Deviation (A Defined Series Book 1) (6 page)

Chapter Seven

Edith

   I wake up hungry. A good portion of my body hurts, but I feel wet and tingly between my legs. I bet I was having a sex dream about Jack. It would figure. I feel embarrassed by my instantaneous orgasm yesterday, but his touch brought me there so fast, I lost the careful control I tried to keep over myself. I still haven’t showered, and I feel really gross. I groan, trying to cover my face with a pillow, when I feel someone kneeling on the bed next to me and pulling my scant level of protection away.

   “Go away,” I mumble.

   He laughs and pulls harder on the pillow. “Not likely, Edith. Come on. Time to eat and clean up.” I’m about to protest, but my stomach growls and he laughs. “Come on, girl. You can’t argue with a stomach as loud as that.” Grimacing, I know he’s right. Plus, eating will probably clear the headache that’s settled in my brain.

   “Fine, but… Whoa! Hey! Put me down!” I feel myself being lifted like a sack of potatoes. My limbs flail until he gets a better hold of me. Like a cat, I’m struggling to get purchase in his arms, clawing his shoulders.

“Not a chance. Besides, Shelby and Aiden plan to stop by to make sure I haven’t locked you in a closet or something.”

   Jack has wrapped me up in the sheet from the bed and is carrying me to his kitchen. He sits me down in front of a plate filled with pancakes, bacon, eggs, and orange juice. It’s a sweet gesture, but I’m not sure how I’ll even eat a portion of this gigantic meal. Even healthy, I never ate this much food in one sitting.

   “Wow.” I pick up my fork as he puts a cup of coffee in front of me.

   “Wow later, eat now.” Jack tucks my messy hair behind my ears and kisses me on my forehead.

   “Yes, caveman.” I roll my eyes at him. He looks at me, really looks at me, like he’s assessing me carefully. It’s weird, yet I feel that feverish heat overwhelm me again.

   “Woman not eat in many moons. You eat now or pay consequence.” Jack stands in front of me, hands on his hips, half-grunting his response. I can’t help but laugh. He’s ridiculous, but I haven’t laughed like this with anyone before, not even Shelby and Aiden, who I consider the closest thing I have to a family.

   “Consequence?” I ask.

   “Big man will make you come again…hard,” Jack whispers, leaning down and gently biting the lobe of my ear. He licks the bite and trails down my neck, causing me to shiver. I feel myself growing wetter and watch as he walks away, making me wiggle in my chair. “Eat, woman.” I pick up my fork. I’m not ready for whatever Jack has planned. No matter how primed my body is, my heart and brain are not. 

   Aiden and Shelby arrive while I am still in the shower. It takes me a lot longer to get myself in and out of the tub, and Jack insists on me keeping the door open so he can hear if I need anything. It’s infuriating to be this helpless. A part of me knows the longer I stay here, the more risk I am putting Jack, and my education, in. I can’t see Dean Andrews being okay, in terms of university standards, with this arrangement.

   “Edie, where is your skank ass?” Shelby walks into the bathroom without a second thought, materializing through my warm bathroom steam like an avenging hippie angel riding a cold gust of wind.

   “Hey! What the hell?!” I try grabbing a towel, but it’s no use. Shelby grabs it first and then waits, handing it to me, smirking while I stand there naked and freezing cold. I can feel my nipples painfully harden, and I try covering my body as Shelby takes her sweet ass time handing that damn towel over.

   “Edith?” Jack pushes in and moves Shelby out of the way so he can hold me up, although I am fine on my own two feet. I’m steaming mad, exhausted, and fucking cold because the door’s wide open.

   “Edie?” Aiden is right behind him and gets an unexpected eyeful, as well. I know my ass is totally viewable in the mirror behind me.

   “Jesus, guys! GET…OUT!” I yell and even Aiden seems to take a moment too long, in my opinion. Obviously, I am not getting privacy. One visit to the hospital and, suddenly, everyone wants to be up my ass.

   “Um…” Aiden looks embarrassed and Shelby drags him out, laughing. His future patients are doomed if he can’t look at a naked woman without getting pink behind the ears.

   “Sorry about that. I was finishing a call when I opened the door and Shelby barged in. I just didn’t think Aiden would join her.” Jack chuckles and I hug my towel-covered, dripping wet body to his chest. He is nice and warm so I rub my face against him. “Tired?” he asks.

   “A little, but I can’t lounge forever.” I sigh deeply.

   “I thought you said you wanted to sleep forever.”

   “I don’t think I’ve slept in, a single day in my life. Besides, I have work and classes to study for.”

   “Yeah, about that. Um… I asked Aiden to go pick up your last check. I don’t want you working crazy all over the place. That neighborhood isn’t great.”

   “What?” I look him in the eye. 

   “I’m not arguing, Edith. You’re here. I want you to stay. You’re recovering from the flu and running yourself ragged is going to put you at risk more than staying here with me will.” He looks so serious, but I don’t like that he feels responsible for me. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time so I’m not used to this kind of care and interest.

   “Can I get dressed now? Aiden and Shelby are here, and this is just too much for me right now.” I wiggle out of Jack’s hold and step back, putting some much needed emotional distance between us. He hands me my clothes and leaves, softly closing the door behind him.

   Stepping out of the bathroom, I find Jack and Aiden sitting on the couch, watching a football game on his large screen television that I hadn’t noticed before. Shelby is in the kitchen arranging Chinese take-out containers and putting a plate of food together.

   “What’s this?” I ask her, confused.

   “A peace offering. We were really worried about you when Jack took over at the hospital, then took you home. I know your family isn’t any good to you, and Aiden and I feel partly responsible.”

   “Responsible? For what, Shelby?”

   “Well, had Aiden and I not been bickering this past week, we would have been checking up on you like we always do. You probably wouldn’t have gotten nearly as sick and dehydrated as you did.”

   “News flash, Shelby. You and Aiden are a couple, not my parents.” I popped a piece of General Tso’s chicken in my mouth, chewing the protein goodness.

   “We hang out almost every day. You’re our best friend,” Shelby pleads, pushing food at me.

   “I don’t need my friends to babysit me. You’ve all got your own lives and I know that. Geez, Shelby. Nobody likes being told you’re their responsibility.” Shelby knows how to get under my skin, which is probably why we stopped being roommates after our freshman year.  

   “You don’t know, do you?”

   “What?” I pushed the Lo Mien around my plate, still angry.

   “Well, Jack found you. I know you know that part, but you were unconscious and severely dehydrated. He brought you to the hospital and, once they found out you had no listed next of kin, he had to bully the nurses and doctors to be with you.”

   “Okay…” I look back over to the boys, who seem to be getting along just fine.

   “Edie, he practically punched a doctor. I was kind of miffed you didn’t think Aiden or I would have come for you.”

    “Wait. He almost punched a doctor?” Shelby is nodding her head. I don’t know how that information makes me feel.

    “It was before we got there. I heard about it from a charge nurse.” I’m pissed Jack behaved that way. “She was telling us your hot boyfriend was being all caveman about your care.”

   “Is that your ploy to get me to not stay mad at him?” I glance at Jack, who is watching Shelby and me. He looks worried, but I nod so he’ll quit staring at me and go back to watching the game with Aiden, who is also giving me a funny look.

   “Is it working?” Shelby smiles and I drag in a deep, cleansing breath, frustrated as hell that I love them both. “Give Jack a decent chance. I think he’s worth it, girlfriend.” Shelby hugs me.

    We chatted more about the classes I’d missed this week and regular campus gossip, of which I was not a part…luckily. We talked for about two hours before I started yawning, full from food and feeling the effect of everything that had happened this week. Everything was hurting, but I don’t want this bubble to be over.

    Jack walks into the kitchen, hugging me from behind and kissing my head. “Okay, I think fun time is over. You need some rest.”

   “How do you know? Maybe I want to go out dancing with kids my own age,” I whine peevishly.

   “Because I’m older and wiser and control your grade this semester, smartass.” Jack picks me up and moves me so I am sitting in his lap. It is crazy, considering Shelby and Aiden are watching us so closely, but liberating at the same time because I’m not hiding my attraction to him now.

   “Oh, there will be plenty of time for that. Besides, I think you stopped listening to what I was saying about thirty minutes ago,” Shelby laughs.

   “How do you know?”

   “Because I told you I was moving in with Aiden, and you told me yellow was a nice color for the bedroom and he could keep his moose head over the bed. You know I hate yellow.”

   “And moose, apparently.” Aiden hugs and tickles Shelby, making her wiggle in his arms. Shelby pouts. We all know she is going to get rid of poor Aiden’s stuffed moose head, and paint the bedroom some funky chill color she deems Feng Shui. “We’ll stop by tomorrow. Later, Edie.” Aiden hugs me awkwardly and Shelby squeezes me tight, kissing my cheek. I am lucky to have two great friends that care about me. Now that they are leaving, it will be just Jack and me. Maybe it should feel more awkward, but it doesn’t. It is comfortable…in a weird way.

   “Let me walk them to the door, then I’ll put you to bed,” Jack whispers in my ear. I nod and wait to hear the door click shut.

   “Thanks for having them over.” Nervously, I keep turning the fork I had used over and over in my hand, needing something to do.

   “Aiden likes football so I think we’ll make fast friends.”

   “He’s much closer in age to you than Shelby and I are.” I can feel Jack’s eyes roaming over me so I put the fork down and take a deep breath. Yeah, that doesn’t help.

   “Are we back to that, Edith?” Jack stands in front of me, his arms folded.

   “I don’t know. Are we? Did we ever even discuss it?” My mind races, recalling that day in high school and where we are today.

   “You drive me crazy. I could spend the rest of my life trying to do the right thing and leave you alone, but I tried that. It didn’t work so I’m giving up.” I stand and Jack steps closer, forcing me to back up against the wall.

   “I’m pretty sure the university has rules about this,” I pant, feeling him press his body against mine, rubbing his erection against my belly, letting me know how aroused and large he is.

   “They do, but I was never very good at following them.” He pushes his hand through my hair, tugging my head back and forcing me to look in his eyes. “You’re mine now, Edith. I’m not letting you go.”

   He crashes his lips down on mine and pulls my hips into his, keeping a firm hand on my waist and arching my back, bringing my center to his. I can feel his long length, rigid and imposing. Jack pulls back and rests his head against my shoulder. Both of us are breathing heavy and he nips my neck, whispering in my ear, “I want you, Edith. I want to bury myself in your wet pussy and feel you clamp around me, begging for more.” He thrusts his hips into mine, grinding against me.

   “Jack…” Never had anyone said such things to me. Sure, guys wanted to date me and have sex with me, but I refused them all because I had foolishly been waiting for this, for my dream, for Jack to come back into my life. Now, he is here and it confuses the shit out of me. We both have so much to lose this time.

   “I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer,” he growls and picks my legs up, wrapping them around his hips and walking me into his bedroom. He lays me down on the bed and gently peels off my clothes, leaving me in my cotton bra and panties.

    “I want to see you.” I get up on my elbows and pull him down to me, briefly kissing his lips. He pushes me back onto the bed, shaking his head. He stands there a few seconds before peeling his own shirt off, revealing perfect washboard abs, girls my age fantasized over, but never saw on our doughy, immature male peers. He smirks at me and works on his faded jeans. He strips down to his boxer briefs, which still cover him. He is straining against the cotton fabric, showing a damp spot of his own juices before he crawled back on top of me.