by Ryan, Nicole
“Your tattoos.” He said.
“Oh.” I looked down at my arms. “Well, the dragon was inspired by the Luck Dragon from The Neverending Story. It’s one of my favorite movies.”
“Mine too, and The Labyrinth.”
“I love that movie!” I cried before taking another bite.
“I was wondering about the roses…” He said after finishing his second taco. “It’s gorgeous, lots of detail. They look three dimensional.”
“Oh… thanks, well my dad got really sick when I was a little girl we were very close, he was my best friend… He passed away when I was twelve and the last thing he gave me were roses for my birthday.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Don’t be. He was in a lot of pain, and it was agonizing for us to watch him suffer. He’s in a better place now.” I smiled. I missed my father at times, but I knew he was always with me, and I’d accepted his passing a long time ago.
He grinned, and I noticed a huge cilantro leaf that covered both of his front teeth. My eyes widened.
“What?” He asked, sitting up straight, a concerned look coming over his features dramatically. “Do I have somefing in my teef?”
I burst out laughing as he swept the leaf away with his tongue before taking another bite of the delicious food.
***
Jesse offered to take me home, and on the way back to my apartment my phone was buzzing again.
“Ian.” I said.
“Chastity, where are you?” He asked. My anger flared anew.
“Ian. I told you I was going to dinner with a friend.”
“Well, how long? Why aren’t you back yet?”
“We went all the way across town! Wait… how do you know I’m not…? Ian if you’re in my apartment, I swear to God!”
“I am in your apartment. I’ve been here waiting for you for hours.” He admitted.
“Get out of my apartment Ian. Go home.” I said and hung up on him again. I let out an exasperated growl and slammed my phone into my purse.
“Want me to come up with you?” Jesse asked beside me.
“You don’t have to, he’ll probably leave, and he’s harmless anyway.” I said, my eyes focused on the glow over the city.
“He doesn’t sound like it. Don’t you think it’s weird he’s in your apartment?” He asked quietly.
“Yes. He doesn’t have a key.” I waved my hand. “But really, he’s not crazy or anything.” I laughed, and Jesse turned up one corner of his mouth in a half smile.
When we pulled up outside my building Jesse got out of the truck too, and walked around to follow me up the sidewalk. I didn’t bother telling him not to. I wanted him to come up, I wasn’t worried about Ian being here until we pulled up and a rental car was parked out front. I smiled gratefully at him, he walked with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, taking long strides and opening the door for me again. When I opened my door, I was surprised and relived to see my little apartment was empty. But the feeling was soon swept away when I heard running water in my bathroom. I walked to the door and pounded on it.
“Ian?”
“Yeah, I know. I’m leaving.” He said on the other side and then swung the door open. He looked at me briefly before his eyes slid over to Jesse. Fuck. I followed his gaze, and Jesse was smirking, leaning against the wall, one heel propped over the other. He looked like he needed a piece of grass hanging from his mouth.
“How’s it going man?” Jesse asked.
“Jesse James. Is this who took you out to dinner?” He turned his gaze down to me, anger danced in his eyes wildly.
“Yes.” I said, lifting my chin and folding my arms over my breasts. “We worked late, and I was hungry, Jesse offered to take me out.”
“I see.” His rich voice sent chills down my spine.
“We had her first shoot today. Did really good too, didn’t we Chastity?” Jesse said enthusiastically behind me. I held Ian’s gaze, and expected to see smoke shooting from his ears at any second.
“Yes.” I said. “The shoot went very well.”
“So, you finally relented to doing the real thing?” Ian asked, rolling his tongue over in his mouth. “I wonder what made you decide to do that.” He said quietly, menacingly.
“It was choice I made several weeks ago; it’s simply the next step in my career.” I shrugged.
“Ah. Well then… I’ll leave you to your evening.” He said, slipping past me, and staring at Jesse, who returned his gaze with a cocky grin as he passed and left the apartment.
“Ian Parker is your step-brother?” Jesse asked pushing away from the wall and walking toward me.
“The only one I have.” I sighed. “Do you want a drink?” I was already pouring bourbon from the crystal decanter I’d gotten from Jerry two Christmases ago, into a pretty matching crystal glass.
“Sure.” He said. “Ian Parker, of Parker Productions.” He shook his head as he took the glass I handed him.
“I know.” I sighed and fell onto my tiny sofa. “It’s good to be home.” I sighed.
“You know, if you wanted to be with him too, he’s loaded enough that you guys could disappear from any family that might be against it.” Jesse laughed.
“I know. He tells me all the time. You should be surrounded by fine things, and draped in ropes of jewels. Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “I have no interest in being one of Ian’s many pretty toys.”
“You aren’t like any other girl I’ve met.” He said suddenly, and then took a drink as if he hadn’t meant to speak it aloud.
“Thanks.” I smiled.
“How did you both end up here in Los Angeles?” He asked sitting beside me on the small white sofa.
“If I knew the answer to that, a lot of my own questions would be solved.” I said as I sipped the warm bourbon.
“Can I ask you something?” He said after a few moments.
“Sure.”
“What’d you think about the shoot today?”
“I don’t really know. It was sort of awkward, I could feel the heat of those lamps, and the cameras were so close, it was hard to ignore them. I might not be doing another for a while.” I sort of laughed, but I was serious, I enjoyed taking pictures much more.
“Yeah, the glitzy shoots are always like that. Do you mind if I smoke?”
“Oh, I’ll join you.” I said standing and putting my jacket on. “What do you mean the glitzy ones?”
“Well, you know when the lights have to be perfect, and you’re caked with makeup and in some huge fancy costume, big hair you know… the glitzy stuff.” He said sliding open the door that led to my little patio.
“I didn’t know there was any other kind.” I said.
He lifted his eyebrows, “Oh, there are a lot more fun things you can do… with people who are more fun to work with.”
“You’ll have to take me to one some time.”
“I will.”
***
“I didn’t blow you off, I had company. Not to mention the fact that I told you not to follow me, did you really expect me to call you?” I said loudly to Ian over the phone as I ran across the street, the orange hand flashing at me.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t? Besides, I live here, maybe I wanted to come home early too.” He said as I swung the Starbucks door open, and stood behind an older gentleman in line.
“Without your car?” Silence greeted me on the other end. “Look Ian, you know this was all a mistake and you know that I’m seeing someone now… please don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be. I am okay with keeping in contact with you because of our parents, that’s it.”
“Who are you seeing? Jesse James?” He demanded.
“You know that, Ian.” I said exasperated, trying to keep my voice down in the crowded space. “Who else would it be? Would I be going away for a weekend with Jesse if I were seeing someone else?”
“I guess I just wasn’t aware that having dinner with someone meant you were exclusive.” He
quipped rudely.
“Yeah, several times a week for three months.” I said under my breath, shifting my weight onto my other leg.
“Are you sleeping with him?” Ian asked.
“Ian.” I rolled my eyes and squeezed them shut between my finger and thumb before looking up at the ceiling. We were not sleeping together, other than our shoot; we hadn’t gone further than making out and fondling on the couch. But that wasn’t any of his business.
“Fine. You know what? I hope you have fun, I hope you really do enjoy your little trip to the jungles of Oregon. Enjoy being eaten alive by insects and vermin.” He said harshly before hanging up.
I slipped my phone back into my purse just as I stepped up to the counter. “Two vanilla latte’s please.” I said as I dug a twenty from my jeans.
When I stepped back outside I hurried to catch the light and jogged across the street. Jesse’s black Tacoma was parked outside of the grocery store, and he hadn’t returned yet, he’d given me his keys so I let myself in and placed the hot coffees in the drink carriers on his dash. The twelve hour drive we had ahead of us was daunting, but I was up for it, I was excited to get away from the city for the weekend, and to forget about Ian. I watched as the sky turned a pale pink, and checked the mirror to make sure I looked alright.
When Jesse arrived to pick me up that morning, he found me putting makeup on in my bathroom and told me I was nuts for getting dolled up for a road trip, but the truth was, I never went a day without makeup. Not since my father had died. I couldn’t even remember the last time anyone had seen me sans makeup.
There was a loud knock on the driver’s window and I jumped and turned to see Jesse pointing at the lock. I reached over and flipped it up and he climbed in beside me.
“Thanks.” He said, taking his coffee and sipping it before putting his seat belt on. “Ready?” He asked as he turned the ignition, a small grin on his lips.
“Yes.” I smiled and pulled my fleece blanket over my lap and opened up one of the road trip games we’d downloaded.
“Good.” He flipped through radio stations, dissatisfied, and finally opted for plugging his ipod in. “Ok if we listen to rock?” He asked glancing over at me.
I snorted.
“Is that a yes?” He raised his eyebrows at me.
“Yes, lets listen to rock. I find it quite sweet.” I smiled at him playfully as we pulled onto I-5 North.
“Oh! Watch out we’ve got a bad ass over here.” He teased holding his hands up from the steering wheel. I laughed again and put my hand on his thigh, he glanced down at me.
“I’m excited for this weekend.” He said.
“I am too… I hope your family likes me.”
The drive to Oregon was long, and would have been excruciatingly boring had Jesse not had such a wonderful sense of humor, and knack for making me laugh. A few hours in, we’d grown bored of road trip games and had fell silent, I watched the acres and acres of vineyards, the rows of them made mesmerizing patterns as we flew past them, they seemed endless.
“So, spill it.” He said, reaching over to the bag that sat between my legs to pull out a flavored water.
“What?” I asked.
“What’s that story with you and Ian? I know it’s eating you alive, tell me.” He said, I studied his face for any sign of reluctance, but found nothing but curiosity.
“Isn’t that a little weird? I mean, I know we aren’t... serious or anything but.” This was embarrassing.
“I don’t care about something that happened in your past. I care about how I feel when I’m with you, now… and that’s really good.” He glanced over and gave me that grin that made my stomach flutter, and I couldn’t wait to get his dick in my mouth again.
I sighed. “Okay. If it’s weird just tell me.”
“I will.” He was still grinning, as if I was being ridiculous.
“Well, Ian and I met a few months after our parents’ marriage, there was a party, well there was always a party… and he sneaked off with his friends while he was home from boarding school. I think I saw him a total of three hours that time he visited.” I laughed and pulled the sandwiches we’d grabbed at a gas station and handed one to Jesse.
“Thanks.”
“So, the next time I met him, I was… seventeen I think.” I said around a mouthful of turkey and cheddar. “He was visiting from college. We spoke a little about ways for me to look at scholarships, who to talk to about going to school in California and that sort of thing. There was another brief visit one Christmas when I was in college, he was only home for that evening, and I didn’t see him after that until a party here in LA when Jerry introduced us.” I took a huge bite of my turkey sub, wanting a reason to not speak for a moment.
“No shit?” He asked, and I nodded, wiping a bit of mustard from the corner of my mouth. “That’s insane. Did Jerry know you guys knew each other?” He asked.
“No. We played it off as if we’d just met. He held his hand out to me and introduced himself as if he’d never seen me before in his life.” I said, taking another bite.
“That’s kind of…” He pulled his eyebrows together as he gazed at the road.
“Weird.”
“A little, why wouldn’t he just say he knew you?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes I think he planned the entire thing.” I said, and I had mulled over that thought for months.
“So then what happened?” Jesse asked after a second.
“We had sex at the party, and he proceeded to tell me that I would be great on camera. So I left and ignored his calls for months. He never went to Christmas at our parents’ place, not anymore, but for some reason this time he decided to show up. Stupid me, fell for it again.” I said it bitterly, though I didn’t mean to. I crumbled the sandwich paper and stuffed it back into the bag, and took out my bottle of water.
“Wow.” He said.
“Stupid right?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.
“No, just… kind of messed up.” He put his hand on my thigh and looked over at me with a gleam in his eyes. “We’re going to have a lot of fun this weekend. I have so much I want to show you. You won’t need to think about any of that crap, okay?”
***
“Chastity?” Jesse’s voice was soft, and pulled me from the depths of sleep, but as soothing as it was, made me want to drift even deeper into my dreams.
I vaguely heard the door beside me open, and I felt arms around me, I wrapped my arms around his neck and inhaled the woodsy scent of his cologne, my eyes focusing gradually. We were walking on gravel, it crunched and popped under Jesse’s boots. I lifted my head and looked at him.
“I can walk.” I said simply.
“I know, but you’re so warm.” He grinned up at me before letting my legs slide down.
My feet rested on the first step of a large porch, it smelled strange here, like old wood, moss, and campfire smoke… it smelled good. I looked up at the sky, it was black, and the stars glittered beautifully, bright and clear. I’d never seen so many stars in my entire life. I stepped off of the porch and gazed up as I walked out onto the large open field beside the house; it sank slightly, like a soft rug cushioning my feet.
“This is incredible.” I breathed.
There were large bright stars and tiny ones that seemed to twinkle on and off, there were dustings of microscopic ones that looked like a smear of glitter and at any moment I hoped I’d see a shooting star. It seemed possible with how beautiful it was. There were tree frogs singing in the distance and I took in the forest that surrounded us. We were shielded in a full circle by towering evergreen trees, and large bushes with long thorns on vines that seemed to rise up and twist around anything it could find.
“Have you ever been out of the city?” He asked, looking at me skeptically as he walked closer to me. The light from the full moon bounced off of his shoulders.
“Nope.” I said simply. “But I’m always up for an adventure.”
“Is that you Jesse?
” I heard a woman call from around the house.
Jesse and I hurried back up to the porch, and a tall woman with light brown hair greeted us. Jesse curled her in his arms and hugged her tight, she held him close, her eyes closed, as if savoring the feel of him against her.
“I missed you momma.” He said quietly.
“Not as much as I’ve missed you. Don’t stay away so long next time, it’s been nearly four months since you visited.” She pulled away from him and swatted at him with her hand before walking over to me and scooping me into a hug. “Thanks for coming to visit us Chastity, we’re so happy to have you.”
“Thank you,” I said, “I’m really happy to be here too.”
“Good, well it’s late, I made up your old bed with fresh linens, your dad’s already in bed, and I’m about to fall asleep standing up I had such a long day at work today.” She laughed.
“Okay momma, we just have to grab our bags, I’ll lock up.” He kissed her on the cheek and she nodded before she made her way back into the house, glancing back to smile at me once more as she pulled the screen door closed.
We had both packed pretty light, it took no time at all to get our things upstairs, there was an adjoining bathroom and Jesse told me I could shower while he locked up the house, and the gate outside. When I finished with my quick shower, Jesse had just came back into the room and turned off the bright overhead light, leaving just the bedside lamp to cast a soft glow over the room.
“This doesn’t look like a boy’s bedroom.” I commented as I sat at a dainty, ashen vanity table and took my hair down from the towel it was wrapped in.
“That’s because about two years after I became a resident of California, my mom made it into the guest room.” He grinned before pulling his shirt over his head; I appreciated his sleek form while I rubbed the ends of my hair gently with the towel.
“Can’t blame her, it’s so pretty.”
I smeared lotion all over my legs, and Jesse watched my hands carefully, one side of his mouth upturned playfully. He removed his jeans, and folded them over a side dresser on his way to the bathroom, his firm bottom holding my gaze as it rose and fell with his steps. There was a tiny cinnamon scented Yankee candle on the vanity in front of me, and I lit it with my lighter carefully before placing it on the bedside table. Moments later one of my favorite scents filled the entire room, and I gazed around, looking at the pretty decorations, but my attention was drawn up toward the ceiling.