by Raven Scott
“That… is a meme-worthy phrase.” I had no idea what that meant, and it didn’t seem to matter, anyway. Jacob rocked back on his heels to gaze at me steadily, his brow wrinkled with worry that warmed my soul. “Safe to say someone’s following you. If I have nothing to worry about, then you can agree to come to my place, right?”
“You— you’re… you’re dumb, Jacob.” His smile widened, and he reached to scratch my crown with blunt fingertips. That pleasurable sensation slithered down my back and eased the throbbing in my shoulders. “You should go home alone.”
“That’s the smart thing to do, isn’t it?” Dragging his palm down to cup my cheek, Jacob flat-out grinned at me when I nodded. “Too bad I’m dumb.”
11
Jacob
Joci hadn’t said a single damn word the entire Uber ride to my apartment, and I jabbed the key into the lock roughly in frustration. I was dying to know what that guy was talking about at the pizza place. She’d been held hostage for a month? He had to allow her to stay?
What the fuck was going on?
Shuffling into my apartment, I tossed my keys onto the small table against the wall and shirked off my jacket. My mind wouldn’t slow its churning, the voices arguing loudly, trying to talk over themselves and banging against the backs of my eyes. Turning to kick the door closed carelessly, I helped Joci out of her grey coat to frown at how pale she was. Her face was gaunt, eyelids sagging, physically trembling, and I hung up her jacket next to mine to grab her hands.
“Joci—” Dull, brown eyes flickered to mine, and my heart lurched at the thick sheen threatening to spill over their edges. Licking my lips heavily, my mouth dried as I rubbed the back of her clammy palms with my thumbs. “I think it’s safe to assume that I know enough to know I don’t want to know any more, but if you need to talk about what your ex did to you, I’ll listen.”
I spoke slower than usual, careful not to use uncommon words, because Joci had trouble understanding me without the added mental strain. Sourness coated my tongue when she just ducked her head in a nod, but there was nothing more I could say. If she wanted to tell me, she would; I couldn’t force it out of her. Leading her through my open living room, I rounded the sofa carefully, and she glanced around.
“Him doing that has nothing to do with that guy. My boss felt bad for me, but America wasn’t around until just now. They don’t matter. I’m here to stop.” Uh… I nodded as I tried to decipher her thickly accented words, and Joci sighed softly. “I like your place.”
“Thanks. I do, too.” The carpet silenced us as we walked into my bedroom, and I kicked off my shoes. Sitting Joci on the foot of my bed, I worked off her heels before seating myself next to her. I was so dazed from what happened that there was no awkwardness, no discomfort, when she crawled up my bed to pull back the sheet.
Okay— I’m an idiot. That’d already been established in my head when I invited her over. Anyone else would’ve run away as fast as possible from the looming possibility that Joci would make my life difficult. But here we were, in my home, and I had no idea what the Hell was going on anymore. This situation was far more than I could handle; that guy back there didn’t strike me as someone that made threats lightly.
A soft, shuddering gasp drew my attention, and my head snapped up as Joci laid down on her back. Even in the low light, her skin shimmered with cold sweat, lips and chin wobbling dangerously. My heart twisted sharply, yanking the muscles in my body to move to her side. If she knew I was there, only her expression drenched in pain when the bed dipped under me.
“Hey— hey. It’ll pass.” I didn’t know if that was true, but even if it wasn’t— the thick crease between her slender brows eased ever so slightly at my coo. Joci was so tense that most of her back didn’t touch the bed, and I slouched heavily to work my arm under her. Her sharp, shallow breaths and little whimpers grated my ears but lessened in intensity when I propped my forearm right in the center of her back.
I wasn’t sure how long it took for Joci to release all the tension in her, but when I glanced at my watch, the hands were quickly approaching 5pm. Glancing out the window on my side, I frowned at all the artificial light that seared my retinas. Winter in New York City sucked, and an ugly mix of sleet and rain was sticking to the glass. It wasn’t supposed to rain until 8pm.
“It’s better than normal.” Humming softly at her murmur, I turned my attention to Joci as she rolled onto her side heavily. Even with sweat sticking her hair to her neck, her face drawn haggardly, she looked a lot better. I scooted down, propping a pillow under my head as she licked her lips, and butterflies invaded my abdomen. “You don’t have to deal with this, Jacob.”
“You know why I approached you at the bar last night? I thought you were hot.” The confession picked up the corners of my mouth as Joci’s breath hitched, her eyes widening in surprise. “I knew Caleb was gonna be late, so I figured that I could chat you up while I waited. Maybe get your number. Talking to you was fun— you’re interesting. You’re Russian, and you came to America for a better life. You’ve never had mozzarella sticks, and I thought that was adorable.”
“… But…?” My brows rose at the tentative tone, and Joci tore her gaze from mine to frown. “I’m dangerous to be with.”
“There’s no ‘but’. That’s all I was gonna say. Everyone has baggage— violent ex-boyfriends— regrets— overcoming the past gives you the start to the future, Joci. The fact that you came to America by yourself, with no one to help you, and no plan… that says a lot about you— more than you probably know. Besides…” Trailing off to touch her cheek, I smiled when her eyes flew back to mine. “You’re here to get away from it, Joci. If you do manage to free yourself, the past isn’t going to matter. No one’s going to come up to us and threaten us. No one’s going to stalk you to make sure you’re not a spy. Everything’s gonna get better.”
Joci didn’t reply to my reassurance, but I whole-heartedly believed it. Things would get better. Her being in this country was proof of that. Sure, some guy said some things I knew she didn’t want to tell me. And, yeah— I was stupid for ignoring the red flags that cropped up as a result. Some douchebag in a suit that cost more than my rent wasn’t going to scare me. Admittedly, he was terrifying at the time, but that’s the not the point.
She was just dealing with a rough patch— a dick boss, relocating, no friends. There’s nothing unique about that.
Soft, warm lips on my own broke me from my rationalizations, and I tensed as my heart leaped into my throat. Joci wiggled a little closer to me, her hands plucking apart the buttons of my shirt. Wrapping my arm around her back gingerly, I cupped the back of her head when my own screwed back on right. The shock of her sudden kiss wore off quickly, and I groaned softly as the taste of her seeped through the seal of our mouths.
I didn’t protest when she pushed me onto my back, and Joci straddled my waist with her long, slender legs. By far, the best legs I’d ever had wrapped around me. Nimble fingers pushed open my shirt, her lips parting to invite me in. My heart raced as the taste of her overwhelmed my buds, and I tangled my tongue around hers to intensify the kiss.
Shivers rampaged just under my skin as our kiss turned sloppy. The need that I couldn’t shake since seeing Joci at the bar flared wildly, and I grabbed her plump ass to roll my hips. Even through both our pants, my cock throbbed from her heat. Her moan caught in my throat, and saliva roped from her tongue when it untangled from mine. Staring into those sparkling, brown eyes, I panted faintly as I struggled to pull my brain out of my jeans.
“I… shouldn’t have done pants.” She blushed faintly, and I clenched my jaw as she sat back against my thighs. “So…”
“You want to wear one of my shirts? I might have something long enough to cover everything.” Surprise flashed in her doe eyes before they practically melted out of their sockets, and I pushed myself onto my elbows with a grunt. “You don’t have to, but if you’re adamant about having sex…”
“It was more nice t
han I thought… that’s all.” The look on Joci’s face right now was worth the strife even as she hid behind a thick curtain of mahogany waves.
“There’s plenty to do that you don’t have to be naked for, Joci.” Sitting up fully, I reached between us to cup her mound, and Joci tensed with a sharp inhale. Holding her chin, I brushed her lips with my thumbs. Never did I look at her like she was some creature to be pitied for her situation.
Right now, in this moment, Joci was more than just a pretty face. The way she had to pause, think, realization, and then come up with a response she could say— it was a beautiful process. Before she ever opened her mouth, I saw her thought process in her eyes.
“Hey, Jacob!” I froze like a teenager caught in a jacuzzi at Costco as a hard dun-dun-dun echoed through my bedroom. My heart nearly burst, sucking all the blood from my groin to pump it into my head. “You got a minute to talk about earlier?”
Joci’s wide eyes narrowed on me as she waited. Clearly, she wanted me to tell Caleb to fuck off. This was a perfect example of the ‘not illegal but annoying as all Hell’ situations my cousin put me in. Slumping in defeat, reluctance slowed my hands drawing back, and irritation curled my fingers.
“Sorry. This isn’t going to be a thing. He needs to find somewhere else to go, and I’m not backing down on kicking him out.” She pouted so hard that I couldn’t help but smile, but Joci clamored off me regardless. Her thick lower lip trembled as she huffed, and I reached to pull her hair back and caress her neck. “Hey—”
“Now I know why Lyov screamed and stomped at interruptions.” A laugh escaped me at that while she scooted to the foot of the bed to hang her legs over. Frustration and elation mingled toxically in my blood, and I followed her to press my palm against her lower back. “… My knees hurt.”
“Why?” I’d rather stay here, in this dark room, with Joci. Both my and her coats were hanging out in the living room. If that wasn’t enough of a damned hint to keep quiet, I didn’t know what was. Standing up to arch my back, I took off my shirt to let it flutter to the floor as Joci shrugged lightly without a verbal reply.
12
Joci
“Oh— you’re here.” Pausing to frown at Caleb’s surprised observation, I pursed my lips thinly. More and more, it was becoming clear why Jacob got all scrunchy-faced and pissy when Caleb was around or mentioned. The dumb look on his face as I slowly shut the bedroom door was almost insulting— or it would be if he hadn’t done the same thing last night. At least, this time, I knew what to expect. “So, Jacob— uh, we’ll talk when you get back, yeah?”
“Where am I going? Joci is staying the night.” Caleb’s expression froze, and I flexed my toes on the carpet before wandering over to the sofa. “Is that a problem?”
“Uh-h… no… I just wanted to try to talk to you about earlier at the pizza place. No hard feelings, right? Cousin’s fight, but we shouldn’t make rash decisions every time we get pissed at each other.” I rubbed my knees absently as a stony silence filled the air, and Jacob sighed heavily. Leaning back on the sofa, discomfort strained my features at how the cushions just sucked me in. The coffee-colored furniture was so overused, and I sat up straight before both men came into my peripheral.
Jacob sat down on the modern-style armchair to my left, and Caleb stood across the glass coffee table. There were a few noticeable, circular stains, and I reached to grab one of the coasters and make myself as small as possible. I wasn’t going to get between Jacob and his cousin— this had very clearly been an issue for a long time.
“Caleb, this isn’t a rash decision. You pay to sleep on my couch, you contribute to the bills a little, and that’s great… but you’re becoming a pain in the ass. I’ve talked to you about it before, but you never stick to any agreement we make. It’s been two years, and you need to get your own place or move back home with Auntie Jess.” Jacob spoke in a reasonable, firm tone, and I closed my eyes to let it wrap around me. The feeling of him against me made me feel… loose… as if the screws and plates holding me together weren’t there. As if I was human and feeling human things, not just the metal grating against my bones. “I’ve told you over and over again that you need to respect my boundaries. If I want to go out by myself, I should be able to without you inviting yourself anyway. Being late to everything, and then whining that I’m not hanging around. Not cleaning your own messes because they’re small. Coming in at 4am and not bothering to be quiet— I’m not dealing with this anymore. I let you stay here, but your bad habits are impacting my life in a negative way, and no matter how many times I’ve talked to you about it, you don’t change.”
“The whole point of me staying here is because I can’t afford to live by myself, Jacob— you know that finding good roommates is damn near impossible. I can’t just go back home. Mom will throw a huge fit—” When I opened my eyes, Caleb looked devastated, his face drawn and pale and his eyes wide with uncertainty. “You can’t just kick me out… we can work this out.”
“I can just kick you out, Caleb. I’ve tried to work on this with you for a long time, and you brush me off. This is my apartment, my life, and you’re taking advantage of my kindness and because we’re cousins. I can live without you easily. You can’t live without me, apparently. You should’ve realized that you don’t have the liberty of ignoring me giving you rules or expectations, but that’s exactly what you did. The only thing you do that I asked is fold the sheets after you use them, but even then… I’m the one that washes them. I’m the one that does your dinner dishes because I want to make something. I want to be alone, like today, and you invite yourself along and don’t shut up, and then you get mad for my being annoyed at you. You’re never on time for any of our plans, but if you need something from me, you expect me to drop everything and come rushing. I’m tired of it. So, you have two weeks to find somewhere else to live.”
Jacob’s anecdote came to a solid end, and I fiddled absently with the coaster as I glanced over at him. He was firm, not raising his voice, not getting too emotional, and my lips thinned. The silence rang in my ears, but even sitting down, Jacob was the more powerful of the two. His lean shoulders rippled as he pushed on his thighs to stand, nodding curtly at his cousin.
“That’s all. As of Monday, you’ve got two weeks, Caleb.” The finality in Jacob’s tone left no room for argument, and Caleb opened his mouth only to close it again. Dejectedly shuffling for the door, he shot me a nasty look as he passed the sofa, but I ignored it. Only when he was out of the apartment did Jacob heave a sigh, rubbing his hands down his face and shaking his head roughly. “Fuck…”
“Are you okay?” He paused, eyes fixing on mine, and cocked his head, and I licked my lips heavily. “Was that hard to do?”
“Uh-h… Caleb and I grew up side by side. We went all through school together, and he was my best friend until I went to college.” Interest rose my brows, and I set the coaster back on top of the pile while Jacob frowned under furrowed eyebrows. “He’s always been this way. That’s the problem. I got my shit together, but the things about him that I liked in high school are annoying now. I don’t think the idea of getting blackout drunk for my 27th birthday is particularly fun, for instance.”
“You’re 27? I am, too.” Jacob was so easy to smile, even when he’d just done something that was obviously very difficult on him. Rubbing his jaw, he scratched his stubble and around to the back of his neck. He just didn’t know what to do, now, and my heart ached for him. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I don’t know— it’s a weird situation. Caleb is an only child, and I have a bigger family, so he was always around for everything we did. Summer vacations, spring break, weekends. I was always encouraged to invite him, but he was always treated as a guest— he never had to take responsibility the way we had to.” Sauntering over to sit next to me, Jacob frowned when he sank into the cushion. “Obviously, he abused my sofa, but I’m gonna get stuck with the bill for a new one.”
“You are good with your famil
y? My parents died five years ago when I broke up with Anatoly.” Leaning over to rest my cheek on his shoulder, I liked how smoothly Jacob’s arm slithered around my back. Obviously, he didn’t work out, but he wasn’t lazy, either. He was comfortable. His warmth enveloped me, the coarse, sparse hairs tickling me as he inhaled deeply at my confession.
“Yeah, we’re all close. We live in the city. My sister Emily supports my parents, since she makes the most money of us all. I have a brother that’s super into drugs, and his girlfriend’s a major hippy… every family has at least one of those, though.” What’s a hippy? I didn’t know, but I couldn’t ask to find out when Jacob exhaled heavily, his hand caressing up and down my back. “I didn’t bring you here to screw around, but now I feel like we’re not gonna do anything at all. Caleb’s probably calling his mom, and she’ll call my mom, and my mom will call me…”
“You don’t have anything bad, right?” Shaking his head, he arched a brow quizzically as I turned to him. “Why not doing something small?”
“… Oh—” His eyes lit up with his realization, and Jacob flopped his head back to stare at the ceiling. “Doesn’t seem worth it if I can’t give it back, and even if I had the time before my mom starts blowing up my phone… I have to be honest, Joci— I would feel totally defeated if you got me off and we got interrupted again.”
“So, turn your phone off. I did. It works.” Rather than reply verbally, Jacob just wrapped his arms around me and dragged me to his chest. My gasp echoed through the room, and he rubbed the top of my head as I blinked to stop the world from spinning. His heart beat hard against my cheek, and I had to consciously unwind my muscles. Tilting my head up, he captured my lips firmly, and surprise jolted my body and bristled the fine hairs on my face.