by Sable, R. J.
“What’s wrong with it?” I frowned.
“What if I send the wrong message?” He pouted. “What if he takes it the wrong way and thinks we’re getting too serious or not serious enough?”
“Alex,” I smiled. “You are seriously overthinking this.”
“No, I’m not. What if I spent too much money, or not enough, or-”
I cut him off by pressing my hand over his mouth gently. “Alex, shut up,” I grinned. “You know Rab, you know he’s not like that. Whatever you give him he’s going to love. He’s not materialistic. He’ll be happy just to spend the day with you.”
“But I need this to be special for us,” he whined.
“And it will be,” I reassured him. “Just stop overanalysing everything.”
He sunk down against the bed, landing on a pile of already wrapped presents. “You think?” He asked dejectedly.
“I know,” I answered, happy to see that he seemed to be calming down a bit. “Are you all done wrapping?”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I swear I have blisters from it all.” He held out his wonderfully soft hands to prove it, or rather fail to prove it.
I raised my eyebrow at him but decided not to call him on it. Reaching for his hand, I pulled him up from the bed and gave him a hug. “Come on, hot stuff. Our guys are out there waiting for us. Rab put the kettle on.”
When we returned to the kitchen, Rab and Jason were trying to teach Adam Arabic. He sounded more like he was choking on a fur ball than forming the lyrical sounds Rab and Jason were producing. I loved watching Jason speak another language; his full lips moved around the words as if he was forming the essence of each sound with every movement.
“Ana b'hebbak,” Alex chimed in, looking up at Rab through his far too long eyelashes. Eyelashes that I was insanely jealous of.
I looked up at Alex curiously, wondering what he’d said. By the pleased look on Rab’s face and the way he repeated the words back adoringly, I figured it was a declaration of love.
“I think I’ll stick to English,” Adam screwed up his face in frustration. “Sorry for butchering your language.”
“I’ve heard worse,” Rab grinned. “You should hear Jason try to speak it when he lifts.”
Jason fake scowled. “That’s not fair, my English is just as bad when I’m lifting.”
“Excuses, excuses,” Rab winked, pulling Alex into his side and handing him a mug.
“Damn, always the spare wheel,” Adam grumbled when Jason lifted me onto his lap. Despite things not working out with him and Laura, he seemed to be doing okay on the girl front so I didn’t take him too seriously.
“You weren’t complaining in those pictures,” Jason smirked, spinning his phone in one hand.
“What pictures?” I asked.
“You don’t want to see, baby,” Jason chuckled.
“When me and Jake went out with Craig,” Adam explained with a cheeky smile.
“Let’s see,” Rab gestured for Jason’s phone.
I watched Jason pull up Craig’s Facebook page and cringed as I caught sight of a mass of semi-naked women crowded round a fairly grumpy Craig.
“Ugh, too much make-up,” Alex complained, looking at the images of the women.
“Carter doesn’t look as happy as he should do,” Rab chuckled, passing the phone back.
“He was grinding his teeth all night,” Adam chuckled. “I think he wanted to murder Jake by the time he left.”
“He hated being in the spotlight even when I first met him years ago,” Jason nodded. “Outside the cage of course.”
“Well if it means being surrounded by that, he can share it with me anytime,” Adam grinned.
“Very generous of you,” I rolled my eyes at him.
“What friends are for,” he winked back.
Alex’ Mum came in and was immediately happy to see Adam, gushing over him as if he was nine rather than nineteen. Alex and I exchanged a smirk as Adam blushed furiously.
“Oh, Rab. What an angel,” she declared when Rab handed her a fresh cup of tea in an effort to save Adam.
Rab smiled courteously and replaced his arm around Alex who immediately snuggled closer to him. It was sweet to see them so happy but I knew it must have been hard on them when Alex’ Dad was around. He spent his Saturday afternoons playing golf so they were free from his judgmental stares for a while at least.
“Jelly, darling,” Alex’ Mum addressed me. “Will you be coming over to help us demolish the chocolate?”
Their family always hung chocolate ornaments on the tree and nobody was allowed to eat them until the day after Boxing Day. I usually dropped in to join in but I’d missed it the year before with Alex being away.
“It’d be my pleasure,” I grinned. “Would you mind if I brought Jason?”
“The more the merrier,” she smiled but then paused and looked thoughtful. “Maybe that’s not quite true. If we invited your brothers it’d be over far too quickly.”
“Very true,” I laughed. “Most of them will already be back at work anyway.”
“Aw,” she sighed sympathetically. “Bless them, no rest for the wicked, eh?”
“Nope. Busiest time of year for the hospital and fire station.”
“What about the oldest two?”
“Karl’s off work but Ian has to go down to London for the day.”
“At least they get Christmas off though?” She smiled.
“Yeah mostly,” I nodded. “Craig is working over night on Christmas Eve but he’ll be back in time for presents and sprouts.”
We had tea and biscuits but excused ourselves once Alex’ Dad got home. Rab and Alex looked equally glad to be away from him. Jason and Rab took Berty the Volvo to the gym to work out and the rest of us headed back to our house.
I uncovered one of the many tubs of biscuits and snuck them into the lounge with us. I figured if my brothers were stealing them, I might as well join in since I was the one that baked them.
Alex was convinced he could convert Adam and I to Trekkies so we were coerced into watching the whole of ‘Voyager’. It really was hard to say no to him.
A few episodes in, Ian and Jake joined us. The general rule was that the oldest in the room got control of the remote but Ian didn’t protest when I clutched it to my chest and pouted. He just chuckled and dropped a kiss on my forehead. He helped annihilate a good portion of the biscuits but compensated by fetching cans of fizzy pop for all of us.
It seemed like a simple gesture but nothing Ian did was ever simple. Usually, he’d just send one of us to go and get the drinks; it was a way of subtly reminding us of who was in charge. Jake hated it and it was quite often the motivation behind him kicking off and getting into trouble. When Ian handed him a can of diet coke, the gesture wasn’t lost on him. He looked almost childlike as he grinned at Ian and thanked him.
Ian, being Ian, saw me staring and probably noticed the surprised look in my eyes. He shot me a wink before slouching back into the sofa with another handful of biscuits.
We heard the door opening and closing and then Elise and Karl shouting their helloes. Karl grinned when he saw the tub of biscuits and immediately polished off the last of them. I could hear Elise in the kitchen and figured she was making tea and coffee so I hopped up to go and help her.
“Hey, sweetie!” She beamed. “Four days left!”
I grinned back. “I know, I can’t wait. Grace’s first Christmas!”
“Just a shame she won’t remember it,” Elise chuckled.
“We can take tonnes of pictures,” I smiled.
“True. Mind holding her for me while I make the tea?” She held up Grace for me to take.
“Like you have to ask,” I replied eagerly, already accepting my beautiful niece into my arms. She was so perfect. It felt so completely natural holding her in my arms and talking to her, telling her that she ought to learn from her Mummy and not take any of her uncles’ jip.
“It’ll be your own baby you’ll be holding one day,�
�� Elise smiled, watching me playing rocketship with a smiley Grace.
I sighed. “I would have liked that,” I smiled sadly. “But Jason definitely doesn’t want kids.”
She frowned. “He said that?”
I nodded dejectedly.
“Sweetie, men don’t really know what they want. That’s what they have us for.”
I chuckled at the thought.
“You have to work on them over time so that they eventually realise what they want and think they’re brilliant for coming up with it all on their own.”
I laughed. “Sounds like you’ve got this down.”
“Plenty of practice on your brothers,” she smiled kindly, squeezing my arm affectionately. “Don’t worry about it, Jelly. You’re still young, there’s plenty of time to work on him.”
“I hope so,” I smiled. “I kinda like him.”
“Only kinda?” She teased.
“Kinda, sorta, completely,” I nodded.
“You guys need a hand?” Adam chimed in, popping his head into the kitchen.
We ended up talking for so long that the tea was over-stewed and we had to make another pot. Adam listened whilst Elise continued her pep talk about having children and he nodded his head in agreement, telling me that Jason would come round. I hoped they were right but I also had to concede that it wasn’t really something I needed to be worrying about for a good few years.
“You need me to kick his ass, Jelly?” Karl grinned at me when the three of us came back into the lounge carrying the tea, coffee, and mugs.
“Whose?” I frowned in confusion.
“Jason’s,” Ian answered disinterestedly, his eyes on the television.
“Why?” My confusion deepened. Jason wasn’t even in the house, he was still at the gym with Rab.
“You must have broken up with him for a reason,” Karl explained with a wicked grin.
“What are you talking about? I haven’t broken up with him.”
“Not what Facebook says,” he smirked.
“What?” My eyes widened, my hand automatically flying to my pocket to look for my phone. It wasn’t there. Of course it wasn’t there.
My eyes shot to Alex who was cringing guiltily and looking sideways at Jake, who looked far too smug.
“What have you done?” I narrowed my eyes at Jake.
“Me?” He answered, feigning innocence. “Why would you assume it was me?”
“Because it’s always you, Jake,” I sighed, irritated to the point that I was contemplating returning one of the many Chinese burns he’d given me over the years. “Give it back.”
He continued smirking but tossed my phone in my direction whilst I continued to glare at him. God, he’s such an ass. I checked my profile and, sure enough, I was suddenly single. He’d not changed my gender, name, or any of the usual frape misdeeds so it wasn’t obvious that it wasn’t for a real. I resisted the urge to throw my phone at him, but only barely, and only because I didn’t want to break it.
I’d only been back on social media for a couple of months and I was already majorly regretting it. I now had a dozen updates with comments on my faux break up.
“What the hell, Jake?” I demanded. “What if Jason sees this?”
“Probably already has,” Jake smirked. “You broke up with him twenty minutes ago.”
“Argh!” I screamed at him and aimed a newspaper at his head.
“Jelly,” Ian cut in, still sounding uninterested but warning me with his eyes to dial it back.
I started calling Jason’s number, hoping I could explain what had happened before he saw. It went straight to voicemail and I continued glaring at Jake who looked like he couldn’t care less as he sat smirking with his hand down his trousers.
The front door opened and I dashed out into the hall in the hope it was Jason returning and he wasn’t too pissed at me.
“Hey, little squirrel,” he grinned, opening his arms for a hug.”
“Jason,” I breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing because he obviously hadn’t seen Facebook yet.
He scooped me up and enveloped me in a scorching kiss. I could smell the soap on his skin and just a hint of the fresh paper smell that affected me so thoroughly. His hair was still damp and mussed up from his shower and he looked delicious.
“Could you stop eating my sister’s face for a while so I can get into my house, Reed?” Craig snapped from somewhere behind us.
“Sorry,” Jason smirked, not looking sorry at all.
“Uh huh,” Craig rolled his eyes, edging past us and heading up the stairs. “Whatever.”
Jason took my hand and led me into the lounge, still carrying his gym bag in one hand. Rab followed behind him, his eyes lighting up when he saw Alex again.
“Jamie?” Jason prompted, nudging me down to sitting on the sofa.
“Yeah?” I looked up at him, my brain a million miles away trying to figure out if I could delete the status change without Jason noticing.
“These are for you,” he grinned, handing me a bag of bath bombs, body wash, and other delightfully scented luxuries.
“What for?” I frowned, looking up at him curiously.
“I figured I could try and talk you over before you dump me,” he winked.
“Oh,” I blushed furiously. “Jason, I’m sorry, I didn’t-”
He pushed his fingers over my lips gently, cutting me off. “I know, baby,” he reassured me. “Just tell me which one of them did it.”
I grinned. I shouldn’t have even been worried, Jason knew me too well. I would never have done something like that. He knew that one of my brothers was to blame.
My eyes darted to Jake who looked both amused and slightly disappointed. Jason glanced at Ian for a second before saying something in Arabic to Rab. The two of them jumped Jake, wrestled him to the floor, and pinned him down. I was only slightly surprised that the others let it happen but, to be fair, Jake had earned it.
“Get off!” Jake protested, wriggling furiously as the two of them held him down.
I smiled inwardly, deciding I deserved a bit of payback as well. I tickled him between his ribs, knowing that he absolutely hated it and not relenting until he was red-faced and completely out of breath.
“Pass me his phone will you, Jamie?” Jason asked, mischief in his eyes.
I obliged and watched as he pinned Jake’s arms under his legs so that he could use his hands to fiddle with Jake’s phone.
My brothers were all watching in amusement, checking their own phones to witness whatever it was Jason was doing.
“That should do it,” Jason grinned, pushing away from Jake and pulling Rab up with him.
“Oh, this is gold!” Alex giggled, his eyes locked on his phone.
Jake shoved up from the ground with a look of irritation on his face. He straightened his clothing and glared daggers at me.
“Don’t even think about it, Jacob,” Ian reprimanded, anticipating Jake’s firecracker retaliation.
Jake just scowled and held out his hand for his phone. Curiosity got the better of me and I looked over Alex’ shoulder to see what Jason had done. Jake’s latest status update was staring me in the face:
Jake Carter: Sorry ladies, if we’ve slept together, it’s time to go get tested.
The majority of the family had already liked it and there were a few derogatory comments added in for good measure. I laughed out loud and considered justice served.
“For fuck’s sake,” Jake groaned, seeing what Jason had done. “Asshole.”
Jason just grinned and pulled me into his lap on the sofa. “Did you see the comments on your little status update?” He asked me.
“No?” I frowned, pulling my phone out of my pocket to check.
There were a few sad faces but mostly the comments comprised of people from the MMA and athletics clubs offering to kick Jason’s ass for me.
I laughed. “Why did they assume it was your fault?”
“Baby,” Jason laughed. “They only have to take one look at
you to know it wasn’t your fault. You’re too sweet to have done anything wrong.”
I shook my head and sighed at him. A flicker of guilt hit me for retaliating against Jake. I knew he’d just been messing around, I probably shouldn’t have been as annoyed at him as I was. I looked over to see him sulking in a chair, playing with his phone, and probably doing damage control.
“Alright, kids,” Ian smirked. “It’s too close to Christmas for you two to have another one of your fallouts. Fix it.”
Jake was a stubborn pain in the bum. I knew I’d have to be the one to make the first move. I placed myself on the arm of his chair and slid down so I was sat right next to him. He studiously ignored me and maintained his scowl.
“You started it, you know,” I said with a half-smile.
“I was only messing,” he grumbled quietly.
“I know,” I smiled, squeezing his arm. “I probably overreacted.”
“You did,” he nodded, his lips quirking up slightly. “Brat.”
“Moron,” I returned with a grin.
He put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer so he could kiss my forehead, the definitive sign that all was good with us.
“I didn’t think he’d actually believe it, Jelly,” Jake assured me, his voice low because my brothers were pretending to watch TV whilst they eavesdropped.
“He didn’t,” I smiled.
“But you were worried he would?” Jake teased.
“Yeah, that was stupid,” I frowned.
“It was,” he agreed with a grin.
“Take more than a Facebook update to get rid of me. Sorry, Jamie,” Jason interrupted.
“Good to know,” I smiled, letting him pull me up from the armchair.
“Come on, it’s our turn to cook dinner.”
Chapter 39
Monday, 25th December 2013
My brows were furrowed in concentration as I expended all my energy on mustering a perfect poker face. Just once, it would have been nice if I could have pulled it off. I took a sip of my liqueur hot chocolate and tried to pretend I wasn’t holding the best hand ever.
“Jelly thinks she’s going to win,” Ian smirked at me.
“What? No. Do not,” I answered far too quickly, inwardly cursing myself.