When the white light filling her vision had cleared enough to bring her back down to earth, Jada looked over and met Luke’s eyes. He was grinning smugly, but he also had that spaced-out look of completion. Jada grinned back, knowing they had both finished their part of the bargain. It was one of the greatest feelings imaginable, and by the time she had finished basking in it, she found herself falling asleep.
Chapter Thirteen
Jada’s phone was ringing. She opened her eyes blearily, feeling disorientated. It was morning, and the sun was coming in through the windows. Luke was no longer lying next to her, but the closed bathroom door and the sound of the shower running answered that question easily.
Her phone was ringing. She managed to wake up enough to wrench her attention towards it and reached out to fumble with the charger. She managed to get it to her ear after what seemed like about a hundred years, all the while knowing the caller might give up if she took any longer.
“… Hello?” she said into the phone, realizing she hadn’t recognized the number. It wasn’t picked up by caller ID. Damn. She had probably just woken herself up to talk to a salesperson.
“Jada?” The voice on the other end of the line was faint, but Jada recognized it.
“Aliss?” she said, with some surprise. She hadn’t expected to hear from her, especially not when it wasn’t through Luke. When had she got her phone number?
“It’s really important -- listen to me,” Aliss said, the line fading in and out.
“You’re breaking up,” Jada tried to interject, but Aliss was already continuing.
“Doesn’t seem -- but you have to -- me. It’s -- Garrett,” Aliss said.
“What? What are you trying to say?” Jada asked.
“LISTEN!” Aliss shouted at her, the words still sounding like they were coming from far away. “Garrett is -- dangerous. You have to -- -- Luke. Tell me you’ll -- safe.”
“I think I understand,” Jada said carefully, but there was no more sound from the other side. She turned the phone around to look at it. The screen was blank; call disconnected.
Jada sighed, and put the phone down on the covers, trying to think. She had barely registered the fact that the water was no longer running before Luke emerged, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Who was that?” he asked, nodding to the phone. “Sounded serious.”
Jada was almost too distracted not to appreciate the sight of his bare, muscular chest and arms, and the delicious cut of his hips just above the edge of the towel. “It was Aliss,” she said, a little uncertainty creeping into her voice.
“Oh?” Luke stopped moving. His hands were frozen with a towel about to dry off his hair. “What did she say?”
Jada frowned. “I’m not sure,” she said. “The connection was bad. But it sounded like she was trying to warn us about Garrett. That he’s dangerous. I think she wanted me to warn you, so we could stay safe.”
Luke shrugged and started toweling off his hair. “Nice of her, I guess. But we already know.”
“Maybe she didn’t realize that,” Jada said. “You should call her back later and thank her. They’re supposed to be on holiday, after all.”
“Right,” Luke said, grinning. “I guess I need you around more often to help me with my social graces. You’re a lot better at being a friend than I am.”
Jada laughed. “Don’t be silly. You’ve known them your whole life, right? I guess you’re more comfortable with them. You don’t need social graces with people you’re comfortable with.”
Luke shrugged again. “Maybe,” he said. Then he climbed up onto the bed and crawled over her, smoothly, his whole body covering hers. “I don’t need social graces with you, then.”
Despite the fact that she was covered by the bed sheets, and he was still wearing a towel, Jada couldn’t help but flush a little. He was hot, and even more so with that little touch of dampness remaining from his shower. If he was going to make a habit out of flirting with her like this, she was going to have a hard time resisting.
“I guess not,” she agreed and succumbed to the sensation entirely as he bent his head down to kiss her full on the lips. Judging by the fact that something was suddenly poking against her thigh through the sheets, she guessed he was enjoying it too.
That’s precisely when her alarm went off.
Both Jada and Luke groaned in frustration, Luke burying his head in the covers next to her before sighing and rolling over onto his back. “Time for work, huh?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Jada said, her tone sympathetic. “I don’t know how I’m going to get through the day.”
“Call in and tell them you’re sick,” he said, a naughty smile playing around the corners of his lips.
“No,” Jada laughed, albeit reluctantly. “I’d better get going.”
She had never felt so impatient for the work day to end. Not once in her life had she wanted so much for 5 pm to come, so she could get up and leave her desk and get home as quickly as possible.
Even the journey home felt longer and more tedious than it had ever been. When you had the prospect of Luke in only a towel to come home to, it really felt like there was no point in hanging around.
At home, however, there was no sign of him. Jada walked from room to room, even calling out his name, but the whole apartment was empty. She couldn’t remember him saying he was going out – but she was being stupid, of course. He didn’t actually live with her. He could come and go as he pleased, and he had his own life to attend to.
Jada felt at a little bit of a loss. Should she cook something? Something for two, or just something for herself? Should she eat without him? She checked her phone, but she had no messages.
It was ridiculous. They had known each other only for the shortest time. She had been able to get on with her day before he had been around, and she still could. There was just the small matter of deciding how.
Jada ended up perched on the sofa in front of the television, putting on old episodes of a sitcom she had seen enough times before to be able to completely ignore it playing in front of her. She toyed with sending Luke a message, but it suddenly felt like she didn’t know what to say. If she asked him whether he was coming home, it felt presumptuous – and besides, this wasn’t his home. If she asked him what he was doing, it felt possessive and controlling. If she didn’t send him any messages at all, she was going to be sitting wondering for the rest of the night, and that didn’t seem like a good solution, either.
She was just on the verge of picking up the phone and calling him when the door buzzer rang. A surge of hope fluttered in her chest in a way that was almost embarrassing as she ran over to the intercom.
“It’s me,” he said when she pressed the buzzer to open communications.
Jada buzzed him through the doors, her heart fluttering in her throat. Why did she feel this way, after only such a short time? She felt ridiculous, like a schoolgirl all over again. It wasn’t like she needed him to be around. She was an independent woman, strong and successful.
Of course, she had pretty much ditched her entire social life since he showed up and started hanging around with his friends instead. She had closeted herself inside the house with him 24/7 and even started indulging his kinks already. Maybe she was just a little bit too obsessed.
Okay, Jada, she thought to herself. Take a deep breath now. Don’t let yourself get carried away.
She heard his footsteps outside in the hall and quickly went to open the door to let him in. Maybe he could stay the night and go back to his place in the morning. A little bit of distance might help them both out… but then there was the question of Garrett, of course, and whether she would even be safe on her own.
Jada shook her head to clear her mind and opened the door with what she hoped was a sincere smile.
It dropped off her face almost immediately.
“Oh, my god,” she burst out, pulling Luke inside and shutting the door after him. “What happened to you?”
Lu
ke waved a hand as if to fend off her concern. “I’m alright,” he said, his voice sounding a little strained.
“You sure as hell don’t look it,” Jada admonished him, grasping his head so she could get a clearer look at the cut above his eye. The front of his shirt was stained red, although parts of it already appeared to be fading away, and there were more blood spatters across his face and his bare arms.
“You should see the other guy,” he said, giving her a weak smile before collapsing down into one of her armchairs with a wince. “Not that you could. You-know-who.”
“You found Garrett?” Jada asked, her voice pinched with worry. She was hovering over him, unsure of what to do to help. He waved her away every time she tried to get a look at his head.
“Or he found me. I’m not really sure which,” Luke replied. He shifted in his seat to put a hand over his ribs on his right side. “Either way, I think he regrets it now.”
“What happened?” Jada asked again, practically wringing her hands. She rushed to pick up a towel from the clean laundry basket, running it under the tap in the kitchen so she could still watch him.
“I went out to get some supplies,” Luke said. “You know, a nice wine, something fancy to eat for tonight. Which I never got around to – sorry about that.”
“Don’t be silly,” Jada scolded, standing behind him so she could carefully dab his forehead with the wet towel. “That doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Well, anyway, so then I found him. Or he found me. I’m not sure if he knew I was going to be there. He sure as hell looked surprised when I went invisible and pushed him down an alleyway.” Luke winced, flinching his head away from the towel once or twice as he spoke. “I guess if anyone was watching they might have had a hard time working out why there was a lot of grunting and shouting coming from an empty alleyway, but by the time I staggered out of it, I’d left him on the floor behind me.”
“Is he coming back?” Jada asked, trying to focus on cleaning out his wound so that her hands wouldn’t shake.
“No,” Luke said and grinned. “I made him swear. Don’t worry, Jada. You’re safe now. Didn’t I promise I would keep you safe?”
“You did,” Jada replied, ducking in front of him for a moment to lean down and plant a kiss on his lips. “And you came through.”
“Of course, I came through,” Luke said, reaching up to cup her face with his hands in spite of the wince his ribs produced. “I’m never going to let you down, babe. Believe me when I say that.”
Jada smiled back, laying her caramel hands on his cream arms. “I do,” she said.
Chapter Fourteen
Nights and days passed. Jada forgot about her worries and fell headfirst into Luke, allowing him to stay without even discussing it fully. One day, she came back from work to find a bag full of changes of clothes in the bedroom. His toothbrush was sitting in the bathroom. Truth be told, it felt good – really good.
Everything was peaceful again, even if it wasn’t quite back to normal. There was something about Luke that just made it all so much better.
After a week of work, coming home to him was the best weekend gift she could have asked for. They spent Friday night in an excess of wine and sex. Jada could barely keep her hands off Luke. Seeing his body pressed against hers in the bedroom mirror, like coffee and milk, was almost enough to tip her over the edge every time. They looked good together. They felt good together. How could such an awful thing as a break-in have brought her something so wonderful?
Jada woke up in the early hours of Friday, feeling groggy from the wine. They had abandoned dinner and the television halfway through a movie, losing themselves in the bedroom in a heady daze of pleasure. Drawing a satin robe closed over her naked body, Jada padded through to the living room, picking up her wine glass to drain the last mouthful.
There was a report playing on the news. Jada wandered over to turn it off, only half-listening to what the anchor was saying.
“The Chief of Police stated in a press conference earlier today that they can’t be sure the latest attempted attack is linked to the spate of attacks on single women living alone in the downtown area. The victim fought off her attacker out in the open on the university campus grounds, and while a sample of blood thought to be that of the perpetrator was found on the scene, that evidence has since been misplaced. There is now call for an investigation into the--”
Jada switched it off. She didn’t want to hear about Garrett anymore. Not now he was gone for good.
She shivered a little in spite of herself and sat down on the sofa. There were a few slices of pizza left in the box; cold now, but still good. She picked one up and started to eat it. After all, they had worked up quite an appetite.
A soft sound behind her made her turn. Luke was walking through from the bedroom. He hadn’t bothered to grab a blanket or cover himself up; he seemed quite comfortable walking around in the nude. Jada had to admit it: she liked that about him.
He sat down beside her and grabbed another slice of pizza with a grin. “Midnight snack?” he asked.
“Just finishing what we started,” Jada teased. “Seems like something interrupted us.”
“You should be careful,” Luke winked. “If you insist on coming back for round two, you might just find the same thing interrupting us again.”
“Pizza first,” Jada laughed, lifting the blanket she had draped over the back of the sofa and throwing it across his lap. “Distractions after.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Luke laughed, spreading the blanket out to cover himself.
Jada liked pizza, but on the other hand, she did also like distractions. She gulped her slice down quickly, brushing her hands off over the table to dislodge any crumbs. It was also a very visible sign that she was done. Looking over, she saw that Luke was also chewing his final bite. He lifted his hands to show how empty they were and grinned, mouth full.
“Looking for something to put in those hands?” Jada asked. She knew it was a cheesy line, but the tension between them was thick enough to slice. Somehow, that took the cheese out of everything and made it sound sexy instead. At least, it seemed to work this time.
Luke wordlessly nodded, swallowing down the last of his food with an easily recognizable excitement in his eyes.
Jada grinned back, her heart hammering in her throat. Sometimes, being with Luke, she felt braver than she had ever been before. She shrugged her robe off her shoulders before she could change her mind, leaving it to fall open around her naked body. Then she grasped his hands and leaned toward him, placing them on her breasts. He squeezed appreciatively, then tipped his head forward to kiss her deeply. He tasted like tomato sauce and pepperoni. Jada sighed into him, feeling electricity coursing through her body, knowing she was exactly where she would most like to be in the whole world.
Chapter Fifteen
Garrett stood outside the glass balcony doors of Jada’s living room, unseen as he looked through the windows. He barely felt the cold air on his skin as he stood, invisible, the outside observer.
His eyes feasted on everything he saw. The sofa, the blankets cast aside, the nakedness of Jada’s body under the low light coming in through the other windows. He watched every move she made, every thrust and writhe, the way that her body seemed to ripple as Luke buried himself inside of her. He felt like he should probably look away. Scratch that: the decent thing to do would definitely be to look away. But as soon as he had seen her, she had grabbed his attention so tightly that there was no way for him to ignore it now.
Her skin was like chocolate butter, so smooth and delicious. He could only imagine what it was like to touch it, to have it running under his fingers. She was vocal in her pleasure. Her face was an open book. She was not ashamed to love and be loved. Garrett liked that about her, a lot. The sight of it brought a heat between his legs, a desire to be the one who was making her feel that way.
He watched as Jada’s movements became more desperate, her eyes closed tighter, her groans lower. Finally
, she cried out, and a judder ran through her, an intense orgasm exploding through her body. She looked like an angel at that moment. He could see delight and pleasure written in every line of her body and face.
A movement caught Garrett’s attention, and he looked up slightly. Luke was staring right back through the window at him. Their eyes met and locked, brother against brother. Luke did not stop moving for a single moment. He carried on thrusting, causing Jada to squirm and writhe under the even more intense sensations. She was gasping for air. Finally, Luke’s eye slid shut for a moment as he came inside her, holding her hips tightly against his to ensure every single drop stayed within her.
Then he opened his eyes again, and met Garrett’s, and grinned.
Horrified, Garrett took a step back from the window. Things had gone too far. He wasn’t even sure what he had come here to do, but one thing was certain. Luke had lied and lied well enough to pre-empt any kind of explanation that Garrett could give. Jada must have believed that he was the good and noble brother of the two, or they would not have been doing what they were doing.
He had tried to help her that first night when Luke had broken in to carry out another of his trademark attacks. He had believed, back then, that if he just managed to stop her getting the police involved, he could take care of Luke and prevent their abilities from making national news headlines.
Then Garrett had arrived just in time to stop him abusing Jada again, the night he had seen Luke sneak out of the closet to attack her in her bedroom. The sick freak had wanted to attack her, terrify her, and take her by force, even though she had trusted him already. It had been a mistake, leaving him bleeding on the floor. Even with his injuries, Garrett should have somehow found a way to drag him out of there too. Now he was healed, he had thought the time was right to come back and check on her. It appeared he was far, far too late.
Garrett jumped down to the ground carefully, glancing around before starting to run. No matter what move he made next, he was going to have to be very careful. He had only just managed to stop Luke attacking a girl on the university campus on the other side of the city last night; whatever game he was playing with Jada, it clearly wasn’t going to stop him from running rampant in the meantime.
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