Chapter 7

PHOENIX

"What did he say to you?" I whispered to Jacob as I led him to my room. But as soon as the door was shut, he took me in his arms and tried to kiss me. "Jay, stop for a second." He groaned his displeasure, but I leant back and pinned him with a glare. His eyes rolled as his arms relaxed. He sighed anyway, I'm sure it was to just make a point, but I wasn't having any of it. "What did my dad say?"

He moved towards the bed and sat down, patting the mattress for me to sit beside him. "He saw me the other week, when Danny and Ethan brought me back here," my eyes widened and he must've noticed my reaction. "Yeah, he saw me on the camera on the front door, I reckon."

"Oh shit." I drop my face into my hands.

"He must've thought I was just being a prick and was getting into fights. I told him I was sparring at the gym." I let my body fall back to the bed and huffed out loudly, we didn't need this. Dad didn't like the thought of him fighting at a boxing gym, let alone illegal fighting. How the hell was I going to get out of this? Jacob fell back to the bed and rolled towards me, resting his head on his hand and looked down at me. "He was just concerned, that's all. He's your dad, he's allowed to be."

He swept the hair from my eyes and hovered over me for a brief moment, he leant down and settled his lips softly against mine. I pulled back, "Enjoy the drink?"

"Yeah, it was good." He leaned back in with his hand in my hair and placed his lips on mine again. I breathed through his kiss and let him control the pace. I reached over and gripped his hip, pulling him over me until I felt his weight on me, my fingers fluttered up and down his back, then I slid my hand down to his bum. I loved to feel the muscles tighten beneath his joggers. I squeezed his cheek as he positioned himself. I parted my legs for him to slip between them and he kissed me harder. I needed to slow him down. I couldn't do this with my dad in the house. I might be nineteen and can do what I please, but still, a little respect for your parents goes a long way.

I brought my hands back up and nudged his shoulders back, hoping to tell him with my actions that we needed to stop. His erection pushed against my stomach and I wanted nothing more than for him to sink inside of me, but it wasn't going to happen. I released his lips with a strangled groan and pulled away. "Jacob, we can't." He growled in the back of his throat but released me and pushed upwards.

"You know," he started as he licked his lips, "when you pull me on top of you, that's pretty much a green light to me." he smirked.

"I know, I'm sorry. I was just really happy to see you." I took my lip between my teeth and smiled around it as we pushed to sit back against the wall, side by side. He took my fingers in his hand and brought them to his lips.

A one-sided smirk appeared on his mouth. "I've got something to show you." He let go of my hand and reached around to his back. He turned his body towards me and dipped his hand into his pocket. He produced his wallet and opened it up. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I looked from the wallet that was held firmly in his fingers and back to Jacob again. "How much is that?"

"About fifteen hundred." My mouth dropped open, as though I was catching flies. "In two fights I've made over four grand."

"Shit," I was shocked. I couldn't get over the amount of money he had on him right now, not that I thought it made it right, but I guess it helped to know this was the prize.

"At this rate, we'll have enough money for a deposit on our own place. That's all I want for us, and then maybe, I could open my own gym, go legit. I want this Nix. You know, teach kids that there is something out there for them, and they don't have to survive on the street with hardly anything."

When he put it like that it made it hard for me to be disappointed in the illegal fighting. "I wish there was another way, that's all. I hate worrying that you might go to a fight and not come back. I'm not sure I could handle that."

His wallet landed on the bed and he tugged on my hand. I threw my leg over his thighs and sat on his lap, guiding my arms around his neck. I held him tight and pressed my lips to his. I wanted to let him know that I supported him, I was just scared. I'm sure with the desperation in my kiss though, he totally got it. His tongue twisted with mine and he held me as tightly as he possibly could. I felt safe in his arms, that was something I could never deny. As the kiss came to an end, I licked my lips and stared into Jacobs dark eyes. He had a little bump in his nose where he'd been hit and his eye was dark, coloured with purple, obviously from the fight today. On his other eyebrow the cut he'd gained the other week was still healing and had a plaster over it. My hand moved to his hair, and I pushed my fingers through the short dark strands.

"What are you thinking?" he asked as I ran my fingertip softly over the healing cut on his kissable lips before tracing the edge of his pout.

"I love you," I answered, totally unashamed. I didn't care if that made me vulnerable, because the urge for him to hear the words meant more. "But I want you to promise me something."

"More promises?" he rolled his eyes, I wondered if there was a meaning behind that statement, but I dismissed it and went on,

"Promise me that you'll only do this until we have enough money to get by, and do what we need to. At least until I've finished Uni. Then, we'll have a proper wage and you'll be earning, too. Even if it's not being a boxer."

"A nurses wage? come on Nix, one nurses wage isn't going to cover us forever," he pulled my hands from his face and held them between us. "I need to provide for us, Nix. Just let me figure this out."

I pushed back on his legs and huffed. "I didn't realise we lived in the dark ages, Jacob."

"Oh, come on, don't get fucking arsey. I was just saying. I thought we were having an adult conversation,"

"We were," I cut him off in his tracks, "but then you have to turn it into some male chauvinistic argument."

Attempting to move from his lap, his hands anchored my legs and held me still before he turned my face back to his. "It's not an argument, and I don't mean to be that kind of prick. We've got another two years before you graduate from Uni. Even then, you'll still be training. I've got this, baby," his brows lifted as his head dipped and he looked me in the eye. "Are we okay?" With a slight shift of my head, I agreed. "Good, now kiss me."

"I could say no." I answered grumpily.

"But you won't." My brows pinched tightly at his cocky reply, and my head tilted with a cocked brow. He chuckled and brought his arms around me. I attempted to shrug out of his arms but his hold tightened on me. I knew I needed to give up at that point and let him win. Something he loved doing. My eyes rolled as his gorgeous smile took over his rugged features as he brought our entwined bodies to the mattress. His lips captured mine and he kissed me exactly the way I wanted him to. My resistance soon slipped away.