“Brayden!” Stephanie shrieks.
I step in front of Nora, keeping her out of his line of fire in case the little asshole throws more ornaments. Doug rushes back into the living room, and all hell breaks out. Brayden kicks the Christmas tree and his foot gets caught in a section of ribbon. The whole tree wobbles dangerously when he yanks his foot back. He grabs another decoration and hurtles it at me. Doug grabs Brayden’s arms and takes him to the floor.
“Murderer!” Brayden shouts at me. Nora takes my hand and leads me out of the living room and into the sunroom. She closes the door and shakes her head.
“I’m so sorry, Jack.”
“I don’t blame you.” My heart is racing, and I’m pissed. But I don’t feel triggered. I let out a breath and put my hands on Nora’s shoulders. “You got into Berkeley. Let’s focus on that.”
The sunroom is at the back of the Kellers’ house and has wall-to-wall windows as well as skylights. All the glass on the walls lets the cold in, and Nora shivers. I try to keep her warm, folding my arms around hers.
“I ran into my old boss today,” I tell Nora. “He said he’d give me my job back if I wanted it.” I worked at the only sporting goods store in Dale Hollow before I got shot. Jason worked there too. I never went back. “I told him I do. I need to save up as much as I can before next year. I meant it when I said I want to find a place near you.”
“Maybe we could get a place together eventually.”
I pull her hair over her shoulder, tracing her collarbone across her chest. “I’d like that.”
“Nora?” Stephanie calls and comes into the room. “Are you guys okay?”
“Yeah,” she answers. “What about you?”
Stephanie replies with a strained smile. “I will be. Bray smashed his cast. We have to take him to the hospital, and his caseworker is meeting us there.” Stephanie looks away, eyes filling with tears. “Then he’s going to be admitted for a psych eval.”
“Is he going to come back?”
“Probably not for a while. We’ll see what the doctors say, but I’m pretty sure he’ll be placed in a residential facility for treatment. He’s getting too violent to be in the house. How he does in there depends on when and where he’ll go when he gets out.”
“Oh, wow.”
Stephanie sighs. “We probably won’t be home until late tonight, so we have to take a raincheck on dinner.”
“I’ll take you,” I tell Nora. “You can’t talk about greasy burgers and expect me not to get one.”
Nora half smiles. “Burgers do sound good.”
* * *
“Mrs. Harrington?” Nora asks, standing from the table. It’s eight-thirty and she and Veronica have been studying for a final since we got back from dinner. The Kellers are still at the hospital with Brayden.
“Call me Laura,” my mom tells her.
“Oh, okay. Laura. Stephanie wants to talk to you.” She hands my mom her phone and goes back to the table, putting her head in her hands.
“Tired?” I ask. I’ve been in my room playing video games while the girls study and came down ten minutes ago to get something to eat. While Nora studies, I should say. Veronica’s been scrolling through her Facebook feed the whole time I’ve been down here.
“Yes.” She sits up and rolls her neck. “And history puts me to sleep on its own. I’ve read this same page three times and don’t know what it says.”
“Take a break.”
“No. I need to get this done. And then go to bed early. I don’t test well when I’m tired.”
“You always test well no matter what.”
“No, I don’t. I study well and know the material.” She uncaps a highlighter and blinks rapidly, trying to keep herself awake. I eat a few more cookies, stuffing myself until I feel sickly full.
Mom comes over to the table and takes Veronica’s phone from her hands and gives Nora hers back.
“Stephanie told me what’s going on. They won’t be home until after midnight,” she starts and pulls out a chair. “With the break-ins, she doesn’t want you home alone. And since you have school in the morning, you’re going to stay with us tonight.”
“Yay! A sleepover!” Veronica exclaims.
“No.” Mom shuts her down fast. “Not a sleepover.” Her eyes go to me. “For either of you.”
I roll my eyes and Nora looks a little uncomfortable. “I have to go get my stuff.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offer. “So you’re not alone.”
“You can take the trash out,” Mom tells me. “Tomorrow is garbage day. I’ll go over with Nora. You stay here with your sister.”
Nora yawns when she gets up, leaving the house with Mom. Veronica closes her books and gets her phone from the counter.
“Are you really going to apply to schools in the Bay Area?” she asks me, not looking up from her phone.
“Yeah. Nora already has a list going for me.” I pull the bag out of the kitchen garbage.
“And you’re going to live together?”
“Ideally. It’ll depend where I end up, I guess.”
“Are you going to ask her to marry you?”
I stop, looking up at my sister. The thought of proposing to Nora never crossed my mind. I knew we’d be together, and that’s all that mattered. “Not anytime soon.”
“But you are going to ask her?”
Now that I’m thinking about it, it’s all I want to do. “Yes.”
Veronica makes a weird little squeaking noise like she always does when she’s excited. “She has her grandmother’s ring. I’ve seen it before. It’s huge! How are you going to ask her? When will you? At graduation? Do you think she’ll say yes?”
“Chill. It’s not happening for a while, and I wouldn’t ask if I thought she’d say no.”
“Tell me before you ask!”
“Sure,” I say, though there’s no way I’d tell her. Veronica would blab.
“It’s pretty much perfect. Nora is like my best friend now, and she’s your girlfriend. I always thought I’d hate you dating my friends, but I like this. And I like how you’re you again,” she adds softly.
“I do too.” I tie the garbage bag and take it outside, throwing it in the big can and rolling it to the alley behind our house. Charlie comes with, and I throw the ball for him until Nora comes back. She still looks tired, and though she hasn’t said anything, she’s worrying about Brayden.
She and Veronica go upstairs, and Nora gets into the shower. I sit in my room, thinking about her all wet, warm, and naked. It gets me hot and bothered to the point of needing to shower myself.
Once I’m out and dressed, Mom knocks on my door. She’s carrying an empty laundry basket and eyes the piles on my floor. I’ve tried keeping my shit neater but fell back to old habits.
“Tonight,” Mom starts and sets the basket on my bed. “You stay in your room and Nora stays in with Veronica. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Thank you. I can keep pretending you’re saving yourself for marriage that way.” She winks and nudges a pile of laundry. “Clean your room before rats start living in your dirty laundry.”
“They already do. That’s why I keep the dirty plates here. They have to eat.”
Mom shakes her head. “You’re going to be in for a rude awakening when you get your own place. And if you and Nora do move in together, I don’t think she’ll take too kindly to the way you ‘clean.’” She winks. “How’s that for motivation?”
She shuts my door, and I get up, filling the basket with laundry. Nora is going to hate living with me. I strip my sheets and put on fresh ones, then take the full basket downstairs to the laundry room. Nora is in the kitchen, dressed in candy cane-patterned PJ pants and a tank top.
“Are you going to bed?” I ask her, watching her pack up her bag for tomorrow.
“Yeah. Well, kind of. I’m going to take my history book up with me and read until I fall asleep. I know we had a good reason to go out tonight, but I should have waited until the
weekend to celebrate.”
“You’ll be fine, babe.”
“Getting complacent makes you sloppy.”
I’ve heard her say that little phrase before. Mimi used to tell it to her, and Nora took everything her grandma said to heart, to the extreme, after she died. I held my tongue before and am struggling right now. Nora looks absolutely exhausted.
I throw my laundry in the washing machine and go to Nora. I take the book from her hands. “Go to bed. Get some sleep before I come get you later.”
“Jack, your mom’s home and your dad will be later tonight.”
I shrug. “We’ve snuck off together before. We won’t get caught.”
She takes her book back. “We better not.”
* * *
Dad gets home from work around eleven-thirty. Charlie gets up and paws at the door, wanting to go down and greet him. I open the door to let him out and peer into Veronica’s room. She’s fast asleep, and Nora is sitting on the floor using her phone as a flashlight so she can keep studying. She yawns and her head dips forward.
I’m about to go in and tell her to go the sleep when the floorboards at the bottom of the stairs creak. Wanting to save us both a lot of trouble, I go into my room and get into bed, pretending to be asleep. Charlie jumps back on the bed, laying across me, and I hear Dad gently tell Nora to stop studying and go to sleep.
Charlie weasels his way up and under the covers with me. I pet him while I wait for Dad to go to bed and end up falling asleep myself. I wake at two AM. The house is quiet, and Charlie moved to the foot of the bed.
I tiptoe into Veronica’s room and put my hand on Nora’s shoulder. Her eyes flutter open and she smiles when she sees me. She’s half asleep but gets out of bed and shuffles into my room. We fall into bed together. I spoon myself around her, getting turned on instantly from my cock rubbing against her ass. I move her hair to the side and kiss the nape of her neck.
Nora softly moans and wiggles against me before rolling over. “Jack?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s just go to sleep. I’m tired.”
“Really?”
Her eyes are closed. “Really.”
“Okay,” I say and try to talk down my dick.
“Thanks.” She slides her hand over my chest and bends her knee up, moving closer. I shift my weight, and her leg bumps into my cock. “Are you hard?” she whispers.
“I’m in bed with you. How can I not be?”
A small smile plays on her lips and she brings her hand down, fingers sweeping over my dick. “It turns me on to know you want me.”
“I want you every second of every day.”
“Kiss me.”
I obey and start with her lips, making my way to the side of her neck. She takes my hand and pushes it inside her pajama pants. She’s so fucking wet. I groan and slip a finger inside her.
Nora lays back, widening her legs as I finger her. I go right for her G-spot, alternating between rubbing and tapping, bringing her to the brink of an orgasm in no time. Her breathing quickens, and she puts both hands on my head and pushes me down. She’s so far from the shy virgin she was a year ago.
Her legs go over my shoulders and she balls the sheets in her hands. I spread her wide and dive in, licking her wet pussy. She tastes so fucking good. I get to work, not stopping until she’s writhing against my face, moaning into the pillow she bent up over her head.
On a high from coming, she grabs my arms and brings me forward, falling between her legs. She yanks my boxers down, welcoming my cock between her thighs. I put my lips on her neck, sucking her skin hard. Nora grabs my ass, fingers curling into my flesh and bucks her hips. The tip of my dick rubs against her. I could come like this if she keeps it up.
“Fuck me, Jack,” she moans.
Blindly, I feel for the condom I stashed under my pillow. I can’t get it on fast enough. Nora takes hold of my cock and guides me to her pussy. I thrust inside, greedy and impatient, groaning when I feel her tightness around me. I move fast, pushing deeper and deeper with each thrust. Nora puts her hands on my hips, stopping me. She moves me off her and shoves me onto the mattress.
Then she climbs on top.
She holds my hands above my head and rocks her hips. Slow. Steady. I have no fucking idea how she has so much self-control. I twist my wrists, breaking free from her hold, and grab onto her waist. I slit my eyes open just enough to look at her, to look at this beautiful girl on top of me, lips parted, messy hair swaying around her face.
The girl I love.
Nora pitches forward, breasts in my face, moaning a little too loudly as she comes. I kiss her to shut her up, but only a moment later, she’s the one trying to keep me quiet. I come hard, feeling it throughout every part in my body.
She falls to the mattress next to me, panting.
“We’re good at that.” She pushes her hair back and reaches for the sheets.
“We’re really fucking good at that.”
Nora falls asleep only minutes after we clean up and get under the covers. I hold her, feeling more than I ever thought I was capable of feeling. She’s my first long-term girlfriend—I fully intend on having her be my last—and everything with her gets better and better every time. My friends give me shit for being pussy whipped, saying I’m limiting myself by only fucking one chick.
They don’t get it.
They don’t get how Nora is everything to me. How much I fucking love her. How I died the day I shot Jason, forced to walk around with the living. How every day was a reminder of that. Until Nora brought me back to life.
I don’t mean to fall asleep, but I do. And I sleep soundly until someone knocks on my door at six AM.
Chapter 21
Nora
“Shit,” Jack mutters, sitting up. My eyes flutter open and it takes me a second to realize what’s going on. I’m in Jack’s bed, comfy, warm and still so tired. We had sex—really good sex—last night, and I crashed.
Then I realize the sun is up, and suddenly, being in Jack’s bed is a bad thing.
“Stay here.” Jack’s voice is thick with sleep. He gets out of bed and throws the covers over me, like that would be enough to hide me. Someone knocks on the door and I hunker down. Please be enough to hide me. Jack grabs the doorknob and slowly turns it, pulling his door back a few inches.
“Nora’s alarm keeps going off.” It’s Veronica, thank God.
“Turn it off,” Jack says back.
“I can’t. It’s an app that makes you answer a math question to shut it off. Is she still sleeping?”
“Not anymore.” I sit up and guiltily look at Veronica. She crosses the room and gives me the phone.
“Why do you get up so early and why do you have to solve a math question?”
“It’s not that early, and it makes me sit up and open my eyes instead of blindly hitting snooze.” I take the phone, read the algebra question and solve it in two seconds. “No wonder you’re always running late,” I tease.
Veronica isn’t amused. She rubs her temples and sighs. “I could have slept for another half-hour. And you two can thank me later. Mom gets up in like ten minutes.”
“Thanks,” I tell her. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep in here.” I move my gaze to Jack, smiling. “It was supposed to be a booty call.”
Jack smiles back. “I wore you out.”
“You guys are disgusting.” Veronica shakes her head. “We’re getting Starbucks on the way to school today. Jack’s buying. Consider it payment for my silence.”
“Starbucks isn’t on the way to school. It’s five minutes past school. We’ll have to leave even earlier to go.” Jack moves away from the door and gets back into bed. It’s so tempting to lay down with him. “Come get me when it’s time to leave.”
I follow Veronica out of Jack’s room, going back to hers. She closes the door then flops onto her bed. I unzip my overnight bag and pull out fresh clothes.
“If I never see you two in bed together, it’ll be too soon.” Veronica
looks at me out of the corner of her eye.
“Sorry. I really did intend on coming back in.”
“At least I didn’t hear anything.”
“Good. We tried being quiet.”
Veronica shakes her head. “Gross.” She sits up, pulling a pink stuffed hippo into her lap. “Does it hurt?” Her eyes go to Hippy the Hippo. “The first time?”
“A little.”
“Did you bleed?”
“Yes. Not a lot though.” I pull my makeup from my bag “Are you going to sleep with Marcus?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know where we stand relationship-wise. Things seemed fine, then I told him I didn’t want to have sex and it hasn’t been the same since.”
I sit next to her. “If you don’t want to, then don’t.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” she mumbles.
“I was set on waiting until after I graduated to have sex. I didn’t—I still don’t—want to get pregnant like my mom did.”
“Do you regret not waiting?”
“No,” I say honestly. “Because I love Jack. You don’t love Marcus, do you?”
She shakes her head and picks at Hippy’s tag. The words have faded over the years, and the end is frayed. Veronica will never admit it and will deny it if I brought it up, but I think she had feelings for Jason. One-sided feelings, of course. From the little I know about Jason, he and Jack were close, and he’d never cross his best friend by dating his sister.
Now, I’ve seen the way Veronica looks at Jack’s friend Alex. Like Jack, Alex is tall and muscular. Unlike Jack, he’s loud and likes being the center of attention. Alex and Jack have been friends since childhood, and I don’t think Alex would go so far as bat an eye at Jack’s sister. He respects Jack too much. Like he should.
Alex was in the gym that day.
“I don’t want to be the only virgin in college next year.”
“That’s a silly reason to have sex with someone you don’t want to. And I’m positive you won’t be the only virgin in college.”
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