by Kelly, G. E.
Lee planned on working with her later on her assertive speech, for now he wanted to focus on her defense and attacks. Having seen Miss Congeniality, Jaycee was already mildly familiar with SING, and since she’d already heard the term before, Lee decided to use it first. Solar plexus, instep, nose, and groin. The order of attack of vulnerable places. An elbow to the solar plexus, then stomp on their instep, use the heel on your hand in an upward thrust into their nose, and finish with a knee to their groin. Jaycee had trouble even pretending to hit Lee. He would need to suit up next time, and try again. For now, he focused on getting her to repeat the motions until they became more routine. Something that would be second nature if she were ever grabbed again.
“Okay, good. This time I want you to try to put a little more force behind your movements. No…you don’t have to actually touch me, but you should be able to feel how much strength you’d need to put behind each movement. Let it become second nature,” Lee said showing Jaycee the movements again.
“I’m sorry, Lee. I’m terrible at this, aren’t I?” Hanging her head, Jaycee twisted the hem of her tank, fighting frustrated tears. When she wasn’t tripping over her own feet, she was getting lost in the feel of Lee’s propinquity. He was so warm and comforting, it was hard for her to gather the rage she needed for the lesson.
“Little flower,” Lee said, tilting her chin up toward him, “no one learned to defend themselves in one day. You’ve spent your life running from confrontation. It’s natural that it would take you longer to recondition your responses. You’re doing just fine.”
Standing behind her, Lee guided her arms in the movements again. He showed her the amount of strength needed to break a nose. The class ended with smiles on the faces of everyone but Jaycee. The gloomy look on her face said it all, she felt hopeless, helpless, and weak. She hadn’t been able to even throw a punch into Lee’s hand hard enough to make him flinch. It didn’t cross her mind that his extensive military training could have had something to do with that, instead she blamed herself. Her focus was often broken by Lee’s touch, or voice, or hell even his smell. Apparently, she needed to hope her attacker would smell bad, or at very least not smell like one of her boys.
Jaycee sulked the whole drive home, despite Lee’s constant attempts to draw her out, or make her laugh. Alec was usually the comic relief of the group, though Lee had a fondness for sarcasm, that wouldn’t help him right now.
“Since you’ve had a rough morning, I’ll strike you a deal. I will do whatever you’d like to do for the rest of the day. How does that sound?” Lee asked.
“Anything?” Batting her big blue eyes, Jaycee’s whole demeanor changed to that of a doe-eyed child.
“I stick by my word. But remember, nothing will stop me from getting revenge if you pick something too regrettable,” Lee warned.
Laughing, Jaycee replied, “It’s not bad. It’s just that I have a guilty pleasure. I love watching Korean dramas…would you watch one with me? And by watch, I mean binge watch. Maybe we could even have some ice cream?”
Lee suppressed a chuckle at the starry-eyed look Jaycee got when she talked about ice cream…and people said the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Jaycee’s fondness for ice cream bordered on obsession. Luckily for her, the guys kept a stash of ice cream hidden from Jonathan in the deep freeze. When they arrived home, Lee went to retrieve it while Jaycee keyed up the app on the television. It was hard to choose a series to watch with Lee. Did she choose one she had already seen that she knew she liked? Or, would it be better to pick something new they could discover together?
Jaycee settled on a historical series called Sungkyunkwan Scandal about a girl who dresses as a man to support her family. It wasn’t quite as girlie as some of the other series, and Jaycee figured Lee could fill in the cultural gaps for her. Subtitles, while great for line translations, sometimes left the true meanings behind as the cultural significance wasn’t explained. Some of the things that initially had confused her in the past, she had been able to decipher as she watched more shows. Like the way Koreans turn their heads away from a senior person when drinking.
When Lee returned with the ice cream, Jaycee had already gotten them drinks, and prepped a blanket for them to snuggle under. She really did intend to binge watch as much of the series as they could before the other guys returned home. Halfway through her bowl, Jaycee’s lips were blue, and she shivered uncontrollably.
“That cold, huh?” Lee asked. Nodding her response Jaycee stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. Lee laughed, and gathered her close. He took her tiny hands in his own, and slipped them under his tee. His warm skin felt fiery on her frozen digits…so toasty warm. She sighed contentedly. Eventually, after Jaycee had practically crawled in his lap to get to more of his warm skin, Lee took off his shirt, and wrapped her up in his arms.
“Better?” He whispered into her hair.
“Much better. You’re better than an electric blanket,” she said with a sigh.
“Glad I’m good for something,” he said, laughing.
“You’re good for a lot of things, Lee. Like being a good friend to me. Being a warm snuggly blanket is just the icing on the cake that is you,” she argued.
“Ha! If you say so, little flower.”
The rest of the night passed in a blur of Korean, Jaycee was loving the show, and while Lee pretended to be uninterested, Jaycee thought he was secretly enjoying himself. She’d even caught him laughing at some of their antics. Koreans weren’t afraid to be silly in their shows. It was rather refreshing. As they approached the latter half of the series, the guys started filing in. All but Sean, even after dark. Jaycee waited and waited, but there was still no sign of him. The other guys had all come home, and while they tried to wait for him to arrive before they ate, eventually they couldn’t let the food sit any longer.
Jaycee tried calling Sean multiple times, but his phone always went straight to voicemail. He either had turned it to Do Not Disturb, or it was powered off. It was likely he’d simply gotten busy, and hadn’t noticed the low battery until it was too late. As much as she tried to calm her nerves, and reassure herself, Jaycee was worried. What if something had happened to him? What if he needed help, but couldn’t call for it?
Jaycee was scheduled to spend the night with Marc, but instead of lying down with him, she paced the floor in front of his bed. Marc watched her from its foot, still fully dressed and awake. The guys were as concerned thought not much as Jaycee. It was unusual for Sean to come home this late, but it wasn’t completely unheard of. He did often get lost in his work, so it wasn’t a stretch to believe his cell might have died without his notice.
Marc was feeling dizzy watching her pace. “Why don’t you sit down? Wearing yourself out won’t help Sean either way.”
“No, but keeping busy stops me from completely freaking out. Marc, you know what I went through as a child, there are really scary people in this world. I know Sean can take care of himself, but he isn’t invincible. I’ll feel better when he’s home safe.” She continued to pace, biting her fingernail as she went.
“At least stop chewing on your pretty nails. Please?” Marc hated to see her hurt her body in any way, even if she didn’t feel pain in the act.
“Fine.” Sighing, Jaycee plopped on the bed beside him. “But you have to distract me.”
“Is that an invitation?” he asked with a teasing grin.
“No, but you could tell me a story,” she suggested.
“A story? Like a bedtime story?” Marc’s nose wrinkled in confusion.
“No, silly, a story about you, or you and the guys. Tell me something I haven’t already heard. There’s still so much I don’t know,” she said.
“Okay, let me think…I don’t think we’ve told you how we all met except for the basics.”
“Tell me, please,” Jaycee requested.
“It was in elementary school; we all went to a school called Saint Benedict’s. It was an all-boys school, so the teachers felt
the need to keep us extra busy to keep us out of trouble. We were encouraged to create our own clubs, we even had a student council.”
“In elementary school?” Surprised, Jaycee couldn’t stop herself from interrupting.
“Yes, even that young. Benedict’s is a school for the well off. Rich people care a great deal about responsibility and community, student government was a great way to teach us young. Of course, none of us were involved in the council, but we did form our own club.”
“Was Lee the founder?” she asked.
“You’d think that, but no. It was actually Sean. At the time, Lee only had minimal martial arts training, while Sean was already a star pupil. A bit of a prodigy even. Sean came to our school when he was adopted by Jonathan’s parents. It would have been the year before you…well it was his first year of school. Sean had begged his parents for lessons, and being the indulgent if absentee parents they were, they gave him everything money could buy. So by the time we all met, Sean was excelling, but he was lonely. Jonathan was a great big brother to him, but Jonathan was always in demand being an actual genius. So, Sean decided they needed to form a club so he could meet other kids his age, but when it came to finding members, Sean was at a loss. Knowing of Sean’s love of karate, Jonathan suggested forming a martial arts club. Finding members wasn’t easy, so Sean posted a sign-up sheet in the commons. We were the only ones who signed up. Lee might be our leader now, but if it wasn’t for Sean, most of us never would have become friends. We aren’t all the same age, and having various interests, our classes didn’t really overlap.”
“Wow. I didn’t realize Sean was so well trained,” she marveled.
“He seems like a big nerd, right? Well, he is, but he’s also so much more. Sean just doesn’t flaunt his strengths; he hides them away from the world. If he hadn’t craved family so strongly after losing his father, he wouldn’t have considered creating a club himself. I’m glad he did.” Marc wrapped his arm around Jaycee’s shoulders, feeling warmed by his own tale.
“Me too.” Jaycee held onto Marc, wishing she could erase the pain of the past for the guys. She wished she had known him then, maybe she could have lessened his burden. “I wish I hadn’t had to move. I would have liked to have grown up with all of you.”
“Ha, ha! Probably not, princess, we weren’t the polished guys you’ve come to know now. We were ornery—sometimes violent—mischievous boys. Besides, we would have been worse than a father to you, keeping you from everything fun.” Marc realized his mistake when he noticed the light in her eyes dim at the word father. Damn, he hadn’t meant to remind her. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s fine. Really.” She gave him a fierce look. “I promise.” Jaycee rose to her feet, and resumed pacing. Marc sighed, and lay back on the bed. He kept following her with his eyes.
“Do you need to relieve some energy?” Marc asked.
“Why?” Jaycee asked, mildly suspicious.
“We could play a game or go running. Anything would be better than watching you pace,” he groaned.
“Okay, I’ll stop.” Jaycee went to get her bag, and returned with a pair of pajamas. “I’ll get changed and we can call it a night.”
“Are you sure? I didn’t mean to force you to go to bed.” He felt lousy, he wasn’t trying to pressure her, he just had a hard time watching her suffer.
“Yes, I’m sure. Without his cell phone, there’s no way to contact Sean. We’ll just have to hope he’s okay.” Jaycee pulled back her lips in a strained smile.
“All right, I’ll get ready in here.” Marc didn’t like wearing pajamas, but he’d at least wear the pants for Jaycee. She might have already made out with Garrett—and who knows what happened with Lee—but he wasn’t going to seduce her. Hopefully, she’d turn to him in time, when she got more comfortable with being with them. Marc could wait, he’d more than proven his patience was sincere. He’d waited years to see Jaycee again. Patience paid off in the long run. He was thrilled just to hold her close all night. He wasn’t going to jeopardize that by sleeping nude like he usually did, or even just in boxers. She was an innocent, and he wanted to treat her with respect.
Respect was hard at 1:00 a.m. when Jaycee was wrapped around his body like a boa constrictor. She’d finally fallen asleep after hearing Sean arrive home at midnight. Being as tired as she was, she promised to let explanations wait until after breakfast. They needed sleep—he needed sleep—but instead, he was wide awake. Awake and in need…of a cold shower. Jaycee mumbled Sean’s name in her dreams, pulling him tighter. Now, that was just harsh, she held him tight but dreamed of Sean. Marc chuckled in a self-deprecating manner. He wondered if she ever dreamed of him…
Nimfadoro (effeminate man)
January 9, 2016
Marc chose to spend his day pampering Jaycee. With classes beginning soon, and Jaycee determined to help her father, the school year would be stressful. He wanted to make sure Jaycee had time to simply relax and unwind, before the chaos started. After prying Jaycee’s sleeping person off himself, he was able to wake her safely. Without the risk of losing himself in her embrace. Jaycee finally cooked breakfast, which delighted Jonathan in more ways than one. Her cooking was delicious, and he got to sleep in a few minutes longer. Jaycee kept throwing concerned glances at Sean. She didn’t ask him questions, or rail at him for making her worry, but her feelings were clear despite her silence.
“I’m sorry, Jaycee. I had meant to call, but the dean of my department asked me to look at something for him, and I got so wrapped up in it…well, I forgot what time it was. By the time I thought to look, my phone was dead, and it was rather late to call the house. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I understand.” Jaycee sniffed and sighed as she spoke. Sean hung his head as he approached her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pressed her head to his chest. “I was just so worried.” Her voice was muffled by his shirt.
“I promise from now on I’ll bring a phone charger with me wherever I go. Will that make you feel better?” Sean tilted her chin up to look into his eyes.
“Yes, that would help.” Jaycee said, kissing his cheek shyly.
“All right, it’s my day. I call dibs on hugs,” Marc teased Sean, but still grabbed Jaycee’s hand to gently tug her to his side.
“Okay, sorry.” Sean laughed.
“There’s enough of me to go around…wait that’s not what I meant!” The guys laughed as Jaycee turned red. “You know what I meant,” she said with a pout.
“No one misunderstood you, sweetheart. You can stop giving us the pouty lip.” Marc leaned his head down, and spoke into her ear, “It’s too tempting to kiss that pout off your adorable face.”
She had thought she couldn’t turn any redder, but Marc had proven her wrong. “Um, is it time for us to go to the spa?” she asked in an attempt to redirect their attention.
Marc looked at his watch. “Yes, we actually do need to get a move on.”
“Before you go,” Jonathan interrupted, “I was wondering if I could ask to switch my day? I know we chose to put it off so I wouldn’t have to sacrifice my time to classes, but something came up. It might be better if I just take Monday after all.”
“Oh, well that’s okay with me, as long as you don’t mind. But what’s the something that came up?” she asked.
“Our parents are coming to town. As much as I’d like to ignore them, Sean and I only see them a couple of days a year, and they chose Saturday to spend with us,” Jonathan explained.
“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” Sean protested.
“Well, your phone was off most of the night,” Jonathan reminded him.
“Right.” Sean looked sheepish.
“I’d take you with us, but they are rather particular about their visits. I don’t want you to be subjected to their nonsense,” Jonathan said.
“I get it, it’s okay. I can spend the morning with you and walk you to work. I can even come visit you for lunch. Maybe sinc
e you work on your day, the guys wouldn’t mind if we spent more of the evening with each other…”
“No one here will object,” Lee answered for them all.
“Thanks,” Jonathan said to Lee.
“Well, if that’s settled, it’s time to go, beautiful.” Marc tugged gently on Jaycee’s hand, leading her to the garage.
She still didn’t know what spa Marc was taking her to and she didn’t want to admit her ignorance. After doing an Internet search on her iPhone in the car, Jaycee learned what services could be offered at a spa, but it seemed to her like it varied so greatly from place to place that it wasn’t much help.
The spa Marc took her to was the first Jaycee had ever seen, so she wasn’t the best one to judge its facilities, but it looked superb to her. The place was done up in whites and creams, it projected a very clean, calm feeling. The chairs around the rooms and halls were a very soft spongy material. Marc led her to the front desk, where he checked them in. Without telling Jaycee what he’d signed them up for, Marc whispered conspiratorially with the receptionist. Jaycee used the time to further examine the room. There wasn’t much to see. A few magazines sat around on tables bracketed by rows of chairs. Opposite the front desk, there were was a set of double doors that led to the rest of the facility. Sitting down in one of the chairs, Jaycee only waited a moment before Marc sat beside her.
“We’re a little bit early, so we’ll have to wait here until they come to fetch us. I booked a couples package, so we wouldn’t be separated,” Marc explained.
“Will I have to be naked?” Jaycee’s voice trembled on the word naked.
“Not really, for massages you typically get undressed as far as you feel comfortable, and then they drape a towel over your body, only removing the towel to massage each body part. You can ask them to ignore certain areas,” he said.