by Stone, J. M.
I heard a small sniffle and then Chloe’s head lifted. I saw surprise flash across her face before she’d schooled her expression again, giving me a guarded and slightly guilty look.
“Hey,” I said softly. “Sorry…I just…I heard you and just wanted to see if you needed anything, or if there was something I could do?”
She shook her head at me and gave me a watery smile. I could see her eyes filling back up again and Brandon wrapped her in his arms again. She buried her face against his chest and cuddled closer. A feeling that I swore I’d never feel in my life settled darkly in my chest, squeezing around my heart. Jealousy doesn’t sit well with me, especially when there is absolutely no reason for it….right?
Swallowing the nasty feeling down, I gave Brandon a small smile in response to the rueful one he shot me and turned and left the room. I made my way back into my bedroom and sank down on the bed beside Jackson. He stirred and turned over, reaching for me blindly in the darkness. I allowed him to pull me into his body, letting the comforting warmth of him soothe me.
“What’s wrong, baby?” he asked, his deep voice sleep-roughened and soft.
I shook my head, not caring that he couldn’t see it. No way in hell was I telling him what was really wrong.
“Where’s Brandon?” he asked suddenly, sounding more awake.
“Chloe had a nightmare and he heard her,” I replied. I felt him lean down and then his lips were on mine, kissing me sweetly before he sat up and swung his legs off the bed.
“I’ll be right back. I just want to check on her, okay?” Without waiting for my answer, he fumbled in the dark for his shorts, pulled them on, and left the room.
I heard faint voices down the hall and flopped myself over onto my back, my breath leaving me on an exasperated huff. I laid there in the darkness, lost in my own thoughts until sleep pulled me under again.
My alarm woke me in the morning and I reached over and thumped it off. My eyelids felt like they weighed twenty pounds and were lined with sandpaper as I blinked and rubbed at them, trying to wake up. The alarm started going off again and I leaned over Brandon to shut it off but the damn thing kept going. I pounded on it once more and it bounced off the nightstand, crashing to the floor, which made Brandon jerk straight up in bed, sending me tumbling in a heap off the end of the bed. I swore loudly as I laid there on the floor, realizing it was my cell phone ringing and not the alarm.
I heard the bed rustle above me and looked up to see Brandon and Jackson peering down at me, Brandon with an almost crazed, scared look, and Jackson mildly amused and curious.
“What are you doing down there, baby?” Jackson asked, his voice laced with barely suppressed laughter.
I rolled my eyes and stretched, trying to look nonchalant but failing miserably. “Ahh…you know. Just hanging out.”
Brandon reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling on it until I sat up. “Sorry…”
I smiled at him and shrugged before getting to my feet. He grabbed for my hand again and pulled me onto the bed across his body, wrapping his arms around me and squeezing. His lips found mine and he kissed me softly before apologizing again for dumping me off the bed. I smiled again and found myself lifted away from him and wrapped in Jackson’s arms with his lips on mine. I sighed contentedly and then groaned as my phone rang again. Brandon reached over and snagged it, holding it out to me.
I glanced at the display as I answered, surprised to see that Emma was calling this early. “Hey, what’s up?” I asked.
“It’s me,” a deep voice said in my ear. “Emma wanted me to call you.”
I shot up in bed, not even wincing when I elbowed Jackson in the stomach in my scramble to sit up.
“Luke? What’s going on? What’s wrong? Where’s Emma? ” My questions came fast, not even giving him enough time to answer.
“Nothing’s wrong and she’s right here. We were just talking about something and wanted to run it by you,” he said, laughing at my tone.
“Really? At…” I craned my neck looking for the alarm clock to check the time before I remembered that it was on the floor where I’d dropped it. “Whatever time it is?” I asked him grouchily. “Why didn’t Emma call, then?”
“Jesus, Allie, just listen to him!” I head Emma yell in the background, laughter ringing out in her words.
“Okay, okay…get to it!” I growled, still irritated by them laughing at me when he just about scared the piss out of me by calling this early from Emma’s phone.
“We’re going to move up the wedding.” He said it firmly and then fell silent, I guess waiting for my response.
“Okay? That’s it? That’s what you were calling for at the crack of dawn, trying to scare the life out of me? Ugh…tell Emma I’m going to kill her. I love her, congrats, I’m all for it, but I’m hanging up now. I’ll be there tonight to kill her. Text me the date.” I huffed out a breath and tapped the end key on the screen of my phone before dropping it and flopping back on the bed between Brandon and Jackson who were both looking at me expectantly.
“That was Luke. They’re moving up the wedding date,” I said. Then a thought occurred to me and I fumbled around on my mattress, sitting up again as I hit Emma’s contact info on the screen. It rang three times before she answered, still laughing.
“Yes, Allie?”
“Are you pregnant?” I blurted out.
“Oh my God! Seriously, Allie?” she cried, laughing even harder. “No, damnit, I’m not pregnant! I just don’t want to wait any longer to have the wedding. Why should we wait until next spring when I’m ahead of schedule on planning everything? I’m just ready to do it but I can’t elope because my parents would kill me!”
“Oh. Well, I just…you sprung it on me and that was the first thing that popped in my head,” I said defensively. “So how much sooner are we talking?” I asked.
“Well, you’d better get to writing your speech and planning your little party. You’ve got about two months,” she said with satisfaction.
“Two months?” I shrieked. “Seriously, you’re pregnant, aren’t you?!”
“No, Allie! I’m not pregnant! Geez woman…I swear. We were just talking and we’ve got everything under control and I don’t want to wait anymore. I’m living with him, and it’s just time. I don’t want to wait until next spring. Does that make sense to you? Or do you think we’re crazy?” Her voice dropped a little at the end and I could hear her worry.
“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. I think it’s cute that you guys don’t want to wait anymore. What did your mom and dad say?” I asked her.
“I haven’t told them, yet. You were the first one we told. We were just lying there in bed this morning after he woke me up with his-”
“Em, no. Don’t go there. I can imagine just fine how he woke you up, and that’s not something I should be able to do!” I laughed as I said it because I couldn’t help it. Emma and I both knew more about the other than our own doctors did.
She laughed with me and then I heard a breathy moan come through the phone before she quickly said, “Gotta go, talk later. Love you bye!” and hung up on me.
I chuckled and put my phone back down on the bed beside me, sighing when Jackson’s arms came back around me and Brandon cuddled up to my front.
“What was all that about?” Brandon asked, his words muffled by my breasts.
“Just a thought that popped into my head when they said they were moving everything up.”
Brandon’s head popped up and he quirked his eyebrow at me, asking silently for more details. I obliged, telling him about the conversation. “So,” he began when I was done, “we have two months to get ready for this whole wedding thing, huh?”
I nodded and Jackson and I both laughed at Brandon’s expression. He grabbed my face and kissed me absent-mindedly and then jumped off the bed, mumbling, “Need to call Calland…definitely need to rework the plans…” as he headed into the bathroom.
Jackson twisted me around to face him and proceeded to ki
ss me breathless. “Good morning,” he said softly when he pulled back from me.
“Mmmm…good morning to you, too!” I murmured. “I have to get up and get ready for work. What do you have going today?”
He stretched before answering, “Got a couple things to do at the office today so I’ll be heading to Cincinnati in an hour or so.” He’d finally found an office building that worked perfectly for him and had already gotten it up and running. He’s pretty amazing like that. “I’ll be back around three or so to do some more work on the house after that. Why? Got plans tonight?” He waggled his brows at me and I laughed at him.
I shook my head and said, “No, nothing going on but I have a feeling we’re going to end up at Emma and Luke’s tonight to discuss wedding stuff. And I probably need to get ahold of Jenna and Leah to start making plans for the bachelorette party.”
He nodded at me and then grimaced. “Yeah, the last thing I heard about the bachelor party for Luke involved strippers and copious amounts of whipped cream,” he said, shuddering dramatically.
My lips twisted into a wry smile and I told him, “Uh-huh, sure…that is completely out of the realm of comfort for you, right?”
He grinned at me and kissed me again quickly before getting up out of bed. I laid there for a minute more and then crawled off the bed, heading toward the closet for start getting ready for the day.
Chapter 11
Work was pretty uneventful at the store that day, and evening found me, where else? At Emma’s. Brandon was still at work since he had the late shift and had a few appointments but Luke, Emma, Jackson, Chloe, and I were all sitting around the kitchen table, munching on some snacks that Emma had set out and discussing wedding plans.
“Did you tell your mom and dad and everyone finally?” I asked Emma. She opened her mouth to reply but a weird, almost horrified expression crossed her face and then she gagged. “Emma? Are you--oh, holy shit! What the fuck is that?” I jumped away from the table, pulling my shirt up over the lower half of my face to block the God-awful stench that started to waft through the room.
Everyone else was following suit, covering their faces with whatever they could find and looking around to try to figure out where the smell was coming from. I saw Luke bend slightly and look under the table, doing the same when I heard him groan and mutter under his breath.
When I peeked under there, I noticed a very large canine sitting calmly with a very large canine smile stretched across his lips, his tail wagging a mile a minute. “Seriously, Doug?” I groaned. “Jesus, Luke! What the hell did you feed him?”
Luke shook his head and threw his hands up. “I didn’t give him anything, I swear! God it smells like death in here!” With that he walked to the back door, swung it open, and yelled at Doug to go outside. Doug, clearly still enjoying his act of doggy-terrorism on our group, trotted outside with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.
Emma jumped into the laundry room and came out with an industrial sized can of Lysol, spraying like a mad-woman, which left us all choking and spitting. Seriously, it was so thick in the room you could taste that shit on your tongue! I finally gave up and started toward the front door, shaking my head and laughing as Chloe and Jackson trailed after me, and Luke followed behind, but not before he wrestled the can out of Emma’s hand and scowled at her. She scowled back at him and stuck her tongue out childishly, making us laugh even harder when her face screwed up as she got a taste of the cloud of Lysol hovering in the air.
When we were all safely on the porch, I heard Chloe turn to Jackson and say, “Is it always like this?”
I could hear the smile in her voice and knew Jackson was grinning when he replied, “Yep.”
We were all still sitting outside, this time in the back around the fire pit, when Brandon got there. Emma, Chloe, and I were roasting marshmallows and getting to eat maybe one out of every three because they were either stolen by the guys or we were talking and laughing too much and didn’t pay enough attention to what we were doing, so they fell off the campfire forks we were using into the fire.
After a while, Jackson stood up and stretched, yawning loudly. I looked up at him and he winked at me. I grinned back because, well, I just couldn’t help it (God, he’s so hot) and because I knew what that twinkle in his eyes meant. He came and stood in front of me, reaching his hand down to help me up off the bench I was sitting on and wrapped me in a hug before releasing me. I saw him glance over at Brandon who nodded at him and got to his feet, as well. Chloe followed and we all said our goodbyes.
When we got home, I headed toward my bathroom to take a long, hot bath. Before I reached the doorway to my room, I heard Chloe behind me.
“Ummm…Allie? Do you think…could I talk to you for a second?” she asked, hesitantly.
I nodded at her, curious to see what she wanted to talk about. I motioned for her to follow me, noticing that Brandon and Jackson were also watching very curiously. She came into the room behind me and sat cautiously on the edge of my bed. “What’s up?” I asked.
She swallowed audibly. “Well, I just don’t want you to think that I’m…I don’t want to be in your way.”
“Chloe where the hell would you get an idea like that? You’re Jackson’s sister, where else would you go?” I shook my head. “I’m sorry if I gave you that impression, because that’s not it at all. I just wish there was something more I could do, something I could say to make it better for you. I don’t even really know the whole story, just the little bits you told me and Emma. Jackson hasn’t said anything, so you don’t have to worry about that, and I’m not going to pry into your business,” I said firmly.
“I really don’t want to talk about it. I haven’t even really said much more about anything to Jackson, though I know it pisses him off every time he looks at me. I’m just glad the bruises are fading. But, it’s just…well, the other night you came by the room and saw Brandon in bed with me. I was so scared that you were going to hate me…think that I was trying something with him. I’ve known him for a very long time, him and Luke, and-”
I cut her off with a wave. Time to eat some crow. (Or something like that) “I don’t think you’re trying anything with him. You have nightmares, he heard you and wanted to help. I don’t have a problem with that at all. And if I gave you that impression, then I’m sorry. That’s my fault. This whole relationship thing with your brother and Brandon is so new to me…I…yeah, I don’t know. I’m sorry if I upset you.”
She shook her head at me vehemently. “You didn’t upset me at all! I just was so scared that you were mad. And I haven’t really taken the time to tell you thank you for everything you’ve done for me. You took me in when I showed up on Luke and Emma’s doorstep looking like I’d gone twelve rounds with Mike Tyson.” She chuckled wryly at her own small attempt at humor before continuing. “You let me tag along with you guys and you’ve been so nice…everyone has been so great about everything.”
I moved closer to the bed and leaned in to give her a hug. She wrapped her arms around me and held on tightly for a moment. I could feel her take a deep, shuddering breath and knew that I’d just taken a weight off of her shoulders. Which made me feel like an ass.
At that moment, my bedroom door opened and Brandon popped his head in. I watched his lips stretch into a wide grin, his eyes twinkling devilishly and groaned because I knew what was coming.
“Ooohh…going for some girl on girl? I’m down with that! Just let me get rid of Jackson…” he said loudly before breaking down with laughter, wincing when Jackson, who was standing right behind him, smacked him in the back of his head.
Jacks pushed past him, shaking his head in part annoyance, part amusement. He stopped by where we were standing, our arms still wrapped around each other loosely, and asked his sister, “You okay?”
She nodded and smiled at me again before saying, “Well, I guess that’s my cue!” She hugged her brother and slugged Brandon’s arm as she went by him on her way out of the room.
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nbsp; I sighed and shook my head at Brandon, which I seem to find myself doing a lot, and then walked into the bathroom to take my bath. I’d been in there for a good fifteen minutes when the door opened and the doorway was filled with mouth-wateringly delicious nakedness of the male variety. I watched as Brandon ran his hand down his chest, my eyes watching every move, until he reached that special, perfect part of him that was rapidly rising to meet the occasion. I gasped as he wrapped his fingers around the considerable girth of himself, stroking firmly from root to tip.
“You gonna be in here all night?” he asked, the deep, husky, rich tone of his voice making me shiver as it washed over me like a caress.
I didn’t answer him, just pulled the plug on the tub and stood without a word, stepping out and reaching for my towel. He watched every move I made, the intensity in his eyes making my fingers fumble as I dried myself. Finally giving up, I just wrapped the towel around me and moved to where he was still standing motionless in the doorway, stroking himself. I reached out my hand to touch him and he stopped me with a terse, “No.”
I stopped, my hand hanging frozen in mid-air. The uncertainty I knew was written across my face must have gotten to him because his features softened for a second before he commanded, “Drop the towel, Allie.”
I let the towel drop from my body, standing naked before him. Without another word, he turned away and walked back into the bedroom, which was dark except for the soft glow emanating from my bedside lamp. I followed him, a little perturbed by the fact that he still hadn’t touched me or done anything except order me around. I paused for a moment to take in the sight stretched out in front of me.
Brandon was standing beside the bed with one knee propped up on it, and his hand was still fisting the rock-hard length jutting from the juncture of his thighs. Jackson was laying on the other side of the bed, propped up with pillows against the headboard. He was also naked, but his hands were tucked behind his head, leaving everything open to my greedy eyes. The thick hardness of his erection stood up from his body, slightly curving towards the sculpted lines of his stomach. I blinked slowly, in awe of all that hot male flesh just waiting for my touch.