Stronger with You (With You Trilogy) (26 page)

I gestured for Jason to scoot his chair back with mock impatience and he obliged. I sat down on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck and he grinned happily up at me.

“As long as you haven’t seen them recently,” I whispered in his ear, letting my lips linger on the sensitive spot just behind his ear.

“Of course not,” he chuckled, turning his head to me and whispering “But, baby, she could have been dancing naked with nipple tassels on and I wouldn’t have noticed. I would have been too busy thinking about you.”

I grinned happily and shifted on his lap so that my back was against his front and I was facing Adam again.

I reached over to Jason’s plate and stole a green bean and munched on it happily. I was proud of myself for not letting Shana get to me and walking away like I’d wanted to do. Instead, judging by the look on Shana’s face, I’d turned this into a huge win in my column.

“You stealing my food?” Jason teased, handing me another green bean.

“Family habit,” I chuckled.

“Not any more,” he said seriously.

“Nope,” I smiled. “They haven’t done it once since.”

I almost missed my brothers stealing my food.
Almost
. I wondered if they’d ever do it again. I wouldn’t mind if they didn’t but it felt like they were treating me differently for the wrong reasons. They didn’t stop eating my food because they were trying to be nice, they’d stopped because they thought I was too thin. That was an important distinction for me.

“Break it up, lovebirds,” Adam demanded, standing up and taking his tray with him. “We’ve got a lecture.”

I pouted at him but I knew he was right.

“Skive and spend the afternoon with me?” Jason said, locking his hands around my waist so I couldn’t get up.

“Sorry, Jason. Wish I could,” I apologised trying to pry his hands from around my waist.

“Okay, spend the afternoon naked with me?” He was speaking a little quieter but I was pretty sure Shana had heard and I blushed a little extra because of that.

I had to admit it was pretty tempting and I was seriously contemplating taking him up on this offer but I knew we’d have plenty of time for that over the weekend.

“Perv,” I teased him, wiggling slightly in his lap. “I can’t, sorry.”

He sighed and let me off his lap. I didn’t miss him adjusting himself and neither did Shana.

“I know,” he pouted. “Besides, I promised your brothers I wouldn’t mess with your education, and I’d quite like to live a little longer.”

I smiled a half smile. He was joking but all I was seeing in my mind was him in a hospital bed once more.

“Enjoy your class, little squirrel,” he said, standing up to give me a goodbye-kiss. Goodbye-kisses were almost as good as mind-blowing kisses, but not quite. They always left me wanting more and I guess that was the intention. A goodbye-kiss made me want to come back for a hello-kiss.

“See you at training,” I grinned at him, giving Shana the compulsory polite smile.

***

“You’re on fire today,” Grayson grinned at me after we finished the last set.

“Probably the protein shake she had for lunch,” Jason raised his eyebrow at me.

“Thanks,” I smiled at Grayson, pointedly ignoring Jason’s dig about my lunch.

I followed the boys jogging around the track to cool down. I was a sweaty mess but I was still grinning and looking forwards to a long soak in Jason’s tub.

I spotted Shana jogging towards us with Lottie and another girl. Jason nodded at them in greeting and carried on chatting with Grayson.

“Jamie!” Grayson called over his shoulder. “Your boyfriend needs permission to go out.”

“Oh?” I laughed. “Is that so?”

“That’s not what I said!” Jason fake-scowled and gave Grayson a playful shove.

He stumbled but regained his step and dropped back to run beside me. Jason followed suit and ran on my right, leaving Lottie and Shana a little ahead of us.

“I said I’d
ask
you,” Jason nodded to me.

“Ask me for permission?” I teased him.

“No,” he grinned. “Ask you if you wanted to come.”

“Where?”

“Fight tomorrow,” Grayson grinned, making a few boxing gestures in front of him.

“Ooh, are you fighting tomorrow Grayson?” Shana asked.

“I am,” he nodded.

“I’ll be there,” she grinned.

“Awesome,” Grayson nodded.

I agreed to go, knowing I’d have to call Craig and maybe Simon first just to keep my brothers happy. At least I’d get to go in through the back room and avoid the crowd.

I’d not really spoken to Craig since I pissed him off back at the hotel. He’d given me a big hug after they took me shopping and dropped me off though so I figured he wasn’t too mad at me.

He was chirpy when I talked to him and agreed without a problem once he found out Jason would be there with me. He told me to call Simon when I arrived. I tried to ask him how everyone was but I was pretty sure I heard a girl giggling in the background so I thanked him and wrapped it up instead.

I called Alex and had a long, giggly natter whilst I soaked in the bath. I missed him like mad but loved hearing all his stories. He’d found a job doing data entry for a genealogy website, which sounded thoroughly boring but he insisted it would look good on his CV. I was just happy he’d found something to do, otherwise I think he might have gone insane with nothing to do until the start of the next academic year.

“Enjoy your bath?” Jason asked me as I finished towel drying my hair and joined him on the sofa.

“Yep, was lovely, thanks,” I beamed at him.

“I love seeing you in my clothes,” he smiled, his hands snaking up my t-shirt as he pulled me into his side.

I’d put on Jason’s t-shirt and a pair of boxers after my shower. There was no point putting clothes on, we’d just be taking them off again.

“Not exactly the sexiest clothes in the world,” I laughed.

“You could be in a bin bag and still be the sexiest woman on the planet,” Jason grinned.

“Cheesy!” I teased him, putting my hand in its favourite place against Jason’s happy trail.

“Agreed!” Josh announced, sticking his head into the room to call us in for dinner.

“Thanks,” I smiled appreciatively as he handed me my plate.

“You have fun in Newcastle?” Josh asked, turning to me.

“Yeah, it was nice,” I nodded. “I found out I’m going to be an Aunty.”

“Cool,” he grinned. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. “What did you and Ben do in the end?” I asked Jason.

“We just hung out,” Jason smiled. “I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like so it was nice just to catch up.”

“How’s he doing?” Josh asked.

“Busy as hell. He’ll graduate in a few months,” Jason said proudly.

“Little Benji, all grown up,” Josh laughed.

“Tell me about it,” Jason nodded, the pride evident on his face.

“Hey, what was it you and Ben talked about?” I asked, remembering what he’d said when I’d called him.

“Oh, that,” Jason said, glancing over at Josh. It occurred to me that maybe I should have waited until it was just the two of us to ask him about it. “We just talked about all the shit that went down when we were younger,” he shrugged as though it meant nothing, but I knew better.

Josh didn’t even blink so I figured he must have at least had some idea of the Reed family history.

“We actually talked about MMA,” Jason said, his eyes flicking away from his food and up to me.

“Oh?” I prompted, wondering where this was leading.

“Yeah, well,” he shrugged. “Craig kinda got in my head whilst we were at yours.” He looked up at me again and I could see caution on his face. “So I talked to Ben about it, you know, see how he felt.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he didn’t mind,” Jason smiled uncertainly. “Said he never asked me to stop fighting. Just didn’t like the stuff that came with it.”

“Cool,” I nodded uncertainly. “It’s nice that you two talk so honestly with each other.”

“How do you feel about it?” He asked, his eyes scanning my face.

I thought it was so unbelievably sweet and considerate that he wanted to check with me about it. I wondered why he hadn’t breached the topic earlier and it occurred to me that he might have been worried about my reaction.

I smiled at his cuteness. “I think it’s great!”

“Really?” He smiled, obviously relieved.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I know how much you love it. I mean, obviously I’d rather you didn’t get hurt. I know how badly you could get injured, but I’m not going to stand between you and something you care about. Just try not to get hurt, please, for me?”

“I’ll do my best,” he grinned. “Thank you, baby. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

I smiled happily back at him. I had two brothers in the military. Two who fought with fire for a living. One who got his kicks from fighting. I could deal with worrying about Jason as well. I could deal with anything as long as I had him by my side.

Chapter 21

Friday, 8th February 2013

Jason seemed a little anxious but I wasn’t sure why. He kept looking at me as though he wanted to ask me something but then changing his mind. There was a look in his eye that I couldn’t figure out, I hadn’t seen it before.

“What’s wrong?” I asked with concern, pushing away my empty cake plate.

“Nothing,” he frowned, twisting the plaited leather bracelet he had on his right arm. “I’ve done something and now I’m worried you might not like it,” he sighed deeply and looked at me.

“What have you done?” I frowned.

“I’m not telling you until you promise me you won’t get mad,” Jason answered.

How can he expect me to promise that?
My mind was going crazy thinking up possibilities. The unpleasant image of him and Shana together popped into my head but I pushed it away,
Jason wouldn’t do that.
He was only worried I might not like something. He’d know for sure I wouldn’t like it if he cheated on me. He wouldn’t cheat on me so I didn’t need to think about it.

“Jamie,” Jason prompted, squeezing my hand with his.

“I promise,” I nodded, because I trusted him wholeheartedly.

He studied my face a little longer then held out his hand and gestured for me to follow. I packed up my things and followed him out of the café, my hand in his.

“Where are we going?” I asked curiously, still a little anxious because Jason still had that glimmer in his eye.

“To show you what I’ve done,” he nodded curtly.

“Can’t you just tell me?” I asked, quickening my pace to match his.

“Nope,” he shook his head. “I have to show you.”

“Oh God, did you get my name tattooed on your ass or something?” I blurted in horror.

“No!” He laughed. “Not a bad idea though. We can get matching tattoos.” He came to a stop by Parkinson steps at the front of the university.

“You want me to get your name tattooed on my ass?” I frowned.

“You are not getting your fucking name tattooed on my little sister’s arse!” A familiar voice exclaimed from behind me.

“Craig!” I span round to see him and felt my face light up at the lopsided grin on his face.

“Hey, Jellybean,” he hugged me tightly.

“What are you doing here?” I beamed up at him.

“I have a long weekend off so I thought I’d come see my favourite sister and kick her boyfriend’s arse,” he shot Jason a playful look of warning.

“Firstly, I’m your only sister,” I pointed out. “And secondly, you are
not
kicking his ass.”

“We’ll see,” Craig winked. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Of course I am,” I grinned. “How come you didn’t tell me?”

“Surprise,” he shrugged. “I called Reed.”

“That’s what you were worried about?” I accused Jason.

He smirked a little and I wondered if he’d ever been worried at all. “Some of us
do
have poker faces,” he teased.

At least I knew now that the unfamiliar glimmer was there because he’d been hiding something from me.

Jason took my hand and led the two of us back through campus to his apartment. I was done with lectures for the day, so that was fine by me. Craig was going to be staying until Sunday evening and I was thoroughly delighted to have him for the whole weekend.

“What are we doing tonight then?” Craig grinned as he slouched into Jason’s sofa as if he owned the place.

“We have athletics practice,” I said, glancing at Jason in case he was planning on skipping it.

“Yeah, I know. I meant after that,” Craig smiled, pulling me down onto the sofa to sit next to him. Jason had apparently already filled him in.

“I usually take Jamie to the gym for self-defence lessons afterwards,” Jason shrugged. “Unless you want to skip it tonight?” He looked at me.

“Nah, I wanna see,” Craig intervened. “I need to see what she’s capable of so she doesn’t get chance to kick me in the balls again,” he frowned, the corner of his lips pulling upwards.

Jason doubled over with laughter on the leather chair. Josh must have heard the commotion because he joined us in the lounge, nodding his head in greeting.

“Something funny, Reed?” Craig asked wryly.

“My tiny little girlfriend kicked Craig Carter in the balls. I don’t think ever been so proud,” Jason laughed again and Josh looked moderately impressed as well.

I frowned a little because I resented being called tiny but I forgave Jason immediately because he was looking at me with that damned adorable mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

Craig scowled and gave my shoulder a little squeeze. “It was a one off!” He protested, which just made Jason laugh harder. “She doesn’t usually do stuff like that,” he looked down at me suspiciously as though he was expecting me to explain
why
I’d done it.

“How come you kicked him?” Josh asked, sitting on the arm of Jason’s chair and drinking a glass of juice.

“He wouldn’t let me go and he kept poking me in the ribs,” I frowned, looking a little nervously at Craig because I wasn’t sure how he’d react to my explanation.

“You called me an asshole,” he grinned at me, catching me off guard by being so happy and playful.