the door before being lowered to the bed seconds later.
“Tell me you want me to make you come,” Jay demands.
Embarrassment flows through me and I have the sudden need to cover myself up. Jay must sense it because he straddles my hips and pins my wrists together above my head in one of his hands. The other slowly teases the skin of my breasts. I can’t help myself and I shamelessly arch my back as I try to get more of his touch.
“That’s what I want—you begging for it. Begging for me to tip you over the edge,” he says as he stares down into my eyes. “Now, tell me what you want, Erin.”
I can’t find the words he wants me to say. This is all new to me and I can’t help fearing I’m going to say it wrong or sound stupid.
“Tell me to make you come, or I’ll stop. I need to know it’s what you want.” To drive his point home, he pinches one of my nipples and I feel heat flood my core as it continues to pound uncomfortably.
“Make me come,” I whisper, so quietly I barely hear it myself.
“Louder,” he demands.
“Make me come.”
“What was that?”
“Make me come.”
“Scream it.” I don’t know what it is, but the way he’s looking at me leaves no room for argument, so I immediately find myself following orders.
“MAKE ME COME,” I scream, and in seconds, he’s off me. I feel his hand skim the skin of my lower stomach before it disappears into my knickers.
Embarrassment heats my cheeks momentarily as I think about what he’s doing, but the second I feel him touch me, all thoughts leave my head.
“Fuck,” I breathe as I once again try to close my legs.
“Nope.” Jay pins one of them down against the bed with his as he stares down at me.
“You’re going to come on my fingers.”
I nod; I have no doubt what he’s saying is true.
His fingers circle my clit and just as the tension in me builds up to breaking point, he moves and starts to tease my entrance.
“Please tell me I’m the first to be here.”
I nod.
“Tell me.”
“You’re the—” I let out a sudden intake of breath as I feel him press inside, halting my words. “Shit.” I don’t know whether I like it or hate in those first few seconds. It doesn’t take me long to make up my mind.
“Erin?” His eyes come back to mine from watching where his hand had disappeared.
“You’re the first,” I confirm. My voice quivers as I say it.
“Fucking hell.”
“What?” I ask in a panic, thinking I’ve done something wrong.
“You’re fucking perfect.”
Jay leans forward and sucks one of my nipples into his mouth again as his fingers start to slide in and out of me faster. I feel his thumb graze my clit and all my muscles tense.
“You feel that?”
“Uh huh,” I confirm.
“Fuck, you’ll feel amazing on my cock,” he mutters. Everything gets tighter as I think about what he just said, how it might feel, how he’d look on top of me. “That’s it. Let go.”
“Oh my god,” I squeal as something inside me explodes.
When I come back to myself, Jay is sat next to me, running his eyes over my skin. What the fuck did I just do? I’ve no idea who that was a few minutes ago, but I’m sure it wasn’t me. I grab onto the sides of his hoodie that I’m still wearing and wrap it over my boobs.
His eyes find mine and I see panic in them as we stare at each other. Part of me wants to tell him that shouldn’t have happened, but a bigger part knows I’d be lying.
In the end, I go with offering a favour in return, even though I have no idea what to do.
“Do you want me to…?” I ask, gesturing to the obvious bulge in his chinos.
“What? No,” he says, sounding horrified by the suggestion. “Shit, no I didn’t mean it like that,” he quickly adds when he sees the look on my face. “If you touch me, Erin, then there won’t be any stopping until I’ve owned you.”
My mouth snaps shut and a gentle throb starts up again down below.
“Fuck.” He gets up from the bed and paces back and forth a couple of times. “I need a shower. Are you going to be okay?”
With everything that’s just happened, I’ve completely forgotten where we are and why I was so freaked out earlier. I guess he came through with his promise of distracting me.
“Yeah, just lock the door behind you.”
“Okay.”
I watch in silence as he rummages through his bag for what he needs. He’s just about step towards the door when he turns to me.
“Here, wear this.” He throws me the shirt I slept in on our first night. “I won’t be long.”
The second I hear the door lock, I strip out of my ruined cami and shorts and pull his shirt over my head. His smell engulfs me and I immediately wish I’d told him not to leave me. I sit myself on the edge of the bed and look around at the almost bare room. This whole thing with Jay is utterly crazy, but I can’t imagine being with anyone else right now. From the second I met him, everything just felt right. I knew I needed to get away, but I wasn’t aware there was something—or someone—missing from my life. I’m starting to realise Jay is filling a gaping hole. If you’d have asked me about a boyfriend a few days ago, I’d have said I didn’t have time, and although that’s still true, after only a couple of days I’m realising that I would make whatever time Jay needed because he’s somehow managed to creep his way in, and it scares me to admit that I don’t see him finding his way out very fast.
“Hey, are you okay?” Jay asks when he steps back into the room a while later to find me in bed with my laptop.
“Yeah, I wasn’t murdered by the creep whilst you were gone.”
“So I see,” he replies with a laugh. “That wasn’t what I meant, though.”
My cheeks heat a little. “I’m good.”
“What’re you doing?”
“Trying to work on a uni assessment. I’ll stop now you’re back,” I offer.
He refuses because he doesn’t want me falling behind, so we sit side by side, me trying to work and him playing on his phone until the early hours of the morning.
Chapter Five
“Let’s get out of here,” Jay says the second I open my eyes to find him looking down at me the next morning.
“Yes.” I jump out of
bed and start gathering up my stuff. He doesn’t need to ask me twice to leave this shithole.
I make quick use of the bathroom before Jay grabs our cases and we sneak out. The place is in darkness, and thankfully it’s silent.
We jump in the car and both start laughing uncontrollably. I’m not sure why he’s so amused, but I’m just grateful we got out of that place alive.
“Where are we going?” I ask when it seems he knows what directions to take.
“I discovered I could get some 3G when I was sat on the toilet whilst you were asleep last night. I managed to get a map up.”
“You left me alone in that room in the middle of the night?”
“It was either that or piss out the window.”
“I think I’d have preferred that.”
“I’ve found a route that will take us past some of the places you mentioned, and I’ve booked a room for the night.”
“You’re doing a lot of planning for someone who didn’t want any.”
“I thought you deserved to know you’re going to be sleeping somewhere decent tonight.”
“I appreciate that more than you know. You deserve that, too; you’re on holiday, after all.”
“That place was a million times better than some of the hell holes I’ve slept in in the past. Having you beside me made it feel almost like a posh hotel, much better than the sweaty men I usually wake up with.”
“Is there something you need to tell me?” I ask with a laugh.
“Definitely not. I’d lay my life down for those guys but they aren’t coming nowhere near my junk.”
Jay quickly changes the subject after glancing over at me. My fears about his job and the memories of losing my dad must be written all over my face.
He efficiently navigates us to a fancy hotel in Windermere and treats me to a wonderful breakfast, consisting of an all you can eat continental buffet before a mouth-watering plate of American pancakes, while he polishes off a giant fry up.
He drives us around the lake once we’ve finished and I spend the whole time staring out the window at the incredible views. I knew it was going to be stunning up here from what I’ve seen on the TV, but it really is amazing.
Never Forget Him: Never Forget #1 Page 6