Learning to Breathe Again (18 page)

“
Bayleigh?” he spoke her
name gently as he stepped into the room and she raised her face to
him. Even from across the room he could see the tear streaks down
her face. If he had been wrong about Jason, he would kill his
friend with his bare hands. Better yet, he’d skin alive him with a
scalpel. Much more painful that way.

He set the coffee down on the table and moved
over to the couch and sat down beside her. “What happened? What did
he say?” he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her
against him to comfort her.

Bayleigh laid her head on his shoulder as she
sighed. “It’s fine, Jack. Don’t go all caveman protector on me
against my own brother.”

“
That obvious?”

“
A little,” she sniffled as
she reached up to wipe a few remaining tears away.

“
So, what did he
say?”

“
He lectured me for not
calling him last summer, and again when I got hurt. And again when
I decided to fly across the Atlantic by myself.”

Jack chuckled, earning himself a soft smack
from her. He caught her hand and held it against his chest. “What
else did he say?”

“
He threatened to dismember
Will for not protecting me better. He seems to think Will may have
known Andrew was stalking me and may have, uh, ‘pimped’ me out, for
lack of a better term.”

“
It wouldn’t surprise me, if
Will always put the band and his career first,” Jack agreed. “And
if Jason needs help, I’ll be first in line.”

“
Will’s not worth either of
you winding up in jail.”

“
Sweetheart, you’re in
Texas, and we have an ‘in’ with the law in this town, remember?” he
nudged her with his shoulder and he felt the smile against his
shoulder.

“
So, what else did he
say?”

“
We’ll figure it all out
once he and Nicole get back but he’s going to give me more access
to my trust fund so I can pay for some demos for the songs I’ve
written, help me find some studio space.”

“
That’s awesome,
Bayleigh.”

“
It’s a start, at least,”
she agreed, as her finger traced circles on his chest. “It was good
to hear him say he was on my side.”

“
I told you he would
be.”

“
I know. And I should have
never have doubted him. But when you hit rock bottom, your mind
just goes to worst case scenarios, you know?”

“
I do know,” he agreed in a
quiet voice.

“
Did you doubt your family
would understand you?”

“
There are times I still
doubt they understand. No one else has seen combat, so they can’t
fully comprehend what I go through. Paul was active duty and was
stationed overseas for a year but was lucky and never saw combat,
but he had the stress of the deployment.” Jack paused and stared
into the fire, collecting his thoughts. “But they are there for me
when I need them, day or night. Any of them. Or all of them. Just
like Jason and Nicole will be there for you, if you give them that
chance.”

“
I know,” she repeated, her
voice soft. “I just had to find myself again first, you know? I
think somewhere between my dad dying and my mom getting sick so
soon after, I lost myself. I didn’t have a chance to figure things
out before my mom died and then we had the offer to move to
England. I didn’t feel like Jason was being all that supportive of
me at the time, and Will was, so I went.”

“
And now?”

“
I’ve grown up,” she said,
sitting up to look at him. “I may want my brother’s approval but I
don’t plan on moving half-way across the world just because we
disagree on something again.”

“
Sounds like a good idea,”
he nodded. “So, what do you want to do now?”

“
Now?”

“
Yeah. It’s six o’clock. And
while I could take you to bed and spend hours entertaining you
there, I don’t think that’s what you had in mind for tonight,” he
told her with a wink.

“
You’d have a heart attack
if I agreed to that, though.”

“
Maybe,” he grinned. “We
could play cards.”

“
Poker?”

“
You play poker?”

“
Of course I play poker. You
got a deck of cards and chips?”

“
What are we playing for?”
Jack stood up and headed over to the entertainment center and the
shelves underneath it. He withdrew the poker chips and the deck of
cards he kept there and brought them back to the coffee table.
Bayleigh cleared off the table while he sorted out the chips and
shuffled the cards. She cut the deck and he dealt.

“
I don’t know. What would
you suggest?” she asked as she reached for her cards.

“
You have to dedicate your
next song to me if you win.”

“
Uh, okay. And if you
win?”

“
I get to kiss
you.”

Bayleigh’s eyes flew to his and her hands
paused in the act of picking up her cards.

“
Stakes too
high?”

“
Not at all,” she
whispered.

“
So it’s a deal?”

“
It’s a deal.” The question
was, how fast could she lose?

“
THAT’S IT. I’M DONE.”
BAYLEIGH TOSSED the cards on the table. “That’s at least five hands
I’ve lost to you.”

“
I thought you said you knew
how to play poker.”

“
I guess I’m out of
practice.”

Jack gave her a knowing glance as he gathered
up the cards and put them back into the box, but she was busy
restacking the chips in the tray and missed it. “Are you out of
practice with your guitar, too?”

“
No, why?”

“
I thought maybe you could
play something for me.” He stood up to put the poker chips and deck
of cards away. And to hide his smile. He had known as soon as they
started playing that she was doing everything she could to lose the
game. So he kept challenging her and not cashing in on their bet.
He was enjoying this little game.

“
It’s all still a little
rough. I don’t have anything that’s finished,” she
hedged.

“
So, use me as a sounding
board,” he suggested.

“
Well, if you’re sure you
don’t mind. I would like some feedback on a couple of them. I’ll go
get my guitar and be right back,” she pushed herself to her feet
and left the room. He grabbed the empty coffee cups and carried
them out to the kitchen and set them in the sink to wash later. He
walked into the living room just as Bayleigh was sitting down on
the couch with her guitar, checking the tuning. He stood in the
doorway watching her for a moment and then walked over and
stretched out on their makeshift bed, making himself
comfortable.

Seeing him there, Bayleigh gave him a soft
smile. “This is one I’ve been working on for a while. It’s too
‘soft’ for Will, but it would work for a solo female artist, I
think.” She started strumming the chords, her eyes closed as she
focused on the music. He focused on her.

“
I think you need a second a
bridge at the end,” he told her as her voice faded away. Her eyes
blinked open and by the way she looked at him, he thought she
forgot he was even there.

“
That might work,” she
strummed the chords again, working through the song. “It still
needs something, though.”

“
What else you got in your
arsenal?” he put his hands behind his head and waited for her to
continue. She thought for a moment and then launched into another
song. All of them were her softer, more romantic songs, songs she
had never even played for Will, knowing he would have shot every
single one of them down. But Jack helped critique them. He had an
ear for music. He could tell where she was getting hung up without
her even telling him, whether it was the chords or the
lyrics.

“
Yeah, I can see why you
don’t think you’ll have any issues selling these,” Jack told her as
she put her guitar back in its case.

“
Once I get an agent and get
my name out there, I’m sure I’ll get interest. And I just need to
let Maddie know I want an agent. She’ll make it happen.” Bayleigh
yawned and Jack glanced at his watched, surprised to see it was
almost ten o’clock.

“
Why don’t I bank the fire
and we can go ahead and get to bed? We’ve had a long couple of
days.” He took her hand and drew her closer and he saw her breath
hitch. He knew she thought he was going to collect on that bet now,
but he had plans for that bet, and he was going to leave her
waiting for just a little bit longer. The anticipation had to be
killing her before he was going to cash in on that bet. But he
could tease her until then. Leaning in he brushed his lips over
hers, feeling her sigh.

“
Go ahead and climb under
the covers. The temperature will drop some when I bank the fire. I
don’t want you to get a chill.”

He could see the disappointment in her eyes
as he stepped away from her but she was quick to mask it. He turned
to the fireplace and he heard the blankets rustle as she did as she
was told. As he turned from the fireplace he heard a sniffle.

“
Bayleigh?”

“
I’m fine.”

He crawled across the sleeping bags and
leaned over her as she tried to hide her face in the pillows. “No,
you’re not. Why are you crying?”

“
Just leave it alone,
Jack.”

“
Babe…” he was at a
loss.

“
I’m not your ‘babe’!” she
spat at him.

He sat back on his heels and stared at her.
“Okay. Bayleigh,” he tried again. “Talk to me, here. I just want to
help. Why are you crying?”

She rolled over onto her back, staring up at
him, tears streaming down her cheeks. With an annoyed motion, she
reached up with one hand and wiped the tears away. “You bet me a
kiss and I lost. I lost five fucking hands of poker to you. On
purpose. Do you know how often I lose in poker? And I lost five
straight hands tonight. And all I got was a peck on the lips as you
told me to get into bed so I didn’t get ‘a chill.’ Like I’m a
child. So don’t call me babe. You made it as clear as you can that
you’re not into me. I get it.”

Jack stared at her, his eyes wide with
disbelief and then he laughed. Even as her eyes narrowed in anger,
he laughed. As she sat up and pulled her fist back, though, he
sobered. “No, none of that,” he cautioned, catching her fist in his
hand, pulling her up against him. “You really think I’m not
interested in you, Bayleigh? Does that feel as if I’m ‘not into
you’?” he positioned her against him so that she could feel how
into her he was. Every single hard inch of him.

“
Oh,” was the only thing she
could manage.

“
Yeah, ‘oh’ is right,” he
shook his head, with a mock glare pushing her back down onto the
sleeping bags, and laying down beside her, propping himself up on
an elbow and leaning over her. “I was trying to tease you,
Bayleigh. Build the anticipation. I guess it back fired on
me.”

“
You think?” she muttered.
“So, you do want to kiss me, then, right?”

“
Yes, Bayleigh. I want to
kiss you. Among other things.”

“
I-I want that, too,” she
whispered, seeing the desire flare in his eyes.

He moved closer, leaning in and pressing his
lips to hers. He teased her lips open with the tip of his tongue,
playing a game of cat and mouse as he would meet and stroke her
tongue with his and then retreat, forcing her to seek him out if
she wanted more. He smiled against her lips as she mimicked his
movements. He felt her hands come up and slide around his neck, as
he slid his fingers through her silky hair.

He pressed kisses to her jaw and then down
her throat, tracing the neckline of her shirt with his tongue,
causing her to angle her head back and arch towards him. Kissing
his way back up to her mouth, he brought one hand between them,
pushing her shirt up, laying his hand on her stomach.

Leaning back so he could see her face, he
smiled as he took in her flushed features as she opened her eyes.
“Doing okay?” he questioned as he stroked her stomach with his
thumb.

“
I’d be doing better if
you’d keep kissing me,” she tugged on his neck, pulling him back
down to her.

With a chuckle his mouth closed over hers
again as he slid his hand a little higher, his thumb stroking the
underside of her breast. He’d been right; no bra.