by L A Cotton
"Chipper? Is that just a sugar coated way of saying that she's annoying?"
"She’s nice,” I countered.
“It doesn’t matter what you all think, anyway. We mesh and that’s enough for me,” he said, just out of earshot of the others who had walked a little ahead of us.
“And it should be. She like likes you too, you know. I can see it in her eyes when she watches you.”
Paul’s eyes scrunched. “Watches me?”
I laughed, shaking my head at his cluelessness. “Come on, Cormack. We have a game to get to.”
Ten minutes later, we were crammed into a row surrounded by most of CFA’s student population. The air was electric; a mix of excitement and apprehension, but my eyes were fixated on only one thing. The tunnel remained empty as I waited for the team to enter the field. I was only interested in seeing Jackson, and my body hummed with nervous energy as I anticipated the opening beats of Thirty Seconds to Mars. So absorbed in waiting, I almost jumped out of my skin when the PA system crackled to life and the crowd roared, welcoming their team onto the field. Jackson was no longer walking side by side with Braiden. Instead, he lingered behind with the rest of the team while someone wearing the number five jersey walked in his place.
The sight should have comforted me—Jackson was really out, just like he had told me. But something about it bugged me. Everything was too simple. The Braiden who tied me to a chair and forced me to watch him taunt a beaten and bloody Jackson wouldn’t have been able to wear the same uniform as a guy who betrayed him, let alone play on the same team. Jackson reassured me it was because Braiden was too obsessed with revenge against Cole Calder, that once that was taken care of, he would redirect his attention back to us, but it just didn’t make sense. I’d seen Braiden fly off the handle and beat guys to a pulp for lesser things. Something didn’t add up.
“Chica, everything okay?” Elena squeezed my hand and I turned my head, forcing a smile.
The coach called The Fallen in for their pep talk. Braiden stood close to him, barking out orders and commanding head nods from the other players, but Jackson stood in the outer circle barely moving. He was tense—even from my spot up in the stands I could see that.
Excited rumbles dulled into low murmurs as the crowd settled in to watch the kickoff. Braiden stalked toward the referee and opposing team’s captain for the coin toss.
“Yes.” Paul punched the air. When we all looked along the row at him, he shrugged.
My eyes wandered back to the field. The Fallen offense was moving into their starting positions while the cheer squad cheered them on from the sidelines. Briony was front and center, dressed in the figure hugging mini dress, bouncing on her toes, waving the green and white pompoms in the air. How anyone made them look sexy was beyond me, but she did. They all did, with their short skirts and low cut tops. A couple of the players couldn’t stop glancing over at them from their positions. And the surge of envy rushing through me caught me off guard. Jackson didn’t want Briony. He chose me. Me. He loved me; I knew that with all of my heart. But watching them so carefree and uninhibited made me ache for a life I had almost forgotten. The life I had before the accident. There was a time I’d wanted to find that girl again, the girl who didn’t hide behind black skinny jeans and oversized sweaters. In all of the crazy of the last eighteen months, she seemed to move further and further out of my reach.
But looking over at the bench, the realization hit me as I rubbed at the scar on my wrist. I didn’t need to find the girl I was before because, although the girl before didn’t have any scars marring her body or mind, she also didn’t have Jackson.
~
“Nice game, man.” Paul approached us, helping himself to another beer.
“Thanks.” Jackson looked normal, but I heard the strain in his voice and felt his grip on me tighten just a fraction.
The game went by without any drama, but Jackson’s heart wasn’t in it. Apparently, by the look of adoration on Paul’s face, I was the only person who noticed.
Paul continued, “Looks like the championship will stay at CFA this year.”
“Hey, is Mari coming? Shouldn’t you be going to meet her?” My eyes pleaded with Paul to drop the football talk, and his eyes questioned me back before he grumbled something about needing to go and he left us at our spot in the kitchen.
“Thank God, I am sick of talking about the game.” Jackson’s warm breath lingered on my ear causing my eyes to flutter shut and I sank back into him.
“Quit.” The single word left my mouth before I could stop it.
Jackson spun me in his arms and pressed his head against mine, forcing me to look right into his emerald eyes. “You know I can’t. Not yet.”
“I know. I just don’t like seeing you like this.”
He moved up to brush his lips over my forehead. “No rocking the boat any more than I have already. Let’s get through this semester. Okay?”
“Man of the hour, awesome win.” Jamie burst into the kitchen, his face lighting up when he spotted Jackson.
Jackson sighed under his breath, but released me and pulled on his mask. “Jay, how’s it going?”
“Good, man. Good. Some game tonight, huh. Championship is in the bag now, for sure.”
“Still got a couple of games to go, but it’s looking like it’s ours.”
I wanted to smack Jamie upside the head. Paul, too. Sure, they didn’t know all the facts, but they knew enough to know something had happened between Jackson and Braiden. Enough to drive us to spend nearly every waking second together. But it was like football overruled all male commonsense.
As if sensing my irritation, Jackson reached out for my hand and entwined it with his own, squeezing gently. He was always doing that—willing to carry the burden for me. For us.
And I wondered how things might be different if he knew the truth about his dad.
~
Another week passed and I began to feel more at ease walking around campus. People still looked when we walked by, some even whispered still, but it didn't bother me as much. I'd even started to push back the worry of bumping into Braiden or Briony as it had been almost five weeks since the semester started back and I'd managed to avoid them.
But the constant pit in my stomach was my reminder that it probably wouldn't last.
Jackson was at practice again, and Elena was studying with Tyson, which I figured was code for having sex, so I headed to the library.
Campus was starting to liven up since the weather was nicer, and the bitter wind had lost its icy bite. Groups of students hung out outside of their dorms and houses, and people littered the picnic benches outside the student center.
I stepped aside on the sidewalk, letting a rowdy group of guys pass. They walked by paying little attention to me, and I exhaled the breath I'd been holding. It was nice to be invisible for a change instead of being gawked at. Picking up the pace, I reached the huge glass doors to the modernized library. My hand reached out for the handle, but the door swung open and I stumbled forward.
Righting myself, I looked up to see the person who had opened the door. Briony's eyes hardened and she scowled. "You." The venom in her voice pricked my skin, sending shudders rippling through me, and I stepped back meeting her stern glare with my own.
The seconds ticked by and we stood like that, locked in some kind of stare off. Briony's hair fell in untamed curls around her face like a raging fire, matching the crazy burning in her eyes.
"What does he even see in you?" The disgust in her voice was obvious as her eyes raked down my body. I steeled myself, ignoring the alarm vibrating through me.
"You're so plain. It's sad really, but Jackson always did like a charity case. Fixing broken things. Only you can't be fixed, can you?"
I winced as the words bounced off me, and her wild eyes darted to my right wrist.
"You ruined everything." Her finger pointed right at me. "Ripped our family apart, brainwashed Jackson into believing he can have a life without us
. Away from us. Do you really think my father will allow that? He owns this town, this college, and everyone in it. Including Jackson, including you—"
"Stop. Just stop."
Briony's mouth dropped open and confusion spread over her face.
I was so sick and tired of all this—the lies, the secrets, the threats. I had never intended to come between Jackson and his family. I hadn't even known who his family was back then. But he had made his choice, as much as I had made mine.
"Are you done?"
Briony arched her brow, narrowing her eyes at me. The gesture might have intimidated me a couple of months back, but as I straightened my shoulders, something in me was growing.
"Who do you think you are, bitch? Jackson is mi—"
"Mine." I cut her off again, stepping into her personal space, obviously catching her off guard as she backed up away from me. "Jackson is mine, so back the hell off. I am done taking your shit. I am so—"
"Ana, is everything okay?" Sarah's eyes darted from me to Briony and back again.
Briony flicked her hair off her shoulder, completely unaffected by Sarah’s presence.
“Do I need to call security?”
“I’m out. See you around, Ana.” Briony’s tone cut through me, and I heard the veiled threat in her words.
Sarah stepped up beside me as we watched Briony exit the building and skip down the pathway. As soon as she disappeared, Sarah turned to me. “Wasn’t that Briony Donohue?”
I grimaced. “The one and only.”
She gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth. “What are you doing getting on the wrong side of her? Don’t you know who she is?”
Oh, I know all right.
“…her family has owned this town for as long as I can remember; since my grandpa’s days, I think. Probably sooner,” Sarah said as I followed her to her reception desk.
“Have you always lived in Chastity Falls?” I asked, dragging a stool to the table nearest her.
She nodded. “Born and raised. I graduated CFH the year Braiden and Briony started ninth grade. Back then, things weren’t as bad. Marcus Donohue, well he—” Sarah hesitated. “Listen to me spouting off about things I shouldn’t be.”
“No, please, go on. I’d like to know.”
I’d never considered that Sarah might be local. And she looked a lot older than her four years senior.
Sarah looked ready to shut down, but I nodded, urging her on, and she readjusted her glasses and came to join me, glancing around the room to make sure it was empty.
“I kept to myself in high school, but I saw things. Things others were too busy to notice.”
“What things, Sarah?”
“Braiden beating on guys after school, him and Pierce and their friends up to no good out behind the bleachers. Nothing that bad but things fifteen-year-olds should not be doing. Everyone turned a blind eye; the teachers, parents, even the police. Braiden Donohue has always been untouchable.”
She wasn’t telling me anything that I didn’t already know, but perhaps she remembered the accident.
“What do you know about what happened to Michael Pierce?”
Sarah’s eyes flickered with confusion, probably at the specificity of my question.
“Hmm, Pierce’s dad? He died, right? In an accident, I think. Braiden and Pierce were only like ten or something.”
My heart sank. Sarah knew no more than anyone else.
“Why do you ask?”
“I, hmm, I’m kind of involved. With Jackson. Jackson Pierce.”
Her eyes widened almost bugging out of her head. “You and Jackson? You mean the rumors are true?”
“What rumors?”
“I heard some guys talking the other day in the cafeteria. They said something about Pierce being out and that it had to do with a chick.” Her eyes looked north like she was trying to remember the exact conversation. “Yeah, that was it, said they couldn’t believe he had walked away from Braiden for a girl. I didn’t realize you were the girl.”
“Apparently so,” I muttered under my breath.
So rumors were already circulating. Not that I expected anything less from the college gossip mill because I knew all too well how quickly news spread. Even if it was inaccurate and exaggerated most of the time.
Sarah smiled at me sympathetically. But it wasn’t her face that threw me for a loop, it was her words.
“Be careful, Ana.”
Chapter 24
~JACKSON~
“You bastard.” Briony’s hand collided with my cheek and my hand moved to the stinging skin instinctively.
“Briony,” my voice warned, and I stepped back putting some distance between us.
Her eyes were burning with anger and I readied myself for a confrontation. At least one of them seemed to be behaving as I expected.
“You’re choosing her, that insane bitch, over us. Over me?”
Gritting my teeth, I hooked my hand around her arm and yanked her into the first empty room. The last thing I needed was her making a huge scene and it getting back to Ana.
Shrugging out of my grip, she glared at me. “Get the hell off me. What the hell, Jackson? You’re family; you don’t just get to decide you’re not. It doesn’t work like that. You can’t just walk away.”
“It’s done. I chose.” My eyes locked on hers. She needed to see it, to know I was dead serious.
Briony’s mouth dropped open ever so slightly, but she recovered quickly, narrowing her eyes at me. “You think that just because you want her, we’ll let you walk away. Daddy won’t allow it. He’ll never let you dishonor him that way. And Braiden, Braiden will—”
“Me and Braiden are done. Surely, you know that. Things have been wrong between us for a long time.”
“I don’t accept it.”
Fuck, what was it going to take to make her see? “I don’t give a shit, Bri. I’m out. Uncle Marcus is back this week, and I’ll tell him myself. I. Am. Done.”
I could have sworn I saw a tear form in the corner of her eye, but before I could get a closer look, Briony pushed past me and stormed out of the room, leaving me stunned. The ice queen didn’t cry on tap, which meant she was hurt. And something tucked away, deep in the recess of my chest cracked. But then I remembered what Ana had said. Briony has threatened her. The girl I loved more than anything. Briony could call us family, could brand my actions as disloyal, but she stood by and let everything happen to Ana. Hell, the crazy bitch probably instigated most of it.
Fuck. I slammed my fist down on the desk welcoming the momentary pain. I hated this. The war raging inside my subconscious. The guilt trying to take hold and eat me up. Uncle Marcus was due back in less than forty-eight hours, and he still had no idea about what had gone down in his absence. But I needed to tell him before the secret swallowed me whole. And before Braiden or Briony beat me to it.
~
“So, what did he say?” Ana scooted closer, tucking her legs underneath her.
“He’s not coming back yet. Something is up. It has to be. He’s never been gone for this long before.”
Licking the spoon clean, Ana frowned. “What do you think it could be? It’s been two months.”
“I know. But it’s not like I can ask anyone. He sounded okay. Just got cagey when I asked where he was.”
“And he doesn’t know anything?”
I shook my head. Uncle Marcus had called again to let me know that he wouldn’t be arriving back tomorrow as expected. And apart from being reluctant to reveal his whereabouts, he sounded normal. Too normal.
“If he does, he has me fooled.”
Ana moved the ice cream to the nightstand and crawled on top of me, wrapping herself around me. “At least you get a little longer, you know, to think about what you’re going to say to him.” Her lips brushed my neck leaving a trail of tingles as she moved up to my ear.
“Aren’t you supposed to be studying?” I pulled back, cocking my eyebrow at her.
“I was.” Her teeth nipped at my ea
rlobe and I groaned, pressing my hard dick into her, earning a soft moan from her lips.
“Maybe we should take a break?” Winding my hands into her unruly hair, I brought her lips to mine, kissing her deeply.
All the shit melted away when we came together like this. And I got to say, it overwhelmed me a little. Okay, a whole lot. I loved Ana with every fiber of my being, but our feelings, the connection between us, was intense.
“I’m not sure we have time.” Ana’s hand skimmed underneath my sweater, roaming over my chest. I sucked in a sharp breath, bringing my hands to her tank top.
“There’s always time for this,” I said between our kisses, pulling the material up over her head. My hands worked skillfully to unhook her bra.
Ana broke off the kiss and pulled back, shrugging out of her bra. Glossy brown waves framed her face, falling around her milky white tits perfectly. That was the only word to describe her. Perfect. I swallowed hard, letting my eyes drink her in. My girl. My Ana. The girl I’d walk to the ends of the earth for. The girl I’d take a fucking bullet for. Did she know just how far I’d go to protect her?
“What’s wrong?” Her voice was hushed and I met her concerned gaze.
“Nothing. Just thinking.”
“About?”
“Us. School. The future. Everything.” My eyes darted to the floor to the side of the bed. Fuck, I never spoke about my feelings. Not really. But Ana had a way of dragging shit out of me. It was her eyes. Every damn time.
Ana’s finger lifted my chin forcing me to look at her. “Jax, talk to me.”
Jax. My eyelids closed and I focused on my breathing. In and out. In and out. The things you do to me.
“Jackson?”
My eyes opened slowly. “I’m scared.”
I watched for her reaction to my confession, terrified of what I might see in her eyes.
“Scared?” She frowned and my heart pounded at double speed in my chest. When I didn’t reply right away, she reached out for me and glided her hand over my heart, looping it around my shoulder. “Scared of what?”