I'm Your Bully (Bully Book Series 1)

by Andrea Tyse

  "Holy shit, Bro, fine. I'll lay off but don't expect the rest of your friends to understand. I don't even know who you are since we discovered Emma's tits."

  Jax pulled Paul up from his chair and escorted him to his car, shoving him inside. After a moment of hanging in the door he said, "Don't you ever get tired of having to be on all the time? Don't you just want to relax and be yourself?"

  "I thought I was when I was hanging out with you?” Paul said sourly. Jax slammed the car door, and walked back to the house.

  +

  Emma got used to Jax walking her home. They didn’t speak of his reasons why, but each night she would start her walk home and suddenly he would be at her side. Sometimes they talked, but usually it was just a companionable silence that was woven between them.

  Still not used to Jax acting like a normal caring human being, Emma was suspicious. She never actively sought Jax out, but she was starting to relax around him. Every time Emma thought the joke would be on her, it never was. It was getting easier and easier to be around him and harder and harder not to look for him each time she left for work, or to feel a little spurt of excitement when it was time to go home. Emma had never enjoyed going home before, because of Jax that was changing.

  Even though Jax never hung around after walking her home, she was starting to feel like they were friends. At first Emma thought he was maybe interested in her but since the day at the tattoo shop he’d been nothing but friendly.

  Walking next to Jax as they slowly strolled down the street a few weeks later, Emma kept looking at Jax out of the corner of her eye. He was so good looking it made her stomach hurt. Hurt because Emma had learned a long time ago not to trust people who were good looking. Jax had taught her that lesson, the one where she’d never measure up. She was trying to be his friend even though Emma just couldn’t figure out Jax’s game.

  Still watching Jax and not paying attention to the sidewalk, Emma’s shoe caught on a piece of uneven pavement that sent her careening forward, a strong hand caught her arm and pulled her up toward Jax’s side.

  Emma inwardly groaned at her clumsy attempt to covertly watch him. Jax kept walking but he had removed his hand from her arm to around her shoulders and kept her close to his side. Emma could smell the light cologne he wore. He smelled so good she just wanted to bury her nose in Jax’s shirt. Instead Emma tried to get her composure back by distancing herself from his body. Jax allowed it only so far before tugging her right back to his side again.

  “Jax,” Emma said as she tried to pull away again. As if he hadn’t heard her Jax kept walking not giving an inch between them. When Emma made a sound like a long suffering sigh he just smiled wide. Seeing that smile Emma said, “You are so annoying sometimes. You never let me win. If you would just give me my glasses back maybe I wouldn’t have tripped.”

  Jax slowly pulled her to a stop a couple blocks from Emma’s house. Grabbing her hand, Jax tugged Emma into a dark yard away from street lights. Backing her into the darkness, she could feel the heat of his touch and hear the night crickets singing. When he stopped Jax wasn’t touching her anymore. Surrounded by tall hedges on two sides Emma had nowhere to go.

  She jumped when Jax whispered in her ear, “What’s wrong with me catching you when you fall?” A single finger stroked the side of her face and Emma could swear she felt his breath on her cheek. Worry began to beat at Emma. What if he tried to kiss her? She’d never kissed a boy before. Jax had kissed half the population at her school, how could she compare. Instead of feeling excitement, anxiety surged.

  Jax must have been able to see her face because he instantly asked, “Why do you look like you’re going to bolt?” Great, now he sounded irritated, Emma thought.

  “I’m just…” Emma broke off because the loud thump of a car stereo system boomed as it drove by. A sound she was familiar with when Paul visited Jax. Shoving Jax in the chest, Emma swiftly walked out of the hedges to see Paul driving his car by. Anger started burning in Emma. So that was it. Jax didn’t want to be seen with her in front of his friends.

  Whirling on Jax, Emma went on the attack. “Did you see Paul’s car coming? Is that why you dragged me into the hedges? So he didn’t see you hanging on me?” Emma was so mad she almost couldn’t hear Jax respond. All she wanted to do was scream in his face that she didn’t want to play this game anymore.

  “Hey, wait one damn minute. I am not trying to hide you from my stupid friends.” Emma didn’t have to guess if Jax was pissed off, his jaw was rigid and he was talking through gritted teeth.

  “So what… It’s just coincidence that you pulled me off the street just as your best friend who tortured me in high school just like you used to drives by?”

  “It’s not like that, Emma.” Emma watched as Jax’s fists tightened. “I wish I could say that I don’t deserve your doubt but Emma I swear to you that I had no idea he was coming down the road. I only pulled you off the street because we are so close to your house. I wanted to spend more time with you before you ran away from me to the sanctuary of your home.” The way Jax was speaking to her didn’t match his words. He was pissed off and couldn’t hide it. He was practically sneering.

  “Sanctuary… You think my home is a sanctuary? You don’t know anything about me or my home.” Emma was shaking, worse, she knew that she was unreasonably mad and embarrassed because of her outburst but the pain she was feeling was lancing through her. She didn’t believe him. “My home has never been a sanctuary.” Anger moved Emma’s feet past Jax. When she tried to keep walking away from him Emma heard Jax mutter, “Fuck this,” before he grabbed her by the arm, spinning her around toward him.

  +

  Jax wasn’t expecting the reaction he got when he spun Emma toward him. He dropped his hand immediately. Emma went from being red faced mad at him to practically cradling her head with both arms. Emma wasn’t listening to him anymore. She was making these little sounds that struck Jax straight in the heart. Emma was terrified... Of him.

  “Oh god, Em, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Jax kept talking to Emma in a low even voice. He wasn’t sure Emma could hear him anymore but that didn’t matter. He had to do something. For the first time in his life Jax felt a kind of terror at losing something he’d come to care about. He cared about Emma. Their friendship. He never wanted her to fear him. Ever.

  “Em, please it’s ok baby. You know I’m a prick and I’m pushy but I’d never hit you.” Emma was locked inside herself, far away from him. She wouldn’t drop her arms.

  Huddling close to Emma’s fragile frame, Jax bent at the knees and placed a gentle kiss on each of Emma’s folded arms. He kept talking quietly to her, telling her it was ok. That he would never hurt her.

  Lowering himself to the sidewalk, Jax got on his knees. Anyone driving by would have thought he looked like a man professing his love. Jax didn’t care what anyone thought. All his attention was on the girl in front of him.

  Feeling the sidewalk under his knees grinding into him, Jax gently grasped Emma’s hips in his hands, and slowly tugged her closer to him. At first she wouldn’t budge but slowly she moved closer to him step by step.

  “Em, look at me.” The gentleness in his voice must have gotten through to Emma because she dropped her hands and stared into his face.

  “I’m so sorry.” Emma said quietly. Those big blue eyes were so sad and tragic. Emma quickly dropped her gaze away from his face as though she was ashamed of her actions.

  “Em, you have nothing to be sorry for. It was my mistake. I know you don’t trust me yet. You don’t have any reason to, but I need you to look at me.” Jax waited until he felt the weight of that gaze on him before he continued. “I’m on my knees in the middle of the street in front of you. I wasn’t hiding from Paul.” He squeezed his fingers on her hips a little trying to get through to her. “I will never ever hurt you like that Emma. I will never treat you unkind like I did in the past. If it takes me years for you to believe me then that’s just what I’ll do.�
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  “I don’t understand you.” Emma’s blond hair was gently blowing in the wind and a couple of cars flew past, one honking their horn at them.

  “I want you to promise me something Emma.”

  “Okay.”

  Jax loved that Emma agreed before she knew what he was going to ask her. He hadn’t ruined everything yet, he thought with relief. “If anyone ever tries to hurt you, I want you to tell me. Okay?” Emma nodded and Jax grinned up into her face.

  “One more thing before I get up off my knees, this pavement is killing me even through my jeans.” A smile curled a corner of Emma’s mouth and Jax’s eyes ate it up.

  “I’ve never seen you in a skirt before and I have to say, you have very sexy thighs from down here.” Emma started laughing when Jax wrapped both of his arms around her at the knees and hugged.

  “Friends?” he asked before they parted.

  “Friends,” Emma replied.

  +

  A week later Emma found herself rushing home from shopping to rapidly stock the shelves and refrigerator with fresh food. Standing in front of the mirror Emma checked her lip gloss. Taking a deep breath she pushed open the creaky screen door letting it slam behind her as she headed toward the party next door.

  As Emma walked out onto her front lawn, she saw Jax’s car parked in his parent’s driveway, a repeat of the day he doused her with water flashed before her eyes. Paul and a few of his other friends were looking at Jax's old black Chevelle. Jax was nowhere to be seen.

  Emma hesitated.

  "Hey Emma," called Paul.

  A spurt of pure anxiety burst inside of Emma. She could deal with Jax on her own but his friends were a whole other matter. Paul was waving her over and she could feel sweat start to bead on her face. Emma half walked, half ran back toward her house. Slamming inside she bolted for the stairs. Panic climbed inside of her as she climbed the stairs two at a time.

  Stopping in the doorway of her room, it occurred to her that becoming friends with Jax was the dumbest thing she’d ever done. When he’d asked her a few days ago to come to his party, she’d reluctantly said yes. Now Emma wished she’d lied and said she was too busy. There was no way she hadn’t just made a complete fool of herself. Emma had the vision of her back peddling on the lawn all the way to her front door. I’m sure that was a real laugh for them, she thought as she wiped the sweat off her brow.

  A week ago saying they were “friends” was one thing, being the butt of his cronies jokes wasn’t something Emma could stomach anymore. Especially not in front of Jax. Jax’s friends would never accept her.

  Emma moved toward the bathroom to cool her face with water from the sink. Slowly walking from the bathroom to her bedroom window she looked out into the yard toward the house next door. She was afraid to see Jax and all his friends outside pointing and laughing in the direction of her house. Fear began to consume her thoughts.

  A ring tone startled Emma as she gazed out of the window. Swinging around searching for the source she found it on her bed. A slender black cell phone was chiming over and over. Picking it up she hit the talk button and immediately a deep warm voice filled her ears, "Why aren't you here?"

  "Jax did you break into my house and leave this phone?" she asked incredulously.

  Jax laughed, "Sort of, didn’t you see the little ribbon I put on the case all by myself?"

  Emma saw the bow that she had knocked off in her haste to answer the phone. She sat down on her mattress with her back against the wall looking at the bow in her hand.

  "I want you to have it, I hate not being able to reach you and had an extra phone added to my plan for free." The tone of his voice sounded like Jax was trying to be nonchalant about it, like it was no big deal. What Emma read into it was he wanted her to accept it, and not say no.

  Guilt started to grow in her belly for thinking she couldn’t be his friend. At the same time Emma couldn’t get over the feeling that this was all a joke and she was going to be the butt of it no matter how sweet Jax seemed to be. Not sure if she should accept the phone she joked, "So, can I call China a bunch and run up your bill?"

  "Only if I’m in china and you’re calling in your panties." He teased back.

  "Thanks for the phone but I’d rather have my glasses back," she said quietly.

  "You can send me sexy pictures, and all kinds of naughty texts." He paused when she didn’t respond, "I just want you to talk to me, and I want to make sure you get home safe at night if I can’t be there with you," Emma could hear the worry. “I'll even take selfies in my boxers. I’ll make some super sexy duck lip shots for your pleasure.”

  "Okay,” she shook her head as she relented, her mind filled with visions of hot sexy Jax in his underwear against her better judgment.

  “That’s it, okay? Damn I’m losing my touch! Most girls would be thrilled to have my duck lips I’ll have you know!” He teased trying to sound offended while he distracted her from the glasses topic. They were his hostage and it would take a siege on her part to get them back. He really hoped she would form a battle plan to retrieve them someday.

  "Are you going to tell me why you ran from my friends? Paul said he tried to call you over, but you wouldn’t talk to them."

  "I'm ....I was..."she kept starting and stopping not sure what to say or how to explain.

  "I want you here. Don’t you know you’re my girl?" Jax said in a low voice in her ear.

  "I...I’m not," she stammered in reply on the verge of tears. She'd never been anyone's girl, never heard those simple words spoken in her direction before and she was desperately afraid to believe him.

  +

  "I want you here. Don’t you know you’re my girl?" Jax froze as soon as the words popped out his of mouth.

  Fuck, had he just said that she was his girl… what had happened to being friends? Where the hell had that come from...not his head, okay, okay one of his heads, but not the one that actually conversed in anything other than primitive demands. Okay, maybe both of his heads actually weren’t all that articulate sometimes, especially when they didn’t communicate before his mouth went and said some dumb shit.

  Jax missed everything she said after that, he had been in the middle of scaling the tree outside her window when she started to cry. The sound of her crying tore something up in Jax’s chest. Quickly climbing up toward Emma’s window he looked through it to see her sitting on that old mattress looking small and sad. Her head was down as she toyed with the ribbon he’d put on the phone.

  "Open the window," Jax's voice was a command. The debate between intelligence below the belt and above it was over when he heard her tears.

  Emma looked up from her bed and saw Jax perched outside her window in the tree. His dark hair had a twig stuck in it and his expensive jeans now had a rip in one of the knees. Sighing, Emma rubbed her wet eyes, got up, and let him in. Immediately Jax’s arms were around her. He didn’t say anything just folded her into his embrace and tilted her head up with a finger under her chin. Kissing her tears away, his mouth was gentle and sweet.

  Emma started a little at the gentle caress of Jax’s mouth, her heart going into a crazy rhythm. She stood still in his arms unmoving, barely breathing afraid he would stop. Afraid he would continue.

  Jax kissed the corner of her mouth and when she gasped at the contact he covered Emma’s lips with his own. His tongue flicked her bottom lip and then he gently sucked her top lip. Putting pressure on her chin Jax slid his tongue inside the wet cavern of her mouth. His tongue was stroking and playing with hers.

  Jax pulled away and said, "You are coming down stairs if I have to drag you down the tree with me." The steely look in his eyes said he was determined.

  Emma dropped her head against his chest and mumbled, "I’m not sure I’ll fit in. They never liked me before. I'm not like the girls you hang out with, I’ll just bore everyone." Emma pressed her face harder into him feeling it burn with mortification.

  "Baby, look at me." He made her look him in the e
ye by pulling back slightly and bending his knees. "It should be the other way around. They’re not good enough for you."

  +

  Emma sat beside Jax in a folding chair, watching everyone as they drank. Declining the many offers of beer or a cooler, Emma began to worry that people would start thinking she was a prude. She wasn't, Emma had just learned the hard way at a young age to distance herself from people who drank because of her father’s vile temper.

  Jax didn’t notice anything at first. This was his element and he was totally relaxed sitting back in his chair casually draping his arm around her. Emma was nervous and would jump each time his fingers grazed the soft skin of her arm. Jax lazily touched the skin at the base of Emma’s neck as he surveyed the crowd of his friends and strangers. The muscles in Emma’s neck went tight each time he slowly dragged his fingers across her bare skin. Her spine was ramrod straight in her chair. Emma didn’t look like she was having a good time. Jax frowned and eyed her from time to time trying to figure out what was wrong. Jax thought maybe it was his casual touch but the more he observed her reactions, the more he got suspicious something else was up.