“Yeah, you just said that.”
“That means Timmy’s apartment has just Timmy in it.”
Oh no, I knew where this was going to end up. I hoped a band would quickly take the stage and start playing loud enough to drown Bridget out.
Not a chance.
“I thought once Danny left, it’d be a good chance for us to move in together.”
“If he has a lease, he can’t break it.”
“Not him, me.”
“Your lease…”
“Is month to month. All I need is one month’s notice.”
“When did Danny move out?”
“Yesterday.”
I stared at Bridget in disbelief.
Yesterday?
“It was just yesterday,” I said. “Give him a chance to breathe. Maybe he’s cleaning up after Danny. He’s messy, right?”
“A pig,” Bridget said as she made a horrible looking sour face. “He ate and left dishes in his room. He never did laundry. He was disgusting.”
“There you go,” I said. “Timmy’s probably cleaning the place up. Making it his own… before it’s yours.”
I smiled, Bridget bought it, and life moved forward.
I caught sight of my boss, Jerry, walking towards the stage. He wiggled his wrist to pull his shirt sleeve up and checked the time. He jumped up on the stage, trying to look cool, but Jerry was anything but. He turned and grabbed the microphone, fixing his glasses before talking.
“Thanks for coming out tonight,” he said. “We have a few bands lined up. Our first act is brand new. It’s his first show. Please welcome… For Abby.”
The second I heard the name, my heart jumped. I hadn’t heard that name in a long time. My eyes then watched as Jerry moved from the stage as someone else walked on it.
“Whoa, that guy is hot,” Bridget said.
“Yeah, he is.”
It was the only response I had.
My eyes were wide and I was in shock.
Right there, on the stage of Thorns, stood Jack.
11
He picked up a guitar and strummed a few chords, eyeing the café, barely even looking at me. I’m sure my face said enough and I was thankful that Bridget had her attention on Jack, like most of the café.
I say most of the café because people were still settling in and talking. The second Jack struck the first chord to a song and started to sing, the entire place became his.
Just like he commanded me with his words and eyes, he did the same for the lucky twenty or so people in Thorns.
I had no idea Jack could play guitar and sing.
He did.
He did both with a passion and beauty that made it seem like he was singing to me. At one point, he was singing to me. Just him and a guitar, lyrics that stopped the world but moved me.
“He’s good,” Bridget said.
She leaned against the counter as I leaned over it. My chin rested in my hands and I was probably seconds away from drooling.
“You hear me?”
“I heard,” I said, snapping out of my trance. “I heard. And yes, he’s good.”
“And hot.”
“Yeah, I heard that too.”
The song continued and Jack’s eyes wouldn’t leave me. At first, I tried looking away, thinking that would break the eye contact. It didn’t. The more the song became its own, the more I felt the lyrics, and felt Jack singing them to me.
This wasn’t just a song written about me, or us, this was the song. Covering all the years, all the emotion, all the passion, and all the love.
When it ended, Jack tucked the guitar pick into his pocket and nodded.
Thorns erupted in an applause that rarely happened for the first band performing.
“That’s it for me tonight,” Jack said. He offered his sexy smile and his voice sounded hotter than ever coming through the speakers in the café. “I’m going to be late for a date if I keep singing.”
Our date.
Oh yeah.
He took the guitar off and gently put it back down.
Bridget turned to me. “Wish I had some of that.”
“Coming from the girl upset her boyfriend won’t offer her to move in with him. Keep your eyes to yourself.”
Bridget waved at me. “Like we’d ever have a shot with him.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
I smiled.
Jack left the stage and made his way towards me. A few people reached out and offered handshakes and high fives. Two women grabbed at his wrist, probably wanting to buy him a coffee and flirt. He ignored the world for me.
“Looks like the hottie wants a drink,” I said, nudging Bridget.
She tensed up and stepped to the side.
Jack walked to the counter and I reached down for a bottle of water.
“On the house,” I said. I slid the water to Jack and he took it.
He drank some, his eyes never leaving me.
He put the bottle down and stood there, waiting for me.
“Didn’t know you played guitar.”
“Taught myself.”
“Didn’t know you could sing.”
“Just started one day.”
“Didn’t know you could write songs.”
“Me either,” Jack said. “Thought of that one earlier today. Called and asked if there was an opening for a new band and they said yes.”
“That was for me?”
“That was for everyone here.” Jack took my hand and squeezed his. “This is for you and me.”
I peeked to my left to Bridget. She was in complete shock. I couldn’t help myself as I burst out laughing.
Jack looked confused.
“Sorry, not you,” I said. I looked at Bridget. “Come here. I want you to meet someone.”
Bridget stepped back to the counter.
“This is Bridget, my best friend.”
“Bridget,” Jack said and offered his hand.
She looked like she was going to faint as she shook his hand.
“And Bridget, this is my old friend, Jack.”
“Jack,” Bridget whispered. “Nice to meet you.”
“Bridget thinks you’re hot,” I said.
Bridget’s face turned red and she looked at me with an evil glare.
“Does she now?” Jack asked, not letting a thing bother him. “Well, Bridget is a very beautiful woman…”
What? My blood churned with a crazed jealousy.
“… but I’m a man who is spoken for.”
“Old friend,” Bridget said as she shook her head at me.
“Yeah, like I said.”
“I’m going to grab us a table,” Jack said. “You two can talk alone. Bridget, it was nice meeting you.”
“Yeah… you… too…”
Jack turned and left. Bridget’s words were left stranded in the air. She took a few seconds to watch Jack walk away, doing the same as I was, staring at his perfect backside. She then spun and collapsed on the counter. I thought she was going to throw her coffee at me.
“You okay?” I asked.
“My gosh, Tessa. My gosh. He’s freaking gorgeous.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t tell me. You didn’t…”
“He’s an old friend,” I said. “Okay? He called me after the news of my father, we met up, we talked, and now…”
“He’s getting you two a table.”
“That’s right.”
I reached behind me and untied my black apron. I folded it up and tapped it on the counter.
“I’m off duty.”
Bridget looked at me, then to Jack.
“Yeah… well you better go get on him.”
We both laughed and I blushed.
12
There was no pressure, other than the million pounds of pressure I felt on my back. As we sat at the small table in the back corner of the café, the rest of the place felt hidden. The table was normally left for recluse people who want to jot notes, write poetry, tear up a keyboard,
or just sit deep in thought. It was perfect for us.
Tonight, it had me and Jack, staring at each other - me staring at him awkwardly, he staring at me with a sexy commanding stare. His eyes were so truthful and deep. And he wouldn’t stop looking at me. At first, I enjoyed it. A lot. He made me feel like he did when he sang; I was the only person in the café. Nothing and nobody else mattered. But as his stare continued, I started to doubt myself.
What did I know about Jack?
Not the personal stuff… but the other stuff.
His body.
His needs.
Would I be able to keep up with him? To please him? To make him fall in love with me?
My confidence waned and Jack took notice. At some point my hand started to shake a little and he took it, holding tight.
“Why are you worried?” he asked.
“I’m not,” I said.
“You can’t lie. Especially to me.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because I know everything. And I can see it all. In your face. In your heart.”
“Can we leave yet?” I asked. I hoped it would give me a sense of confidence, but it didn’t.
“Where would you like to go?”
“You’re the one who wanted a date,” I said, “you pick. You make the rules.”
“Make the rules? I like that.”
I blushed again.
Damn.
Was it supposed to be like this?
I knew that tonight I would offer myself to Jack and I knew, without a doubt, that he would accept me. Knowing that though wasn’t as hot as I thought it would be. Nothing felt spontaneous in that moment. I felt like a daily planner hung over my head, everything written and perfected.
Not that sex with Jack wouldn’t be perfect…
“You just relax,” Jack said. “That’s your job.”
Somehow I managed to eat, and drink, and enjoy myself. My nerves started to calm, thanks to Jack’s easy demeanor and overwhelming confidence.
The bands played on and when it came to the normal time slot for Brett to take the stage I wasn’t sure what would happen. Jerry had booked a band from Virginia, three guys that looked really young but played really well together.
“You like it, don’t you?”
“Like what?” I asked Jack.
“Music. Art.”
“You tell me,” I said.
“All your life. Can I confess something, Tessa?”
I nodded.
“You’re the reason why I started playing guitar and trying to write songs.”
“Songs? You have more songs?”
“I guess so. More just fooling around with a guitar.”
“Because of me?”
“Yeah. You’re so amazed by it all. The way your face looks when you hear a song you like. The way your mind seems to churn when you’re reading a book you like. How you stare off into space after looking at a painting.”
“Don’t you just know everything?” I asked, trying to hide my emotions.
Having Jack know so much, to have him there in Thorns with me, to imagine him there with me all those years, made me want to cry. I didn’t want to get emotional on our date, so I turned around and blinked my watery eyes through the song playing.
When it ended and I turned back to Jack, he was standing.
We were going to leave.
I was going to have him.
He was going to have me.
I sat there for a few seconds, because my body started to pulse. Jack recognized it and walked around the table. He reached down and interlocked our hands together. Then he leaned down, his check touching mine. I inhaled his manly smell that had been burned into my senses for years. He smelled like the same old Jack, just much more grown up.
“Tessa,” he whispered, “I swear to you, I won’t let anything bad happen.”
I never thought anything bad would happen in bed with Jack, so I wasn’t sure if he was talking beyond our date and beyond our night together.
I nodded.
“You have to come with me right now,” he said. “I can’t control this any longer. If we wait…”
“No. I won’t wait. I can’t wait.”
“Good.”
He stepped back, his hands leaving my hands. I stood from the chair and looked around. Thorns was busting, and the energy was addicting. Jack put his arm around me and pulled me tight to his body. He led the way to the door and just like the perfect gentleman he was, he opened the door and ushered me out.
When I looked at him, he winked.
Ohmygosh… this was really going to happen. Tonight. Right now.
I was happy to have my own car to drive because sitting next to Jack in his car would have driven me beyond mad. I managed to make it back to my apartment without killing myself or anyone around me. The entire drive I kept looking up into my mirror, seeing Jack behind me. It was dark so I saw nothing but the glow of his headlights as he followed me.
I refused to hesitate for anything else. Jack came into my apartment and shut the door. Then he looked at me and locked it.
Before he could smile, I jumped at him.
13
I didn’t mean it to be that way, but I lost all control. My mouth was against his and his hands were around my back, holding me tight. His fingers dug into me. It felt good, almost too good.
When he tried to stop kissing me, I refused, and went after him some more. It was a sloppy kiss, too wet, too much tongue, but I didn’t care. It was a passion-filled, lust laced kiss. I knew I could open myself to Jack, offer myself and he wouldn’t deny me. The time for waiting had come and gone.
Time was up.
My legs were once again tight around Jack’s body. He walked me through the living room, navigating while kissing me. There was something so hot about it. I felt like I was in a dream or a movie.
My apartment’s not that big, so Jack didn’t have to take me far to get to my bedroom. He kicked the door open - so sexy! - so hard that it slammed against the wall. I found out later that he actually punctured the wall.
Whoops.
He sat me down on my bed and backed away. He stared down at me, breathing heavily. His eyes were wide like a mad man. I knew he was trying to figure out how to control himself, how to command our night.
When he touched my chin with his fingers, I shuddered. He lifted my head.
“Tell me something.”
“What?”
“I don’t care, Tessa. Just tell me something.”
“This is perfect,” I said. “Just perfect.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
I shifted back on my bed, towards the headboard, kicking my shoes off, knowing just what was about to happen.
Or so I thought.
I had the general idea of sex but as Jack put one knee on the bed and touched the bottom of my shirt, lifting it to expose my skin again, I moaned. Anything I thought I knew or could imagine wouldn’t live up to Jack.
His hands unbuttoned my pants and pulled, forcing me to lift my body. My pants slithered down my legs and off. He touched just above my knees, with such passionate care, I started to tremble. He wasn’t just some horny man and I wasn’t just some desperate virgin.
Watching the way his eyes devoured me and the way his hands came up my legs, his right hand moving between my legs. He made me jump and gasp. He hesitated and our eyes met. Slowly, he continued, allowing his fingers to become a part of me. I cried out his name and my hand grabbed his wrist. When I did it, I gasped, unsure why I made the move.
Jack stopped. “Tessa…”
“No. Don’t stop. Sorry.”
I moved my hand away from his wrist, back to the bed and gripped my sheets. He touched me again, this time with more passion. My left hand didn’t want to grip sheets so I went for Jack’s shirt. I pulled at the bottom of it, wanting to be sexy and cool. But I wasn’t, not with him touching me like he was. His fingers were doing everything right. His free hand slid under my shirt a
nd before I could reach up to his chest, his hand was over mine. He cupped me, stared at me, wanted me.
I could feel him wanting me.
It was like nothing I ever felt before.
“Last chance,” Jack said.
I shook my head.
“That’s right,” he said. “You never had a chance…”
The next half hour of my life became a whirlwind of pleasure and fantasy meeting reality. We stripped each other, Jack much more delicate with me than I was with him. By the time I had my chance to touch his clothes - and his body - I had already finished twice.
Yes, twice.
When I offered myself to him, we tried to keep our eyes on each other but couldn’t. Our casual glances down each other’s bodies finally became the normal. It was something I’d never forget.
It started with a painful feeling that somehow switched to pleasure in the matter of a few seconds. Jack used care to welcome himself to my body and welcomed me to a world that included an active sex life. The pace ended the way it started, Jack being gentle with filling pleasure. The middle, however, was a wild chaos of sounds, feelings, me clawing at Jack’s muscular back, and Jack holding me in places that left me warm and aching.
Even after the sex ended, he remained right there, with me. We ended with a seductive kiss that started fast and hot and slowly reduced to just our lips pecking a few times. Then Jack touched his nose to mine and exhaled a warm breath. The sweat between us was hot, amazing.
“Tessa,” he said, “that was…”
“Perfect,” I said.
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry if I wasn’t…”
“You were perfect,” he said. “Everything I always dreamed of.”
“Was I? Really?”
Jack nodded and kissed me. His hands were still all over me. His right hand down at my hip, touching, his fingers lingering, wanting to touch elsewhere. His left hand took turns caressing my shoulder and breast. I preferred the latter touch, but if Jack was touching me, I had no complaints.
When he rolled to his side, I let out a groan. My body ached, having been changed forever.
Jack rested his head in his hand as he took the pointer finger on his right hand and drew lines up and down my body.
“Tell me something,” he said.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Anything.”
I thought about it, wanting to come up with something that would blow him away. Something cool, something sexual. Something that wouldn’t make me seem so much like a woman who just lost their virginity.
Hurt Like HELL (new adult contemporary romance) Page 14