Sweet Ride

by Moores, Maegan Lynn

  “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow night. Oh, and Macie, I meant what I said. Stay the fuck away from Jack,” I say, pinning her with what I think is my death glare.

  “Whatever, bitch. He’ll come lookin’ for me when he’s sick of your shit, and I’ll be here willin’ and waitin’.”

  “Don’t hold your breath, honey, because you won’t survive,” Jack says and then turns with me still in his arms and walks us out. His hot breath blows down my neck as he speaks against my ear in a growl, “That was so fuckin’ hot; I’m going to make you scream when we get home.”

  “Is that a promise?” I ask teasingly.

  “Oh yeah,” he says.

  When we get back to his condo, we just barely make it through the door when Jack roughly pushes me against the wall in the entryway, his forehead pressing against mine, and his lips bruising my mouth. “What’s this about me being yours?” he asks. His breath hitches as he speaks.

  Shit! I was so pumped full of adrenaline during the whole Macie confrontation that I forgot that I even said that. What am I going to tell him?

  “Umm … yeah. About that. It was just a slip of the tongue. I mean … I know you’re not really mine. It’s just that she was being a bitch I had to say something to make her back off,” I explain to him.

  “I’m yours. Don’t doubt that for a fucking second,” he tells me.

  “Umm … okay,” I mumble against his lips.

  “And you’re mine, baby,” he softly says, his tongue darting out and licking my bottom lip.

  “Now, how about I give you a slip of my tongue,” he adds, his tongue dipping into my mouth, mating with my own. I groan as I wrap my arms around his neck, jump up against his body, and lock my legs around his waist. Jack’s hands cup my ass as he backs away from the wall with our mouths still connected. He walks us up to his bedroom.

  And let me tell you something, Jack’s a freaking expert with his tongue, and he really knows how to keep a promise.

  Chapter 14

  Julie

  It’s been a little over a two weeks since Jack brought me to his mother’s house to meet his family. It feels like I’m becoming a permanent fixture in Jack’s apartment—seems like I spend all my free time here, but with company like him, can you really blame me?

  Jack had to work last night, but he should be home soon. It’s almost eight thirty, and he told me he’d be home sometime after ten. Knowing this, I decide to laze around in bed and wait for him. I have the day off and I plan on taking full advantage of it.

  Snuggling into his pillow, I pull in a deep breath and inhale his scent from the fabric. A smile slowly creeps across my face. God, I’m pretty sure I’m falling in love with this man! My whole body’s warm and super relaxed and just as I’m getting into a comfortable position for a quick nap, Jack’s house phone starts ringing. I eye the phone and battle with the decision of whether I should answer it or not? I decide to answer it. Huge fucking mistake!

  “Hello,” I say into the phone.

  “Where’s my brother?” is the response I get. Shit, it’s Jack’s sister, Isabelle. Cocksucking motherfucker! Why did I answer the damn phone? This girl clearly still hates my guts.

  “He’s at work,” I answer, biting my tongue so I don’t say something to give her an excuse to hate me even more.

  “Good. We need to talk,” she says, sounding serious as shit.

  “I really don’t think we have anything to say to each other,” I return.

  “Look, it’s important. It concerns Jack.”

  “All right, when can I expect you?” I ask her. I’m so not looking forward to this, but if it concerns my man, I want to know what she’s got to say to me.

  “I’ll be there in thirty minutes, so don’t go anywhere.”

  “Okay, I’ll be here.” My first instinct is to run far, far away, but I’m kind of curious as to what she needs to talk to me about.

  My stomach starts to get nervous butterflies as I get up out of bed and head for the bathroom. Before getting in the shower, I quickly text Jack letting him know that his sister’s coming over to talk to me. I then take a quick shower and change into my comfiest pair of yoga pants and purple racer back tank top. I’m certainly not going to dress up for her. She already despises me, so nothing I do will impress her.

  Shortly after, I hear the front door opening and Isabelle calling my name. I look at my watch; she’s ten minutes early. Goddamn it! Let’s get this over with. I walk down into the open living space from the upstairs loft and come face-to-face with my arch nemesis, Isabelle De Luca. She looks super casual today: wearing her hair in a braid to the side, designer jeans, a worn black Beatles t-shirt, and a pair of black flats. And wouldn’t you know it, she still looks fucking gorgeous. This girl has some seriously good genes, but then again, look at Jack.

  “Sit,” she orders, motioning to the sofa seat next to her.

  “Nice to see you too, Izzy,” I say, using Jack’s nickname for her.

  “Listen Payton, I’m not here to socialize with you. We’ve got some serious things to discuss.” Well, that doesn’t sound promising.

  “Okay, hit me with it.” I sit down, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.

  “I want you to end things with Jack,” she says. Wow, this girl doesn’t beat around the bush. She really gets down to business.

  “Come again?” I ask, wanting her to repeat what she just said. I want to make sure I didn’t just imagine it.

  “I want you to end things with Jack.” Yep, she totally fucking said what I thought she said.

  “That’s what I thought you said. I’m telling you right now, that’s not going to happen, Isabelle,” I tell her flat out.

  “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  “Why do you hate me so much? I mean yes, I acted like a crazy, jealous bitch when I saw you guys at the restaurant, but I’ve apologized for that. It can’t be just because of that.” I need to know the real reason why she dislikes me so much.

  “I don’t hate you, but you’re not good for him.”

  “What the fuck?” Okay, now I’m starting to get pissed off at her. “You don’t know a thing about me. How can you say that I’m not good enough for him? I think Jack’s a pretty good judge of character, and he seems to think I’m more than good enough.”

  “Jack doesn’t need to be with another girl that’ll end up ruining him,” she tells me, like I should know what she’s talking about.

  “I’m not following you,” I return, totally confused now.

  “Did he ever tell you about Julie?” she asks.

  “Julie? No, he didn’t,” I answer, unease slithering up my spine. She better tell me something soon because I’m starting to freak the fuck out here.

  “Jack said it was love at first sight. Julie was new to town. They met during their senior year of high school, and he asked her out the minute he saw her. He proposed to her during their prom, even though they’d only know each other for nine months. She said yes. They were head-over-heels in love with each other and excited about their engagement and upcoming marriage. Because they were so young, Mom and Julie’s parents finally managed to talk them in to waiting until after they graduated college to get married. They reluctantly agreed.

  Both of them attended San Francisco State University together where he studied Criminal Justice, and she studied Nursing. They rented a little apartment off campus, and life was good for them for the first two years. During his studies, Jack became obsessed with our father’s murder. The detectives on the case said that it was just a random drive by, but that didn’t sit well with him. He was convinced that things didn’t add up about the shooting and started looking further into the case. One evening, while Jack was here in Del Mar looking at evidence in the cold case file, someone broke into their apartment. Julie came home …”

  The hairs all over my body stand on end. Oh God, I can tell this story’s not going to have a happy ending.

  “… from the library
and surprised whoever it was. The intruder stabbed her sixteen times in the chest. Jack came home and found her dead on their living room floor,” she continues, trying to hold back her own tears. “A neighbor heard Jack’s pleas for help and called 911. When the police arrived at the scene, they had to pry him away from her body. He refused to believe that she was gone.”

  “Oh my God,” I croak out, tears streaming down my face.

  “Thinking he had something to do with her death, investigators brought him down to the station still covered in Julie’s blood and interrogated him for hours. Eventually, he was cleared of any wrongdoing. He was so devastated and distraught over her death that he ended up dropping out of school. You have to understand, for a full year, he wasn’t our Jack anymore. He became a man withdrawn from life. We finally convinced him to seek help and slowly the old Jack started to resurface. He eventually went back to school and got his degree. His goal was to always become a policeman like our father, but Julie’s murder pushed him toward it even more. He then focused his obsession on finding Julie’s killer, but the case eventually went cold, and no one was ever charged with her death.”

  “Please, stop. I can’t take anymore,” I plead with her, gasping for air between sobs. I place my forehead on my lap and cry for the love that Jack lost.

  “No, you need to hear this. Jack loved Julie. I think that’s why I’m so angry, because seeing you at the house the other night told me that he cares for you deeply. Other than Julie, you’re the only woman he’s ever brought home. I know you’ve only known each other for a short time, but I can already tell that what he’s feeling for you is way beyond anything he ever felt for her. If something were to happen to you, he wouldn’t survive it this time. You have the power to completely destroy him. I refuse to sit back and watch my brother get dragged down again when he can’t save the woman he loves,” she says, tears falling down her face.

  Did she just say Jack loves me? Holy shit, I think she did.

  “I don’t know what to say to that, Isabelle. Do you just expect Jack to be alone forever and never have a chance at happiness because you’re afraid something will happen? That’s some seriously fucked up logic.”

  That’s when Jack storms through the door.

  “Izzy! What the fuck are you doing?” he asks, anger evident in his voice.

  “Jack, I was just …”

  “What the fuck did she tell you?” he directs at me, his angry eyes unblinking.

  “She told me about Julie,” I admit. His jaw clenches, as he turns back toward his sister in pure rage.

  “Get. The. Fuck. Out!” he yells at his sister, grabbing her roughly by the elbow and dragging her toward the door.

  “I was just trying to ...”

  “Don’t give a fuck what you were trying to do!” he cuts her off. “My relationship with Payton’s none of your fucking business!” he roars at her before slamming the door in her face. He presses his forehead against the door and takes a deep breath, visibly trying to calm himself down.

  “Jack,” I softly say, cautiously walking toward him.

  “Don’t,” he breathes out, lifting a hand up, warding me off—his body still shaking with anger.

  “It doesn’t change things between us, Jack. You shared a love with someone so deeply that you were going to spend the rest of your life with her. That’s beautiful. Then someone ripped that dream away, and it broke you. There’s no shame in that. It makes you human. I only wish I was strong eno—”

  “Just stop,” he interrupts, stopping me from confessing about my past. “You don’t get it, do you? I’m not angry because she told you about Julie.”

  “You’re not? Then why did you just throw your sister out of your apartment?” I ask, confused.

  “I’m fucking pissed because after what I confided to you about my father, my sister decided to take it upon herself to explain to you how I let another fucking person in my life down. I can’t seem to keep anyone I love safe. I’m a fucking failure, Payton!” he shouts, his fist punching the solid wood. It breaks my heart to see him like this. Twice now, I’ve seen Jack at his most vulnerable and I’m starting to realize that maybe I’m not the only one that’s been damaged by my past.

  Approaching him from behind, I wrap my arms around his chest, locking him in my embrace. “Shh. How could you ever think you failed her? You loved her and wanted to spend the rest of your life with her. I only wish I could be so lucky,” I soothingly say in his ear. Shit! Did I just say that? I feel the tense muscles in his body relax. “Loving someone so deeply that you feel helpless when something horrible happens to them does not make you a failure, Jack. Bad things happen to good people all the time. That’s life. It sucks, but there’s nothing you can do about it. You need to let the blame go, Jack.”

  Turning around to face me, he locks his arms around my waist and squeezes me tightly. His forehead presses firmly against mine. “What did I do?” he mumbles against my lips. I’m not sure what he means by that.

  “What’s that?” I ask him.

  “What did I do to get you in my life?” he elaborates, kissing down my neck to my collarbone. His tongue darts out, licking the hollow area at the base of my throat. This is getting deep, time to lighten the mood.

  “Oh, you know what you did that first night. Do you need me to remind you?” I say teasingly.

  “Payton, that night and every other moment I’ve had with you are forever burned into my fucking memory. I don’t need reminders,” he mutters against my throat, sending chills through my whole body.

  He proceeds to take me up to his bedroom where he recreates some of my favorite memories.

  Chapter 15

  Birthday

  One month later…

  I can’t believe it! Not one of my so-called friends or boyfriend has wished me a happy fucking birthday today! I’m fuming as I think back through the day to see if I missed anything.

  I woke up this morning in Jack’s bedroom wanting to give myself a big birthday present. I slipped under the sheets and pleasured myself with giving Jack a Grade A blow job, to which he returned the favor and then fucked me senseless.

  Then we got up and had breakfast where I kept checking my phone making sure I never missed any calls.

  “You expecting a call?” Jack asked.

  “Just waiting for Ella to call,” I returned.

  “What’ve you got planned for today?”

  “Think I might make a trip to the mall and then do some house cleaning at my place, since it’s my turn this week.”

  “What’re you shopping for?”

  “I don’t know, just a few little things.”

  “Okay, I probably won’t get off until about eight or so. Are you staying here tonight or your place?”

  “Doesn’t matter to me, just as long as your hunky self and cock are staying with me. We can do a little repeat of what we did this morning,” I said, knowing how riled up I’d made him for the rest of the day.

  “Don’t start something we can’t finish, Payton,” he warned, stood up, and walked toward me.

  “Who said anything about not being able to finish? You’re the one who has to work, not me. I have the full day to do whatever I want. Even take care of this ache between my legs,” I whispered, as I rubbed my hands down over my breasts and farther down toward that very ache.

  “Jesus, you’ve got me ruined for the day now. I’m going to be hard as fuck thinking about you touching yourself,” he said with his husky, sexy voice. He fisted his hands in my hair and pulled me up to him as he smashed his hungry mouth down on mine. “I’ll see you when I get off,” he said as his lips broke contact.

  “Oh, baby. I’ll see you when I get off,” I muttered against his mouth. His only reaction was a growl as he reluctantly turned, walked away, and left for the day. What the hell? I guess I really will have to take care of it myself. Shit, my vibrator is at home. Oh well, I guess my hands can get the job done.

  The rest of the morning turned out to be shi
tty. No one called me other than my parents. And even that was just a short conversation where they wished me a happy birthday, and told me to have a good day, and that they wanted to come out soon for a visit so they could see me, Ella, Ryder, and the babies. Oh, and Jack, of course. My sister even forgot; which has NEVER happened. What the hell?

  I drove to the mall and purchased a few sexy things at Victoria’s Secret that I could wear later on tonight for Jack. My next stop at the mall was the store, Annabel’s, which sold expensive designer dresses. I’d been cleaning up on tips this past week, so I decided to splurge and bought another birthday present for myself, something to wear next time Jack takes me out. It’s a hot pink, tight-as-sin halter dress. I looked smoking hot in it, if I do say so myself. After I finished shopping I went home and did the bare minimum cleaning, which brings me to now.

  I’m sitting at the island flicking through my phone checking for messages again. I decide to call Jack. There’s no answer, so I let it go to voicemail and leave a message asking him if he has anything planned for tonight and to let me know.

  Like seriously, Edward didn’t forget Bella’s birthday!

  The front door opens, and my roommates walk in looking pretty excited and start yelling ‘Happy Birthdays’ to me and plant a bottle of liquor on the island in front of me. “Go get dressed girl, we’re going to celebrate,” Molly says, bouncing up and down so much that her tits look like they’re going to fall out of her top. She finally settles down and pours a shot for each of us.

  “What do you mean?” I ask, downing the liquid fire.

  “We’re going to Climax to party it up,” Amber says excitedly.

  “I can’t. Jack and I are going to do something later tonight, and I have to wait to hear from Ella. I don’t know if she wants to do something or not.”

  “Call them. Ella can join us, and Jack can meet you there and then you guys can do whatever after,” Molly tries to convince me.

  “Okay, I’ll call them now and then I’ll get ready,” I say, going to my bedroom to make the calls.