Cursive

by Phoebe Lane

  "Will you sing me a country song so I can hear your twang?" Jace whispered seductively in her ear.

  "Maybe later, cowboy."

  Tuesday came around way too fast. Jace's good mood from the last two days had quickly disappeared once reality had set back in. He had been really nervous, could hardly eat, couldn't sleep, and couldn't concentrate at work. On the other hand, Aislynn had remained calm and collected. She realized she had to provide the constancy and stability that Jace needed at this point.

  She agreed to go with him to the appointment, expecting to stay out in the waiting room while he was in with the doctor, but he insisted in including her into the visit.

  "I want you in there with me. Ask him doctor-to-doctor questions, and freak me the hell out," he joked.

  Jace's oncologist was very detailed and thorough during the examination. He explained that, even though recent research didn't prove that there was a huge benefit in doing scans on patients on all of their follow up visits, he preferred to do so in Jace's case. His cancer had developed fast and with very minimal symptoms initially, and he wanted to catch any possible recurrences early.

  His physical exam was clear, something Aislynn knew already. She would never admit it to anyone, but she had woken up in the middle of the night when Jace had stayed in her apartment and examined his neck and upper torso for palpable lymph nodes. Of course, she couldn't examine all of him without crossing the line into being creepy, so there was still a chance there were nodes somewhere else in his body.

  "Jace, everything looks good. We'll get the blood tests and CT scan done next, and I will call you with the results as soon as I take a look at them. Okay?" the doctor asked.

  "Okay, sounds good. Let's get this over with," he said, shaking the doctor's hand.

  "Dr. Currington, it's a pleasure to meet you. Please call if you need anything while you're in San Diego."

  "Please, it's Aislynn. And thank you."

  Jace became increasingly anxious as they made their way to the lab. His hands were so sweaty he constantly let go of Aislynn's hand to wipe the sweat off on his pants. He embarrassingly admitted that part of his nervousness was due to the fact that he hated needles.

  "I feel so stupid. I'm thirty-one years old, and I'm freaking out about a needle."

  "Have you always hated them? Even as a kid?"

  "It was never this bad. I don't understand it." Aislynn looked at him and hummed under her breath. "What?" he asked.

  "Nothing. I'll spare you the psychobabble. Ellie hates it when I theorize about these things."

  Once they were called into the lab, Jace sat on the phlebotomy chair. He rolled up his sleeve, and Aislynn noticed the slight shake in his hand. She moved to stand next to him and held his other hand to her chest, right in between her breasts, which made him smile. He was a guy after all.

  "When I was an intern doing my internal medicine rotation, the resident I was working with asked me to do a spinal tap on a patient," Aislynn said, trying to distract him. "It was the first one I had ever done, and I had the hardest time finding the right spot on the patient's back to get the fluid out. I swear it took me forever, but I was able to finally get it. After doing a victory dance in my head and cleaning everything up, I labeled the samples, and took my gloves off. It was then that I realized that I'd been holding my breath throughout most of the procedure."

  "Oh, no. What happened?"

  "I started getting dizzy, hot, and I broke out in a cold sweat. Then I started freaking out even more because I knew I was about to pass out in front of a patient. I had survived four years of med school, seeing and doing things a human being probably never should, and I never had a problem. I went through all that training, and the one thing I forgot to do was breathe. It was pathetic." Aislynn felt satisfaction fill her chest when she heard his laugh. "You know what else Ellie hates about me?"

  "What?"

  "My power of distraction. We're done."

  "Wait, what?" Jace asked, looking down at his arm and realizing the samples had already been taken.

  The scan was next and pretty noninvasive. Aislynn had not read a CT scan in a few years, and her radiology knowledge was pretty rusty by now. She glanced at the tech's screen while the scan was being done, but decided not to jump to conclusions with what she thought she saw.

  Now we wait.

  "I might go crazy with all the waiting," he warned her, as they walked out of the hospital.

  "Don't worry. There's medicine for that."

  "Maybe I should go back to work."

  "No way. Let's go back to your house, and I'll cook you lunch. You can work some from home if you want to."

  Let her take care of you, he thought. She obviously wants to.

  Jace realized how much he had longed to have someone in his life that would want to take care of him. He didn't mean it in a needy, clingy way. It wasn't a need for him anymore, it was a want.

  He was constantly surrounded by people who loved and supported him unconditionally, like his parents, his brother, and Evan. But the vacancy Chloe had left behind after she ran away had never been filled— not by Lia, and not by any other woman Jace had been with since then. Things felt very different now. Aislynn was making a difference.

  Jace watched her as she moved comfortably around his kitchen, and a warm feeling invaded his body. It was a combination of lust, affection, and fear. Lust, because he really couldn't wait to have her naked on that kitchen counter, or in his bed, or in any corner of his house for that matter; affection, because he was falling for her and there was no denying it; and fear, because he probably shouldn't have been feeling this way about her so soon.

  "Jace, what is it?" she asked.

  "Nothing," he said with a sweet smile. "I just like to watch you in my house. It suits you."

  She smiled at him and went back to cooking.

  Aislynn had just been thinking about how at ease she felt in Jace's house. She was now more emotionally involved with him than she'd been with anyone else in the last year, yet he had no idea about the complexity and intensity of her baggage.

  No one does. Not even Ellie.

  Everyone had been calling to check on Jace—Nina, John, Evan, Alex, and even Ellie. They were all reassured that the doctor's visit had gone well, and that the results would most likely come back in a day or two.

  Nina had asked to speak with Aislynn to ask a few medical questions, and she answered them as best she could. Nina thanked her over and over for the support she was giving Jace and the rest of his family.

  "Are you okay, sweetheart? How are you holding up?" Nina asked.

  "I'm fine. I'm staying positive."

  "Please, let us know if you need anything. I guess that with your professional background, I don't need to tell you this, but remember that this affects us all, and that includes you now, too."

  Wow, this is new. Pam, are you taking notes?

  "Thanks, Nina. I really appreciate that. You have no idea how much." They exchanged phone numbers, and Aislynn promised to call or text her as soon as they heard something from the doctor's office.

  Aislynn walked back into the living room and found Jace finishing up a call on his landline. "That was Tessa. She says hi, and thanks for going with me to the appointment."

  "Does this mean she's warming up to me?" Aislynn asked, remembering how standoffish Tessa had been at the party.

  "You noticed, huh?"

  "It was hard not to. What's her deal anyway?"

  "Tessa can be a bit…hard on the women I date. It’s more of misplaced protectiveness, I guess. She was the one that introduced me to Chloe; they use to be best friends, actually. She never forgave Chloe for walking out on me, and I think she feels some level of guilt for what happened."

  "Are you guys really close?" she asked.

  "We were closer back in college. We all went to the same school together, and she came to work for me when I started my company. She's a great friend and definitely the perfect woman for Alex. He needs s
omeone who can kick his ass every once in a while."

  "Yeah, well it seems to me she’s an expert at kicking ass. I’m not sure if I admire or dislike that about her."

  After lunch, Aislynn offered to do the cleanup while Jace answered some calls from work. She grabbed her things and announced she was going home, but Jace asked her to stay.

  "I have a deadline coming up. I need to get some writing done," Aislynn said.

  "Do it here. You have your laptop with you, right?" She nodded. "Then stay. Write. You can do it out in the deck if you want. It's beautiful out today."

  He was right of course. The beach offered the perfect scenery, the waves played soothing background music, and having Jace near made her feel at ease. The ideas started flowing in her head instantly, and Aislynn lost herself in her writing.

  She had been outside for a couple of hours when she looked up and into the house through the window. She found Jace sitting on the couch, leaning forward, both hands hiding his face. She raced into the house in a panic and knelt in front of him.

  "Jace, what's wrong?"

  He looked up at her, his face pale. "That was the doctor."

  "That call came faster than we expected. So what did he say?" she asked softly and waited for what felt like an eternity.

  Aislynn had been able to keep her cool since Jace had told her about the lymphoma, but everyone has a limit and she had certainly reached hers. She was expecting to have a breakdown any second, and having to wait this long for his answer was not helping.

  "I'm fine. Everything came back okay," he finally whispered, clearly in shock.

  "Oh my God!" Aislynn screamed, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. She couldn't control the tears that overflowed. She kept planting kisses on the side of his face and neck, trying to convince her brain it had heard right.

  He's fine. He's going to stay with me. He's healthy!

  "I'm fine," he repeated again and again, and Aislynn hugged him tighter, not wanting to let go of him even for a second. She somehow ended up sitting on his lap, tears staining the collar of his shirt.

  "Don't cry, babydoc. Don't cry," he said, soothing her.

  "I’m sorry," she said, sniffing. "Damn it, you're not supposed to be consoling me. I'm supposed to be comforting you."

  "We're both fine. We're going to be fine." Jace held her face in his hands, kissing her softly at first, but allowing things to escalate quickly.

  They tasted each other's mouths and Aislynn became overwhelmed with an overpowering need to have him, to become part of him. She could tell his need was also becoming uncontrollable, as his hands explored her body with a want she hadn't felt before.

  "Jace…" Aislynn said with a moan.

  "Don't tell me to stop. Please…I need you," he said, out of breath. He kissed down her neck, moving his hands down her back, and then to her ass. "I need to feel you. All of you…"

  "God, I want you…" she whispered and moved to straddle him. Jace pulled her shirt up over her head, and she felt him get harder as more of her skin was revealed.

  "You're so beautiful…Flawless," he said, letting his hands wander up to her breasts.

  Aislynn rocked her hips against him, feeling the pleasure navigate from between her legs to the pit of her stomach. She then reached for his shirt and pulled it off him, allowing her hands to touch him everywhere and scratching her nails all over his chest and back, just like she had been fantasizing about doing for so long.

  Jace pulled the pin out of her hair, letting it cascade down her back. He kissed her chest, slowly tracing the contour of her breasts with his fingers and letting their weight rest on his palms. He pulled one of the cups of her black bra down to expose her breast and stared at it with the reverence and need of a parched man standing in front of a water mirage.

  He finally took her nipple into his mouth and sucked on it, making Aislynn gasp in delight. He was gentle at first, but slowly added more pressure, reaching that point between it being painful and insanely pleasurable. He alternated between gentle and rough sucking, and it drove Aislynn wild.

  "Oh…" Aislynn said and pulled his hair hard, feeling like she was losing control. She could feel her inner walls spasm every time he sucked hard on her nipple. It was one of the most mind-blowing things she had ever felt in her life.

  Is it possible to come from this?

  "Let's find out," he responded.

  Aislynn was too far gone to even be embarrassed about her slip up. She continued to push herself hard against him and felt the pressure build in her center. Her hands found their way to the button of his pants and pulled them open in a swift motion.

  Jace hissed and grabbed her roughly by her thighs. He stood up, her legs holding her body up around his waist, the friction against him never ceasing. Jace walked around the sofa, moving in the direction of his room, while his tongue moved from her mouth, to her neck, and back up to her mouth.

  He put her down on her feet and pinned her against the wall in the hallway. But just as Aislynn put her hand inside the front of his pants to touch him, the knocking at the door began.

  "You have got to be kidding me," Jace said, frustrated. Aislynn didn't even register what was going on at first. She kept at it, now trying to wrap her hand around his hard, warm skin, while the knocking became more insistent.

  "What the hell?" she said, finally coming to her senses.

  Then they heard the knob rattle and the door open. "Jace, I know you're in here!"

  "Damn it," Jace said and sighed in frustration when Aislynn removed her hand from around him. "It's Alex. Wait here."

  "There you are! What's up, man?" Aislynn heard Alex say, his voice moving closer to where she was standing, wearing only her bra and jeans. She quickly went into Jace's room and grabbed a t-shirt from his dresser.

  "Alex, I want my key back," Jace said, irritated.

  "Why? What happened…" Alex trailed off, as he watched Jace button his jeans over his obvious erection and pick up two shirts from the floor, one of them obviously smaller and more feminine. "Oh, man. I'm sorry. I can go—"

  "Hi, Alex," Aislynn said walking back into the living room.

  "Seriously, I’m giving you a three seconds running start before I start pounding on you," Jace threatened.

  "Oh, come on, I’m sorry, dude."

  "Three…two…" he seethed.

  "It’s okay," Aislynn whispered softly in Jace’s ear as she non-accidentally let her teeth nip at his earlobe. "I have plans to make this up to you, and I promise it will be worth the wait."

  "That really didn’t help. Now all I want to do is kick him out, lock you up in my room, and find out exactly what you mean," he said, the anger slowly disappearing from his expression.

  Yes, please.

  He finally turned back to his brother, his hand extended with the palm up. "Seriously. I want my key."

  "Fine, fine," Alex said as he took the key off his keychain and dropped it in Jace’s hand. "So sensitive." Apparently he didn’t value his life very much.

  "Alex, your brother has news to share," Aislynn said, putting her arm around Jace's waist and snuggling against him.

  Alex looked at Jace expectantly. "I'm fine. All the tests came back clear," Jace said with a triumphant smile.

  "Hell, yeah!" Alex yelled, pulling Jace into a bear hug. "Fantastic news, brother! Did you tell everyone else already?"

  "No, we just got the call a few minutes ago. We weren't even expecting to hear back from the doctor so soon."

  "So you just found out…and you were busy celebrating," Alex said, things finally clicking for him. "Sorry again about that, but I’m sure you'll have time to, umm, celebrate later."

  Jace rolled his eyes while Aislynn blushed. "We need to tell the family."

  All three of them got on their phones at the same time and bombarded everyone’s lines with calls, voicemails and texts. After getting the news, Nina immediately went into mama bear mode and demanded her whole family convene at her house for an
impromptu celebration dinner.

  "I don't care if we have pizza or bowls of cereal, I want you all here," Aislynn heard her say over the speakerphone.

  "Are you up for it, babydoc?" Jace asked softly, outside of speakerphone range.

  "I don't want to intrude. It's a family thing," she said softly.

  "And you better bring Aislynn, Ellie, and Evan with you, or no beer for you boys," Nina interrupted.

  "I think the decision has been made for you," Jace said, kissing the side of her head. "We can continue our celebration later."

  The scene at the Quinn's house was moving. When they arrived, Nina gave Jace the most heart wrenching mom-hug Aislynn had ever witnessed. She then turned around and gave one to Aislynn as well.

  "Oh, sweetheart…" Nina said softy, wiping Aislynn's tears away. It didn’t escape her how much the scene reminded her about the recurrent nightmare she had been having weeks before.

  What is it with the Quinns and my inability to keep my emotions in check around them?

  "I'm sorry. I think I've been holding it in, and it's finally coming out," she said, trying to compose herself. "I'm just happy." Aislynn couldn't deny the fact that Nina's hug meant a lot to her. Pam had never been the kind to express affection openly.

  "Come inside. Let me feed you guys," John said, appearing at the door with five boxes of pizza and several six packs of beer.

  Aislynn realized two important things during dinner. One, this family was obviously well off; the house was huge, the cars were expensive, and the art on the walls was recognizable. Second, they were all pretty laid back and actually enjoyed being around each other. Talk about feeling the love.

  Jace excused himself to take a call from work, while Aislynn joined in the girls’ conversation at the kitchen table. Tessa was filling Ellie in on the plans for the benefit party coming up that weekend at Langley.

  "It's basically a costume party," Tessa explained. "We ask people to dress up as famous characters from movies, but we don't want them dressed as monsters or anything like that. We want classic and elegant costumes. Think Marilyn Monroe's white dress in The Seven Year Itch or Annette Benning's dress in The American President."