Jackson's Girl: Being His Duology

by Charlie R. Love

  “That’s a big promise, Jackson,” I said quietly.

  He grabbed my hand and hold it opened against his, his fingers tracing delicate lines across my palm. “I love you.”

  My lips went dry, and my heart pounded way too fast for it to be normal. “Will you love me forever, Jackson?”

  “Just until I die,” he responded gruffly.

  I didn’t know how to respond to that. Telling him I loved him seemed trivial, somehow. As if those words could match up to how I felt. But hearing him uttered those words out to me?

  They didn’t feel trivial. They felt like they weigh as much as the world.

  I kissed him in place of my words, hoping they’d tell him what I couldn’t say. He kissed me back, with as much passion, his lips telling me he understood.

  His arms went under the sheets, wrapping around my naked waist and pulled me in until my chest was plastered to his. I gasped.

  He broke away from the kiss, breathing as hard as me. “I think it’s time for dinner.”

  “Why?” Food was the last thing on my mind. Not when I was feeling too hot.

  “Because I don’t know how strong my control is when it comes to you. Having you so close to me, and knowing you’re not wearing anything underneath? I might just say fuck the consequences and take you right here.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh. Come on, I think it’s time I feed you.”

  I smiled shyly at him. “Okay.”

  Jackson sat up and fumbled around on his side until I heard the click of the lamp, and the room was surrounded in an orange glow.

  I squinted my eyes from the sudden onslaught of light, pulling the blanket over my chest to cover myself.

  I looked to Jackson and found his hungry eyes on me, taking me in like I was the most appetizing food in the world.

  He moved in close and gave me a chaste kiss on my cheeks before he stood up. “Get dressed, Emily. I’ll go prepare the food.”

  I nodded, my eyes trying and failing to stay on his face.

  I took in his naked torso, and yes, I was vain enough to admit I loved his body. I loved his hard abs, his large biceps, and even the patch of hair heading south on his belly, to the noticeably large bulge tented in his pants.

  My cheeks flushed, I bit my lips and looked up to meet his eyes, finding a satisfied smile on his face.

  “I’ll meet you downstairs,” I said quietly.

  “Are you kicking me out?” he teased. I nodded.

  He laughed and walked out of the room, knowing I was watching him leave and unable to look away.

  I walked downstairs in one of Jackson’s shirt and my panties, with no makeup on, and my hair a mess.

  I knew compared to some of the girls he dated before, I was plain. But the way his eyes darkened with hunger when he took in the sight of me?

  I didn’t feel plain.

  I felt beautiful.

  I walked over to him just as he scooped up some meatballs and put them on the plates he had set out in front of him.

  “We’re having spaghetti?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Is that okay?”

  “I love spaghetti,” I told him. I hadn’t had them since… well, since I was a little girl.

  “I’ll be sure to make a note of that. Why don’t you go and sit down in the living room by the fireplace,” he said. “I’ll bring the food out in a minute.”

  “Do you need help with anything?” I asked. Jackson hardly ever let me do anything.

  He shook his head and turning me around, patted me on my backside. “Go, sweetheart.”

  I stayed frozen, not sure why he thought I would be going now when he was touching me. He shook with laughter, as his palm curved around me before gently pushing me toward the direction of the living room.

  I turned around and shot him a dirty look as I walked away. A few minutes later, Jackson came out carrying two plates, still shirtless. “Are you going to put on a shirt?” I asked him.

  “Do you want me to?” He smirked.

  “You’re distracting.”

  “I’m distracting?” His eyes raked over me. “Sweetheart, you’re wearing my shirt and nothing else.”

  “I’m wearing something underneath,” I grumbled.

  He groaned. “The skimpy little thing I took off of you earlier?”

  “Yes.”

  His eyes darkened as they took in my smaller form on the couch, greedy for any naked skin he could see. “Yeah, like I said. You’re my best distraction.”

  I smiled and held out my hands for my plate. He gave it to me, and grabbing the remote off the coffee table, turned on the TV. When he sat back down, he patted the seat next to him with his free hand. I moved in without hesitation, and he curved his left arm around me.

  We stayed like that for the longest time, even when our plates were cleaned off, and the movie ended.

  I didn’t want to move, not when I was too comfortable, and Jackson was happy leaving us there, up until I fell asleep in his arms, and he carried me to the bedroom, staying close to me throughout the night, making sure I stayed safely tucked beside him.

  14

  Past: Emily

  I came home to an empty house the next morning. The heat was off, leaving a sort of chill that permeated through my skin. Every time I spent the night with Jackson, it took away more and more of my feelings for this house.

  Oddly enough, I had always been fond of this house, with its creaking floor, limited hot water supply, its decade-old furniture, and useless porch swing.

  I was fond of it all because it was the house my mom had lived in and loved.

  I didn’t remember much from her, but sometimes when I close my eyes, I swore I could still remember the musical quality to her laugh, the sound both painful and comforting. I wondered if my dad still remembers her laugh?

  But being with Jackson, staying away from this house… every time I came back to it, the things that I had once found charming before had lost some of its magic, making it seem just so… ordinary.

  Jackson walked silently behind me, and having walked into the house and noticed the heat was off, wrapped me in his sweater.

  “Go get ready for school,” he said quietly as if he could read my mood. I nodded and walked away without another word.

  Fifteen minutes later, I was ready. When I walked out, Jackson held out his hand, smiling when I took it.

  He pulled me in, curving his hand around my palm, the roughness of it now familiar to me, a comfort I seek whenever I felt down.

  I followed him out to his car, and let him do his weird ritual thing, where he’d bent down to my level when I was seated, and buckled me in, removed any stray hair, and gave me a chaste kiss on my cheek.

  I smiled and leaned in a little closer to him, nuzzling my face in his chest and let him hold me. And as briefly as it was, it was enough to anchor me a little more to this world.

  My eyes followed him as he walked to the driver’s side and he took off, holding onto my hand at the console, never once letting go.

  School was always weird ever since Jackson and I got together.

  For one thing, I was receiving a lot more attention than I was before.

  And I couldn’t find it in me to love it when I had spent the majority of my life being invisible.

  The boys here all wanted to know what I could have done to capture Jackson’s attention, and I could see the interest that lingered in their eyes whenever I walked down the hall. It was a terrible thing. To only be seen as some sort of challenge in their eyes.

  The girls all wondered the same thing, but their interest in me is entirely different, almost cruel and cattish.

  It made trying to stay out of the spotlight that much harder to do. And Jackson wasn’t oblivious. I knew he was frustrated with how things were at school, and if he could, he would probably place me in his pocket throughout the day and protect me from all those awful gazes.

  But none of it, and I mean none of it, could be as worse than having Jude’s b
lue eyes on me. With Jackson by my side, he could protect me from the way those eyes left me feeling cold.

  And they were on me at the moment, only Jackson wasn’t with me, and without him, I was utterly defenseless against Jude’s cruel nature.

  He eyed me up and down, the interests in them resembled much of how Ethan would sometimes look at me when we were dating.

  It made me sick to the stomach.

  He moved in close to me, so close that I could feel his hot breath on my skin. “Who let you out of your cage, Little Bird?” Jude whispered.

  I shivered and he smiled.

  “What do you want?” I asked, surprised I was able to keep my voice steady.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” He placed one beefy hand on my shoulder. I flinched. He chuckled softly, the sound both gentle and mean. “I want you.”

  He blew in my ear. I was glad I didn’t eat much for breakfast. Surely, it would be all over the school’s flooring by now.

  “You don’t want me,” I replied. “You want to hurt Jackson through me.”

  If it was possible, he moved in closer. “Well, look at that. I see Jackson isn’t just attracted to your meek looks. You have a brain in there somewhere.”

  “Jackson will kill you,” I said, with as much confidence as I could muster.

  “Probably. But after I’m done with you, I doubt he would want to put his hands on his broken toy again.”

  I whimpered and tried to move away. His hold on me tightened to the point of pain, causing me to freeze.

  He eased up for a fraction. “On second thought, he would probably love you even more. After all, he has been known to go after the things I had my hands on first. Unless of course, he already got to you. Tell me, Little Bird, has Jackson tainted you already? It wouldn’t matter. Jackson never minded taking what was mine first. He wouldn’t mind if I take you and have my fun before I return you to him, would he?”

  I didn’t say anything, hoping with my silence, he would grow bored, though I doubted it. He was enjoying taunting me way too much.

  “Get away from her!” A familiar voice shouted from somewhere nearby, and I wanted to weep in relief.

  We both turned to Jackson rushing to us, a dark look passed over his eyes when he found Jude’s hand on me.

  He shoved Jude out of the way and pulled my trembling body around him. I didn’t even realize I was shaking until he held me in his arms.

  From the distance, I could see Aiden making his way toward us, a fierce look on his face.

  He stood beside Jackson, taking in Jude’s smile.

  “How cute. Is Aiden here to help you?”

  Jackson shook his head and smiled, the kind of smile I had never seen on his face before. “I don’t need Aiden’s help to take you. He hates you just as much as I do. He’s here to watch me beat your ass to the ground.”

  Jude wasn’t smiling anymore, his eyes assessing. Jackson shook in rage when Jude’s eyes connected with mine.

  “Don’t look at her, you piece of shit.”

  “Jackson, calm down,” Aiden said quietly. “A teacher is watching us.”

  Sure enough, when I looked up, I found Mrs. Caffrey watching from a safe distance, probably wanting to see how this would play out. “You can’t protect Emily if you get suspended for fighting again.”

  Again?

  With seemingly great effort, Jackson calmed down, but he never let go of me. He turned to Jude.

  “You want to know what your problem is?” Jackson asked.

  “I don’t have a problem,” Jude deadpanned.

  “Sure you do. Your problem has always been coming in second to me.”

  Jude’s eyes flashed with anger before he quickly covered it up. “Yeah, right.”

  “Well, if you’re so sure, how about we make this interesting. See, Aiden is setting up another fight soon. Why don’t you come? I promise I’ll save you a spot.”

  Aiden smirked. “Yeah. I can have it arranged. What do you say, Jude?”

  A strange look crossed over Jude’s face then, and Aiden’s body shook with laughter. “Don’t tell me with all your big talk, you’re… scared?”

  Jude scoffed. “I’ll be there.”

  Aiden’s smile couldn’t be described as anything less than satisfied. “Great. I look forward to it.”

  Sparing one last glance at me, Jude pivoted around and walked off. When he was no longer in sight, Jackson directed my attention. “Tell me how long he has been bothering you.”

  “This is the second time I ran into him. But every time I see him in the hallway, he always looks at me like… I don’t know. I don’t really like the way he looks at me.” I said the last part in whispers, shrugging away his question.

  “Why didn’t you say anything before?”

  Again I shrugged. “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

  Jackson made a strange noise. A dangerous noise that told me he was close to losing the careful control he always put on around others. I wanted to move away. His arms tightened around me a little when I tried, preventing me from putting an inch between us.

  “You didn’t think it was a big deal?”

  “Don’t do that,” I said. “I know I should have said something, but I didn’t. I’ll tell you next time he bothers me, but please don’t chastise me like a child. You’re my boyfriend, not my dad.”

  Jackson pulled me to him until our forehead touched, regret in those amber eyes of his. “I’m sorry, Emily. I just… the thought that Jude might have hurt you? It makes me want to track him down right now and make sure he eats hospital food for the next month.”

  I shook my head, moving in closer to him. “That’s just silly. I’m fine. I won’t keep anything from you again, I promise. Can we please just go to lunch now? I’m hungry.”

  Jackson smiled down at me. “My girl’s hungry. I need to feed her before our hour’s up.”

  I smiled and held out my hand. He covered it with his, pulling me until I was so close to him, I might as well burrow myself into his skin and become one with him.

  I looked up and found soft gray eyes on me, a gentle smile on his lips. I had forgotten Aiden was there.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “Hi, Emily. Are you ready for lunch?” I nodded, and we walked off, me in the middle of possibly two of the biggest guys in the whole school.

  It made things not feel so terrible after all. And even when people stared, it felt as if none of them can get to me because they didn’t matter.

  Instead of walking to the lunch room, we walked outside, to the field of grass where Jackson and I first had lunch together.

  “We’re having lunch out here?” I asked.

  Jackson nodded. “Yeah. It’s nice out. And if you get cold, you can always stay close to me. I’ll keep you warm.” He wiggled his eyebrows to let me know exactly what he was thinking about. I rolled my eyes before looking away so he wouldn’t notice my blush.

  Of course, he noticed. He pulled me closer and laughed.

  And Aiden was laughing, too, but it wasn’t mean. The way he looked at me… it was the same way Grant looked at me. It made me soft toward him.

  When the tree I sat at with Jackson many weeks ago came into view, so did Grant. His face was downcast, as he stared intently at something on his phone. When he heard us approached, he looked up and smiled.

  He looked at me and patted the seat next to him. I walked over to him. “Hey, beautiful. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m glad you’re spending time with Jackson,” he said softly, so not to be overheard.

  “You do?”

  “Yes. You seem happy.”

  “I am,” I said on a sigh. I was happy. I hadn’t realized I wasn’t happy with my life until Jackson came into it.

  “Good.” He reached for his backpack and pulled out four sandwiches, handing it to everyone.

  We all mumbled our thanks as Jackson took the seat next to me, and Aiden between Jackson an
d Grant, completing our little circle.

  I had never laugh so much as I did then, with tears streaming down my face. And whenever I looked to Jackson, I would find in eyes on me, tenderness in them that just about turned me into goo.

  Ethan had never looked at me like that.

  Jackson wrapped his arms around me securely as I buried my face in his chest, laughing at something Aiden said.

  Ethan had also never held onto me like that.

  Like I was something precious.

  Something to be cherished.

  There was nothing but lust and manipulations in Ethan’s hold.

  But there was love in Jackson’s.

  I knew the difference. And I thank God every day for having brought Jackson Wright into my life.

  15

  Present: Jackson

  Jackson pulled his car into the almost empty diner and turned off his car.

  He didn’t get out.

  He was about a fifteen minutes away from the hospital—away from his wife. And maybe he should be rushing to her side. Most men wouldn’t leave their wife to go on a drinking binge given her circumstance.

  He didn’t think he was strong enough to be by her side though. Not when she looked as she did the last time he sat by her bedside.

  Like she was dead.

  A sob made its way up his throat, but he quickly forced it down and pulled out his cell phone.

  He thumbed through his contact until he found who he was looking for.

  It rang three times before a man’s voice came through the line.

  “Where are you?” Grant demanded angrily.

  He didn’t blame him. He was where Jackson was supposed to be. By her side. He cleared his throat a few times, before saying, “I’m on my way.”

  There a silence for a moment, before, “Why did you leave, Jackson?”

  “I couldn’t… I don’t know,” he finished lamely. He didn’t know how to tell the man he had come to think of as his own brother that he couldn’t cope if something were to happen to her. How could he live in a world where Emily didn’t exist? It was impossible to even contemplate the thought, only the thought seemed more and more possible the longer she remained asleep, lost in her dream world.