He is.
Clumsy footsteps stop right outside my door. I’m frozen. Not breathing. Craning my head I see that I didn’t lock the door. Is he going to come in here?
“Drew,” he rasps through the wood. “You up?”
Stay quiet. Don’t answer him. You won’t be able to turn him away if you answer him.
If he comes in that door, I will give him anything he wants. Even if he is two sheets to the wind.
“Drew?”
I remain as still as glass.
After suspenseful moments pass, he trudges away. I listen to him go about his nightly routine until the door of his bedroom shuts. I’ve memorized the sound. I’ve tried not to, but when he’s home I’m very aware of his every move. It’s unhealthy.
I’m kind of relieved he’s going to Denver. I can’t take this for much longer. And at the same time, I’m going to miss him very much.
Seeing him with two of his four brothers didn’t help. He was so at ease around them, so himself without any guards up. Laughing often. Cracking jokes at each other. Having so much fun it made me wish even more that I’d been born into a larger family. And that I’d had one. My head sinks into the pillow as I think about what I lost, and what Debra has gained.
Although I wouldn’t want it to be with Edward. Having children with him would have been an un-escapable jail cell. At least now I’m free, even if I am childless.
Throwing the covers off, I head to the bathroom. My mouth tastes gross and I have to pee. When I turn on the light, his wet toothbrush says hello to me from the counter. He left it in a puddle of clear water, and his socks are shoved in a corner on the floor. I touch my toes to them and push them around a bit.
Oh, Drew, you are falling hard for this guy if you’re thinking of his cute toes right now.
Brushing my teeth is done on automatic with my mind on walking through the gardens with him. The way he touched my leg in the car like it was a normal thing to do. Him pouring me coffee before we started our workday like we were a couple. Swinging me around when I tried to escape his brother’s embarrassing comments about my chest.
Who am I kidding? I don’t want him to leave.
Opening the bathroom door I run right into Jake.
“Oh! God, you scared me.”
Of course he’s wearing no shirt. But black boxer briefs? Really? Is he trying to kill me?
He rasps, “Hey,” his voice filled with sex.
Oh. Fuck.
“Umm…hey?”
His gorgeous features darken. “You still against casual sex?”
“Oh my God. Yes, Jake, I am.”
I can smell the minty toothpaste on his breath. I guess he can smell mine, too. Especially since he’s leaning in this close. I go to back up, but he reaches around me and closes the bathroom door, putting his forearms on it and caging me between them.
“What if the fuck I gave you was so good you didn’t mind if we weren’t serious about each other?”
The heat of his body lashes through my cells. “What if pigs turned into giraffes and ate the top of pine trees?”
Jake blinks at me. “That makes no sense.”
“Well, you’re scramblin’ my brains Jake Cocker!!”
For a second it looks like he’s going to laugh, but lust replaces humor. “You’re scramblin’ my everything, Drew Charles.” He brushes his lips up my neck, sending wet flames into my surprised pussy. The fact that he can light me up this fast is a miracle. I used to be slow to get riled, but not with him. Not with the right guy.
My chest expands on a gasp as he growls in my ear, “I want to lick you until you cum on my tongue.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, arching my back until we’re pressed together. He groans and buries his face in my neck, gnawing on it. “Jake, remember you said you didn’t want me to lose focus.”
“Mmmmhmm.”
“You promised not to distract me.”
“I’m leaving Tuesday. You’ll have plenty of time to study then.”
I won’t be able to think, if I’m missing you! I will ache for you every day, you idiot.
One hand goes around me and the other palms my breasts through my tank top. “I want to bury my cock in you again.” His erection presses into me and I moan.
But this isn’t right. I already feel pain. I can see the future and it is lonely.
“I can’t, Jake. I’m sorry.” I push him off of me. “Please stop.” He staggers back and runs both hands through his hair to get in control of himself. My eyes are on the tent in his boxer briefs. I try to bend the door with my body by hiding against it. “I want to, but I’m not made that way.”
“I know. It’s why I like you. And why I hate you, too.”
Appalled, I cry out, “Don’t say you hate me!”
A few quick strides and Jake is on me. He grabs the back of my head and kisses me so deeply and so desperately that all of my objections turn to ash in his arms. He claims my tongue and lifts me up by my thighs, grinding his angry length against the damp crotch of my pajama shorts. I moan into his mouth as my body responds and softens to him. He sets me violently down and careens away from me, gasping for air. I’m panting, staring at him, needing more.
“Drew, if I still feel like this when I’m in Denver, I’m going to come back and fucking make you MINE.” His eyes violently flash to me. All his muscles are tensed. His restraint is barely winning a war with his primal instincts. “YA HEAR ME?”
Breathless, I whisper, “Yes.”
He marches to his room and slams himself inside. “Lock your fucking door AGAIN!” he shouts through the wood.
I’m going to come back and fucking make you mine.
Jake Cocker is second-guessing single life, because of how he feels…about me.
I float to my room, knowing my dreams tonight won’t be half as good as my reality.
JAKE
“J axson’s here!” Mom calls to everyone in the backyard. My oldest brother Jaxson appears behind her in his usual country-plaid shirt and faded blue jeans. He picks Mom up and spins her around. Laughing, she hollers at him, “Come on now! You know I get dizzy!”
He plants a kiss on her cheek as he stands her up, then strolls onto the patio deck, taking in the stings of lights, long table of net-covered, homemade family specialties, and finally nodding to all the familiar faces.
“What’s this I hear about Jake leavin’ Georgia?!” He calls to the crowd.
Everyone boos and grumbles.
“Blame Don!” our dad shouts with a cupped hand.
Dad’s assistant and her husband smile. Further down the yard, their two kids chase after the neighborhood cat nobody owns but everyone feeds and has a different name for. We call him Pippin.
“Alright, alright!” Don calls back. “I’m never gonna live this down, am I?”
“No, you are not,” Jaxson mutters, eyes on me as we head to each other.
Aunt Marie tells her husband, “No, Don, you really won’t.” She wraps her arm around him and lays her head on his shoulder.
Jaxson and I embrace. He’s a country boy, through and through. He lives on a ranch in the northern part of Georgia, outside the perimeter of Atlanta, and I don’t see him as much as the twins. Sometimes I go up and stay the weekend with him. It’s a nice change. He gets his milk from his own cows. Farms his own vegetables and sells to the local markets and restaurants. When I’m there I live like he does, up at the asscrack of dawn and reading until we can’t keep our eyes open, talking on and off, but mostly just being quiet.
There’s a depth to Jax that is felt anytime you’re in his presence. He won’t joke about this move of mine. I know I’m about to have my chest twisted, as we separate. He will dig deep.
“How ya feelin’ ‘bout this?” he asks in his lowest volume.
“Good.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
I hold his understanding stare. “Not good.”
He nods. “Yeah. We’re gonna miss ya. You wanna come up next weekend
before you head off?”
“I leave Tuesday.”
His frown deepens. A lump builds in my throat as he grabs me and hugs me even harder than the first time. We slap shoulders and separate, clearing our throats.
“Chili time!” Mom calls out the kitchen window. “Justin, Jason, come help me!”
They both run in. Justin calls over to me as he passes, “Where’s Drew?”
“Don’t worry about Drew,” I tell him. He grins and disappears.
“Who’s Drew?” Jaxson asks.
“Roommate,” I mutter, clearly not wanting to talk about her.
“What’s he like?”
“She.”
His eyebrows go up. “So that’s why Justin’s asking about her. You got a hot roommate? That wise?”
“Keep it down. She works for Likuss now and I don’t want Uncle Don to hear us talkin’ about her.”
Jaxson grins, “So, you’re in a shit-storm is what you’re tellin’ me.”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
His eyes glitter as he says, “If Justin’s asking about her, she must be memorable.”
“If Justin touches her I’ll personally castrate the guy. Blood or no blood.”
“Huh,” Jaxson mutters, eyeing me.
Marie announces, “Jaxson Cocker, give your aunt a hug!” walking over with open arms. She’s the female version of Dad. The leaf didn’t fall far from the tree there, both tall and fair-haired. I’m more like mom. Same with Jeremy. The other boys lean toward Dad’s side in looks. “I haven’t seen you in almost a month!” She squeezes him hard. “How’s the farm?”
“Good, Aunt Marie. How’re that herb garden coming?”
She waves him away. “Oh please! It’s four little pots in my window sill.”
“It’s a garden in my book,” he smiles. “Hey, Uncle Don!”
“How’re ya doin’ son?” They heartily shake hands.
“It’s nothing compared to your garden!” Aunt Marie mutters, smiling.
“Good, good. Workin’ hard,” Jaxson tells him, then adds to Marie, “Fresh herbs to cook with, made by you? That’s something to me.”
With a pleased face, she again waves him away. Justin and Jason come out of the house, with Jason shouting, “Dad, tell Mom to stop cooking and come join us. Shit!”
Grandma, who’d been quietly watching the children until this, shouts, “LANGUAGE!”
“Sorry,” Jason calls to her.
“She’s doing what she does,” Justin tells Dad, referring to our mother.
“Being a perfectionist. I know. I’ll get her.” He slaps Jaxson’s bicep as he passes. “Did you do that thing I told you about?”
“No, dad. I told you that you had to do it. Remember?” They share a stubborn look that says neither will budge.
As soon as Dad’s out of earshot, I ask, “What thing?”
“Nothing. Dad’s being Dad. Forget it.”
“C’mere Jaxson!” Grandma calls out from her comfy, cushioned seat. “Give me a hug, dammit!”
Jason laughs, “Hey!”
“I get to swear! I’m eighty-two!” Jaxson strolls over with a big smile for her, and pulls her into a big embrace. “I’ve earned it!” she says over his shoulder to anyone listening.
Dressed less Hip Hop than usual since it’s a family affair (and Grandma always gives him a hard time for wearing his hats backwards), Jason shakes his head as he calls back, “Beautiful hypocrite, that’s you, Grams.” He moves a couple dishes around to make room for the big pot of chili.
Next to him Justin grabs a square of corn bread, and loudly announces, “FUCK, that’s good.”
“Not funny, Justin. That’s the last F word I’ll be hearing today,” Grandma grumbles, taking her seat. “Jaxson, talk Don out of sending our Jake away.”
“God! He’ll be back!” Our Uncle groans.
“I’m a big boy, Grams. Jaxson doesn’t have to rescue me. I need to get away from all of you anyway.”
She cocks a slender, grey eyebrow at me. “Never heard such a stupid thing in all my life.”
When we all sit down to eat, easy conversation flows throughout the meal. I’m reminded several times of Drew’s selfless act of giving me this time with my family, and the respect I’ve got for her, grows.
But when Jax and Justin laugh loudly over Jason accidentally saying, “How’d we run out of mom’s ginger-ale already? Fuck me!” and Grandma slapping the side of his face so hard we all hear it, I grin with only one thought in my mind: I wish Drew was here. She’d get a kick out of this.
This is when I stand up. “We’re gonna be here a while, yeah?”
Everyone looks up at me with different forms of questioning. “You have someplace you need to be?” Mom asks me with sarcasm.
Bracing myself, I explain, “I was gonna get my roommate and bring her over. She doesn’t have any friends in town. She’s alone, and I feel bad with us all having a good time. All this food.”
Everyone is staring at me.
“Well, go get her!” Mom calls to me with a wave to hurry up. As I head out, I hear them quietly filling each other in.
Mom asks my brothers, “Is he living with a girlfriend and didn’t tell us?”
Uncle Don says, “No. Just a roommate. Nice girl. Just moved to town.”
“Don gave her a job,” Marie says.
“He wants her to be his girlfriend,” Jason says.
“I heard that!” I call back, turning around and jamming a finger at him. “I just don’t want to feel guilty when I come home and find her watching some dumb movie all by herself.”
“He’s bringing her here for me, Ma,” Justin says, loudly.
“Fuck you, Justin!” I call back and head inside.
“LANGUAGE!!” Grandma yells.
DREW
Surprised, my head swings over to the sound of the key turning. Jake walks in wearing grey jeans and a light blue, short sleeved, form-fitting button-up, his hair perfect as usual. He frowns as he locks eyes with me and heads over to the couch, glancing to the flat screen. “What the fuck is this?”
“The Danish Girl.”
“No no no no no. Get up. Put on that yellow sundress. You’re coming with me.”
Blinking at him, I slowly pick up the remote and turn off the movie. “The one I wore to the farmer’s market?”
“Is that where you went?”
“Yes, the Saturday you were making a mushroom omelet.”
His brain scans the memory, and he nods. “Yeah. That day. That dress. Go put it on.”
“Where are we going?” As I pass him, I take in how good he smells. Like charred coals and freshly cut grass.
“BBQ,” he says, simply.
I freeze. “Your family’s BBQ?” He nods with a look that says arguing is out of the question.
When I resurface from putting on a little makeup, combing my hair, changing clothes and wracking my brain over how this happened, Jake appraises me. “Beautiful.”
My body lights up as his gaze lingers on my hips. A flush rises to my cheeks. He notices and his eyes narrow. “C’mon. They’re holding dessert for us.”
In his car, we are silent for most of the way. I can feel my heart beating in every part of my body, even my hair. I can’t stand the question racing around my brain a second longer. “Why’d you change your mind?”
“About bringing you?”
“Yeah.”
He shoots me a look before focusing on the road. “You’re the one who said you didn’t want to come, Drew.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to. I said—” A wicked smile flashes from him. “Oh, you jerk.”
He laughs then reaches over and lays his warm, wide palm on my thigh. “I didn’t like the thought of you sitting at home by yourself when we were having fun. Didn’t feel right.” He releases my leg, and I stare at the spot where his hand was.
“That’s very sweet.”
“It’s just decent, that’s all,” he mutters like it’s no b
ig deal.
Truth is I was feeling lonely. I’d tried to study some of the self-help books I got, but my mind kept wandering. Then I went to check out that movie, but a slow-moving period film isn’t a good idea when you’re feeling like you don’t have any friends.
“Thank you.”
He glances over and holds my grateful look a hot second. He shrugs, but a smile is in his eyes as he turns back to the road.
“Am I going to meet all your brothers today?”
His lips go tight. “Jett and dad don’t get along. Jeremy, he’s the youngest.”
“I remember.”
“Well, he just finished the thirteen weeks of training in Parris Island.”
“That’s right. He joined the Marines.”
“Right. We saw him at family day right before you moved in, then he got deployed to Syria.” Jake glances over to me with pride. “He’s going to be a hero.”
“He already is.”
Jake nods. “You’re gonna love Mom’s chili.”
The house is immense and gorgeous, yet homey. From the deep front yard and grand expanse of windows, I expected to find a museum-like décor, but it’s not that way at all. It looks lived in. The furniture is welcoming you to sit down and take a load off. I guess with boys you wouldn’t want a place you can’t get rowdy in.
“Is this where you grew up?”
“It is. They’re all in the backyard. This way.”
He leads me through a kitchen that bears signs of a feast being made. It’s fairly tidy though. Now I understand where Jake got his urge to clean up right after cooking. The smell alone causes my stomach to growl. Jake smirks at me.
“Guess I was hungrier than I thought,” I whisper.
“Nah, that’s my mom’s cookin.’ Your stomach would make that sound here even if you’d had a seven course meal before you came over.”
He opens the back door and the view hits me like a sunset you accidentally catch during a drive in the mountains. I fight the urge to go wide-eyed and awestruck. The yard is beautiful with trees as the frame, rather than a fence. Flowering bushes are tucked under a canopy of huge trees. There’s a stone dolphin fountain to the right. The perfectly cut lawn has several walking paths through it. It slopes down the further you go in. In the forefront, on the flattest surface of grass, is a long table where everyone sits, talking easily amongst themselves under strings of lights held up by four poles. Some people are laughing, others are deep in serious debate. Off to the left sits a half-devoured buffet, all the dishes covered in pretty, little, netted tents to keep the bugs away.
Cocky Roomie: A Bad Boy Romance Novel (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 1) Page 9