“Yes,” I pant.
His lips brush my neck, allowing his tongue to swirl around from time to time. He slowly repositions my head to the other side, allowing himself to taste more. Joe’s warm breath caresses my skin as his fingers dip down to my sex. They swirl around my clitoris, enticing sounds to slip past my lips.
“I want to hear you moan, beautiful,” Joe directs. “I’ll stop stroking you if you don’t make sounds.”
“O . . . kay,” I whimper as he slides two fingers inside me.
Joe manipulates me, only hitting the spots I need him to in order to cum, but he pulls his fingers out and I can hear him moaning as he sucks them all while his free hand softly caresses my ass. A whimper escapes my throat when he delivers a sensual assault to my right cheek and I giggle in anticipation for more. His hands dance around every inch of my body, striking my rear on a few occasions, causing me to yelp. Then, he returns his mouth to my neck, kissing me, licking me as he ventures down my back and around to my front. I suck in a large gulp of air when his tongue skims the seam of my folds.
“You ready to cum?” Joe asks deviously.
“Yes,” I sigh.
“Are you sure?” he checks, swiping his tongue a second time.
“Yes,” I confirm a little more loudly even though my voice shakes.
Joe starts slowly and softly, whipping his tongue over my nub and then rewards me with his fingers penetrating me when the volume of my moans increase. He cradles me as I ride the last few waves of the euphoria coursing through my veins. “Ready for more?”
“Yes,” I pant, turning to kiss him when he removes the blindfold and releases my hands from their bindings.
Joe leads me to the foot of our bed until I’m standing just in front of the chaise. He places a pillow on the floor and instructs me to kneel. Then, Joe uses the fabric that is still wrapped around my wrists to secure me in place, tying it to one of the feet of the chair. After positioning my knees wider while my upper body drapes over the cushion, Joe heads into the closet. A few seconds later he returns with something in his hand.
Before I get the chance to say anything, I hear a buzzing sound behind me. Joe takes my hair with one hand and then places a vibrating toy on my sex, causing me to squeal a little. We both giggle to my reaction. His lips return to my body as he holds my head firmly in place and moves the device around until I’m whimpering with delight.
“Cum for me, beautiful,” he coaxes, sensing that I’m close.
I groan, feeling myself approach release. My hips buck to the sensations, needing to get the vibration on the right spot so I can cum quicker.
“That’s it,” he encourages along my neck. “Cum for me.”
My arms tug at their restrains and my body pulses, convulsing once my orgasm arrives. “Fuuuuuck . . . . yeeeeees,” I pant while trying to suck in air as my chest burns.
Joe releases the fabric from around my wrists and hugs me from behind. “You’re so fucking beautiful when you cum for me.” He kisses me gently and brushes strands of my hair away from my face. “You ready for more?”
“Mm hm,” I hum, unable to speak.
Joe positions the tip of his cock at my opening, taunting me. Suddenly, he pushes forward and I whimper as he fills me half way. He slowly withdraws, barely keeping his head in before pressing forward again. My nails dig into the cushion, desperate for the rush to take me over again. He continues to thrust inside me with long, steady pulses. When he starts to push with short, medium paced pumps into me, I feel the vibration at my nub again and my body instantly perks up. Both forms of stimulation intensify my need and gradually brings on an orgasm that shatters deep within my soul, inspiring groans and calling out his name.
“I love you, Emma,” Joe proclaims into my neck as my body shakes, feeling another rush approaching as his cock stiffens, readying for his own release. “I love you.”
One Hundred Fifty One
Today, Nathan and Jared are over at the house, sharing with me all the stuff they have planned for the wedding and revealing the beautiful, sky-blue fabric for the dresses Nathan’s making for Maggie and me. I have to hand it to them, even with all of the left-handed questions I throw their way, these guys have everything taken care of for their wedding. I shouldn’t be surprised. They’re both smart and they’ve enlisted help from people who can make things happen.
“So, are you excited?” Nathan asks, beaming from ear to ear as he holds Jasper in his lap.
Jared gives him a scolding look and I eye them both for a minute.
“About what?” I check.
“About Joe Jr.,” Nathan explains.
“Yes,” I say with a giggle. “I’m excited, terrified and so many other things which change from minute to minute throughout each day.”
“You’ll make an amazing mom, you know that, right?” Jared comments.
“Yeah,” I huff half-heartedly.
“You’ve had practice with Sadie and Jasper,” Nathan comments.
“And Jade, Rey and Jet,” Jared adds.
“Yeah,” I say. “But, dogs are different than kids.”
“True,” Jared agrees.
“Can you believe how fast little Gabby and Henry are growing?” Nathan states. “I can’t believe it. They’re just over a month old now and they look like they’ve doubled in size. I mean, I got worried when they lost a little weight at first, but Kim said that that’s normal for babies. I don’t remember Jade, Jet or Rey doing that.”
“You weren’t really around as much,” Jared reminds.
“True,” Nathan confirms.
“Do you have everything you need?” Jared inspects.
“For what?” I ask.
“For Joe Jr.,” Jared explains.
“Yes,” Joe confirms, entering the patio area. “We even have multiples of several things beyond clothes, diapers and bottles, just in case.”
“Hey, man,” Jared and Nathan greet at the same time.
“Hi,” Joe replies, hugging them both. “You guys staying for lunch?”
“Sure,” Jared answers.
The four of us hang out with Sadie and Jasper in the back yard, enjoying the warmth of the mid-September afternoon. Jared and Nathan fill Joe in about some of the wedding things they shared with me and their discussions go into other topics. They both stay well into the evening and end up having dinner with us too — not that I mind.
A few days later, as I’m having the staff assist with bringing in some of the last few items Joe and I purchased for Joe Jr., I’ve gone through buying and returning several items already, I get a call from an unknown number.
“Hello?” I greet, answering it only because it’s a local phone number.
“Hello,” the voice on the other end returns. “Is this Ms. Emma Peterson?”
“Who’s calling?” I press sternly.
“This is nurse Angela, from the UCLA Medical center in Santa Monica. I’m calling in regards to a Jared Welsh. You’re listed as an emergency contact for him,” she notifies.
My heart stops beating in my chest as my ears begin to ring.
“Hello?” the voice calls sluggishly. “Hello?”
“Yes,” I mumble. “Yes. I’m Emma . . . Emma Peterson. What happened? Is he okay?”
“Emma?” Joe’s voice calls in a low, muddied way.
My ears strain to hear the nurse’s response. “He’s okay, but you’ll want to come in. There was an incident. We tried calling his fiancé, Nathan, but we were unable to reach him.”
“Emma?” Joe calls again.
“I’ll be right there,” I answer harshly, clearing my throat that is suddenly dry. “I’ll be right there.”
“Emma? What’s going on?” Joe inspects.
“Jared,” I answer as my eyes glaze over.
“What about Jared? Is he okay? What’s wrong, beautiful?” Joe pushes for more information.
“I . . . I don’t know,” I mutter. “The nurse said that I need to go to the hospital.”
“The hospital?” Joe repeats. “Is he okay?”
“I . . . I don’t know,” I comment. “She tried to get a hold of Nathan, but couldn’t reach him. I’m not surprised. He had several big meetings today while Jared and Pop-Pop were working on some Naturally Me stuff.”
“I’ll grab our things and we’ll go,” Joe says, standing. “We can call everyone once we’re in the car.”
“Yeah,” I answer, but my body doesn’t move.
Joe coaxes me to step forward with his hand on the small of my back. As my mind races with all of the possibilities of what’s happened to Jared, I see Joe, Anna and the rest of our staff scurrying around to get things. A few minutes later, Anna, Joe, Sadie, Jasper and I are in the car and on our way. I sit in silence, holding Jasper while staring at the back of the seat in front of me when I hear Joe’s voice faintly.
“Emma?”
“Hmm?”
“Emma?”
“Yeah? What?” I say, snapping my head in the direction of Joe’s voice.
“I’ve left a message for Nathan, spoke with Pop-Pop and Henry, and they’re letting everyone else know,” Joe mentions.
“Okay,” I return.
“He’s going to be okay, beautiful,” Joe soothes.
“Mm hm,” I hum, not sure if what’s occurring is really happening.
An agonizing hour and half later we arrive at the hospital. This is one of the times I curse the number of people who live in the state of California and who all need to learn how to carpool. Once checking in at the main desk, a nurse leads Joe and myself through a few hallways back through the emergency room — Sadie and Jasper stay with Anna and a few of our bodyguards in the car. At the next desk, we’re informed that Jared’s been moved to his own room. Zig-zagging through more long, bleak corridors, we arrive to Jared’s room.
As I’m about to open the door, Joe takes my arm and tugs me back.
“What are you doing?” I ask heatedly.
“Emma,” Joe says with pain in his eyes. “You need to be calm.”
“I am calm,” I snap.
“Emma,” Joe calls lovingly. “He’s not going to look good from what the nurses said. You need to be prepared . . . the stress won’t be good for you or the baby.”
“I’m fine,” I challenge.
“Emma, you and I both know you’re not fine right now,” Joe debates. “Look at you. You’re angry at me for wanting to help.”
“I’m not angry,” I say through a clenched jaw.
“Before I let you in there,” Joe instructs. “You need to do some tapping.”
“Excuse me?” I question angrily.
“You heard me,” Joe says sternly.
I take a deep breath. “Fine,” I reply, not really wanting to acknowledge that he’s completely right at the moment. I go through several of the techniques quickly, wanting, no, needing to see Jared. I feel better, but I know that I’ll need to do more later to make the emotions boiling under the surface to go away.
My chest aches and tears flood my eyes when I see Jared sleeping in the bed as we enter the room. His lip is swollen, with a gash in it, his right eye is swelled and bruised and he has bandages along his arms. “Jared,” I mumble, scared to wake him and afraid to know what’s happened.
“Hey,” Jared greets, opening his eyes and attempting a smile for Joe and me.
“Hey, man,” Joe greets as I collect myself. “Heard you had to beat off some crazy fans.”
“What?” I gasp.
“He’s kidding, Emma,” Jared chuckles with a cough.
“What happened?” I inspect, realizing that if anything was said, I missed it in my haze.
“I got jumped,” Jared answers.
“What?! Why?! Who?!” I press.
“I’m not sure what,” Jared laughs. “The who? Don’t really know that other than in the why which is they were homophobes. I know that by what they were saying to me.”
“What were they saying?” I request.
“It’s not important,” Jared states.
“How is it not important?” I snap.
“Emma?” Joe calls.
I flick my hand in the air, dismissing his attempt to keep me calm while Jared shifts in the bed.
“Careful, Emma,” Jared teases. “If you get yourself worked up, Joe won’t let you stay in here.”
I glare at Joe, wanting to see if there’s any truth to Jared’s statement — I find a hint to it in Joe’s eyes.
“Relax,” Jared encourages.
“Relax?! Relax?!” I snap. “How the fuck can I relax knowing that my best friend, my brother, has just been jumped by a homophobe and is in the hospital because of it.”
“Three,” Jared states.
“Three? Three what?” I check.
“There were three of them,” Jared confirms.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No,” Jared returns.
“I have every right to be mad and not to relax since there was three of them,” I justify.
“Trust me, Kitten,” Jared says. “Relax. They’re worse than me.”
It takes a second for Jared’s words to sink in. “What?”
“They had nothing on me other than the initial element of surprise,” Jared comments. “Once I got my bearings, I handled them. I know how to defend myself, remember?”
“Where are they?” I press.
“What do you mean?” Joe checks.
“Where are the men who attacked you?” I search.
“They’re here . . . somewhere,” Jared reveals.
Venom spreads throughout my veins. “Where?”
“Settle down, Kitten,” Jared coaxes. “Like I said. They’re a lot worse.”
“Hi, kids,” Pop-Pop greets, walking into the room with some coffee.
“Hi,” Joe and I reply at the same time.
“Did you know they’re here?” I ask, looking to Pop-Pop.
“Emma,” Joe calls sternly.
“Them. They guys who did this to Jared?” I continue.
“Emma,” Joe calls more authoritatively, distracting me enough to where I’m suddenly turned on.
“What?” I snap.
“If you can’t get a hold of yourself, we’re going home,” Joe declares.
“Back off,” I snap.
“Trust me, Emma,” Pop-Pop begins, “Jared did a number on the four guys who did that to him aside from what the bodyguards eventually did when they got to help.”
“Four?” I say, raising my voice and looking to Jared. “You said three.”
“Did I?” Jared answers with a grin.
I wipe my hands over my face and then move to sit down on the closest chair. “How many really?” I inspect.
“Four,” Jared confirms.
“Two are still in ICU, if that makes you feel any better, Emma,” Pop-Pop shares calmly with an erie smile.
A pleased chuckle and a small smile emanates from me at Pop-Pop’s news.
“Have you heard from Nathan yet?” Pop-Pop checks.
“No,” Joe verifies.
“Where were your bodyguards?” I snap.
“They were with me, just not right there when it all first went down,” Jared shares.
“He put up a great fight,” Ryan, one of Jared’s bodyguards states, who’s been sitting in the far corner of the room the whole time. “We barely had to do anything once we realized what was happening.”
“Why the fuck weren’t you there?” I sneer, glowering at him.
“Emma,” Joe calls.
I ignore Joe’s plea.
“I was in the bathroom when it happened, Emma,” Jared defends. “They don’t go in with me when I need to pee, you know.”
I shake my head in disbelief, hoping that this is all a dream.
“Stephan heard the commotion first and radioed for us the minute he saw what was happening,” Ryan states. “Apparently, Jared had two of them almost completely knocked out.”
Within two hours of getting to the hospital
, the rest of our family, including the Nelsons and all of Maggie’s family are with us. Jared’s in a private room, which gives us a little more flexibility to have more people than are really allowed all together with Jared — we’re beyond the capacity limit. Sadie’s allowed into the hospital since Joe remembered to bring her service dog vest. Maggie hands Jared the babies when he claims that he’s capable of holding them. Jade assists as Rey and Jet play on the floor with Sadie. As everyone seems distracted, I turn to see if I can sneak out to find where the attackers are to get a look at them.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Joe asks, scaring me as I round the first corner down the hallway.
“I need to pee,” I lie.
“Right,” Joe muses. “You really think I don’t know you, Emma?”
“What?” I say.
“I know you,” Joe repeats. “I know that you want to get a look at the guys who attacked Jared. That you want to see how badly he hurt them defending himself and . . . possibly, if you can or will do something to seek revenge.”
“No,” I half lie.
“Emma,” Joe says, taking my hands. “This is Jared’s battle, not yours. You need to let him fight it on his own terms.” My mouth opens to speak, but Joe continues, “Jared can handle himself. He proved that tonight by taking on four grown men who, if he didn’t know how to defend himself, could could have killed him.”
My throat tightens at the thought.
“But, he’s not,” Joe states. “He’s alive and well. A little beat up, but nothing he can’t recover from. He’s come a long way, and the way in which he’s handling all of this just goes to show how much influence you and your friends and all the family he has in that room have impacted him. He’s not phased by what happened. You need to let him do this on his own unless he asks for help or accepts it when you offer it.”
“But, he’s my family,” I challenge, choking back tears.
“I know, beautiful,” Joe soothes. “He knows that. Give him time. Let him do this himself. Okay?”
Looking down, I nod, knowing that Joe is right.
“I need you in one piece,” Joe comments. “Not just your body, but your heart, your spirit and your soul . . . not just for me, but for Joe. Jr. Okay?”
Just Breathe Trilogy Box Set Page 135