by Sable, R. J.
“Jason!” I protested. “You can’t pay for this!”
“Just did,” he grinned smugly.
“That’s not-”
He cut me off with a delicious interruption-kiss that took my breath away, effectively ensuring I couldn’t carry on arguing for a good few seconds afterwards. “Jamie-Lea, there is no way in hell that your brother is paying for this. There’s even less chance that you are. You’re mine. Mine to love, mine to cherish, and mine to look after. If looking after you means buying you dresses that are guaranteed to blow my mind, then I’m definitely doing it.”
With that, he swept up the thick paper bag, inside which our purchases had been wrapped in tissue paper, and lead me through the door.
I followed him, slowly thinking out my response. “Jason,” I said deliberately, drawing his attention to me. I held his hands in mine, revelling in the fact that his attention was solely focused on me. “I love you. With all my heart. I need you, just you. I love that you want to do things like this for me, but I don’t need it. There are better things for you to use your money for.”
“Like what?” He smiled. “Tell me one single thing that could be worth more to me than you are.”
“Your future?” I offered.
“Wrong pronoun,” he smirked.
“What?” I frowned, my brain taking a few seconds to catch up.
“Our future is very important to me,” he explained, prompting me to smile broadly and squeeze his hands tighter. “But don’t sweat it, little squirrel. I can afford to buy you nice things every now and then and doing so makes me very happy. You do want me to be happy, don’t you?”
Still reeling from the confirmation that Jason thought about us being together as much as I did, I found it hard to come up with a good argument. “You don’t fight fair,” I pouted.
He just laughed. “Come on, let’s go find the hotel.”
Ian had left a message with reception telling us to pick up our room keys and bags from his room. He answered the door almost as soon as we knocked with his mask firmly in place. I studied him warily from the doorway.
“You got clothes then?” He asked tonelessly.
“Yes…” I answered cautiously. “And shoes.”
“Got anything to tell me?”
“Um, no?” I frowned in confusion.
He held out his hand and looked at me pointedly. What does he want? I wondered. I couldn’t figure out why he was acting oddly. Clearly, Jason understood better than I did because he slipped his hand into my back pocket and removed Ian’s card before handing it over.
“As I said, anything to tell me?” He prompted.
“I, um…” I hedged.
“How much did it cost?”
“I don’t know,” I frowned. I had no idea, I hadn’t had chance to look before Jason intercepted my payment attempt.
“I don’t know either, that’s why I’m asking,” he scowled.
Oh, crap. Is he pissed off because I didn’t use his card? I didn’t understand how he always seemed to know everything.
“I didn’t give you my pin,” he explained, obviously sensing my confusion. “I was expecting you to call and ask.”
“I paid,” Jason cut in before I could try and justify myself.
“I said I was paying,” Ian directed his glare at Jason.
“And I paid instead,” Jason met his glare. “She’s my world, Ian. I know she’s your sister, but she’s my everything and I’m going to take care of her whether you like it or not.”
I tensed, watching their stare off and wondering which of them was going to break it first. Eventually, Ian shook his head and muttered something under his breath before pulling me into his chest.
“I try and do something nice and all I get is attitude,” he grumbled as he hugged me.
“Sorry,” I whispered, not doing a very good job of holding in my smile.
I had the distinct feeling that the torch was being handed over, even though I knew Ian would always need to be close by, just in case.
We deposited our new outfits in the bedroom and the second the door closed behind us, Jason chucked me onto the bed. I giggled as my back hit the mattress and he was immediately on top of me, his hands either side of my head with a wicked grin on his face.
“I owe you a spanking,” he smirked, lowering his face to kiss the side of my neck.
“What for?” My giggling was silenced by his soft lips against my sensitive skin.
“If I remember rightly, you touched yourself last night,” he murmured against my skin, his hands working their way under my shirt.
“I did,” I nodded, my body already heating up in delightful anticipation.
He lifted himself higher, his lips brushing against mine before his tongue swept over my lower lip. In an involuntary moan broke through when he ground his hips into mine, his hardness grazing just the right spot.
“Take your trousers off, Jamie,” Jason growled, kissing my lips gently before he rolled off and looked at me expectantly.
I grinned as I turned onto my front to lift his t-shirt and kiss his toned stomach before I did as I was told. Slipping my fingers into my waistband, I began pulling the fabric away but my head snapped round at the sound of loud and angry screaming from the room next door.
“What the fuck are they doing?” Jason’s eyes widened in surprise, his focus moving to the adjoining door.
It was obvious the yelling was coming from one of my brothers, Jake to be specific. With the mood most definitely broken, I bolted to the door and pulled hard. I hadn’t been expecting it to be open but it was and I darted into the room.
“What are you doing?” I screeched at the sight of the twins pinning Jake to the bed, the one closest to his head had an electric shaver in one hand.
“Stay the fuck still!” Danny demanded, turning the shaver on with one hand and pinning Jake’s arm with the other.
“Danny!” I yelled, trying to get his attention.
Jake was red-faced and clearly angry, frustrated, and upset. There was already a patch of his hair shaved off. I was furious on his behalf. This is ridiculous. I bolted round the bed and grabbed the shaver away from Danny. He clearly wasn’t expecting it.
“What the fuck, Jelly?” Rick demanded.
“What the hell are you doing?” I retorted angrily, holding the shaver behind my back.
“We’re just having some fun,” Danny grinned, still holding Jake down.
“Get off of him!” I pulled at his arm. “Two against one? What on earth is wrong with you two?” I levelled each of them with my best Carter-family glare.
Jason busied himself with pulling Rick away from Jake, who immediately punched Rick in the stomach and started screaming profanities. Jason tried to keep them apart but Danny decided to join in. Despite Jason’s efforts, Jake was getting bashed about a fair bit.
I hated seeing my brothers fighting like this at any time but it was ten times worse with Jason in the mix. He wasn’t hitting anyone, just doing his best to block the blows to Jake.
“Enough!” I screamed, doing the only thing I could think of and chucking myself at Jake and wrapping my arms around him.
There was a little scuffling and I was somehow knocked in the stomach as I tried to get to him but it wasn’t too bad so I held onto Jake as tightly as I could. It took a couple of seconds for the twins to realise that they couldn’t get to Jake without hurting me.
“Back off, guys,” Jason cautioned, his voice deadly serious.
Jake just stood there, not hugging me back. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, his muscles trembling. I could feel the anger rolling off of him.
If they’d done that to me, I’d have been crying my eyes out and hating them thoroughly. Jake probably had the latter down.
“I’m so sorry, Jake,” I whispered so that only he’d hear me.
He said nothing, he just took a deep breath and pushed me away gently, his eyes locked on Danny’s.
“I can’t believe you two,
” I snapped at the twins, turning to face them.
“This is none of your fucking business, Jelly. We were just messing,” Danny growled, his jaw tense.
“This is not messing,” I gestured to Jake. “The two of you attacking him like this is horrible. How could you do that?”
“I don’t need you to protect me, Jelly,” Jake barked.
“I know,” I said quietly. “But what sort of sister would I be if I let them do that to you?”
“We didn’t mean to actually do it,” Rick gritted. “He moved and the shaver caught him. We were only mucking around.”
Jake clenched his teeth and I could tell he was really close to lunging at them.
“You two should go,” Jason intervened, watching Jake’s shoulders rise and fall. “Now.”
“Whatever,” Danny shook his head, aiming one last glare in my direction before leaving through the main door.
The three of us remained in silence once the twins had left. To say it was uncomfortable would be an understatement. I could see how upset and hurt Jake was and I didn’t know what to do to fix it. Instead, I turned my attention to Jason.
“You mind giving us a few minutes?” I asked him, reaching up to give him a kiss on the cheek and a small hug to show him how thankful I was that he stepped in to help.
“Sure thing,” he smiled. “Let me know if you need me.” He squeezed Jake on the shoulder wordlessly before he left, shutting the door to our room behind him.
“Fuck!” Jake yelled, catching me off guard and kicking the side of the bed loudly. “Wankers!”
“I’d say that was accurate right now,” I answered quietly. “I’m so sorry.”
“Shut up!” He snapped, running his hand through his now ruined hair. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Jelly,” he said, more gently this time. He took a deep breath and flopped back down onto the bed with his legs hanging off the end.
“What happened?” I asked softly.
“The usual,” he grunted. “Ian was giving me shit about my hair being too long after you left. The twins decided they were going to fix it.”
I sighed on his behalf, sitting next to him and squeezing his arm gently. “I can’t believe they did this. They’re not usually this bad.”
He grunted in response, still feeling the patch of hair on the back of his head.
“Want me to fix it for you?” I offered tentatively, unsure if that was the right thing to say. When he didn’t answer I continued. “You don’t have to cut it all off. I could just do the back and sides short and leave the top a bit longer so you can style it with gel. If you want, I mean.”
“I was going to cut it anyway,” he grumbled, pushing up to sitting and resting his head in his hands. “But it should be my fucking choice.”
“It should,” I nodded in agreement. “It was really wrong of them.”
“They don’t get to tell me how my hair should look,” he growled, getting angry again.
“Or how to dress,” I mumbled, half hoping he wouldn’t hear.
Unfortunately, he must have done because he span round to face me. “You what?”
“I just mean… You’ve had a go at me for what I’m wearing before, it’s kind of the same thing.”
He remained silent, studying my face with a scowl.
“You can’t be angry at them for trying to control things in your life when you’ve done the same. That’s all.”
This time he stayed silent so long I considered leaving the room before he exploded at me. I stood up to do just that but Jake caught my wrist.
“Point made. Get it over with,” he grumbled, handing me the shaver.
It didn’t take long at all and I made sure to massage his scalp thoroughly whilst I washed his hair in the hope that it would calm him down a bit. It seemed to do the trick. I thought his new cut looked awesome, even if I was a little biased. It suited him perfectly.
“What d’ya reckon?” He asked, scrutinizing his reflection as he worked some gel into his hair.
“I like it,” I smiled, meeting his eyes in the mirror.
“Me too,” he nodded, satisfied with himself. “Thanks, Jellybean.” He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and walked me back into the main room just as Craig came in, dressed in sweaty workout clothes.
“Looks good,” he nodded at Jake with a casual glance in his direction.
“I best go get ready for dinner,” I smiled at them. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
When I let myself back into the room, Jason was already dressed in dark grey dress trousers and a long-sleeved, sky blue shirt, with black buttons and a black trim around the collar. The top button was open and he looked as drool-worthy as usual.
“Hey, handsome,” I grinned, moving to stand between his legs as he sat on the large armchair in the corner.
“Hey, beautiful,” he grinned back. “Is Jake okay?”
“Yeah,” I smiled. “I think so. We fixed his hair.”
“That was messed up,” Jason shook his head, taking my hand from his shoulder to press gentle kisses to my palm.
“It was,” I agreed, closing my eyes to enjoy it. “I’m so angry at the twins.”
“I was too,” he mumbled, switching hands so that they both got the same treatment.
“Was? You aren’t any more?” I frowned.
“Are you going to be mad at me if I had a go at them?” He looked up at me with an adorable smile and a slightly guilty expression.
“Only because you beat me too it,” I grumbled, shifting so I could sit on his lap. “They didn’t gang up on you did they?” I asked, scanning his face to make sure I hadn’t missed any bruises.
“No,” he laughed. “Craig heard me and joined in.”
“Did he?” I smiled. At least I’m not the only one sticking up for Jake.
Jason nodded, pulling me closer to him. He smelt amazing as usual and I took a deep breath and let it wash over me, my body relaxing into his as I nuzzled into his neck. The twins aside, I was in a really good mood. Ian was back, I was no longer in danger, and I was in Jason’s arms. Soon my little niece would be arriving, with her Mummy and Uncle, and our family would be complete.
“Much as I love having you here in my arms,” Jason interrupted my happy musings with a kiss to my forehead. “I’m desperate to see you in that dress.”
“Your wish is my command,” I grinned, hopping up from his lap to courtesy.
Chapter 29
Tuesday, 8th October 2013
I loved the look on Jason’s face when I stepped out of the bathroom. In fact, I always loved the way he looked at me. It was a huge part of the fact that I was starting to love who I was as a person.
The way that he was looking at me in my new outfit told me that he was dying to get back to what we’d been doing before Jake’s screams had interrupted us.
“No time for that, perv,” I teased as I dodged his attempt to grab me round the waist. “We need to go find the others.”
“Just so you know,” he drawled, standing up and adjusting himself in his trousers. “You’ll pay for that later.”
I giggled and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I hope so.”
Ian, Craig, and Jake were already waiting in the foyer, all looking handsome in similar outfits to Jason. Blue seemed to be the theme for them tonight because they were all wearing variations, from navy to periwinkle. Needless to say, with the Carter family blue eyes, they looked dashingly handsome. The sort of handsome that broke hearts the world over.
“What’s under the coat, Jelly?” Ian eyed me suspiciously.
“A dress,” I answered nonchalantly.
“Show me,” he demanded.
“Why?” I pouted. I was hoping he wouldn’t see until we’d left the hotel because he’d be less likely to try and make me go back and get changed. Emphasis on try.
“Now,” he scowled, one foot already in soldier mode.
I sighed inwardly and unbuckled my coat, handing it over to Jason. I crossed my arms in an
unladylike fashion as I waited for him to complain.
He studied me with a scowl on his face for a few seconds before circling around me.
“Ian…” I began, half cautioning, half pleading.
“You did this on purpose,” he turned to Jason.
“Did what?” Jason asked innocently. “Got her a dress she looks great in?”
Ian muttered something under his breath before kissing me on the forehead. “You look nice.”
If Jason hadn’t chosen that moment to start putting my coat back on my shoulders, I would have fallen over. No protest, no anger, just a compliment. What on Earth? I decided that now probably wasn’t the time to question it and just smiled in thanks.
“There’s my niece,” Ian grinned when Matt, Elise, and Karl arrived with Grace in a harness on Karl’s front and a pram in hand.
“She’s asleep,” Karl said, stroking Grace’s back.
“Oh, right,” Ian lowered his voice.
“Don’t sweat it, she could sleep through a thunderstorm,” Elise smiled, moving forward to give Ian a hug and welcome him home.
“Oh my gosh! What have you two done?” Elise laughed, catching sight of the twins approaching.
I span around to see what she was talking about. Oh my God. I can’t believe they did this. They’d both shaved their heads almost to the point of being bald. I tried really hard, honest I did, but I couldn’t hold back the laughter.
I watched through tears of mirth as the twins made their way over to Jake.
“See yours worked out better,” Rick mumbled, rubbing his naked scalp.
“We cool?” Danny prompted, holding out a hand to Jake.
Jake was clearly fighting the same battle I had but he was doing a little better at holding his laughter in. This was obviously the twins’ version of an apology; they’d shaved their own heads to make up for messing up Jake’s hair. Sweet as it was, I didn’t really think it was fair because, my shock aside, they actually looked alright.
“Idiots,” Jake laughed, shaking each twin’s hand in turn.
The restaurant wasn’t far away but I was still grateful for the coat. It was October after all. Now that I was at a healthy weight, the cold didn’t affect me as badly as it once had but I wasn’t superhuman and the extra protection from the cold was definitely appreciated.