He stared down at my hand and back at my eyes, indecision on his face as he rubbed his palm down the front of his T-shirt. I frowned and looked over at Vi, but she was staring at JJ with an encouraging smile on her face. He slowly moved his arm out and placed his large, rough hand in mine. He was so gentle that I wondered if he was even shaking it, but when I squeezed a little, his cheeks reddened. It felt so different to this morning when it was just the two of us, and I couldn’t help but wonder if it was because Vi was standing next to us.
“We met before spring break when I came here for the talk,” I said to Vi, not letting go of his hand as he started to tighten it. I focused my attention on her. “Then he helped me with a situation this morning.”
“A situation?” she asked, her gaze batting between the two of us.
“Ella wasn’t wearing shoes and hurt her foot.”
“Ahh,” Vi murmured like it all made sense, which it should have because she had as much of an aversion to shoes as I did.
JJ finally let up his grip and dropped his hand. He stepped back, his chest rising and falling as he placed his hand over his heart, much like he had this morning.
“Do you work here, JJ?”
His deep voice reverberated around us as he answered, “My dad owns the pet store, and I work here sometimes.”
“What do you do when you’re not working here or going to college?”
“I go to the science gardens and watch the insects, or I search for Star Wars figurines. I also build Lego.”
I chuckled. “That’s why you know so much about butterflies then?” There was something so intriguing about the way he would look at me so intently but a second later flick his gaze away and not want to focus on me. I found myself wanting to know more about him, and I hadn’t felt like that…well, ever.
“Yes, I also know facts about other insects too. It’s a fun place to go.”
“I’ll have to take your word for that, JJ. I’ve never been.”
His eyes widened. “You have to go!”
My head reeled back as I grinned wide. “If you say I do, then I will.”
Vi cleared her throat, bursting our bubble with a frown on her face. What was her problem? “I just came in to tell you I was in town and that your dad said I could come to dinner Wednesday night instead of tonight. I just needed to check with you first.”
“That’s tomorrow,” JJ told her, his fingertips beating an invisible rhythm against his jean-clad thighs. “Will you be on time?”
“I will,” she replied, her voice softer than usual. What the hell was going on here?
“Will Ella be coming? If she is, I need to rearrange the seating plan and organize a new game four people can play.”
“I’m not sure she’s—”
I scrunched my brows at her and interrupted, “I’d love to come!”
Vi grabbed my arm, squeezing, but I ignored her as JJ pulled a notepad out of his back pocket with the smallest pencil known to man. He started to scribble things onto the lined paper and wandered off.
“We’ll see you tomorrow, JJ!” Vi shouted as she yanked me out of the store.
“Vi! What the hell!”
The bell over the door rang out as she maneuvered me through it and onto the sidewalk, nearly tripping over and taking me with her. “You can’t just push yourself into his life like that. You need to give him time,” she said, staring at me. Had I missed something? Her vibe was completely off.
“Huh? What? I’m confused.”
She huffed out a big breath and shook her head. “JJ.”
“What about him?” I asked, raising my brow.
She shook her head and paced back and forth in front of the store while I leaned against the glass window. She was totally freaking out, and I found it utterly hilarious. Whenever she had something on her mind, she’d make this face that was a cross between constipated and high.
“I saw the way you looked at him.”
“What way was that?” My lip quirked, loving that she was getting so worked up. It was always fun to watch Vi try to say something that she thought she shouldn’t. She could never find the right words so always ended up making a mess of things.
“More importantly, I saw the way he looked at you. You’re not good for him, El. He’s not your normal kind of…”
“What?” I asked. “My normal kind of what, Vi? Jeez, you take everything so seriously. So he has awesome eyes, and my vagina fluttered like a flock of butterflies when his hand touched mine. What’s the problem?”
She stopped pacing, looking at me with a blank stare. “One, you have a boyfriend.” Technically I did, but not really. “And two, he’s not…he’s not like us. He’s… I shouldn’t even—”
“He’s what?” I asked, my brow raised.
“He’s autistic,” she told me.
“And your point is?” When she didn’t answer, I pushed up off the glass. “What do you want? For me to not look at any men at all?”
“No...I… I didn’t mean—”
“Mmm-hmm.” I started walking back toward where I thought her apartment was. “Maybe I should try being a lesbian. Lesbians use dildos, right?”
“El!” Vi’s shoes slapped against the sidewalk behind me as she caught up. “You can’t say that word in public.”
“What word?” I turned my head to face her, whispering, “Dildo?”
“Yes!” she whisper-shouted. “Stop.”
“I couldn’t quite hear you.” I cupped my hand around my ear, grinning wide, and asking, “What word shouldn’t I say?”
“Dildo.”
“I still can’t hear you.”
“Dil—”
“Nope.”
“Dildo!” she screamed, her voice ricocheting off the buildings surrounding us. Everyone’s attention was on us, and from the blush spreading across her cheeks, she knew that.
“Don’t worry, cous.” I patted her arm, raising my voice. “I get it, you need the D. We’ll get you a dildo, you don’t need to shout it.”
“Oh my god.” She covered her face with her hands. “I hate you.”
She sped up, and I couldn’t help but laugh as she walked right into a mailbox and bounced back. She saved herself at the last minute though. I didn’t want to jinx it, but I was sure she was starting to improve in her klutziness.
“Oh look! A di—”
“Arrrgh! I’m never coming out in public with you again!”
Chapter 8
Confession # 74: I came. I saw. I made it awkward.
“So when we get inside, hang your jacket on the coat rack and take your shoes off.”
Vi had been schooling me on what to say and do the whole time we’d been walking to JJ and his dad’s house, and this was the final thing she said as we stopped in front of their house.
“Got it.” I nodded to get my point across, but her twisting lips and gaze batting back and forth between me and the house spoke a thousand words. “Vi, you need to calm the hell down. It’s dinner with two guys, not the Queen of England.”
She blew out a breath, fanning me in the face with it and causing me to scrunch up my nose. Ew.
I twirled around, darted up the path that sat in the middle of two small grassed areas, and jumped the three steps onto the wraparound porch. Vi was hot on my tail as I lifted my hand to knock on the white door, but it swung open before I even had a chance.
“Ella. Vi.” JJ stepped back, his hand gripped onto the edge of the door. His face was clean-shaven today, showcasing his strong jaw and full lips. My gaze batted down to the soft-looking T-shirt he was wearing and followed the shape of his defined arms that tensed as he gripped the door harder.
“’Sup.” I gave him a chin lift and stepped inside, looking around at the foyer to distract myself from him. The stairs were right in front of us, and to the left was a door and one toward the back. I could see through the one at the back and spotted a sink and countertop—definitely the kitchen.
I heaved in a breath, and my head spun f
or a second. Fresh linen mixed in with JJ’s woodsy cologne made me feel a little tipsy, and I had to steady myself. Maybe coming here wasn’t such a good idea after all. I had no idea what was happening, but I knew whatever it was I couldn’t act on it. I was a knot inside a messed-up ball of yarn with no way out. I needed a knot expert to help me escape. Where the hell did I find one of those? Could I ask Google for a recommendation?
Vi walked past me, a frown on her face as she glanced at me, but I couldn’t describe what was happening. It was different talking to JJ those other times. We were outside, and I didn’t know him. Not that I knew him now, but things had changed. He was part of Vi’s family while she was living here, which meant he was now kind of mine. Was it incest if I was thinking about his ass in his jeans and the way his jaw would feel as he pressed his face into my neck?
I took two steps toward the door Vi had gone through, but a hand clamped around my forearm, halting me in my getaway. My breath hitched as I stared at the huge tan hand. I could see the pop of his veins as well as his nails that were cut short and kept clean. There was nothing more repulsive than dirty fingernails. Just clean that shit. Please.
I swallowed as he tightened his grip. “You need to take them off.”
My head snapped up, my gaze connecting with his green eyes. He signaled to my sandals on my feet, but why was it that I kind of hoped he meant my high-waisted hot-pink shorts?
“Right,” I whispered. “Sorry.” I bent down and raised my brow when he didn’t let my arm go. “You’ve got to let me go, JJ.”
He pulled his hand back, holding it up in front of his face. “I don’t know why...I…” He frowned at me. “You keep making me touch you.”
I chuckled and pulled my sandals off, letting the cool wood floor seep into the soles of my feet. “Maybe it’s because I’m so irresistible?”
I didn’t expect an answer, so when he replied, “I think that must be the reason,” I couldn’t form words. My mouth opened and closed as he shut the front door and sauntered past me, mumbling to his hand under his breath.
Did…what…
What just happened?
“El! Come meet Colonel Fourpaws!” Vi shouted, and that was what snapped me out of my own head.
Rubbing my hand over my arm that was still tingling from where JJ had grasped me, I walked into the living room where Vi was sitting with a gray cat on her lap, stroking it like your everyday Doctor Evil.
“Colonel Fourpaws, this is Ella. Ella, this is your new cousin, Colonel Fourpaws.”
Holding my hand out, I stepped forward and took his paw in my palm. “Nice to me you, good sir.” He stared at me, tilting his head to the side as if assessing me. “I have been informed of many things. One of which is that you liked to be stroked.” I raised a brow. “Typical pussy...cat.”
Vi snorted and shook her head. “Filter, El. You need to work on that filter.”
“I will have you know that my filter is currently broken and under repair. So I’m afraid you’re going to have to put up with Non-Filter-El.”
“Non-Filter-El is my favorite.”
“Yes.” I sat down next to her. “I tend to agree with your assessment, Ms. Purple.”
Vi’s lips quirked to the side. “You’re nervous.”
“Nope.” Yep. “I’m perfectly fine.” Shitting a brick here.
“Jeffery is going to love you, and I know JJ likes you.”
“What?” I spun around, my eyes wide as I spotted JJ setting the table. He must have sensed my attention because he looked up, a blush flaming at his cheeks.
“It’s the way he talks to you. He’s comfortable around you.”
“Huh?”
My gaze couldn’t be pried from JJ, not even when another guy walked out of the door behind the table that I predicted led to the kitchen. A tea towel was in his hand, and as soon as he cleared his throat, I felt Vi stand, but still, I couldn’t look away from JJ. His table setting skills were something to be admired. He placed all the utensils at an exact angle and even used a ruler to space them apart. He was a guy after my own heart.
He flicked his gaze back up to me, spun around, and walked through the door the other guy came through,
No! Don’t leave.
“El? El? El!”
“What?” I moved my attention to Vi who was standing next to the guy in front of the table.
“This is JJ’s dad, Jeffery.”
“Oh!” I jumped up off the sofa. “Good day, I mean, fine day.” I closed my eyes as he chuckled. “I mean, nice for you to meet me. Meet you. Nice to meet you.” I opened my eyes and offered him my hand to which he shook.
“Nice to meet you too. JJ has told me a lot about you.”
“Dad!” He ran through the door and halted in front of one of the chairs around the table. “I didn’t...I…”
I waved my hand through the air and nearly smacked myself in the face with it. Shit. “I hope it was all good.”
“He said that he met a weird woman with blue hair.”
I blinked once, twice, three times before bursting out laughing. I bent over, smacking my thigh with my palm. “I like you,” I declared, straightening and pointing at Jeffery. “Tell me more.”
“He said you were a danger...much like Vi here.”
I gasped. “I’m not a danger.”
JJ made a noise in the back of his throat. “You walked outside with no shoes on. There are many germs and diseases you could catch doing that. There’s—”
“Pshhh.” I waved my hand through the air again and stepped closer to the table. “Feet are not meant to be contained by shoes.”
“When you’re outside—”
A timer went off in the kitchen, cutting JJ off.
“Ahh. Dinner is done,” Jeffery announced.
I turned to face him, witnessing the huge smile on his face as he looked at JJ and then me. Why did I feel like I’d just taken part in some kind of foreplay?
“I’ll give you a hand,” Vi said, stepping after Jeffery.
“No!” JJ and I shouted at the same time. We were both well versed in the life of Vi, and I’m sure we actually wanted to eat food off the plates instead of the floor when she ultimately would trip over nothing and ruin it all.
I followed after Jeffery and helped him bring in all of the dishes and plates. His green eyes, a few shades darker than JJ’s, kept flicking to me, and my stomach swirled. Did I have something on my face? He smiled softly at me and sat at the head of the table with Vi next to him and JJ next to her which only left the other head of the table. What did they call the opposite of the head of a table? The ass of the table?
I shrugged and took a seat at the ass of the table.
Dishes were passed around as Vi filled them in about staying in New York and her new job at the publishing company. My attention was half on them because JJ was next to me, his leg bouncing up and down like a crazy person. Maybe it was one of his ticks, but each time he would bounce it, the rough material of his jeans would rub against my knee.
“So when are you girls heading back?” Jeffery asked.
“Oh, it’s only me going back to New York. Ella is staying in LA for the semester,” Vi told him.
“You’re a student too?” Jeffery asked.
I chewed the meatloaf in my mouth and then answered, “No. I’m a... Well, I guess I’m a lecturer.”
His eyes opened wide. “Really? You look so…”
“Young?” I supplied, laughing softly. “Yeah. I’m twenty-six. I attended the college and got my degree in graphic design and then moved to New York.” Words were coming out of my mouth without permission, but I was used to it by now. “I started my own online freelance business, and it took off. One of my lecturers invited me to do a talk before spring break.” My gaze roved over to JJ, remembering the first time we met. “Then she offered me a job, so I’m trying it out over the semester.”
“That’s quite an achievement, Ella,” Jeffery Senior said.
I swallowed, looking down
at my half-empty plate. “Thank you.”
“So you’re staying in Vi’s apartment then?”
“She can’t, I handed in my notice before we knew she was coming back to LA,” Vi answered for me.
“I’ve finished,” JJ announced, placing his knife and fork at the perfect angle on his plate. His leg seemed to bounce even more now he wasn’t occupied with eating.
“Where are you going to stay now then, Ella?”
“I…” I gritted my teeth as his jeans rubbed against my leg again. “I’m going to get a room at a motel.”
Pulling in a deep breath, I tried not to focus on JJ’s movements, but they were driving me insane. Without my permission, my leg lifted and hooked around his calf. His head whipped around to face me, and I flicked my gaze to him, silently telling him something even I didn’t know. The flash in his green eyes told me he didn’t want my leg there, but as I went to move it, his legs closed, trapping it between his.
What was happening right now? My stomach fluttered, along with my vagina, and I had to lean forward to cover my nipples that were straining against the thin material of my bra. Because showing everyone my erect nipples wasn’t on the agenda tonight.
“A motel?” Jeffery murmured, his deep frown pronouncing the wrinkles at the edge of his eyes.
“Right?” Vi threw her hands up in the air. “That’s what I said. It’s gonna cost her a fortune for the semester, not to mention the nearest one is a trek to the campus.”
Jeffery ran his hand over his short brown hair, seeming to focus on a spot on the table. “We have a spare room.” He cleared his throat. “You probably won’t want to stay with two guys, but you’re Vi’s family so…” He moved his attention to JJ. “What do you think, JJ?”
JJ didn’t move his gaze off my face, the serious look in his eyes and expressionless face focusing entirely on me. The silence was so loud that it made my ears hurt. How that could even happen, I didn’t know.
“JJ,” I whispered out the side of my mouth, but I knew they could all hear me. His legs squeezed around mine in reply, and my eyes fluttered closed.
Confessions Of A Chatterbox (Confessions Series Book 2) Page 8