I was dancing with Olivia when Mason and Garrett decided to hop up and join us. I shouldn’t have been surprised, since I’ve been batting away Mason’s advances all night. Earlier, Max popped in and asked where Lane was, but I just responded with a shrug of my shoulders. When I spotted him pulling out his phone, I shouted, “Don’t you dare call Jace!”
So imagine my surprise when I see his handsome face charging through the crowd below. Cole follows closely after him and I realize that Max is behind this somehow, because these two look like they are on a mission. And I’m pretty sure that mission has something to do with me.
Jace reaches out and grabs Mason’s leg and growls, “You have three seconds.”
Surprisingly, Mason actually considers his words before deciding not to argue it and jumping down. Garrett passes me another drink from his bottle and I quickly swallow the foul taste. Beer must be one of those drinks that has to grow on you, because I just don’t understand how everyone here seems to enjoy drinking it.
“I’d stop doing that if I were you,” Cole calls up to Garrett.
Meanwhile, Jace is still glaring at Mason. “She’s NEVER had a drink before and this was your brilliant idea?” he hollers.
“Seems fine to me,” Mason slurs. “Gotta start somewhere.”
“Oh yeah, and what did you plan on doing later when she’s puking her guts out? Where did you plan on being then?”
“Hey, I would have had her upstairs and in my bed before she got to that point,” Mason quips. Jace was already mid-swing halfway through his sentence. Mason didn’t even have a chance. Jace may look a little skinnier than he was a little over a week ago, but that obviously hasn’t affected his right hook. The crunch of bone hitting bone is loud and I gasp at the sudden impact. Mason’s body hits the floor, hard and fast.
“Jace!” I yell, but before my brain can catch up, my feet lose their battle with balance. I tilt away from the bar and all I can feel is the muggy air gusting around me.
“Shit!” Cole blurts out.
My body falls into a set of waiting arms and I smile when I look up into my favorite pair of eyes. No one can compete with them, not even Jaxon. While Jaxon’s eyes are more ice and winter, Jace’s look more like the ocean surrounding a tropical island. He’s my personal paradise.
“Gotcha, babe,” he whispers.
“That was fun,” I breathe out through my rush of adrenaline. I cringe as I notice my slurring.
“Let’s not do it again, okay?” he smiles softly. When he glances up, his grin instantly hardens into a look of murder. “You want to join him?” he calls up to Garrett, who steps away from the edge of the bar and shakes his head. I squeeze my arms around Jace’s neck harder, hoping he doesn’t plan on putting me down to deal with poor Garrett. “Don’t ever touch her again. Better yet, don’t even look at her again. You can relay that message to your buddy when he wakes up,” Jace finishes. He doesn’t put me down. Instead, he holds me tighter as he navigates the crowd toward the front door.
“Well, Jaxon’s gonna kick my ass. Thanks man, I was supposed to prevent all that from happening,” Cole calls over Jace’s shoulder.
“Not even Jaxon could have stopped that from happening. Mason had it coming.”
When we reach the front porch, Cole squeezes his shoulder and smiles at me. “I’m gonna head back to my baby mama now.”
“Oh good!” I cry drunkenly, “You finally know!”
“How did you know?” Jace asks in amazement.
“I helped her down from the bridge,” I reply, as if they should already understand this.
“Uh, what bridge, pretty girl?” Cole questions.
“The one she was gonna jump off of. She was pretty freaked out when she found out,” I say, closing my eyes. The porch fan above us is making me dizzy, and there’s already enough spinning going on. I don’t need the fan’s help.
“She was going to jump off a bridge?” Cole cries, interrupting my random thoughts.
“Not a real one,” I whisper for dramatic effect. “You know, it’s just a metamorphosis.”
“I think she means a metaphor,” Jace chuckles.
I lean forward and speak with my lips touching his, “That’s what I said.”
“Well, thanks for helping Quinn out,” Cole says genuinely. “You’re kind of cute when you’re drunk.” He chuckles and kisses my head before walking away.
“Jace, your car is on the lawn,” I whisper, while looking around for who could have done this.
“You are pretty damn adorable,” he laughs.
I wiggle out of his hold until my feet are planted firmly on the wooden porch. I reach out for his hand and pull him alongside me. I’m not sure where I’m going yet, but I’ll show him how damn adorable I can be.
The side of the house is pitch black and thankfully deserted. When I find a spot hidden by the bushes, I push Jace up against the brick wall. He eyes me with confusion.
“Babe, I need to get you home before you realize how sick you’re going to be later,” he groans, as I slam my body and lips up against his.
“Shh...” I whisper, “You don’t want someone to catch us, do you?”
“Catch us doing what?” he questions quietly.
Slowly, I begin to kneel down in front of him. The cold dirt cushions my knees softly and I look up to give him a devilish grin. Desire instantly begins swimming in his eyes and he tries to shake his head back and forth, but it’s obvious he wants this too. I ignore him and reach for the waistband of his jeans. The button takes me a second, but I have the zipper down in no time. My eyes never leave his face.
“Baby, not here. Not while you’re drunk.” His hoarse words are barely audible.
“Shut it, Jace. You don’t get to control this. You control everything and usually I like that, but not when it’s to tell me to go away. It’s my turn,” I demand.
He groans and places his hands on each side of my face. “Audrey, I’m so...”
“Shh,” I rush to say. I reach inside of his pants and pull him out, and he hisses as the air hits his naked skin. Or maybe it’s because my hand immediately begins to pump up and down. I’ve missed him. And in this moment, I realize I’ll never get enough of him. I’ll never tire of him. I wet my lips and slowly slide him inside my impatient mouth. He moans as I move him in and out, with the rhythm of my hand sliding across his skin at the same time.
“Christ, Audrey.” The words whistle past his teeth. He shifts on his feet and braces his hands against the wall. Without removing my mouth, I reach for his hands and bring them to my head. He groans as he receives my message. I guess I still need him to have some control. Slowly, he threads his fingers through my loose hair and grips my scalp, applying just enough pressure to bring a moan out of my throat that vibrates onto him.
I release more of my control and allow him to thrust in and out of my mouth. I stare up into his eyes and watch as he finds his pleasure with me. This is my favorite part of any act with Jace. Watching him claim what’s his is the most euphoric sensation I could ever feel.
His mouth begins to open and close and he seems to be having trouble getting the words he wants to say out. His unspoken thoughts let me know he’s close. I grab onto his thighs so I can feel his strong muscles working toward his release.
“Ahh...” he calls out loudly, and I smile around him at his shameless abandon. Knowing that anyone within a close proximity could hear what I’m doing to him right now gives me a wanton feeling. When he’s finished, he lays his head against the wall and looks up at the sky, breathing heavily. I gently place him back inside of his jeans and carefully zip them up. Slowly, I pull myself up and wobble a bit as the alcohol takes another hit at my balance.
Jace drops to his knees in the same moment and runs his hands down the length of my legs. I’ve never been more thankful for long legs than when I’m around him. He’s undeniably a leg man. His roaming fingers reach my knees and he gently dusts the dirt off of my skin. When he leans in to give each of m
y knees a gentle kiss, I run my fingers through his messy hair. With one more fleeting touch of my legs, he stands back up to his full height. He runs a hand down the side of my face, and I blink hard so I can focus past the fogginess in my vision.
“You’re perfect,” he whispers.
Just as I try to think of a snarky comment, the sky begins to spin and I suddenly don’t feel as well as I did two minutes ago. I must have stood up too fast. I feel a clammy coldness engulf my skin. I push off of Jace and try to step as far away from him as possible. When I reach the opposite side of the large air-conditioning unit, my stomach heaves.
Jace is immediately behind me, scooping my hair out of my face and steadying me with one hand on my hip. Embarrassed, I remember one of my many reasons I’ve never had a drink. With my hair safely out of the disaster zone, he rubs my back gently.
Jace was right earlier. Who was going to help me when I reached this point? I’d be lying to myself if I thought Garrett or Mason would actually stand here and help me while I’m sick and humiliated.
Tears begin to squeeze out of my eyes and Jace soothes my discomfort.
“Shh, it’s okay. You’re not alone, I’m here,” he whispers. He doesn’t rush or condemn me. He waits patiently for the moment when my stomach is finally empty and my body begins to sag in exhaustion. Gently, he scoops me up into his arms and carries me away.
- Twenty -
JACE -
If someone had asked me a year ago if I would ever lie on the cold, hard tile of my bathroom floor for a girl, I would have laughed in their face. But here I am with my cheek squashed into the freezing stone and a little bit of my drool underneath. I push off the ground, wipe off my face, and rise to a sitting position.
I finally passed out last night after watching poor Audrey spend more than half the night hugging the toilet bowl. I’m almost positive that she’ll never be doing that again. After she apologized to me for the hundredth time, I rubbed her back, slipped down to the floor, and made a pillow out of my towel, while she laid her head on my chest.
The bathroom isn’t very big but I still do a quick search to confirm that she’s not in here. The sneaky escape artist strikes again, and I didn’t get a chance to apologize or make anything right with her before she took off. Her newfound friendship with the porcelain god didn’t exactly put her in the best position to have a serious talk.
Sluggishly, I make my way out to the kitchen, bypassing my bedroom altogether because I know she’s not here. I spot a bright green sticky-note affixed to the fridge when I round the counter. Sloppy handwriting is scribbled across the surface.
Here’s my number for next time. Sorry we had to skip out. I tried to wake you but you sleep like a damn rock and I sure as hell wasn’t about to carry your ass to bed, princess. – Lane
I pull my phone out of my jeans that I’m still wearing from last night and quickly call both Audrey and Lane’s numbers. Both go straight to voicemail. Typical.
If I want to graduate this year, I have to get my ass to class and beg for forgiveness for my missed days last week. I’m hoping the fact that I was so far ahead will help my case. I jump in and out of the shower quickly and rush over to the girls’ apartment because our fridge is empty as hell. I knock twice and let myself in. I find Em sitting on the couch, looking better than I’ve seen her in days. Chuck rushes up to my legs and sits at my feet like I taught him. Immediately, I begin walking around the apartment to look for her.
“She’s not here,” Em calls out.
“Then why is Chuck here?” I reach down and scratch him behind the ears.
“I forgot that I agreed to watch him while her and Lane went out of town,” she says, grabbing for her cereal bowl.
“They went out of town? Together?” I ask, trying to keep the uneasiness out of my voice.
“I thought you were going to make everything better last night?”
“That was the plan. Obviously things changed.”
“Last week, Audrey asked him if they could go check out New York to see if it was somewhere she’d want to move to...after graduation,” she adds timidly.
“Hell no. Hell no. Over my dead body,” I claim.
“I was hoping you’d say that. But since you’re in the same boat as I am and can’t afford to miss any more days of class, you’ll have to wait here for her to come back.” She smiles brightly as if that’s the best fucking news she’s heard all day.
“You’re happy about this?” I ask incredulously.
“Hell yeah, I want to see you grovel in person. Hearing it secondhand is never as fun,” she confides.
“You’re lucky I have to love you,” I tease.
“Hey, I have to make up for all those years I never had a brother.”
“Funny, I never actually wanted a sister.” And just like that we fall back into our normal banter and easy relationship. “Chuck’s gonna stay with me, okay?”
“Go ahead, I guess he’ll be your dog soon enough,” she replies and pats him on the head.
“So how much longer do I have to suffer without my girl?”
“Shouldn’t be more than a week,” she replies with a smile.
I bite back a groan and say, “Well shit, I might as well catch up on my sleep this week. I sure as hell don’t plan on doing much of that when she finally gets back.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Once I told Uncle Logan I had Jax and Cole on board with me, his enthusiasm kicked into overdrive. Logan will keep the reins for another couple of years until we have the hang of everything, but I can tell he’s itching to retire. Something about buying a cabin in the mountains, being able to spend his days with the wife, and catching fish.
Every day, I’ve had the damn UPS man at my door with another box of documents for me to get familiar with. I don’t think Logan understands that I eventually have to move all of these boxes back to Texas. It’s nice to get a head-start on working there though.
All of his paperwork is teaching me the groundwork of the company and what I should initially be expecting in our day-to-day operations. I’ve been trying to familiarize myself with our clients and their backgrounds. The last thing I want to do is show up and not know who the hell I’m protecting.
It all comes down to security, whether it’s installing advanced systems on their properties or individual protection on their persons. The company itself is pretty well-rounded, and I can’t wait for the three amigos to jump in there and start taking care of business. Now I just need to get the third lady to permanently join this gang.
Thankfully, I convinced my professors to not drop me from their courses. A couple of them assigned an extra paper and one asked me to bring her a Diet Coke to every class until the end of the semester. The last one was a hard sale, but when I showed him that I have my entire business proposal that’s due for our final already drawn up, he quickly turned a blind eye to my absences.
It’s taken everything in me not to haul ass to New York and go all cavemen on Audrey. While I would love to drag her back here, Em is right. It wouldn’t do any of us any good if I get kicked out of school due to my deficient attendance record.
Jax is actually going to be able to come home any day now. He got up and walked the day after he woke up, but even though it wasn’t anything spectacular, he was exhausted within seconds. He’s continued to push through and now he can get up and around on his own for short bursts here and there. Regardless of the progress he’s made, he’ll have to continue with outpatient rehab once he checks out.
I’ve hit the gym twice a day every day while Audrey’s been away and today is no exception. Chuck and I walk up to the double doors of the big, red gym that I’ve been going to since last year. I discovered that Chuck does not enjoy being by himself or maybe it’s because it’s not actually his home. Either way, I’ve lost a pair of shoes because of his separation anxiety and Jax lost a pillow. He doesn’t know about that yet. Chuck actually does really well sitting in the gym though. When I hop in the ring to spar, he
just sits and chills on the ground, watching the action and not bothering anyone.
However, the bastard makes me eat my words the second we enter the gym when he takes off running at full speed toward the boxing ring. He flies through the ropes, up onto the platform, and barrels into one of the guys currently handing his opponent his teeth.
“Chuck! You asshole,” I hear Lane’s deep baritone voice laugh out loud. My body freezes as I see Lane lying on his back with Chuck perched on top, licking his face. I didn’t know Audrey was back! What the hell? They only left three days ago. Quickly, I jog toward the ring and whistle for Chuck. Just like I taught him, he immediately hops out and heels at my side, panting happily and looking up at me.
“Hey asshole, hit the bags with me so I don’t end up tuning your face up,” Lane calls out. Chuck and I ran to the gym but I’m still not warmed up enough to begin, so I head toward the heavy bags and grab a jump rope.
I extend the rope above my head to stretch my arms from side to side and ask, “Y’all are back?” With frustration, I pull the rope taut again and continue, “Man, I’m trying to be patient with her. I know I fucked up at the hospital and I need to apologize, but I can’t do it if I can’t find her anywhere! I call her phone and it’s always off. I went to all of her classes on Monday and she wasn’t there. I ran to a party because I heard she was there getting drunk! I take care of her all night and she’s gone by morning. I’m about to go fucking crazy, Lane. Seriously, do me a solid and help me out a little.”
“Chill for one second, princess,” he groans dramatically.
With speed on my side, I reach out and jab him in the rib cage. Before he can retaliate, I step back and start jumping rope. “Cut the nickname.”
Beautiful Broken Mess Page 24