Always with You (WIth You Trilogy) (22 page)

“I don’t know either, that’s why I’m asking,” he scowled.

Oh, crap. Is he pissed off because I didn’t use his card?
I didn’t understand how he always seemed to know everything.

“I didn’t give you my pin,” he explained, obviously sensing my confusion. “I was expecting you to call and ask.”

“I paid,” Jason cut in before I could try and justify myself.

“I said I was paying,” Ian directed his glare at Jason.

“And I paid instead,” Jason met his glare. “She’s my world, Ian. I know she’s your sister, but she’s my everything and I’m going to take care of her whether you like it or not.”

I tensed
, watching their stare off and wondering which of them was going to break it first. Eventually, Ian shook his head and muttered something under his breath before pulling me into his chest.

“I try and do something nice and all I get is attitude,” he grumbled as he hugged me.

“Sorry,” I whispered, not doing a very good job of holding in my smile.

I had the distinct feeling that the torch was being handed over
, even though I knew Ian would always need to be close by, just in case.

We deposited our new outfits in the bedroom and the second the door closed behind us
, Jason chucked me onto the bed. I giggled as my back hit the mattress and he was immediately on top of me, his hands either side of my head with a wicked grin on his face.

“I owe you a spanking,” he smirked, lowering his face to kiss the side of my neck.

“What for?” My giggling was silenced by his soft lips against my sensitive skin.

“If I remember rightly, you touched yourself last night,” he murmured against my skin, his hands working their way under my shirt.

“I did,” I nodded, my body already heating up in delightful anticipation.

He lifted himself higher
, his lips brushing against mine before his tongue swept over my lower lip. In an involuntary moan broke through when he ground his hips into mine, his hardness grazing just the right spot.

“Take your trousers off, Jamie,”
Jason growled, kissing my lips gently before he rolled off and looked at me expectantly.

I grinned as I
turned onto my front to lift his t-shirt and kiss his toned stomach before I did as I was told. Slipping my fingers into my waistband, I began pulling the fabric away but my head snapped round at the sound of loud and angry screaming from the room next door.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Jason’s eyes widened in surprise, his focus moving to the adjoining door.

It was obvious the yelling was coming from one of my brothers, Jake to be specific. With the mood most definitely broken, I bolted to the door and pulled hard. I hadn’t been expecting it to be open but it was and I darted into the room.

“What are you doing?” I screeched at the sight of the twins pinning Jake to the bed, the one closest to his head had an electric shaver in one hand.

“Stay the fuck still!” Danny demanded, turning the shaver on with one hand and pinning Jake’s arm with the other.

“Danny!” I yelled, trying to get his attention.

Jake was red-faced and clearly angry, frustrated, and upset. There was already a patch of his hair shaved off. I was furious on his behalf.
This is ridiculous
. I bolted round the bed and grabbed the shaver away from Danny. He clearly wasn’t expecting it.

“What the fuck, Jelly?” Rick demanded.

“What the hell are you doing?” I retorted angrily, holding the shaver behind my back.

“We’re just having some fun,” Danny grinned, still holding Jake down.

“Get off of him!” I pulled at his arm. “Two against one? What on earth is wrong with you two?” I levelled each of them with my best Carter-family glare.

Jason busied himself with pulling Rick away from Jake, who immediately punched Rick in the stomach and started screaming profanities. Jason tried to keep them apart but Danny decided to join in. Despite Jason’s efforts, Jake was getting bashed about a fair bit.

I hated seeing my brothers fighting like this at any time but it was ten times worse with Jason in the mix. He wasn’t hitting anyone, just doing his best to block the blows to Jake.

“Enough!” I screamed, doing the only thing I could think of and chucking myself at Jake and wrapping my arms around him.

There was a little scuffling and I was somehow knocked in the stomach as I tried to get to him but it wasn’t too bad so I held onto Jake as tightly as I could. It took a couple of seconds for the twins to realise that they couldn’t get to Jake without hurting me.

“Back off, guys,” Jason cautioned, his voice deadly serious.

Jake just stood there, not hugging me back. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, his muscles trembling. I could feel the anger rolling off of him.

If they’d done that to me
, I’d have been crying my eyes out and hating them thoroughly. Jake probably had the latter down.

“I’m so sorry, Jake,” I whispered so that
only he’d hear me.

He said nothing, he just took a deep breath and pushed me away gently, his eyes locked on Danny’s.

“I can’t believe you two,” I snapped at the twins, turning to face them.

“This is none of your fucking business, Jelly. We were just messing,” Danny growled, his jaw tense.

“This is not messing,” I gestured to Jake. “The two of you attacking him like this is horrible. How could you do that?”

“I don’t need you
to protect me, Jelly,” Jake barked.

“I know,” I said quietly. “But what sort of sister would I be if I let them do that to you?”

“We didn’t mean to actually do it,” Rick gritted. “He moved and the shaver caught him. We were only mucking around.”

Jake clenched his teeth and I could tell he was really close to lunging at them.

“You two should go,” Jason intervened, watching Jake’s shoulders rise and fall. “Now.”

“Whatever,” Danny shook his head, aiming one last glare in my direction before leaving through the main door.

The three of us remained in silence once the twins had left. To say it was uncomfortable would be an understatement. I could see how upset and hurt Jake was and I didn’t know what to do to fix it. Instead, I turned my attention to Jason.

“You mind giving us a few minutes?” I asked him, reaching up to give him a kiss on the cheek and
a small hug to show him how thankful I was that he stepped in to help.

“Sure thing,” he smiled. “Let me know if you need me.” He squeezed Jake on the shoulder wordlessly before he left, shutting the door to our room behind him.

“Fuck!” Jake yelled, catching me off guard and kicking the side of the bed loudly. “Wankers!”

“I’d say that was accurate right now,” I answered quietly. “I’m so sorry.”

“Shut up!” He snapped, running his hand through his now ruined hair. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for, Jelly,” he said, more gently this time. He took a deep breath and flopped back down onto the bed with his legs hanging off the end.

“
What happened?” I asked softly.

“The usual,” he grunted. “Ian was giving me shit about my hair being too long after you left. The twins decided they were going to fix it.”

I sighed on his behalf, sitting next to him and squeezing his arm gently. “I can’t believe they did this. They’re not usually this bad.”

He grunted in response, still feeling the patch of hair on the back of his head.

“Want me to fix it for you?” I offered tentatively, unsure if that was the right thing to say. When he didn’t answer I continued. “You don’t have to cut it all off. I could just do the back and sides short and leave the top a bit longer so you can style it with gel. If you want, I mean.”

“I was going to cut it anyway,” he grumbled, pushing up to sitting and resting his head in his hands. “But it should be my fucking choice.”

“It should,” I nodded in agreement. “It was really wrong of them.”

“They don’t get to tell me how my hair should look,” he growled, getting angry again.

“Or how to dress,” I mumbled, half hoping he wouldn’t hear.

Unfortunately
, he must have done because he span round to face me. “You what?”

“I just mean… You’ve had a go at me for what I’m wearing before, it’s kind of the same thing.”

He remained silent, studying my face with a scowl.

“You can’t be angry at them for trying to control things in your life when you’ve done the same. That’s all.”

This time he stayed silent so long I considered leaving the room before he exploded at me. I stood up to do just that but Jake caught my wrist.

“Point made. Get it over with,” he grumbled, handing me the shaver
.

It didn’t take long at all and I made sure to massage his scalp thoroughly whi
lst I washed his hair in the hope that it would calm him down a bit. It seemed to do the trick. I thought his new cut looked awesome, even if I was a little biased. It suited him perfectly.

“What d’ya reckon?” He asked, scrutinizing his reflection as he worked some gel into his hair.

“I like it,” I smiled, meeting his eyes in the mirror.

“Me too,” he nodded, satisfied with himself. “Thanks, Jellybean.” He wrapped one arm around
my shoulders and walked me back into the main room just as Craig came in, dressed in sweaty workout clothes.

“Looks good,” he nodded at Jake with a casual glance in his direction.

“I best go get ready for dinner,” I smiled at them. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

When I let myself back into the room, Jason was already dressed in dark grey dress trousers and a long-sleeved
, sky blue shirt, with black buttons and a black trim around the collar. The top button was open and he looked as drool-worthy as usual.

“Hey, handsome,” I grinned, moving to stand between his legs as he sat on the large armchair in the corner.

“Hey, beautiful,” he grinned back. “Is Jake okay?”

“Yeah,” I smiled. “I think so.
We fixed his hair.”

“That was messed up,” Jason shook his head, taking my hand from his shoulder to press gentle kisses to my palm.

“It was,” I agreed, closing my eyes to enjoy it. “I’m so angry at the twins.”

“I was too,” he mumbled, switching hands so that they both got the same treatment.

“Was? You aren’t any more?” I frowned.

“Are you going to be mad at me if I had a go at them?” He looked up at me with an adorable smile and a slightly guilty expression.

“Only because you beat me too it,” I grumbled, shifting so I could sit on his lap. “They didn’t gang up on you did they?” I asked, scanning his face to make sure I hadn’t missed any bruises.

“No,” he laughed. “Craig heard me and joined in.”

“Did he?” I smiled.
At least I’m not the only one sticking up for Jake.

Jason nodded, pulling me closer to him. He smelt amazing as usual and I took a deep breath and let it was
h over me, my body relaxing into his as I nuzzled into his neck. The twins aside, I was in a really good mood. Ian was back, I was no longer in danger, and I was in Jason’s arms. Soon my little niece would be arriving, with her Mummy and Uncle, and our family would be complete.

“Much as I love havin
g you here in my arms,” Jason interrupted my happy musings with a kiss to my forehead. “I’m desperate to see you in that dress.”

“Your wish is my command,” I grinned, hopping up from his lap to courtesy.

Tuesday, 8th October 2013

I loved the look on Jason’s face when I stepped out of the bathroom. In fact, I always loved the way he looked at me. It was a huge part of the fact that I was starting to love who I was as a person.

T
he way that he was looking at me in my new outfit told me that he was dying to get back to what we’d been doing before Jake’s screams had interrupted us.

“No
time for that, perv,” I teased as I dodged his attempt to grab me round the waist. “We need to go find the others.”

“Just so you know,” he drawled, standing up and adjusting himself in his trousers. “You’ll pay for that later.”

I giggled and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I hope so.”

Ian, Craig, and Jake were already waiting in the foyer, all looking handsome in similar outfits to Jason. Blue seemed to be the theme for
them tonight because they were all wearing variations, from navy to periwinkle. Needless to say, with the Carter family blue eyes, they looked dashingly handsome. The sort of handsome that broke hearts the world over.

“What’s under the coat, Jelly?” Ian eyed me suspiciously.

“A dress,” I answered nonchalantly.

“Show me,” he demanded.

“Why?” I pouted. I was hoping he wouldn’t see until we’d left the hotel because he’d be less likely to try and make me go back and get changed. Emphasis on
try
.

“Now,” he scowled, one foot already in soldier mode.

I sighed inwardly and unbuckled my coat, handing it over to Jason. I crossed my arms in an unladylike fashion as I waited for him to complain.

He studied me with a scowl on his face for a few seconds before circling around me.

“Ian…” I began, half cautioning, half pleading.

“You did this on purpose,” he turned to Jason.

“Did what?” Jason asked innocently. “Got her a dress she looks great in?”

Ian muttered something under his breath before kissing me on the forehead. “You look nice.”

If Jason hadn’t chosen that moment to start putting my coat back on my shoulders, I would have fallen over.
No protest, no anger, just a compliment. What on Earth
? I decided that now probably wasn’t the time to question it and just smiled in thanks.

“There’s my niece,” Ian grinned when
Matt, Elise, and Karl arrived with Grace in a harness on Karl’s front and a pram in hand.

“She’s asleep,” Karl
said, stroking Grace’s back.

“Oh, right,” Ian lowered his voice.

“Don’t sweat it, she could sleep through a thunderstorm,” Elise smiled, moving forward to give Ian a hug and welcome him home.

“Oh my g
osh! What have you two done?” Elise laughed, catching sight of the twins approaching.

I span around to see what she was talking about.
Oh my God
.
I can’t believe they did this
. They’d both shaved their heads almost to the point of being bald. I tried really hard, honest I did, but I couldn’t hold back the laughter.

I watched through tears of
mirth as the twins made their way over to Jake.

“See yours worked out better,” Rick mumbled
, rubbing his naked scalp.

“We cool?” Danny prompted, holding out a hand to Jake.

Jake was clearly fighting the same battle I had but he was doing a little better at holding his laughter in. This was obviously the twins’ version of an apology; they’d shaved their own heads to make up for messing up Jake’s hair. Sweet as it was, I didn’t really think it was fair because, my shock aside, they actually looked alright.

“Idiots,” Jake laughed, shaking each twin’
s hand in turn.

The restaurant wasn’t far away but I was still grateful for the coat. It was October after all. Now that I was at a healthy weight, the cold didn’t affect me as badly as it
once had but I wasn’t superhuman and the extra protection from the cold was definitely appreciated.

Xander
came with us; it only seemed fair that he be invited considering how much he’d been there for me in recent months.

“She barely wakes us up at night anymore,” Karl grinned across the table, filling Ian in on everything he’d missed while he was away. “And she makes that little squeaking noise Jelly used to make.”

“Squeaking noise?” I frowned.

“Yeah, you sounded like one of those dog chews,” he teased.

“More like R2D2,” Matt chimed in.

I just shook my head at them
. Being compared to R2D2 was a little bit cooler than a dog chew. Ian listened intently as my brothers all chipped in with stories about Grace over the past three months, a peaceful smile on his face.

“Here,” Ian grinned, hand
ing over a packet to Elise. “I got shipped out before this arrived.”

“Ooh, Ian
, you didn’t have to get anything,” Elise cooed, already ripping open the wrapping paper.

“Trust me, I did,” he laughed.

Elise held up a little baby onesie and chuckled, turning it around so we could all see. It was pink and said “Keep calm, my Daddy is a soldier” with a little British flag.

I grinned because Karl was shaking his head and maybe even blushing slightly.

“It was either that or ‘Keep calm and date a soldier’ and I wasn’t keen on using my niece as a chat up line.”

“Cheers,
E,” Karl laughed, shaking his head and smiling at Grace who was making adorable noises in her pram.

We had a lovely evening and I was on cloud nine, surrounded by family and my wonderful boyfriend. Jake seemed to have forgiven the twins and they were
actually getting along. Probably because the twins were complete clowns and it was hard not to laugh at them.

It was the first time in a long while that a night out was focussed on having a nice meal and good conversation
rather than drinking. It was also the first night that we were back at the hotel by half past ten. This was mainly in deference to Grace but the twins were kind enough to point out that out of the eleven of us, five were over thirty and therefore “getting on a bit”. Of course, this resulted in Ian and Xander each arm wrestling with a twin over and over again, and winning every time.

Jason and I excused ourselves along with Elise when she went to put
Grace to bed. They’d all started drinking and, since Jason didn’t drink, we figured we’d leave them to it. I also suspected he was eager to continue where he left off.

Jason took his sweet time getting the room key from his wallet. It wasn’t until we heard the door close behind Elise that he sprang into action.

I found myself pinned to the door of our room with my hands held above my head in one of Jason’s. His mouth was on mine in a flash, his body pressed up against me. His grip was firm but not painful, it was just tight enough that it served as a reminder that I was at his mercy. I was quite happy to be there.

“I need you out of this dress now,” he growled before dipping his head to lick and nip a trail up my neck.

“Jason,” I breathed desperately. “Somebody might see us here.”

His grin broadened against my skin as his hand travelled from my waist to the room key in his pocket. He kept his mouth against my skin as he slipped the card blindly into the slot.

I gasped as I heard people approaching and blushed furiously when I opened my eyes to see an elderly couple approaching. They must have been well over eighty. They were walking slowly, with measured steps. The lady’s hand was tucked delicately into the crook of gentleman’s arm.

I winced apologetically, watching out of the corner
of my eye as Jason tried not to grin. The old lady just smiled kindly and I swear the old man winked at Jason before they looked at each other. I could almost see the shared memory in their gazes as they passed.

It was beautiful to see love in the eyes of a couple who’d obviously been together for a long time. I wanted that.

“Finally,” Jason muttered, managing to get his card into the slot and open the door to our room.

The first thing I did was make sure the lock to Craig and Jake’s adjoining room was now locked. I definitely didn’t want any interruptions.

Whilst I was busy ensuring my brothers wouldn’t see anything they didn’t want to and murder Jason, he disappeared into the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” I asked him suspiciously, when he came back into the room holding something in his hands.

“Never you mind,” he winked. “Strip for me.”

I cocked my head at him but we both knew I’d do as I was told. I took a few steps closer, until our toes were touching, and leant up to give him a kiss before obliging.

The steamy embrace in the hallway had left me a little over excited and I was desperate to get some skin on skin. I watched, spellbound, as Jason removed his tie and started on the buttons on his shirt. Watching his body being revealed bit by bit was like opening an advent calendar all in one day. Each little glimpse just added to the deliciousness that was my boyfriend.

Jason raised an eyebrow at me with a slight smirk on his face. His expression said he knew I was staring and
he was loving it.

“I’m waiting, baby,” he goaded. “
For every second you make me wait, I’m going to make you beg that little more.”

I pouted and scrambled to get my clothes off, prompting Jason to chuckle as I almost fell over.

“Nice and slow, Jamie,” he ordered in a low voice, letting his shirt fall to the floor before sitting down on the chair in the corner. “I like to watch you.” His hand cupped his jaw, his long fingers stroking his slight stubble as he looked at me expectantly.

He looked so exquisite sat there in his half-naked glory but I somehow managed not to stand and stare because I wanted to be close to him and I knew he wouldn’t let me until I was naked.

I slipped out of my dress as delicately as I could and turned my back to Jason, resisting the urge to turn my head and sneak a peak at him.

Reaching behind my back, I
removed my bra, letting it fall to the floor at my feet. I could feel Jason’s heated gaze burning across my skin and I smiled to myself because I knew I had his full attention.

I slowly slipped my thumbs into the waistband of my
G-string, pulling it up just a little before I bent over and smoothly eased the material away from my body. I was unbelievably grateful that I managed to do so in a fairly graceful fashion and without falling over.

Feeling playful, I scooped up the garment and tossed it in Jason
’s direction as I turned around. He smirked as he caught it on one hand, scrunching the fabric in his fist. I blushed furiously as I watched him bring it to his nose and inhale deeply.

“Nothing smells as good as you do,” he
growled, the dark heat of his eyes intensifying.

I smiled bashfully, used to Jason’s dirty mouth but still slightly embarrassed by watching him smell the evidence of my arousal.

Jason grinned and beckoned me closer with a hooked finger. His eyes watched my every movement and my breath caught as I watched him rubbing himself through his trousers.

“Come sit here, little squirrel,” he gestured to his lap, his voice soft and gentle.

I studied him curiously for a second because that wasn’t the tone of voice he usually used when I was about to get a spanking. That voice was filled with mischief, but this one was warm and beckoning.

He positioned me sideways in his lap, his long fingers tucking my hair behind my ear before trailing lightly down my back and eliciting a ripple of goosebumps.

“Lean back for me, beautiful,” he urged, hooking his arm around my waist so that he could bear my weight and I wouldn’t have to lean against the arm of the chair.

“Feet up here,” he nodded, satisfied with my positioning.

I obliged and rested my high heels on the opposite arm of the chair. With deft fingers, Jason quickly unbuckled the shoes and slid each one from my feet.

His hand caressed the skin from the soles of my feet to my inner thigh and I sighed in contentment. His touches were so reverent and loving that I was sure could melt from happiness at any second.

“God, I’ll never get over how beautiful you are,” he breathed appreciatively, using the arm around my waist to pull me closer.

I smiled against his neck as I tucked myself into his warmth. This wasn’t going the way I’d thought it would but I wasn’t complaining.

“I love you, Jason,” I whispered, pressing gentle kisses to the side of his neck.

“I love you too, little squirrel,” he answered with his
million-dollar smile. “Straddle me?”

I pulled my face out of the crook of his neck in order to raise an eyebrow at him. He was still wearing trousers after all. I looked down at the offending item of clothing and Jason chuckled.

“Perv,” he teased. “It’s always about sex with you.”

“Sex with you, always,” I grinned back. “Besides, you’re the one who made me strip.” Despite my teasing, I was already moving into the requested
position because I liked that it would give me better access to Jason.