“Yeah, so what, Pen?” I ask, trying to act like it’s not a big deal.
“Is she your girlfriend?”
“No way. I don’t want a girlfriend right now.”
“So, you just make out with random girls? Nice, Jess,” she says it like I disgust her. If she only knew…
“It’s not a big deal. Why do you have your panties in a bunch today? Is it that time of the month?” I know I’m being a jerk, but I really don’t want to talk about this with her.
She stops walking then, turning to me with fire in her eyes. “Don’t act like you don’t know exactly when I get my period. You’re being a jerk! To me and that girl. Her younger sister is in my grade, and she asked me if you liked her today. Apparently, you’re all she talks about at home and said you’re an amazing kisser and she just might hand you her V-card,” she says the last part in a mock high-pitch tone, rolling her eyes.
And I am a jerk. No, I’m worse, because I should be focusing on the fact that Penny sounds almost jealous, but instead I’m caught up on the fact that I might get to fuck that girl, Shelly. She is hot, and the thought of being her first is making me hard.
“Oh my gosh! You’re such a pig! You’re thinking about doing it with her!” Penny yells before she stomps away.
“Nugget, wait!” I call after her as I pick up my pace to catch up with her. I grab her elbow, stopping her and turning her body to face me. But I freeze when I see tears on her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” is all I manage to say before I let her go.
She looks up at me, hurt clear on her face, and destroys me with one movement. She shrugs her damn shoulder at me like it isn’t a big deal before she turns and walks away again. This time I let her go and give her some space.
The rest of the day I can’t focus on homework or work at the garage. All I’m thinking about is Penny. Was she jealous? What is that about?
“You alright, Jess?” Travis asks when I’m cleaning up before heading home.
“Yeah,” I sigh.
“You and Pen fight?” He knows us well.
“Yep.”
“Look, Jesse, I don’t know what it was about, but I’m guessing things are beginning to change a little between the two of you.” I nod slightly in agreement. “You can’t hold back because of her and she can’t push forward because of you. You’ll work it out, but understand it’s alright if you need space or other friends.”
“I don’t want either of those things. She’s my best friend, even if she is just a kid.”
“You’re a kid, too,” he says, nudging my shoulder.
“Yeah, but she’s so… good.”
“So, keep her that way,” he replies, looking at me not in a threatening way, but as someone who loves her, and me. “Just apologize. She’ll forgive you.”
“Thanks,” I say and make my way out to his truck to wait for him. He drives us home, and when I get inside my room, I pull a piece of paper from my notebook. Instead of flying it through her window, I go over to it and open it from the outside and climb in.
She’s sitting on her bed listening to music. I smile at her as I toss the paper airplane on her lap and wait for her to read it. Her eyes go to mine and I sit next to her, taking her hand in my mine. “Forgive me?” I ask.
She leans forward and kisses my cheek. “Always,” she whispers before pulling back the blankets of her bed.
She’s wearing only a T-shirt, and I can’t help as my eyes begin to wander up her bare legs. I quickly close my eyes as I shuck off my shorts and shirt and climb in with her like we’ve done so many times. Deep inside, we both know we are probably getting too old for this, but we can’t stop now.
I lie behind her, lacing our fingers together and tucking our hands under her chin. “Do you want to talk about it more?” I ask her.
She shakes her head before answering. “No. I understand that I’m too young for you. I’m just your younger friend from next door. I know you date and kiss girls. I just didn’t like seeing it.”
“For that, I’m sorry. I never meant for you to see. I never want to hurt you, Nugget.”
“I know.”
That seems like a lifetime ago now. I open her paper airplane note that sits on top of the box full of snacks and goodies.
Jesse,
I’m grown up now. I’m ready to be yours. I fully expect to be kissed with love and passion from no one but you from now on.
Penny
I chuckle at how she flipped and answered all the things I wrote in the note I sent her that day. The words that I literally dropped in her lap that told her when she grew up someone would kiss her with all the love and passion she deserved; and if no one else did, I’d show her myself and make her mine.
I smile to myself thinking about how she’s about to receive her own paper airplane that I sent to her. Looks like we had the same promises in mind for each other.
Chapter Thirteen
Penny
I can’t hold back my excitement when I see the letter addressed to me in the mailbox. Running to my room with it clutched in my hands, I jump onto my bed with butterflies in my stomach as I open it.
My heart leaps out of my chest when I pull a paper airplane out of the envelope. We’re still the same ornery duo from our childhood in so many ways. No matter how much time has passed, we know each other better than anyone else.
Carefully, I unfold the paper.
Nugget,
I think we can both agree that you’re all grown up now. When I get back, I’m making you mine. I’m going to kiss you better than anyone ever could. You’re in my soul and I’m in yours.
Jesse
Tears of hope and happiness spring to my eyes as I hold his promise in my hands. And I smile to myself at the fact that I sent him the same thing. We really do know each other better than anyone else could ever dream.
I think I’ve known that Jesse Jones was it for me from the first time I saw him. I may have not understood to what extent yet, or that it would even be a romantic kind of love, but I knew he was important. He was a sad and angry boy, and I was a little girl grasping on to the good in anything I found. We’ve always fit together, destined to be each other’s home.
* * *
“Dad, I’m headed out. You need anything before I go?” I ask him as I wash my hands in the corner basin of the garage, scrubbing grease from the day off my skin.
“I think I’m good, LP. You put in that parts order, right?”
“Yep. Should be here in a few days.”
“OK, then I think we’re set. You going home or staying at Jesse’s again?” he asks me in a tone that tells me he doesn’t like my new routine. I’ve been staying with Bear—who Tatum flew back from Vegas for me—at Jesse’s house more and more instead of at home with my dad. What I can’t figure out is if it’s because he feels lonely when I’m not there or because I’m staying at a boy’s house, even if he isn’t there.
“Bear is still at Jesse’s.” I shrug. “I’m going there. I should just move my stuff in,” I laugh.
“No, you will not!” he says behind me, startling me.
“Dad,” I start, “I’ve been sleeping at Jesse’s long before now. Why is this different?”
“Well, I’m sure you’ve finally realized you love the dipshit,” he says with a light chuckle.
I blush as I smile, looking at my feet. “You’re not wrong.”
He lets out a big puff of air. “I want to be happy for you, but you’re still our baby girl, Penny.”
I take a couple steps toward him and hug his neck, kissing him on the cheek. “That will never change. I’m just not an actual baby anymore.”
“Yeah.” He smiles at me. “I see that.”
“You sure you’re OK, Daddy?”
“I am. Promise,” he says, kissing me on the head. “Have a good night, LP. I’ll see you in the morning. We have that big customer coming tomorrow.”
“Oh, I forgot. Alright, I’ll get here a little early then.”
I give my dad
one last hug before I make my way to my car and drive to Jesse’s house. I sit on the porch and watch Bear run in the yard for a whole three minutes before he gets tired and joins me.
I’m lost in my mind, daydreaming about Jesse and our future, when my phone rings.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Nugget,” Jesse says into my ear, and it’s the best part of my whole week. We don’t get to talk much, but when we do, I hold on to every word. “Got a question for you.”
“Alright,” I say nervously.
“Do you want to see me?”
“Of course I do!” I laugh.
“I can grab a computer and Skype with you for a little bit. Would you like that?”
“Gosh, yes!”
He laughs in my ear. “Good, because I’m dying to see you. Give me five minutes to set it up and call.”
We hang up and I run inside, pulling out my laptop and getting it ready for his call. I run to the bathroom to attempt to calm my frizzing hair and swipe my lips with gloss. I look down and see that I’m wearing an old T-shirt, so I run up to grab a different one, but before I can get it over my head he’s calling.
I run back down the stairs of his loft bedroom and answer his call. His beautiful face fills my screen, and my eyes instantly begin to fill with tears. I will not cry, I will myself.
“Damn, Nugget. If I would have known you’d answer like that, I would have tried harder to schedule computer use.”
It’s then I realize I’m still holding my shirt at my side, standing here in only my sheer lacey bra and jeans. “Guess I don’t need that anymore,” I say with a shrug and throw the shirt to the floor with a mischievous smile.
Even across the world and through a screen I can see his eyes filled with lust. “Well, shit. I can’t even form words now,” he mumbles as his eyes stay focused on my chest, I’m sure, making me laugh.
“I can put on a shirt. I was in the middle of changing when you called and didn’t want to miss you,” I tell him, reaching over my laptop where my shirt is.
“Stop. Don’t fucking move. I need a minute to appreciate all that is Penelope Gellar for a second,” he says, and I realize my boobs are right in front of the camera. “And maybe tug on my cock, too,” he adds, making my cheeks burn red.
“Jesse!”
“Oh, yeah. Definitely scream my name.”
I sit back down and pull my shirt on. “You just ruined this whole thing,” I say through a smile.
“Really? Because I think it has been a thousand times better than I could have imagined.”
“Oh my gosh, you are such a perv!”
“Only for you, Pen.” He smiles into the camera. I screenshot him just like that, smiling freely and just for me.
“Anyway! Tell me how you are. You doing alright?”
“I’m good. Long, tiring days but I’m surviving.”
“How much longer?”
“I’m near the end,” he answers, and I know, for safety, he can’t tell me exactly when he’ll be back.
“I can’t wait to touch you and see you in real life.”
“I can’t wait to touch you, either, but I think we’re talking about two different things,” he says with a wicked smile.
I cover my face with my hands, embarrassed again. “Jesse! Seriously, you have to stop or I’m going to hang up.”
“Liar.” He laughs at me. “How’s everyone? Wait, are you at my house?”
“Did you just now realize this?” I chuckle.
“Sorry, I was distracted by your tits.”
I shake my head at him. “Yeah, I hope you don’t mind, Bear and I have been staying here some.”
“Why would I mind? You’re moving your ass in there with me eventually anyway.”
I shrug my shoulder like it’s not a huge deal. “Maybe.”
“Brat.”
“But won’t you return to Vegas when you get back?”
“Yeah. I’ll have some time off though and was thinking I’d come home to visit. Then, I have about two more years until I’m home for good.”
“I like that. We can do this.”
“We definitely can,” he agrees.
We talk for a little bit longer before he has to go. I say goodbye and kiss him through the camera on my laptop. We hang up, and even though I miss him like crazy, I can’t stop smiling.
I thought before that I was in love with him. Now, I know for sure.
Chapter Fourteen
Jesse
Talk about fucking blue balls. I was not expecting to see Penny’s tits on my screen when I called her, but I was not complaining. Although in the weeks since, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her and how beautiful she was—is. And the fact that she was at my house and looked so relaxed and natural there, I loved it.
I didn’t want to say anything and get her hopes up in case something happens, but if everything goes according to plan, I should be back in time for Christmas. I can’t wait to see her, wrap my arms around her, kiss her lips.
Today is Penny’s birthday, and I know how much it means to her. I just have to wait a few more weeks and we can be together to celebrate.
I’m walking to call her and wish her a happy birthday when I see Alvie.
“Hey, man. Haven’t seen you for a minute,” I say to him as we do a bro shake/hug.
“Different shift, I guess,” he replies, but he seems off.
“You alright?”
“Yeah, just tired. I’m getting ready to head to bed. What are you up to?”
“Calling Pen. It’s her birthday.”
“Aww, look at you all sweet and shit.”
I chuckle at him. “I try.”
“Go call your girl. We’ll catch up soon.”
We fist-bump and I go in to call my girl. It’s night back home. I’m hoping she’s home from hanging with her family.
When I think I’m not going to catch her, she answers. She’s lying in bed looking sleepy.
“Hey, Jesse.” She smiles, sounding as tired as she looks.
“Happy birthday, Nugget.” I smile back at her. Even tired, she’s breathtaking.
“Thanks.”
“Were you sleeping?” I ask, feeling bad if I waited too long to call her.
She sits up in bed a little, pulling the blanket up with her. “Not yet,” she says with a shy smile.
“Are you drunk?” I ask. It is her twenty-first birthday, and as much as I didn’t peg her for a get-drunk-on-twenty-one girl, it’s still plausible.
“Maybe a little,” she giggles. Ah, that makes more sense now. I grin at her, taking in her glossy eyes, messy hair, and the fact that she looks like she’s naked under that blanket. It all seems characteristic for a twenty-first birthday.
I chuckle. “Tell me what you did.”
“Dinner with everyone. The typical thing, blah, blah, blah.” I smother my laugh as she talks. “Then, Tate said the real party was happening later. She and Bex came over and we had some drinks. They were soooo good,” she gushes with big eyes. “Ollie was pissed when he had to pick them up. He just got a new car and was afraid they’d puke in it,” she giggles.
“Well, sounds like it was fun,” I say smiling at her, innocently blitz and in my bed. “You tired? I can try to call you tomorrow.”
“No,” she whines through a yawn and then stretches her hands above her head. The blanket falls and exposes her bare chest, making me instantly hard. Fuuuuuck. “I miss you. I wish you were here and could give me the real present I want.”
Amused, I bite. “And what’s that, Pen?”
“I want you to fuck me, Jess. That’s all I want,” she says quietly.
And I’m going to blow a load in my pants. She’s sitting in my bed, topless, drunk, just said ‘fuck’ for the second time in her life and it was in reference to what she wants me to do to her. Shit. I swallow down all the teenage-type horny things I want to say and do.
“Soon,” I say the only word I can manage at the moment. “Get some sleep, Nugget. I
’ll try to call again tomorrow. I’m glad you had a good birthday.”
“Night, Jesse,” she says, blowing me a kiss and ending the call.
And with that, I make my way to the bathroom and jerk off like I’m thirteen again.
* * *
Three weeks and two days later, I land back in Las Vegas, Nevada and I’ve never been happier to be in Sin City. Deployment wasn’t that bad, but I’m glad it’s done. And I’m ecstatic to see Penny soon.
I spend the next few days in processing back into the base, enjoying my own shower, and catching up on sleep. Once my leave starts, I board a plane to fly home to Graves.
There is no sight more stunning than Penny waiting for me when I get off the plane. She’s straightened her hair, making it lie flat and fall around her perfectly beautiful face. She’s wearing more makeup than usual but still not too much that she doesn’t look like her. The shirt she’s wearing is a long sleeve that dips just enough in the front to show the tops of her tits, and my eyes do not miss her painted-on jeans that hug all her curves. Damn. She’s mine.
I can’t hide my growing smile as I get closer and closer to her. She can hardly hold in her own excitement as she picks up speed in my direction. Before long, she’s running and jumps into my arms, her legs hooking behind my back as our lips instantly fuse together. Her hands are in my hair and cupping my face as mine are on her ass and back, holding her to me.
I’m not sure how long we kiss, lost in each other, but everything around us fades away. All people and sound, gone. We match kiss for kiss as our tongues glide together, tasting and savoring.
I hear someone cough like they’re clearing their throat and slowly open my eyes to see it’s not just Tilly and Travis, but Ollie and Bex, Tatum and Benton. Whoops! Slowly, I let Penny down to her feet, but her eyes don’t leave mine as she smiles big and bright.
Tilly pulls me into a big hug next, tears already falling down her face like I knew they would. I roll my eyes at her and shake my head. “I missed you so much,” she tells me, cupping my face. “Welcome home.”
Always Series Box Set Page 55